Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime can be an incredibly fun unit for your English class! (Not sure why? Find out why you should teach it here.) Check out the following Born a Crime activities to create a unit your students will love!
(Want to skip the prep work and get to teaching? Grab my complete Born a Crime by Trevor Noah Unit Bundle here!)
The lesson plans and ideas I share below can be used for students with a variety of learning styles. And while I think Born a Crime is a better high school text, this series of ideas should work for middle school, too.
Born a Crime Activities #1: Build Background Knowledge
In any Born a Crime unit, the first goal will be to build background knowledge.
Even though the text is very accessible, students need a lot of historical context to appreciate the story fully.
Spend some solid time teaching students about apartheid. Not only is it important for understanding the text, but it’s valuable for students to study on its own too.
There are references throughout Born a Crime to apartheid legislation, Nelson Mandela, and other apartheid events. Be sure to give students an overview of apartheid and South African history from start to finish.
Students really need to understand how difficult Noah’s childhood was with a Black Xhosa mother and a white father in South Africa apartheid.
Resources And Lesson Plans for Building Background Knowledge
I also have an apartheid resource you can use with a slideshow, guided notes, and two activities.
While you’re discussion apartheid, you can segue into a larger discussion with your students about institutional racism. Undoubtedly, they’ll be able to draw parallels from the history of apartheid to today.
Save time for a range of collaborative discussions and prepare some discussion questions. I think you’ll find that your students have a lot to say!
You’ll also want to spend some time introducing students to Trevor Noah himself. This could be a quick overview of his life, but you’ll probably want to include some videos, too.
Some students may have heard of him from his time on The Daily Show. However, as Noah’s hosting days fade behind him, you’ll have to spend more time covering who Trevor Noah is.
If you want some help, I have a Born a Crime Introduction lesson here that covers Trevor Noah and gives some brief information about South Africa and apartheid as well.
Born a Crime Activities #2: Analyze Themes
There are so many deep themes in Born a Crime; you won’t want your students to miss them!
Analyze themes through writing, close reading, or classroom discussions.
I’ve always found students to have a strong sense of justice, so exploring the larger themes around oppression and lack of opportunities while reading is sure to be a hit.
If you want students to spend some time reflecting on their own lives, you could also spend a lot of time exploring the theme of identity. In his memoir, Noah often mentions feeling like a “chameleon.” This could be a feeling that some of your students relate to.
Give students time to analyze or journal about the ideas Noah presents throughout the text.
Resources And Lesson Plans for Analyzing Thematic Ideas
If you have limited time, you can touch on the novel’s themes without spending days and days going deep. My Born a Crime Reading Journal has a variety of activities such as having students respond to a free response question, identity charts, or answer analysis questions with sufficient evidence.
If you want to go deep into themes, you could assign a Thematic Analysis Essay as a final product to your Born a Crime unit. In a thematic analysis essay, students will identify a central idea of a text.
In my Born a Crime lesson plan for this, students will track thematic ideas while reading. Then, they’ll choose one central theme to focus on. Supporting their ideas with thorough textual evidence and specific examples, students will identify a thematic message in Noah’s work.
They will also, of course, be expected to demonstrate a command of formal English.
Born a Crime Activities #3: Explore Literary Techniques
As a memoir, Born a Crime presents students with the chance to do some solid literary analysis.
Noah is an excellent storyteller, and he uses many literary techniques to tell his story.
You can have students track the figurative language Noah uses to describe his childhood.
There are also a ton of allusions to both historical events and pop culture throughout the novel. My Born a Crime Reading Journal includes a graphic organizer for tracking these allusions, but you could certainly make your own.
Have students choose a historical allusion to complete a short research project about. (Noah goes into a tangent in his novel about King Leopold II; I, personally, think this allusion in particular could lead to some juicy research and discussions!)
(I’ve got a great blog post on teaching allusions over here!)
Examining Noah’s literary techniques can be a great way to explore the difference between an autobiography and a memoir.
Born a Crime Activities #4: Use Multimedia
As I’ve said before, you should use video to introduce students to Trevor Noah.
But, really, you should use lots of video! There is an endless amount of Trevor Noah content available for free on platforms like YouTube and Comedy Central.
You will have to spend some time sorting through videos to find content that is safe for your classroom, but it’s time well spent. Before and while reading, share videos of Trevor Noah performing, hosting, and being interviewed. (My free Born a Crime Pacing Guide has links to videos you might find helpful.)
He has quite a few videos talking about his South African childhood that relate to Born a Crime perfectly. There are also some interviews out there in which he shares more information about his white Swiss father, his Black mother, and his unusual family.
Not only will students learn more about the author, but they will come to like him as a person. This will encourage them to be more engaged during the reading and class.
Plus, when do we have the opportunity to laugh in English Language Arts? So much of our literary canon consists of depressing texts. Take the opportunity to watch funny videos with your students while the unit allows!
Don’t Forget the Audiobook!
Also, don’t forget to make use of the audiobook. It’s read by Trevor Noah himself. As a master of accents and languages, Noah’s reading of the book is superb.
Unfortunately, the audiobook is only available for the unabridged version. If you’re using the Young Readers version, however, I still encourage you to grab the audiobook. Listening to excerpts is still better than no audiobook at all.
There have also been talks about turning Born a Crime into a movie. Maybe one day soon you’ll have that piece of multimedia to add to your unit, too!
Born a Crime Activities #5: Write Your Own Memoir
Born a Crime is a great exploration of memoirs as a genre. As I’ve said before, Trevor Noah’s use of literary elements makes his story contrast with a drier biography.
Like Trevor Noah, your students have a story to tell. Let them practice telling it!
When it comes to creative writing, students often have a hard time letting themselves imagine and get creative. Not having a “right answer” is often scary.
Writing memoirs is the perfect bridge between analytical and creative writing. Students can explore using literary devices in their own writing without having to worry about brainstorming plots and characters from scratch because they’ve already lived the story!
There are a ton of ways to have students engage in memoir writing. Searching around the internet will result in fun activities like a six-word memoir.
You can have students write a short story about their own life or even a memoir-style comic book.
Use Trevor Noah’s memoir as a mentor text for students. He takes his memories and re-tells them through a comedic lens. Can your students do the same? Or is there a different tone or approach that better suits their story?
Conclusion
Born a Crime is fun to read, teach, and study. Be sure to include a variety of tasks and activities in your unit. You can find even more teaching tips for Born a Crime here!
This might be the perfect time to add some creative projects or fun videos to your normal ELA lessons! Plus, this novel offers opportunities to discuss deep ideas like unconditional love, the importance of language, and institutionalized racism with your students.
Want to skip the prep on your Born a Crime unit? Grab my complete Born a Crime by Trevor Noah Unit here!