Introduction
– Ask students what they know about the slave trade. How might historical slave trading routes be connected with modern migration?
– Discuss ‘migration’ as both a temporary displacement and a journey as well as going to live somewhere else on a longer term basis.
– Show students the clip from the film that focuses on Île de Gorée (00:59:00 – 01:02:51), then ask students to discuss the clip in pairs. What do they think is significant about the island? Which characters are the focus on the boat trip? Why might this be? (Discuss ‘return’ migration of African Americans to West Africa to connect with their lost heritage).
Task 1: Reading comprehension
– Direct students to the Maison des Esclaves webpage, or print out copies and give to students. Ask them to read and gather information.
– Come up with some guidance as a class for summarising the information they find (e.g. bulleting key info, synthesising and concise rewording of information, etc).
– Students can work in pairs to create a summary and present it to the class.
– Give feedback on the summaries. Then draw out key points about Gorée and the Maison des Esclaves from the students’ work and write these up on the board for reference.
Task 2: Aural comprehension
– Explain that with the understanding of Gorée they now have, they will listen to Boubacar Joseph Ndiaye, who was the long-time conservator and orator at the Maison des Esclaves until his death in 2009. Explain that Ndiaye speaks with a Senegalese accent, so it may be difficult to understand at first.
– Watch the YouTube video with Ndiaye’s speech a few times, pausing where necessary. Then ask students to share what they understood, and clarify points they have missed.
Task 3: Speaking
– Show students various stills from Des Etoiles relating to the Île de Gorée scenes.
– Ask students to pick one of the images and to imagine & describe that part of the scene from a first person perspective. What do they see/hear? How do they feel?
Extension: Specify tenses/constructions for the students to include in their narration. Students can also come up with questions for each other to promote further discussion in French.
Task 4: Plenary
Ask students to reflect on their learning about representations of migration in the francophone world and about francophone Africa. Have their views/understanding about migration changed at all? In what ways? What has been most interesting/challenging for them?