LESSON TITLE:

Linking Privilege with The Bit of the Mango

GRADE AND STRAND:

Grade 11 Writing; Reading

TOPIC:
Social Justice

DURATION:
76 minutes

DATE:
Tuesday, December 16, 2014

OVERALL EXPECTATION:
Oral Communication 1) Listening to Understand: listen in order to understand and respond appropriately in a
variety of situations for a variety of purposes;
Reading 3) Reading With Fluency: use knowledge of words and cueing systems to read fluently;
Writing 4. Reflecting on Skills and Strategies: reflect on and identify their strengths as writers, areas for
improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful at different stages in the writing process.

SPECIFIC EXPECTATION:
Oral Communication: 1.2 select and use appropriate active listening strategies when participating in a variety of
classroom interactions
Oral Communication: 1.4 identify the important information and ideas in oral texts, including increasingly
complex texts, in a variety of ways
Reading 3.1) 3.1 automatically understand most words in a variety of reading contexts
Writing 4.2 identify a variety of skills they have in listening, speaking, reading, viewing, and representing, and
explain how these skills help them write more effectively

CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS

N/A

MATERIALS / TEACHING RESOURCES

26 copies of Newspaper Article, entitled Canada: Aboriginal Women part of
Canadian Crisis Human Trafficking Report Says.
INTRODUCTORY HOOK
Privilege Activity

Instructions:
A recycling bin will be placed at the front of the room. From where they are seated, students
must crumple up a piece of paper and attempt to throw it in the recycling bin. The students
who are closer have a better chance of scoring. This activity demonstrates the concept of

privilege people are given, rather than earn, their circumstances (race, gender, class,
geographical location, etc.). A discussion to link the concept of privilege and the novel will
ensue.
LESSON
Newspaper Article
Each student will be given the attached article, entitled Canada: Aboriginal Women part of
Canadian Crisis Human Trafficking Report Says. The article will be read together as a
class. Afterwards, the teacher will ask students follow-up questions about the article and have
students make connections to the novel that they are reading, The Bite of the Mango.
A) Questions to write on the board for students to discuss as a class:
1) Who is this article about?
2) What is this news article about? What is the problem that the article is discussing?
3) Why is this problem exactly a problem?
B) Questions to be answered individually:
1) Why, according to the article, do Aboriginal people distrust police to help solve their
issues? Briefly explain.
2) What is social justice? How does social justice relate to this article?
3) What is privilege? Explain how are the women in this article are unprivileged (think of
what they earned or did not earn to receive their circumstances).
4) *Reflection
CONSOLIDATION / CULMINATING ACTIVITY
Reflection
Students will reflect on the connections made in class discussion. They will write a short
paragraph (about 6-8 sentences) to make connections between the newspaper article and the
novel, The Bite of the Mango. Students will make connections by tying in the two texts with
their application and metacognition of the concepts of privilege and social justice. Students
will hand in this reflection to be formatively assessed by the teacher.
ACCOMODATIONS/MODIFICATIONS
N/A
ON-GOING ASSESSMENT / EVALUATION
Students reflection pieces will be formatively assessed, though not graded. The reflections
will be checked to make sure students are understanding the concepts.
NEXT STEPS
Next, students will continue reading chapters 7 and 8 in the novel.
REFERENCES

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