Chanda S Secrets, Too Good to Be Kept a Secret

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Choosing Texts for Teaching EN 3051 Alyson van Beinum Alyson Gair, November 15, 2010

Chanda’s Secrets, Too Good to be Kept a Secret

The novel “Chanda’s Secret”, by Allan Stratton, tells of the struggle of a young girl who’s bravery and courage drives her to save the family she loves. The story is set in Africa during the AIDS outbreak and centres on a young girl, mature beyond her years, who struggles to keep her family together. Her father has abandoned them, her mother is distraught over the death of her youngest daughter and her surviving siblings are acting out. We first meet Chanda dealing with the stigmatism of poverty and not having enough money to buy a decent coffin for her baby sister. Soon she is faced with the additional hardships of the shame, controversy and ostracism of AIDS when her mother’s boyfriend gets infected. To make matters even worse, her best friend is beaten after trying to make money in the sex-trade and her Mother goes missing during a visit to relatives. Throughout the story Chanda acts selfishly to ensure her siblings are cared for and does her best to care for her Mother and her best friend. Her one ally in this is her teacher, who Chanda finally has the courage to turn to, share her secrets and ask for help.

The novel is relevant to our kids because it is written by a Canadian author. Despite being written by a man, he has great insight into the female psyche and his characters are believable and admirable. The story touched me on many levels, but most of all when Chanda has to deal with the stigmatism that comes with AIDS. Two of my former jobs were in AIDS research, from the very first drug studies that treated mainly homosexual males(AZT)to Saquinovir, a break-through product that gave AIDS patients their first hope for survival. I lived through the fear-mongering, the religious backlack against homosexuals, the “gay disease”, the stigmatism and ostracism was deplorable. Being on the inside and knowing the facts I was able to educate my family and friends about the realities of AIDS. So many people in the 80’s and 90’s keeping their disease a horrible secret, it was such a shame. My current placement is Stephen Lewis Secondary School, and this book is extremely relevant because of Stephen Lewis’ involved in AIDS research. He is quoted on the back of the book as follows: “This powerful story hits home with its harsh truths, its pain, and its hard-won hopelessness. No-one can read Chanda’s Secrets and remain untouched by the young people who are caught in the AIDS pandemic and still battling to make sense of their lives.” -Stephen Lewis, UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa Gair 2

a) In what grade level / course would you teach this text? Are there other courses for which it might also be appropriate?

I would teach this in Grade 9 or Grade 10. The reading level of the book is appropriate and the level of language is not too advanced grade 9, though perhaps a little simplistic for Grade 10. This book would also be appropriate to a Health Class as it relates not only to AIDS/HIV infection, but could lend itself to the dangers of the sex-industry and the issues sex-workers face with respect to health and safety. b)What are the main ideas/ issues/ teaching points which you would emphasize when teaching the text? (Consider the knowledge possibilities: Social, topic, cultural, textual.)

Topic Knowledge Death Poverty Self-esteem Making decisions Loyalty Love Courage Birth/death Bravery fear of the unknown

Social Knowledge - prejudice - socioeconomic status - class differences, Esther is considered a lower class than Chanda - gender issues/sexism - health bias, AIDS/HIV, stigmatism, misconceptions - family units and relationships

Textual Knowledge -1st person narrative -framed in the present with some flashbacks to provide background, plot development

Cultural Knowledge -Africa, specifically Sub-Saharan Africa -traditional versus modern beliefs, religion and medicine -funeral traditions -family and friends

c) What are the issues/ challenges you might encounter in teaching the text? Gair 3

- Lack of strong male role models in the book - Male students finding someone to identify in the book - Touchy subject when discussing Esther’s role in the story, her involvement in the sex-trade - Dealing with violence against sex-trade workers - Talking about AIDS, dealing with misconceptions and the realities of the disease - Understanding poverty when Canadians are so privileged. Can they relate? - Death and loss, the death of her baby sister Sara happens right at the beginning of the book. This may bring up strong emotions in the classroom. - It might be difficult talking about funerals and the traditions of Sara’s funderal; slaughtering a goat, the laying out of the body in the home. Perhaps we could discuss different cultural traditions in dealing with funerals. - Talking about folk medicine and spiritual healers versus modern medicine - Discussing religion in the classroom – Chanda’s belief’s versus their own. - Discussing the various structures of families. Where is Chanda’s father? The mother seems to take on many boyfriends. I think there are 3 father’s of the 4 children in the family. - Talking about family feuds and fights that occur and divide families. d)Describe one possible assignment / activity which you could use when teaching the text. How does it connect to the curriculum expectations of the course you are teaching?

Before reading the book, we need to identify and discuss any misconceptions that the kids may have about living in Africa. I would start the class asking them what they know about Africa. In pairs or groups of 3, students can put together a mind-map of what they think they know about Africa – anything at all. We would then have a class discussion and put these ideas up on the board, linking up any ideas if possible. Africa is usually associated with poverty and disease, living in grass huts. If that is their only view of Africa then they will read the book with a negative idea of the country and its people. Then I could show the TED video of the beautiful African woman talking about the problem of only having 1 story. We can then revisit the mind-map to see if there are any changes in what we know, add topics that we learned in the video. At the very least the kids will learn that Africa is a continent made up of over 50 very different countries.

We can repeat this exercise with AIDS, think-pair-share ideas, watch an informational video, and unpack the ideas learned, improve the mind-maps, discuss misconceptions.

Students can then do research projects to find out more about AIDS and Africa. They can research AIDS and learn about the many misconceptions or mistruths associated with this disease. They can research a specific country in Africa, or research the continent of Africa, describing the basic geography, wild-life, exports. They can also research the history of slavery, folk tales, African music, etc. Students will be expected to do a presentation to the class to share what they have learned. The teacher can separate kids into groups of 4 and provide a list of varied topics. Overlap should be at a minimum so there is a wide variety of presentations. Once they know a lot more about Gair 4

Africa and AIDS then they will be ready to read the novel from a better, more educated standpoint, leaving old misconceptions behind them.

Curriculum: By doing a novel study, this will address all off the specifics of the Reading and Literature Studies overall and specific expectations (1.1 – 3.3), the Writing overall expectations as well as covering all of the specific expectations (1.1 – 4.3). Gair 5

EN3041/3051 NOVEL STUDY RUBRIC (Part A & B) Professional Critical Inquiry and Reflection -demonstrates an inquiring or “critical” attitude towards the text - analyzes his/her own professional practice in relation to the teaching of the text -reflects on their own abilities and experiences which may be a factor in teaching the text Lack of Commitment to Students and Evidenc Teache Student Learning e r Teache -considers equity and social justice and/or Teach Candid r (equal access, equal opportunities and Teache er ate Candid equal results)in teaching the text r Candid Demon ate - considers the potential range of Candid ate strates Demon knowledge involved in the teaching of ate Demon a High strates the text (social, textual, topic, cultural) Does strates Degree Emergi - recognizes and challenges possible Not Compe of ng assumptions and issues which may be Demon tency Compe Compe involved in the teaching of the text. strate B to tency tency Professional Practice Compet B+ A to C+ -suggested activity is appropriate for ency A+ suggested course expectations (Below -assessment and evaluation, resources C+) and use of technology is considered Professional Knowledge and Ethics -correctly uses the vocabulary of teaching and learning -demonstrates an understanding and application of Ministry policy, curriculum policy documents and support materials -delivers compelling, persuasive arguments orally