Teacher's Guide for FACES ^® Kalahari Life

February 2003

Teacher Guide prepared by: Lisa Greenberg.
This teacher""'s guide contains many different types ofactivities: creative writing, comprehension, research, discussion and debate, art, drama, etc. It also includes individual, pair, and group projects. Use it as a springboard for your classroom interaction, picking and choosing among the ideas to find those that work best for you and your students.

As an introduction to the issue, encourage students to look carefully at the front and back covers and discuss them in pairs or trios. Then try the creative writing exercise which follows. As a wrap-up for the issue, you may want to go back to these photographs and have students rework their stories, adding some of the information they have gathered from the magazine.

Story Starter:

Imagine that you are one of the people in the photographs on the front and back cover. Write a story about your life.

Editor""'s Message (pp. 2-3)
Research:

This issue of FACES ^® is dedicated to Lorna Marshall, American anthropologist. Can you find out more about her life and study of the San? Research other American anthropologists such as Margaret Mead, the Leakey family (Louis, Mary, and Richard), Franz Boaz, Ruth Benedict, Loren Eisely, etc. What do you think is the driving question in an anthropologist""'s research?

The Kalahari (pp. 6-7)

Pick a tree that you know well, such as an oak in your front yard or a gingko on your street. Make a chart to compare the baobab and the tree you have chosen. You could include these categories among others: height, trunk circumference, branch length, bark texture, fruit, flower, animals which use the tree, legends connected to tree, medical use, greatest age, ways in which people use the tree, etc.

Welcome to the Kalahari (pp. 8-12)

1. Where is the Kalahari plan located? (Southern Africa, Botswana, eastern Namibia, and northern South Africa)
2. Why are so many languages spoken there? (It is so big and so many different people lived there.)
3. What is the geologist""'s name for the original landmass of Africa and South America before they broke apart? (Gondwanaland)
4. How is the Kalahari different from other deserts? (It has vegetation, such as trees and grass.)
5. What is a pan? (An indentation or depression that holds water after the rain)
6. What can a pan have besides water? (Salt)
7. What is the Namib? (Probably the world""'s oldest desert)
8. Name some animals protected in the reserves of the Kalahari. (hyenas, springbok, gemsbok)
9. How do the native San people make political decisions? (By common agreement)

Short Essay:

How is the life of the San people changing? If you were a member of the San culture, how would you want to lead your life?

The Kalahari Through Time (pp. 14-15)
Group Project:

Have students divide into groups. Have each group illustrate one event listed and write a newspaper headline for the event. Order the illustrations to create a visual time line of changes in the Kalahari. Use the timeline as a springboard for discussion about change in society.

The San (pp. 17-21)
The San Legacy and The Struggle for Culture
Debate in Class:

The San should preserve their traditional way of life. OR The San should adapt to the modern world.
Compare changes in San culture with changes in other cultures, such as that of American Indians, who were forced to resettle in strange areas.

Research:

What is ecopiracy and how can native peoples protect themselves from ecopiracy?

Click When You Say ""'!Kung""'! (pp. 22-23)

Pair students and have them practice a conversation, following the instructions in the text and the phrases on page 23. Challenge students to introduce one of the Ju/""'hoansi phrases of !Kung words into a conversation at home. The next day discuss how their families reacted.

The Myth and Mystery of the Tsodilo Hills (pp. 24-27)

1. Name two reasons that the Tsodilo Hills are famous. (sacred place for San, art gallery, walking area)
2. What legends are associated with the Hills? (San legend of creation, Mbukushu legend that the gods lowered people and cattle to the "Female Hill," legend that the North Hill was the argumentative wife of Male Hill and sent away, that the San Great Spirit knelt by the pool by the "Tree of True Knowledge" on the day of creation, that hoofprint marks in a rock were left by cattle as they were lowered from the skies by the god Ngambe, that the cistern on Female Hill is the home of a great serpent with twisted horns)
3. What is the origin of the name Tsodilo? (From the Mbukushu word sorile or sheer)
4. Who painted the 3,500 rock paintings in the Hills? (The San and the Bantu)
5. What do the rock paintings show? (animals such as cattle, antelopes and elands, zebras, fish, rhinoceroses, giraffes, whales, penguins; human dancers)

Big Bird Beads (pp.28-29)

Make a list of all the new facts learned about ostriches.

Watery Wonderland (pp. 30-37)
Art:

Research the animals mentioned in the article and draw or paint a scene of the Okavango Delta wildlife.

Nsue and the Honey Guide
Drama:

Encourage a group of students to do a dramatic reading of the story or create a short play or skit based on the legend.

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