Ch. 1 (pg. 1-24): 1. Label and color Malawi on the map on the left: 2. On the map on the right, label the following: o Malawi o Lake Malawi o Tanzania o Mozambique o Zambia o Indian Ocean
3. There are thousands of different ethnic groups throughout Africa. What ethnic group does William belong to? 4. Why do you think most people in William s life believed in magic? What role does magic play in the life of people in Malawi? 5. William loved trucks as a kid. Explain why William had to make his toy truck, and explain what he used to specifically make it. 6. How was getting a haircut for William different than when you get a haircut? 7. How do William and his friends make a soccer ball? Why don t they just go to the store and buy one?
Ch. 2 (pg. 25-48): 8. In the 1970s and 1980s, Malawi was ruled by a dictator. Define what being a dictator means. 9. Explain 3 examples of how Hastings Banda was a dictator in Malawi that impacted people s lives. 10. William s father became a farmer. What did he grow on his land? 11. Explain how William s father built their house. Ch. 3 (pg. 49-65): 12. How was the new president, Bakili Muluzi, different from President Banda in the way they treated farmers? How did this impact farmers in the country like William s father?
13. Describe the trap that William made to catch birds? What sorts of materials did he use to create this? Ch. 4 (pg. 66-78): 14. What does it say about William that he was really interested in finding out how things work? How did this make him different from others? 15. How does William find out how radios worked? 16. On page 72, William says that Most Malawians were sustenance farmers Explain what being a sustenance farmer means. 17. Why is maize (white corn) such an important part of the diet of most Malawians? Why don t most Malawians eat meat with their meals?
18. Most people in Malawi are farmers. What problems did they face? Are there similarities to American farmers? Ch. 5 (pg. 79-97): 19. Why do only 2% of Malawians have electricity? 20. How did the villagers compensate for not having electricity, telephones, or most of the modern conveniences we take for granted? 21. What would William s family have to do to get electricity at their house?
22. What is deforestation? 23. On p. 82, William says, Few people realize this, but cutting down the trees is one of the things that keep Malawians poor. Explain what he means by this. 24. Could you imagine living without electricity? What would your life be like? Describe William's life and compare it to American teenagers and even your own. 25. Why would the government keep a surplus of grain? What is the big deal with them selling this surplus grain to other countries?
26. What caused the price of maize to increase and people to start eating corn husks? 27. Imagine being in William s position where you know you only have 24 days worth of food left, and yet there are 210 days until the next harvest. How would you react to this? What are some ways that you could get enough food to survive this time period? 28. What are some ways that William s family tries to make ends meet during the draught? What decisions do they make to try to survive through this incredibly difficult time? 29. How did the villagers respond to the famine? Provide examples and explain the behaviors.
30. How did the president of Malawi respond to the drought? Are you surprised by his response? What would you expect the government to do? 31. What does Chief Wimbe want to achieve by telling President Muluzi, we re at war here in Malawi, and that war is against hunger? 32. If Chief Wimbe was getting applauded by the crowd, why would he have gotten beaten up by some of the president s security guards?
Ch. 6 (pg. 98-120): 33. How would you respond if your father told you, as William s told him, Given our situation, I ve decided it s better if we go down to one meal per day. It s the only way we ll make it.? 34. How are male children treated in the Malawian family as compared to the way female children are treated? What does that tell you about the Malawian culture? In general, are male and female children in the U.S. treated differently from each other? 35. How are marriage customs in Malawi different than U.S. customs? What are the similarities in customs?
36. Why was there almost a riot at the ADMARC office where the government was selling grain? If you had been in the back of the line, what would you have done in this situation? 37. Why did William say that Christmas 2001 arrived more like a punishment? Ch. 7 (pg. 121-139): 38. Why were people now charging extremely high prices for grain? How could people get away with this? 39. What does it mean when a trader was offering loans to people with 300% interest? How is it similar to credit cards or banks in the US charging interest?
40. What would you do in this situation if you had food and were willing to sell it? Would you increase the price knowing that you could make a lot of money, or would you be willing to help people out by selling it for what people could pay for it? 41. People eventually started taking all of their money out of the banks. Why did they feel they had to do this? 42. What is the difference with William s new school, Kachokolo Secondary School, and BFUHS? Describe both the physical differences and what students must buy. 43. Why was William ultimately forced to drop out of school? Would that happen in the U.S?
44. William was desperate to stay in school but could not because of money. Think about American students. Why do you think with all the opportunities for schooling, American students are disinterested in learning? 45. What is the difference between a drought and a famine? 46. Explain the two ways that William describes how hunger ravages the body. 47. Why would the president say, Nobody has died of hunger, when clearly people had? How does a statement like this impact William and his family?
