African Studies - Lesson Plans

Please click the titles below to download lesson plans.

Adinkra Printed Textiles from Ghana (9th - 12th grades) - created by Deborah Strother, Brown County Senior High School, during the 2009 Summer Institute

Adinkra Textiles Powerpoint

Annotated Bibliography Lesson Plan (7th - 12th grades) Karen Davis, Center Grove High School
Annotated Bibliography - Africa, specifically Senegal

Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart: for the classroom

Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart: Part of a Holistic Curriculum – Eve Eisenberg,
IUB "The Epistemology of the Novel: Achebe as Africa in American High Schools." – Eve Eisenberg, IUB

Human Rights Violations (Grades K - 12th) - John Fuller, Arsenal Technical High School

Kanga Patterns (6th - 8th grades) - Maggie Olivo, University Elementary

Local African News Stories (9th - 12th grades) - Lindsey Hood, Central Middle School; Jacinda Lettau, Southside High School; Dan Warkentien, Lebanon High School; and Micky Emily, Corydon High Central High School


Francophone Africa: Lessons from Cameroon

These LESSONS FROM CAMEROON are brought to you by the African Studies Program at Indiana University. They are the product of a Fulbright-Hays Group Project Abroad (GPA). During the summer of 1996, eleven middle school and high school French language teachers spent five weeks in Cameroon, studying about Francophone Africa, and about Cameroon in particular. As a result of the trip, the teachers developed curriculum units on a variety of topics.

The lessons are meant to be adapted to suit your class or teaching needs and are only select extracts from the original curriculum units. The hard copy versions of the original curriculum units are available from the Indiana University African Studies Program Outreach Library.

Click on a title below to go to a lesson plan.

Exploring Foods and Dining Patterns of Cameroon by Thomas Bastin

African-American Traditions: Cameroonian and African-Amerian Folktales by Kyra Beaver

Examples of Cameroonian Clothing by France Knable

Incorporating Cameroonian Cultures Into French Classes by Katrina Seibert


Teaching Resources Compiled by Other Universities

Understanding Sudan: A Teaching and Learning Resource - University of California, Berkeley

A series of teaching modules, that include PowerPoint presentations, assignments, exams and further resources, on topics ranging from politics, economics, ecology, and language.

Michigan State University

Includes links to teaching modules on South Africa’s transition from apartheid, West African textiles, and more than 60 lesson plans in its Exploring Africa! series.

University of Kansas

Features links to African related teaching resources developed by the New York Times, Discovery Channel, and a special series on teaching Africa in the Great Plains region of the US.

University of Wisconsin - Madison

Lesson plans and resources organized by grade-level, thematic subject, and country, as well as news sources, TED talks, and film directories.