"Stadt" and "Frauenbewegung"
by Gihad Abongelah |
“Rafik Schami and Adel Karasholi - Two Arab-German Writers”
A Two-Week
Curriculum Unit for 2nd or 3rd Year College/ German
4/5 or AP German
Part 1: Lesson Plan
Week One:
-
Day 1: Introduction
to the general topic of migration to, and Ausländer in, German-speaking
countries, either a lecture by the professor or the students use
a search engine and find information on “Ausländer in Deutschland, Österreich,
Schweiz” and report about what they have found on the web.
Homework:
Choose one of the following people
and find information on him or her on the Internet and
prepare a short biography of that person: Rafik Schami,
Adel Karasholi,
Jusuf Naoum, Wadi Soudah, Salim Alafenisch, Hussain Al-Mozany,
Zehra Cirak, F.A. José Oliver, Suleiman Taufiq, Hassouna Mosbahi,
Khaled Al-Maaly, Aras Ören, Franco Biondi, Libuše Moníková, Emine
Sevgi Özdamar, Yoko Tawanda, Jamal Tuschick, Sinasi Dikmen. The
teachers must make sure that Rafik Schami and Adel Karasholi
are among those names chosen by the students.
Day 2:
Students report
about what they have found out. Professors can then speak in
general about the influence of Arabs and Muslims on European
civilization
using the list of German words of Arabic origin. There are many
books and websites dealing with this topic, and also a great
DVD available on-line “The Empire of Faith.” I compiled 16 minutes
from the entire DVD and other sources und use it as an introduction
about how Islam has contributed to Western civilization. (Anyone
interested in teaching such a unit can contact me and I’ll send
you a copy of the CD, which can only be used with a computer.)
Homework:
Students receive various poems by
Adel Karasholi and a short tale by Rafik Schami, which
they must read for the next class.
Day 3: Discuss the notion
of “Fremde” in the poems by Adel Karasholi or problems that foreigners
are faced with in Germany in
a short story by Rafik Schami.
Homework: Choose one of the other tales that
were not discussed in class and write a short essay on one of the
issues discussed in them. Here are the tales and possible topics:
-
“Mehmet” (Racism
and treatment of immigrants in D, A, CH,
-
France, the USA, or other parts of the world)
-
“Fußball
nein, Nazis niemals!” (Stereotypes, Sports I love and hate
and why; Germany
-
as a
Soccer World Champion; etc.)
-
“Der
Wald und das Streichholz” (Diversity in D, A, CH and the USA)
-
"Großvaters
Brille“ (Family memories)
Week Two:
Choose a novel
by Rafik Schami from the list below and discuss it with the students
the entire week. My suggestion would be Erzähler der Nacht (dtv #
11915) or Reise zwischen Nacht und Morgen (dtv # 12635). Both books are written in the traditional
Arabic tradition of oral storytelling with a framework story (Rahmenerzählung)
and many other stories embedded into the main story. Both books
are very easy to read for students at the 2nd year college
level or German 4/5 (high school) and they can be divided into
three sections. Each day the students will read 1/3 of the book.
In advanced literature classes or AP German, the book can be read
and discussed at once.
Day 1: Spend the
first 10 minutes brainstorming about why we write and read
works of literature (part of culture, entertainment, relaxation,
requirements,
form of therapy, research, to make money, etc.) Then discuss
the first 1/3 of the book and talk about characters, what
happens, when and where; etc. Each chapter of the two books
has a long
title
in which Schami summarizes the content of that section. Each
chapter contains a new story, but also parts of the framework
story (Rahmenerzählung).
It is important to locate the areas where the
story takes place:
-
Does it take place in Europe, Germany, or some
where else?
-
What do you know about these places?
-
What
do you associate with them?
-
What can you expect to
happen in a story that takes place in these areas of the world?
-
Why
is it important to know that?
Day 2: Pick
up where you stopped on day 1 and make sure that you add any new
characters and places to the ones from the first 1/3 of the book.
Have each student talk about a chapter and summarize the story
(stories) orally.
-
What things happen new in these chapters?
-
How does this relate
to the entire book and the framework story?
-
Ask students
to make assumptions about what will happen next?
-
-
How
will the framework story end?
Day 3: Pick
up where you stopped on day 2 and make sure that you add any new
characters and places to the ones from the first 2/3 of the book.
Have each student talk about a chapter and summarize the story
(stories) orally.
-
What new things happen in these chapters?
-
How does this relate
to the entire book and the frame story?
-
How does the
framework story end?
-
Is that a happy end?
Spend the
last 15-20 minutes discussing the entire book and how it is different
from other books that you or the students have read: themes, content,
narrative structure, places to which the story takes you, etc.
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