SL 5 activities Weeks 10-36 Compiled by Gail in TX WEEKS 10-15: CHINA GAMES: LAME CHICKEN: for each team, ten sticks are laid on the ground about a foot apart, parallel to each other like the rungs of a ladder. The teams line up behind each other, about five yards away from the first stick. At a signal, the first player from each team hops up to the sticks, hops over them one at a time, picks up the last one, hops back with it and places it at the beginning. Then, the next player does the same, and so on, until every member of the team has hopped through the ladder. The winning team is the one that completes the sequence first. CHUCK STONE: for any age and for any number of players. There or more piles of small stones are placed in a row about a foot apart. Each player has to say which pile and stone he is aiming at before he throws his stone. If he hits his target, he keeps it and has another turn until he misses. As the piles get knocked down, the odd stones remain where they are and become targets. The winner is the one with the most stones at the end. CHINESE VERSION OF JANKEN (see Japan) The Chinese have a game using five fingers, which is played in the same way as Janken. The thumb represents the sun, the index finger is clouds, the middle finger is wind, the ring finger is smoke, and the little finger is eyes. The order of precedence is that the sun is hidden by clouds; clouds are swept away by wind; wind chases smoke; smoke gets in the eyes. If the changer shows the little finger for eyes, the players must rub their eyes to wipe away the tears caused by the smoke. NEKKI: a traditional children's game. A tree branch or bamboo cane about a foot long with a point at one end is stuck in the ground. The players stand behind a throwing line and take turns to try to knock over the upright stick by throwing their own sticks at it. This is an old game which may have originally been played when the "nekki", the piece of wood which supported the traditional New Year's pine and bamboo decoration, was driven into the ground. CRAFT IDEAS: Make a kite Chinese Dragon Boat Festival: at this festival, races are held in brightly colored boats that are decorated with dragons' heads and tails. Everybody makes a lot of noise and splashes the water. Many believe the festival is based on the story of a poet called Qu Yuan, who lived in ancient China. Qu Yuan thought the rulers of his day were cruel and unfair, so he decided to drown himself in protest. He threw himself into the middle of the river. All the villagers raced their boats across the river to try to save Qu Yuan, but they were too late. The poet drowned. The villagers were worried that the fish in the lake would disturb the poet's body, so they made lots of noise to frighten the fish away. To make a paper dragon you will need: cardboard white glue pencil round-ended scissors colored felt-tip markers sequins foil two very long strips of paper about 30"X1" 1. Make the dragon's body with two strips of paper. Glue one end of the two strips together at right angles. 2. Fold the bottom strip over the top strip, and then fold the top strip over the bottom strip. Continue until you have a "concertina" of paper. Glue the ends together. 3. Draw and cut out a dragon's head. Decorate it with felt-tip markers, colored paper, foil, and sequins. 4. Stick the dragon's head to one end of the dragon's body. Make a paper tail by curling long triangular strips of paper around the end of a pair of round-ended scissors. Glue these to the other end of the dragon. Chinese Dragon: using boxes to make dragon Paper Lanterns: you will need cotton thread paper pencil round-ended scissors transparent tape ruler craft knife 1. Using a craft knife, cut three sides of long rectangular strips or two sides of triangular shapes from one or more sheets of paper leaving the borders of the paper uncut. Gently curl them around a pair of round-ended scissors. (example below) ____________________________________________ l l l ----------------------------------------------l l l ----------------------------------------------l l l l----------------------------------------------- l l l----------------------------------------------- l l ----------------------------------------------l l l ----------------------------------------------l l l l----------------------------------------------- l l l----------------------------------------------- l l l l-------------------------------------------------------------l 2. On another sheet of paper, draw an even number of half shapes that fit inside each other. Using a craft knife, carefully cut around each line. Fold back every other strip of paper. Experiment with triangles, circles, and squares. (For example, a half circle would look like a rainbow. You would cut out the different lines of color but not the bottom of the rainbow that would be on the ground.) 