Teaching Materials

High School

 

Lesson plan:  Pidgin-English codeswitching in Alani Apio’s Kāmau

 

Goals:

n      Explore and question the stereotypes and identities connected to Pidgin as well

n      Engender critical thinking about what it means (socially, economically, politically, etc.) to use Pidgin as a language

n      Analyze language switching as a literary device, adding to the complexity of plot and characterization

 

DOE LA Standard 3:  Reading

Respond to literary texts from a range of stances:  personal, interpretive, critical

 

Materials:  This session will center around scenes 5-8 from the play Kāmau by Alani Apio (1994).   In this play (based in contemporary O¢ahu), characters switch between English, Pidgin, and Hawaiian to get different reactions and to display different relationships towards other characters.

 

Apio, Alani.  (1994).  Kāmau.  Honolulu:  Palila Books.   

 

General discussion questions (adapt and specify to text):

n      Based on the text, what cultures/beliefs/identities do the different languages represent?  Do these ideas conflict with or complicate each other?

n      When do characters switch languages and for what purposes? 

n      How do variables like audience and topic affect language choice?

n      How do these literary examples connect with our own language experiences?  Is this literature believable?  Can we relate?

 

 
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