Nigeria Lesson Plan

COMPARING THE WISDOM OF PLACES:
 Nigerian Yoruba Proverbs and Colonial American Proverbs of Benjamin Franklin

by Kathy Sundstedt

 

INQUIRY QUESTION:

How do Nigerian Yoruba proverbs compare to Colonial American proverbs?


OBJECTIVE:

Students will see similarities between proverbs from Nigeria and Colonial America.


STANDARDS:

Standard 4: The human characteristics of places
Standard 10: The characteristics, distribution, and complexity of Earth's cultural mosaics.


THEMES:

Location (Nigeria and US)


MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES:

Verbal Linguistic
Intrapersonal
Interpersonal


MATERIALS:

Proverb set 1 and 2


ACTIVITY:

1. Introduce the idea of proverbs by suggesting that the teacher reads and students orally respond complete such such well known proverbs as, "A penny saved is a penny ..."
2. Ask students what some of the proverbs mean and how they have come to know these sayings.
3. Ask if any have heard of Benjamin Franklin or his Poor Richard's Almanac which is a collection of scientific knowledge and often rhyming porverbs thought of in the middle 1700's.
4. Ask if they think other cultures collect wisdom into wise sayings, too.
5. Point out the geographic location of Nigeria. Explain that it is a society with over 200 ethnic groups. One of the largest ethnic groups is the Yoruba, from which these proverbs come.
6. Hand out the proverbs: Set One. Ask students to match those they are quite certain of first and then the others. Compare answers with partners. ANSWERS: 1-e, 2-c, 3-b, 4-h, 5-b, 6-j, 7-g, 8-d
7. Discuss. Ask: What particular proverbs show that there may be cultural and geographic differences between the Yoruba and Americans, as well as similarities. For example, in Set One #5, the use of the world "chief" rather than mayor.
8. Set Two may be used as assessment or futher practice. ANSWERS: 1-i, 2-h, 3-d, 4-f, 5-b, 6-j, 7-g, 8-e, 9-a, 10-c


ASSESSMENTS:

1. Choose three proverbs and put into modern day words or using modern references. For example, "An eye for and eye perpetuates vengefulness" might become "what goes around comes around."
2. Illustrate a proverb, or cut out suitable magazine pictures.
3. Pretend you are a TV reporter in NIgeria. Write an interview between you and a Nigerian which uses several Yoruba proverbs.
4. Pretend you are running for governor of Oyo, a predominantly Yoruba state. Write a speech which works in several Yoruba proverbs to make your people feel you are one of them.
5. Give a personal example of how you learned one of these turths.

 

COMPARING THE WISDOM OF PLACES:
Nigerian Yoruba Proverbs and Colonial American proverbs of Benjamin Franklin

Background Information:

Wisdom is often collected in short, easy to remember sayings called proverbs. The Yoruba are people who live in southerwestern Nigeria, which is in west Africa. Their wisdom is strikingly similar to some of the ideas expressed by the colonial American printer and statesman, Ben Franklin.

Directions:

Match each of following Yoruba proverbs to one with a similar meaning written by Benjamin Franklin. Some of the words used are defined.

Set One

Yoruba Proverb

 		 

Proverbs of Benjamin Franklin
     
1. The river that forgets its source will dry up.  

a. Haste makes waste.
2. If one is made chief of the hawks, one should be able to catch chickens.   b. If God saith, it must be so.
3. The crowning of the lion is not without the Creator’s sanction   c. Do not do that which you would not have known.
4. The mouth must not relate everything the eyes see.   d. Learn of the skillful: He that teaches himself has a fool for a master.
5. To be happy in one’s home is better than to be a chief.   e. Think of three things: whence you come, where you are going, and to whom you must account.
6. Extreme haste and slothfulness may lead to the same result.   f. He that’s content has enough
7. The truthful person is considered the difficult person in the community.   g. Love your enemy, for they tell you your faults.
8. Making use of the wisdom of others prevents an elderly person from being considered stupid.   h. He that speaks much is much mistaken.
     

Vocabulary

   Vocabulary
3. sanction: agreement   b. saith: says
6. haste: hurry   f. content: satisfied
7. slothfulness: laziness    

 

 

 

Directions:

Match each of following Yoruba proverbs to one with a similar meaning written by Benjamin Franklin.

Yoruba Proverb

 		 

Proverbs of Benjamin Franklin
     
1. An eye for an eye perpetuates vengefulness.  

a. A penny saved is a penny earned; save and have.

2. He who cannot swim must not jump into a deep river.

   b. He that lies down with dogs shall rise up with fleas.

3. A friend is known for certain when one is in difficulty.

   c. Gifts burst rocks.
4. An accused who accepts his guilt will not linger long in a kneeling position.   d. A false friend and a shadow attend only when the sun shines.

5. A person is judged in accordance with the company he keeps.

   e. Man’s tongue is soft and bone doth lack; yet a stroke therewith may break a man’s back.
6. A reputable person walks with dignity in the presence of detractors; he struts with dignity in the presence of slanderers.   f. None but the well-bred man knows how to confess a fault or acknowledge himself in error.

7. Laziness spreads a mat for hunger.

   g. Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

8. If one throws pebbles into the center of the market, they are likely to strike one’s relatives.

   h. He who sows thorns should not go barefoot.
9. A spendthrift forgets that what is plentiful today may be scarce tomorrow.   i. Doing an injury puts you below your enemy; revenging one makes you but even with him; Forgiving it sets you above him.

10. People lick not the hand that is soaked in blood, but the hand that is soaked in oil.

   j. Dirt may stick to a mud wall, but not to polished marble.
     
Vocabulary   Vocabulary
1. perpetuates: continues   e. doth: does
4. linger: stay   f. acknowledge: admit
6. reputable: a person with a good reputation   h. sows: plants
9. spendthrift: one who spends too much money