3. When you have made cut-outs all over your piece of paper, stick the sides of the paper together to make a lantern. Attach some thread to the top of the lantern. Hang it by the window so light can shine through it. INTERNET WEB SITES: Abacus Lesson Plan: http://askeric.org/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Social_Studies/A nthr\opology/ANT0200.html Foot Binding: http://askeric.org/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Social_Studies/A nthr\opology/ANT0201.html Rice Lesson Plan: a very important food for Asia. They also had some clipart for Asian countries. http://www.askasia.org/frclasrm/lessplan/1000008.htm Chinese Proverbs: http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/China/proverb.html#d Hudson Taylor: more information Http://www.wwy.org/wwy2997.html Virtual Tour of China: http://www.chinavista.com/travel/virtualtours.html Scroll down to "Special Recommendations" to choose sites to view. VIDEOS: "Beyond Rangoon", about the Chinese overrunning Burma in 1988 "Seven Years in Tibet", Chinese invasion of Tibet in WWII. "Inn of Sixth Happiness" (Missionary to China...Gladys Alward) "Empire of the Sun" (older kids....Americans in China imprisoned by Japanese in WWII) "The Last Emperor" "China Cry" ADDITIONAL READERS: Nim and the War Effort (WWII/Chinese immigrants) Millie Lee Moon Blossom & the Golden Penny (China) Louis Slobodkin Eyes of the Dragon (China) Margaret Leaf Yeh Shen" (China) Ai-Ling Louie Beautiful Warrior (China) Emily McCully The Story About Ping (China) The Little Llama of Tibet, (Buddhism) Lois Raimondo Beautiful Warrior, (China) Emily McCully Ancient China: The Great Wall by Fisher The Silk Route by Major Between the Dragon and the Eagle by Schneider Tales of a Chinese Grandmother by Carpenter Twelfth to Eighteenth Century China: Story of Marco Polo by Brooks, 12th century Judge Dee at Work: Eight Chinese Detective Stories by Robert Hans van Gulik The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen by Lloyd Alexander Nineteenth and Twentieth Century China: To the top by Kramer, 19th century, Everest Flight of the Fugitives by Jackson, Trailblazer Mask of the Wolf Boy by Dave & Netta Jackon (Boxer Rebellion) China's Long March: 6,000 Miles of Danger by Fritz (20th century) A Little Tiger in the Chinese Night by Zhang A Boy's War (expatriots in Japanese Prison Camp) The Children of China by Zhang (Revolutionary Period) WEEKS 18 & 19: RUSSIA CRAFTS: Pysanky Eggs: these eggs (pronounced peh-SAN-key) were originally made in Ukraine. They were traditionally made at Easter, but you can make them anytime all year. In the Ukraine, decorated eggs were kept in the house to ensure a healthy family and to keep away evil spirits. Even now, each year at Easter, eggs are exchanged among friends and relatives. They are painstakingly decorated to express good wishes for the receiver. A young couple could be given eggs decorated wit storks, chicks, hens, and roosters to help them start a new family, while a farmer would be given an egg with wheat shafts and farming tool shapes for good luck in the harvest. What you need: eggs (Do not boil the eggs. They're made for decorating, not for eating.) egg cartons short candle dyes: bright powdered dyes from art supply store or regular Easter egg dyes cotton swabs kistka tool for applying wax in a fine line (see instructions below to make kitska tool) What you do: 1. Prepare the powdered dyes by mixing them with water in glass jars. 2. Light the candle (keep long sleeves and longhair away from flame) and warm the nail (or funnel end) of the kistka. 3. Dip the nail head into the melted was (or scoop up melted wax from the candle into the funnel end of the kistka). 4. Quickly draw on the egg with a thin line of wax. 5. Redip the nail head in the melted wax (or scoop more melted wax into the funnel end and warm the point of the kitska) and draw on the egg with more wax. Put wax on all the places you want to be white on the finished egg. The traditional order for using dyes is yellow, orange, red, blue, and black. (Feel free to experiment, but keep in mind that you should start with the lightest color and end with the darkest.) 6. Using a spoon, carefully lower the fragile egg into yellow dye and let it soak for 5 minutes. 7. Remove the egg and let it dry about 5 minutes. The, apply wax to all the areas you want to remain yellow. 8. Dye the egg in orange, again leaving it in the dye for 5 minutes. After the egg dries, apply wax to all the areas you want to stay orange. Use the same method to dye the egg in red, blue, and black. 9. When the egg has dried after the last color dye, hold it for a couple of seconds in front of the candle flame until the wax on that one part is melted. Then rub off he melted wax quickly and gently with a rag or tissue. 