Ch. 8 (pg. 140-159): 48. If you were William, what would you have done with Khamba? How did you react to William s decision? Explain. 49. Explain how cholera, as William says, is an unfortunate companion of the rainy seasons. Why do we in the U.S. not see cholera outbreaks? 50. Why do you think William said a stomach filled with hot food was one of the greatest pleasures in life, while many people in the U.S. take it for granted? What was it about William s life that made him appreciate a hot meal so much? Ch. 9 (pg. 160-177): 51. What does it say about William that although he was not allowed to attend school any longer, he still craved an education, and therefore began an independent study on his own at the local library?
52. To William, what would a windmill mean to his family? Why was he so excited about the prospect of building one? 53. What were some of the materials that William used to build his first experimental radio windmill? Where did he get these materials? Ch. 10 (pg. 178-193): 54. If William loved and admired his father, why was he so afraid of ending up just like him? What was wrong with ending up like William s father? 55. How did the scrap yard replace school for William?
56. Put yourself in William s position, if you couldn t afford to go to school anymore, would you make the same decision and choices that he made? Explain. 57. In your opinion, why was everyone saying William was crazy, including the students in the school to the people in the community? Was he crazy in your opinion? 58. Without money, how was William able to get all of the materials he needed to build his windmill? Ch. 11 (pg. 193-209): 59. Explain how William made the blades for his windmill? What did he use for washers? What did he use for a drill?
60. What did the crowd think when the windmill worked? 61. Why were there so many people coming by each day to see William s windmill? Why was it such a big deal? 62. As William describes his attempt to put a light in his bedroom, he describes his house and his bedroom. What was his bedroom like, and how was it different than yours? 63. William refuses to stop, even after he gets his windmill working. He even says, One day, windmills will be our shield against hunger. What does he mean by this? With this quote, what is William s motivation?
Ch. 12 (pg. 210-222): 64. What does it say about Malawi that many people can t afford a cell phone so they have open air phone booths where you can pay to use someone else s cell phone to make a call? 65. Why does William keep inventing new forms of electricity instead of just being content with lights for his own house? 66. Why was the car battery so important to William in terms of electricity in his house? What did it provide him that his previous inventions hadn t? 67. Despite having electricity at home now, what was so dangerous about William s electric set-up? 68. How did William make the electrical system in his house more safe?
Ch. 13 (pg. 223-249): 69. What were the boys who had dropped out of school doing with their days? Why was William so determined not to become like them? 70. Why was the water pump the project that William was most anxious to get working on? What would this provide for his family? 71. What is biogas? Besides being a renewable source of energy, how would this help alleviate another problem in Malawi deforestation? 72. What is malaria? How do you get it? In your opinion, why do over one million people in Africa die from it every year? 73. What is one way to prevent malaria that William mentions in the chapter? Why might not a lot of people in Malawi have access to these?
74. If millions of people are dying from malaria around the world every year, why don t millions of people die from it in the US every year? 75. With Chief Wimbe s funeral, in what two ways was it similar to funerals in your culture, and in what two ways was it different? 76. How was President Mutharika different from President Muluzi in how he treated the farmers of Malawi? 77. A major problem in many parts of Africa is corruption. With President Mutharika s plan for fertilizer coupons for farmers, how did it become corrupt? In your opinion, what is the root of this corruption? 78. What is one example of a superstition in the country that William points out? Why do you think people believe in these superstitions?
79. Why did some people blame William and his windmill for the famine? In your opinion, what led to these superstitions? 80. Who/what should they have been blaming for the famine instead of William? Why was it easy to blame the windmill? 81. What are two reasons that William explains as to why HIV/AIDS has infected so many Malawians? 82. What does it say about William that he was willing to get involved to help educate people about HIV/AIDS and that he helped start a science club at his old primary school?
Ch. 14 (pg. 250-263): 83. Dr. Mchazime says on p. 252, This is the problem with our system. We lose talent like this all the time as a result of poverty. What did he mean? How was poverty getting in the way of William achieving his full potential? 84. Why was William invited to TEDGlobal 2007 in Tanzania? What did the organizers want him to make a presentation while he was there? 85. What were the cultural differences with William s trip to Tanzania for the TED conference that most stood out to him? Ch. 15 (pg. 264-281): 86. What was ironic about William s first Google search while at the TED conference? How was this different from how he had searched for information before being introduced to computers and the Internet?
87. With money from his donors, how was William able to help his family? What were some of the things that he was able to buy for them? 88. How did the borehole and water pump that he was now able to build help William s family and the whole community of Wimbe? 89. William says on p. 276, My family couldn t have imagined that the little windmill I built during the famine would change their lives in every way. In what ways did the windmill change their lives? 90. In 2007, William was able to visit the U.S. What were his impressions of how life in the U.S. was different than in Malawi?
