A cross-curricular project Year Six 2012-13

1. The Other Side Of Truth A cross-curricular project Year Six 2012-13

2. The Other Side of Truth is a book by Beverley Naidoo. It describes the journey of two children, Sade and Femi, as they are forced to leave their home country of Nigeria and travel to England as refugees. Over the past half term Year Six have worked incredibly hard learning about the characters and plot of the story and about the geography and history of Nigeria. Here is a collection of our work: we hope you enjoy it.

3. Where is Nigeria? We looked in the atlases and used globes to find out where Nigeria is. We looked at maps of different scales and maps which were produced for different purposes. Some of them showed us the landscape of Nigeria; some showed us the administrative states and some the major cities.

4. Olivia’s fact file From all the information we found out, we created a fact file, all about Nigeria. Did you know any of these facts already?

5. What is life in Lagos like? • Lagos is the largest city in Nigeria, with approximately 16 million residents. We wanted to know more about what life in Lagos is like. We looked at a variety of sources, and categorised the information into five categories: • Climate • Leisure • Employment • Transport • Housing • We made a wheel all about Lagos! • Click to move on to the next slide, • to find out more about it. Ceren’s industry wheel

6. What are Nigeria’s main industries? • Next we looked at the different types of industry in Nigeria. • We thought about the main industries in Nigeria and put them into three categories.

8. What do we predict The Other Side of Truth will be about? • Before we started reading the book we took a closer look at the front cover and the blurb. Using the clues, we made predictions about the setting, plot and characters.

9. Jayden J’s prediction

10. Tolga’s prediction

11. What is life like in Ibadan? • We wanted to find out more about Ibadan, the city to the north of Abuja, where Sade and Femi’s parents grew up. We looked at a range of primary and secondary sources to find out more information. • We pretended that we had visited Ibadan and wrote a postcard about our trip. We included details about the things we would have seen and done on our visit. Nixon’s postcard

13. How has Beverley Naidoo effectively opened the story? • The story begins with a dramatic opening scene. It is written in the present tense to show the urgency and pace of the situation. Below is Beverly Naidoo’s original story opening. We read it many times and thought about the powerful metaphors she used, and the effect of these. Sade is slipping her English book into her schoolbag when Mama screams. Two sharp cracks splinter the air. She hears her father’s fierce cry, rising, falling. ‘No! No!’ The revving of a car and skidding of tires smother his voice. Her bag topples from the bed, spilling books, pen and pencil onto the floor. She races to the verandah, pushing past Femi in the doorway. His body is wooden with fright. ‘Mama mi?’ she whispers. Papa is kneeling in the driveway, Mama partly curled up against him. One bare leg stretches out in front of her. His strong hands grip her, trying to halt the growing scarlet monster. But it has already spread down her bright white nurse’s uniform. It stains the earth around them. A few seconds, that is all. Later, it will always seem much longer.

14. We had a go at writing our own story openings. We began by setting the scene using the past tense. Then, as the dramatic scene unfolded, we switched to the present tense to create a powerful effect. Sterlyn’s story opening Chaneise’s story opening

15. Olivia’s story opening

16. Cherry Class wrote diary entries based on Sade and Femi’s heart-breaking experience. Alice’s diary entry

17. Who was Ken Saro-Wiwa? The Other Side of Truth makes mention of some real-life personages including the famous political activist and environmental campaigner Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was framed for murder by General Abacha’s government and hanged. We pretended to be British journalists, outraged by his ‘show’ trial and his murder.

18. Solomon’s newspaper article Alice’s newspaper article

19. Tequane’s newspaper article Tabitha’s newspaper article

20. What were Sade and Femi’s first impressions of London? Arriving in London, Sade and Femi were struck by the cold, unfriendly atmosphere. We imagined what they might have been thinking while sitting on the 38 bus, on their way to find their Uncle Dele. Chaneise’s letter

21. Solomon’s letter

22. Kirsty’s letter

23. What are London’s different tube lines?

24. Sade and Femi caught the tube from Heathrow Airport to Victoria station. It inspired us to research some more tube routes! Daniela and Darren’s directions

25. What are the countries which make up Africa? ‘Then she tried to remember the names from the map of Africa above Papa’s desk. Cameroon and Chad were next to Nigeria, but what was to the east of Chad? Sudan, Somalia?’ While Sade and Femi wait in the Immigration Office’s waiting room Sade tries her best to remember the geography of her home continent. We created some maps of Africa using just a blank outline and an atlas to help us! It was really tricky to draw all of the countries in the correct ratio.

26. Neo’s map of Africa

27. Ceren O’s map of Africa

28. How is Sade bullied at school? When Sade begins to attend Avon school, she encounters two girls named Marcia and Donna. They tell Sade to steal a cigarette lighter from her friend’s family shop, issuing threats against Femi. We imagined that Sade had written a letter to an agony aunt. We tried our best to give her good advice in our replies.

29. Esra’s letter Amanoor’s letter

30. Qadir’s letter Erdem’s letter

31. Is Papa treated fairly in the UK? When Papa first arrives in the UK, he is sent to Heathlands Detention Centre, where he has to apply for political asylum. Jaden LB’s letter

32. ?’s letter

33. What can we learn from The Other side of Truth? Beverley Naidoo dedicated The Other Side of Truth to Damilola Taylor, saying: “In memory of Damilola Taylor and to other young people and their families who seek new lives in new countries.” Damilola Taylor was from Lagos. He came to London to seek a better life, but was brutally murdered in 2000. Similarly, Sade and Femi were searching for a better life in London – but did they find it? The difficulties which refugees face do not disappear once they leave their countries: the stories of Damilola Taylor and of Sade and Femi prove this. “In memory of Damilola Taylor and to other young people and their families who seek new lives in new countries.”

34. We Refugees I come from a musical placeWhere they shoot me for my songAnd my brother has been torturedBy my brother in my land.I come from a beautiful placeWhere they hate my shade of skinThey don't like the way I prayAnd they ban free poetry. I come from a beautiful placeWhere girls cannot go to schoolThere you are told what to believeAnd even young boys must grow beards. I come from a great old forestI think it is now a fieldAnd the people I once knew thereAre not there now. We can all be refugeesNobody is safe,All it takes is a mad leaderOr no rain to bring forth food,We can all be refugeesWe can all be told to go,We can be hated by someoneFor being someone. We read Benjamin Zephaniah’s Poem We Refugees. It inspired us to write some of our own poems using a similar format. I come from a beautiful placeWhere the valley floods each yearAnd each year the hurricane tells usThat we must keep moving on. We can all be refugeesSometimes it only takes a day,Sometimes it only takes a handshakeOr a paper that is signed.We all came from refugeesNobody simply just appeared,Nobody's here without a struggle,And why should we live in fearOf the weather or the troubles?We all came here from somewhere.