Trans-Saharan Trade Expedition - Simulation!

Students embarked on the journey of a lifetime today pretending to reenact the travelers along the trans-Saharan trade network.  Students were split up--half becoming African traders and half becoming Arab traders.  Students chose a new name (African or Arab) and wore name tags to distinguish themselves.  Then, they randomly picked 10 trade items from a paper bag--the Arabs receiving items such as spices, incense, boiled candies, and Arabic and the Africans receiving items such as gold, salt, beads, and silver.  Students continued onto a Google Form introducing themselves, their trade items, and their feelings about their travels.  Then, students proceeded to "travel and trade" with one another. Students used language and gestures to communicate with each other trading items, bargaining, and walking away with new goods! After gathering their bounty of goods, students reflected  in writing on the journey, including the trade items students received and how they might use their items once at home.  They finally voted on the most popular trade items and used Google Translate to write in Arabic something they learned or learned to speak during their trade expedition.  Enjoy the fun-filled day in photos below!

Africa Speaks Project - Team Mural-Making & Storytelling

In collaborative teams of approximately eight to a team, students used their creativity to research a geographic region of Africa (Sahara Desert, savannas, rain forests, and Mediterranean coast) and depict that region's geography, climate, natural resources, and animals in a decorative mural.  Then, in the same, teams students wrote personified poems or narratives as the land and its parts telling its own story.  Both murals and narratives/poems were presented to the class, while classmates continued their notes on each geographic region of Africa.  Enjoy the artistic work below!