91. The wind farm that William visits in Palm Springs, California provides power to thousands of homes in Southern California, yet William points out that it would be enough to power the entire country of Malawi, a country of over 17 million people. What does this say about the differences between the U.S. and Malawi? Epilogue (pg. 282-286): 92. Why do the other students at the African Leadership Academy inspire William? 93. What does it say about the continent of Africa that there are so many young and talented individuals who are creatively working to improve people s lives across the continent?
After you finish the book: 94. Watch the following videos online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ard374mfk4w (Moving Windmills: The William Kamkwamba Story) http://www.cc.com/video-clips/wv1nbv/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-william-kamkwamba?xrs=share_copy_email (The Daily Show, Oct. 7, 2009) After reading about William s story in the book, how do these videos help you understand more about him? Did you learn anything new in these videos? After hearing William speak, why do you think some consider him and his story an inspiration? Were you inspired by him? Explain why or why not.
Video Book Trailer What is a book trailer? A "trailer" is a brief video synopsis of a book or movie, designed to entice viewers to see or read the entire work. Think of it as a commercial for the book. Your job is to create a book trailer for the book. Assignment Description: You are to create a book trailer video for The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Your book trailer should include: brief introduction to setting, main characters o Who is the main character? Where does the story take place? brief synopsis of story o What is the problem the main characters are trying to solve? use of at least 6 images, including one being an image of the book cover, OR at least 3 different video clips use of at least 5 brief text slides, including one being a quote from the book background music editing needs to include transitions and animation overall time of trailer (1-2 min) Book Trailer Guidelines: Beginning include one or two slides to grab readers attention Middle include quotes from book and/or slides about the story s action/highlights End teasers/questions that leave reader wanting to read book/wondering what happens (don t give away the ending) Resources: To create your video, use free sites like WeVideo.com or Animoto.com. Other options include Windows Movie Maker or imovie. For images, simply using Google images is a great way to find great images related to the book. For videos from YouTube, you ll have to copy and paste the web address for the YouTube video into the following site - http://youtubeinmp4.com/ - and then upload that file into WeVideo. For help with sounds, use the following sites: http://www.grsites.com/sounds/ or http://www.freesound.org/index.php. These have free sound effects to use in your trailer. If you want to include your own voice as an audio component, use the free open source program Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/), supplementing your own scripted voice-overs with background music and other sounds. There are also a number of great apps on your phone that can also be used, too. For music to be used in the background, you can use www.youtube-mp3.org to download free music off of a YouTube music video.
How to submit: When you are all done and ready to finalize your video and submit it to me, follow these steps: Click Finish Under Destination, make sure both the WeVideo symbol is clicked ( ) and the Google Drive symbol ( ) Click Finish video (Note: this will take a few minutes) You will receive an e-mail from WeVideo letting you know that your video is published. In your e-mail, click on your video and it should take you to your WeVideo page with your actual video Now you need to share the link to the video with me so I can view your video without need your password, so to do this Click on the share link button ( ) in the bottom right Copy the link, then open up your email, and paste the link in an email to me You can also just go into your Google Drive, where you video will also be saved, and share it with me in there. Here is a video that can walk you through it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j6b3yvu_w0 Your video is not submitted and turned in until it is in my inbox and I can successfully open it up and watch it, so please double check that you have done this correctly.
Name(s): Video Book Trailer rubric Date: Synopsis of the Book How well does your trailer provide an idea of what the book is about? Is the main character and the problem the main character must solve stated? (10pts) 0 2 4 6 8 10 Text Do you have at least 5 brief text slides, including one being the title and author of the book? Is your text proofread? (10pts) 0 2 4 6 8 10 Editing How professionally put together is your trailer? Well organized? How smooth are your transitions? How well does your video flow? Did you effectively animate your visuals? (10pts) 0 2 4 6 8 10 Audio Do you have an audio component (background music, sound effects, or your voice) in your trailer? Is it appropriate for the message of your trailer? Does it distract the viewer or take away from the purpose of your trailer? (5 pts) 0 1 2 3 4 5 Visuals How well do you use still images in your trailer? Do you have at least 6 images, including one being the cover of the book? Do they help us understand what the book is about? Are they appropriate for the message you are trying to portray? (10 pts) 0 2 4 6 8 10 Organization Does your trailer have a hook at the beginning and a teaser at the end? How well organized are the images and information in your trailer? (5pts) 0 1 2 3 4 5 TOTAL: /50
Videos: http://williamkamkwamba.typepad.com/williamkamkwamba/photos.html http://on.cc.com/1mctx9p (The Daily Show - 2009) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ard374mfk4w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qknxt7mpwm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzlgydamupw