The Moment Before the Gun Went Off

• Engels
• Voortgezet speciaal onderwijs
• Leerroute 4

Welcome to Mrs Everstijn's online classroom

Global Literatures in English

Inge Everstijn-Veldhuizen

Student number: 590551

The Moment Before the Gun Went Off

by Nadine Gordimer

Lesson series:

1. Introduction + instruction key concepts + first reading
2. Second reading = reading comprehension
3. Post reading activities
   

Lesson series - goals:

Students are able to...:

• link characters actions to emotions.
• explain the key concept of apartheid and link it to the appropriate context.
  
• explain the key concept of whiteness and link it to the appropriate context.
• explain the key concept of core and periphery and link it to the appropriate characters.
• write an essay-style text.
• participate, as a group, in a debate, from an assigned perspective.

Lesson series - learning objectives:

Students can…:

• explain key concept Apartheid
• explain key concept whiteness
• explain key concept core & periphery
• explain the impact of whiteness and core & periphery on key concept Apartheid.
• analyse literary texts using key concepts, STEAL method and the historical lens.
• offer underpinned reader responses
• learn in a collaborative setting

Used as a teaser for key concepts instruction & learning activities.

Session 1 - key concepts:

• Apartheid
• Whiteness
• Core & periphery
  

Key concept - Apartheid

“An Afrikaans term meaning ‘separation’, used in South Africa for the policy initiated by the Nationalist Government after 1948 and usually rendered into English in the innocuous sounding phrase, ‘policy of separate development’.”

(Ashcroft, Griffiths & Tiffin, 2007).

Apartheid: think - pair - share

Think: research the context of Apartheid, via a placemat exercise.

Pair: Combine findings in a group Lightning talk (a very short presentation).

Share: Present the Lightning talk which is followed by a class discussion.

Scaffolding: offer links to relevant websites.

Group 1:
•    Population Registration Act;
•    Mixed Amenities Act;
•    Group Areas Act;
•    Immorality Act;

Group 2:
•    Who/what started Apartheid;
•    Opposition to Apartheid; A
•    End of Apartheid

Key concept - whiteness

Whiteness is a category which is grounded in racist discourses and practices.  It emphasizes ‘family values’ and thus the need to protect the ‘traditional’ roles of the genders. It has also embraced racist discourses which emphasize the threat changes to gender patterns pose to so-called ‘core national values’.

(Ashcroft, Griffiths & Tiffin, 2007).

What do you guess the key concept 'whiteness' is?
What things can you link to this?

Key concept - core & periphery

This refers to the central group, the ‘core’, and others who are not included, the ‘periphery’. It is often used to describe other key concepts such as ‘whiteness’ or ‘Apartheid’.

(Ashcroft, Griffiths & Tiffin, 2007)

Give an example of the key concept ‘core & periphery’ and explain your answer.

Key concepts - combination

CLASS DISCUSSION:

How do these three key concepts help or hinder one another? Explain your opinion.

Primary reading - vocabulary

Glossary: Give the meaning (in English) of the following words.

Divestment campaigns
Gleefully
To cull
Kudu
Aptitude
Pot-hole (pothole)
Jolt

Appease
Agitators
Jacarandas
Aerial
Jutting belly

What is your first reaction to this story? What stands out to you? Explain why.

Session 2 - reading comprehension

This session focusses on reading comprehension through the textual, reader-response, linguistic and contextual approach (Bloemert, Jansen & van der Grift, 2016).
Scaffolding: Do a couple of paragraphs as a class assignment to make sure all students understand what is expected of them. Teacher helps or gives examples if necessary.
Differentiation: Students work in pairs/groups on the questions. Teacher divides class into segments which work individually, in pairs/groups or coached by the teacher/peers.

How can you link this video to Gordimer’s short story "The Moment Before the Gun Went Off"?

Which key concepts, as discussed in the previous session, can you link to this video?

Reading comprehension

Read the assigned passage/paragraph first, then answer the question(s).

Paragraph 1: “Marais Van der… ruling Party.”
1)    What is the etymological (historical) origin of “Afrikaner”.

“shooting a black man who worked for him will fit exactly their version of South Africa.”
2)    What is ‘their’ referring to?
3)    Which key concept(s) could you link to this paragraph? Explain why.

Reading comprehension

Paragraph 2: “People in the… not be.”
4)    To what/which historical events does “those Americans and English, and none of those people at home who want to destroy the white man’s power will believe him” refer to?

“It just goes to show what shock can do. When you look at the newspaper photographs you feel like apologising; as if you had started in on some room where you should not be.”
5)    Why would people in the farming community believe this?
7)    List elements in this paragraph that refer to key concept ‘Apartheid’. Explain why.

Session 3 - post reading

This session is focussing on critical thinking, implied meaning and text analyses (Beach, Appleman, Becho & Simon, 2016).

Class discussion on:
* What stands out to you. Explain why. (student’s own answer)
* Comparisons with Gordimer’s The Moment Before the Gun Went Off. (Elaborate funeral; luxurious coffin; women dressed in black)

What stands out to you.
Explain why.

Name comparisons between the funeral of Steven Biko and Gordimer’s story "The Moment Before the Gun Went Off".

Post reading - ending

Gordimer’s original story has one final sentence which was deleted for teaching purposes.

“The young black callously shot through the negligence of the white man was not the farmer’s boy; he was his son.”
1)    Does this change your opinion of the accident and the behaviour of certain characters? Explain why or why not.
2)    Which clues can you find in the text that hinted to Van der Vyver’s paternity.

Post reading - characters

1)    Use the attached STEAL-method grid (p15) to analyse Marais Van der Vyver, Alida Van der Vyver, Lucas, the young wife and the dead man’s mother.

2)    Looking at this grid what stands out and can you link this to any of the three key concepts; Apartheid, Whiteness and Core & Periphery?

Post reading - characters

Post reading - perspective

In this short story several perspectives have been mentioned. In your group analyse the death of Lucas from your assigned role, either the anti-apartheid movement prosecutor or the Afrikaner farmer’s community barrister for Marais Van der Vyver.

1)    Write an opening’s statement for the trial.
2)    Prepare for a debate in which you must battle against the opposing group (El Majidi, Janssen & de Graaff, 2021).

NOTE: According to El Majidi, Janssen & de Graaff in Levende Talen Tijdschrift (December 2021), students who receive debate education improve their writing skills significantly. 

Scaffolding: group members selection, individual work instead of group work, assessing discussion instead of participating, suitable for students with select mutism or other though similar communication problems.

Post reading - homework/assessment

Personal response: Write a 16-line review of Gordimer´s The Moment Before the Gun Went Off in which you offer your personal view on the story, link it to context and another medium, e.g. literary text, movie, lyrics etc., current affairs or your personal life (Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs, 2021).

Gordimer’s aim: According to The Norton Anthology English Literature; Major authors – volume 2 by Greenblatt (2019), Gordimer’s aim was “to evoke by way of the personal and of the precisely observed particular a broader political and historical totality.” Do you agree? Explain why or why not (p1458).