10. Continue melting the wax on other parts of the egg until it's completely removed. You now have a beautiful egg to give as a gift or to use as a decoration! Making a Kistka: you'll need a pencil with an eraser and a small nail. To use the kistka, push the nail into the eraser and dip the nail head in wax to draw on the egg. Preserving the Egg: traditional eggs still have the raw egg inside, but because the egg could go bad and cause an awful smell, it's a good idea to blow out the egg. You have to do this after all the dyeing is completed or else the empty egg will float in the dye or fill up with dye. You may want to practice on a couple of plain raw eggs first. Blow eggs out side over the soil or inside over a bowl or sink. Don't use the egg for food, because the dyes are poisonous and may have seeped inside. What you do: 1. Carefully prick a hole in each end of the egg with an opened paper clip, needle, or pin. Make one hole a little larger than the other. 2. Cut a drinking straw into three pieces and use one short straw piece to blow air into the smaller hole. You use the straw so your mouth doesn't touch the poisonous dye. Watch the gooey egg ooze out the larger hole. 3. Blow until the inside is empty. Let the egg dry inside and out. GAMES: HOLE BALL: a small ball is aimed at a series of holes. The game must therefore be played on soft ground, sand, or snow to make it possible to dig the holes, which should be positioned in a straight line, each about one yard away from the next. The players stand behind each other about three yards away from the first hole. There must be as many holes as there are players, so that the first player in the line has hole number one, the second player has hole number two, etc. The first player aims at a hole and throws the ball at it; if it lands in the fourth hole, he scores four and so one. The player whose hole the ball last landed on has the next turn. If the ball does not land in a hole, the last player chooses who should go next. Decide at the beginning of the game what the winning score will be, and the winner is the first one to reach that score. ADDITIONAL READERS: Kashtanka, (Russia) Anton Chekhov Ivan the Terrible, by Thomas Butson. Chelsea House Pub, 1987 Stories from Old Russia, by Edward Dolch and Marguerite P. Dolch. Garrard Pub. Co., 1964. The Keeping Quilt, by Pat Palacco. Simon and Schuster, 1988. illus. story of Russia customs and a quilt that is handed down through several generations. Many of her books center on her Russian heritage. This is beautiful story and illustrations and warm family values. The following books are by Mary M. Rodgers, Tom Streissguth, and Coleen Sexten. Lerner Publications Co., 1993. There are probably more in the series. Kazahstan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan Usbekistan Anastasia of the Royal Diaries series Baba Yaga by Ernest Small. Houghton Mifflin Co., 1966. Baba Yaga is a witch in a truly Russian fairy tale. There are many Baba Yaga fairy tales. Peter the Great, by Diane Stanley. illus. short book with good history of Peter the Great. Festivals of the World: Russia, by Harunah White. Gareth Stevens > Pub., 1997. Russian Tales of Fabulous Beasts and Marvels, by Lee Wyndham. Parent's Magazine Press, 1969. VIDEOS: "Behind Kremlin Walls". MPI Home Video Productions of an ABC News Productions, 1990. "Central Asia: Kirghizstan and Uzbekistan", Lonely Planet Publications/Pilor Productions, CA, 1996. "Destination: Kyrgzstan", World Wise Schools, Washington DC, 1993. "Nutcracker" (or see a production live, if possible) MUSIC: "Peter and the Wolf" INTERNET WEB SITES: Former Russia Maps: http://facstaff.uww.edu/rambadtd/russia/russhome.htm WEEK 20: CENTRAL ASIA VIDEOS: "Seven Years in Tibet" INTERNET WEB SITE: an aid project to Mongolian orphans based in Flagstaff, AZ, documents a trip several people took last October to deliver warm clothes and other donations into the hands of needy children http://www.infomagic.com/~boyofoto http://www.asiaforkids.com ADDITIONAL READERS: "Suho and the White Horse" (Mongolia) Yuzo Otsuka "The Khan's Daughter", by Lawrence Yep "Big Tiger and Christian" by Muhlenweg (set in Mongolia in 1922) WEEK 21: SOUTHEAST ASIA A NOTE FROM DENISE MILLER ABOUT CAMBODIA: Many countries do not allow Christian missionaries into their country. But they will allow "relief" organizations. These groups usually call their members "ambassadors". The word "missionary" can even put them in danger. Sonlight uses the word "ambassador" because it ships to these countries. My brother and his family live in Cambodia. They call themselves "relief workers". GAMES: KULIT K'RANG: girls sit in a circle with a bowl in the middle, and each player has twenty cockleshells. They take turns to put a shell on the back of their hands, toss it up into the air, pick up another one, and catch the tossed shell as it comes down. If they drop either of the shells, they have to put a shell in the bowl in the middle. The last player to have a shell left is the winner. CONGKLAK: