Malindi

(Travellers | Cities | Routes | Trade Goods | Themes)

by Paul Lunde

See the blog by two Boston teachers who used a giraffe called Malindi as a way to talk about world interconnectedness and the part played by Africa in world history: http://malindisjourney.blogspot.com/

Here's an excerpt from the blog:

We presented a paper at the conference, titled “Zheng He’s Voyages: Historic Traces and Research” in Melaka in 2010, in which we spoke about Malindi’s Journey, the children’s book we have written that highlights the contact between East Africa, China, and the role of Islam in the ancient trade routes that were thriving along the east coast of Africa for centuries before the arrival of the Europeans.

We spoke about the giraffe, which is still used today by the Chinese government as a symbol of cooperation between China and African countries. We said that as teachers, we believe it is important to link research to actual classroom practice. Alicia showed examples of how to web out curriculum for a culturally grounded thematic unit in early childhood/elementary classrooms. Lucy showed how a theme can be developed across content areas for high school. In both cases, we spoke about the importance of engaging students in the content while meeting state and national standards.

Highlights from the blog:

Malindi’s Journey is the children’s book we have written that highlights the contact between East Africa, China, and the role of Islam in the ancient trade routes that were thriving along the east coast of Africa for centuries before the arrival of the Europeans.

The giraffe is still used today by the Chinese government as a symbol of cooperation between China and African countries.

Teachers can be the vehicle to bring knowledge and stories of Zheng He and his connections with Africa and Islam into the classroom in ways that impact student achievement and their global understanding.

We were the only school teachers from any country to make a presentation at this conference, and people were very interested in what we had to say. We were very well received as Boston Public School teachers.

The museum director was very interested in our ideas for developing learning activities that could be incorporated into the exhibits to make the museum more engaging for school children. We . . . promised to send pictures of our students’ work on Zheng He and Afro-Asian connections so that it can be displayed in the museum.

As teachers, we believe it is important to link research to actual classroom practice. We also wish to emphasise the importance of collaboration between teachers and researchers.

We made some pedagogical points:

• Alicia showed examples of how to "web out" curriculum for a culturally grounded thematic unit in early childhood/elementary classrooms.

• Lucy showed how a theme can be developed across content areas for high school.

• In both cases, we spoke about the importance of engaging students in the content while meeting state and national standards.

We showed:

• slides of students and their work from Alicia’s former classroom at The Young Achievers Math and Science School.

• pictures of students building a boat, doing observational drawings of a Swahili mtepe, engaging in hands-on geography, math and literacy projects.

• slides of High School students examining artifacts and learning about evidence.

We spoke about the modern connections between Africa and China:

• how Kenya and China are collaborating to investigate cultural links in the Lamu Archipelago.

• how the National Museum of China, the Beijing University School of Archeology, and the Kenya National Museum are now engaged in a joint venture to excavate sunken ships from Zheng He’s treasure fleet. Some of the members of that research team were at the conference and listening to our presentation!

On a personal note, Alicia said in her blog:

I was the only presenter, and in fact, the only conference participant of African descent. I’ve been wearing my hair in braids for this trip, and from the time I arrived, when I realized there were no other participants from the African Diaspora, I made it a point to wear my African beads, my cowrie shell necklaces, and the clothing I purchased in East Africa. I felt a sense of pride to actually be one of the conference presenters, and that I could represent the voice of the African Diaspora at a conference that was focused on the Afro-Asian World.