A Long Way Gone – Unit Response: Connecting to Blood Diamond
After having read the novel A Long Way Gone and experimented with a variety of writing styles, apply what you have learned by responding to the movie Blood Diamond in any 2 (two) of the following three activities:
1. A news cover story
After watching the scene of the rebel and government soldiers battling in Freetown (41 minutes in), write an unbiased news cover story that:
· has a captivating headline
· outlines and describes the specific details of the event (5W + H)
· incorporates relevant quoted information from a variety of people
· includes relevant background information
· follows the proper formatting of a front cover story
2. An editorial or rant
Opportunist Danny Archer describes Africa by the acronym T.I.A. – “This is Africa” (23 minutes in). From his point of view, the peace corps doesn’t make a difference, the government remains in power until they have stolen enough to go into exile somewhere, and the rebels are not sure that they want to take over, otherwise they would have to govern over the mess.
Considering this, write an editorial/rant that agrees or disagrees with his thoughts on Africa. Remember to:
· have a captivating title
· incorporate both opinion and fact
· organize your thoughts effectively into paragraphs
3. A protest letter
After watching the rebel-run diamond trade in the movie (15 minutes in), write a letter to the Canadian government asking them to put pressure on the Canadian diamond industry to make sure that these dirty diamonds aren’t allowed into the consumer market. Remember to:
· format your letter properly
· organize your letter into the proper three paragraphs
· include specific details to strengthen and validate your protest
Marking Scheme
TI – ability to support ideas with specific, valid and compelling details
CO – ability to effectively organize ideas, proofread work for spelling and grammatical errors, and ensure there is a varied vocabulary and sentence structure
AP – ability to format each writing style consistently with correctness
DUE DATE: Friday, April 29th FINAL DAY TO SUBMIT: Wednesday, May 4th