In Indonesia, played like Mancala. YO-YOs:: the Greeks and Romans played with yo-yos, although they may have first been made in the Philippines long before. SUNKA: played much like Mancala, but there are seven holes in a row which represent huts, and the holes at the ends are called manors. The game begins with seven shells in each hut, and some of the rules are slightly different. (See under Africa for directions to make a Mancala game board and instructions for the African version of the game.) ADDITIONAL READERS: About Vietnam: The Man in the box by Dunn Vietnam War, (Vietnamese boy helps Am. Pilot escape) Park's Quest by Paterson, post Vietnam War (boy discovers he has a Vietnamese half-brother) Dr. Tom Dooley: My Story by Dooley, early Vietnam War Sweet Dried apples: A Vietnamese Wartime Childhood by Rosemary Breckler A Boat to Nowhere by Maureen Crane Wartski About Southeast Asia: Children of the River by Crew, Cambodia (Cambodian adjust to American life and customs) Dia's Story Cloth by Dia Cha (folk stories of the Hmong people) What Your Sixth Grader Needs to Know, E. D. Hirsch, good synopsis of Vietnam war Water Buffalo Days, Nhuong, Viet Nam (same author as Land I Love) WEEK 22-27: India CRAFTS: Easy Batik: Archaeologists have found evidence of batik in the Far East, the Middle East, Central Asia, and India. You will need: a mixing bowl flour and water a thick paintbrush a bucket rubber gloves cold water dye (can be found at most crafts stores) a knife a tablespoon a white cotton handkerchief 1. Mix 4 T. of flour with 3 T. of water to make a smooth paste. 2. Use a paintbrush to paint a thick layer of past all over the handkerchief on both sides. Let the paste dry overnight. 3. When the handkerchief is dry, scrunch it up so that the past cracks and looks like dry earth. 4. Follow the instructions on the packet carefully and wear rubber gloves. Soak the handkerchief in the dye for about one hour. Then take it out and rinse it thoroughly in cold water. Hang it up to dry. 5. When the handkerchief is dry, us a knife to scrape away any past that is left. Rinse the handkerchief again, then wash it in soapy water and let it dry. Always wash your dyed handkerchief separately in case the dye runs. Try making some different batik patterns. For example, you might paint paste circles on a handkerchief and then dye it. Raksha Bandhan: Raksha bandhan is a festival celebrated by most Hindu and Sikh families. It's a day when families remind each other how much they love one another. On this day, a sister ties a plaited bracelet, called a rakhi, around her brother's wrist, and he promises to look after her. There are many stories about Raksha Bandhan. Here is a Hindu story. Indra, who was the King of the Gods, lost his heavenly kingdom in a war with the demon King Bali. Indra's wife prayed for help. Them, Lord Vishnu gave her an amulet, or luck charm, which he told her to tie around Indra's wrist. The amulet protected Indra in battle, and good triumphed over evil. To make a Rakhi you will need: strips of fabric, yarn, or thread that are roughly two and a half times the length of the plait, or braid, you want to make cardboard cut into round shapes white glue beads, sequins, markers, to decorate cardboard Here's how to do it: Knot the ends of the ribbon together, and divide the number of strands by three. Braid as you would braid hair. Decorate a small circle of cardboard with foil and sequins. Sew the decorated circle to the middle of the plaited band. INDIA PARTY IDEA from Julie Bogart: We decorated the room with low tables, pillows to sit on and hung a piece of fabric over the entrance to the living room. The girls all received a gold sequin for their foreheads and had their heads covered in colorful scarves. We used Jelly Roll copper-colored pens to decorate their hands like they do in India with henna (called Mehndi). We played a game called, "Pin the bathing woman on the Ganges River." This was the biggest hit! My daughter had drawn a map of India (with the topographical colors) and very detailed pictures of Indian women in various stages of bathing. What fun. We ate a full Indian meal (curried lentils, chapatis--like tortillas, fruit--papaya and mango, and finished the meal with chai--tea in milk with spices and sugar). We played Indian games, we made welcome mats with chalk and dressed the girls in sheets made to look like saris. The most schoolish thing we did: my dd made posters called "Did you know?" She made nine that had interesting factoids like, "Did you know that India made the first toilet?" and "Did you know that the Indian elephant weighs 12,000 lbs.?" The girls had two minutes to read them all and then went into a different room to jot down what they could remember. We did the same with ten Hindi words. The day went so well, but I am exhausted! In addition to the India party, I mailed my book proposal the day before. