• Book is about the first female graffiti artist in Senegal

• Based on a young girl with a passion for graffiti (what are murals? What does street art look like?) → practiced describing it and looking at different art forms

• Integrated information about hip hop artists who are often referenced in the street art, listened to music as well.

• Field trip to graffiti alley downtown Toronto

• Shamsia Hassani (first Afghan graffiti artist) -> political activist: could be a lesson of itself on why she does what she does

• Very accessible for grade 9’s

• Start off by getting students to talk about WHAT IS ART?

• Book cover talk - make connections with real life experiences

• Map talk - open google maps and talk about Senegal (see https://twitter.com/AfroFranco2 for an explanation of a "map talk"

• Read chapters and doing a Write and Discuss : teacher and student co-create summary of chapter to make sure they understood all the points

  • Take segways into information from the book, for example, Oumou Sangaré who is a Senegalese singer, explore the instruments she uses, etc. 

  • Segways into: music, instruments, religion, neighbourhoods / housing, schooling, etc. 

• Try to make connections between the authors/characters’ lives and the students’ lives

• Learning cycle takes about 11 classes (1 class per chapter + 2 classes for chapter 5). A total of about 4-5 weeks. 

• You can contact the author and she has a teacher’s guide for purchase on her website

• Book includes a glossary of important words. A1 language level

Elodie Channa is sharing information about the Zeinixx on her Instagram: https://instagram.com/comprehensibleinputon