Strangers in Their Own Country introduces students and teachers to the lvies and struggles of the people of South Africa. Designed as a manual for high school teachers, the book incorporates short stories, poems, role plays, simulations, new articles and historical readings to reveal the drama unfolding in Southern Africa.

Bigelow's curriculum encourages studnets to think for themselves. For example, students simulate the distribution of land and wealth in South Africa, read a powerful fictionalized account of life in a township, role play the dilemmas facing the emerging trade union movement and debate the effects of foreign investment on the apartheid system. 

While the book is laid out as step-by-step instructions for high school teachers, its usefulness extends far beyond. Many of the lessons in the curriculum can be used in church, community and labor union study groups. Most of the materials in Strangers in Their Own Country are easily adapted to the junior high school or college level.

William Bigelow teaches social studies at Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon. He is alos a director of the Curriculum Workshop, a project which produces and distributes innovative curricula.

CATEGORIES:

Politics, International Affairs, Africa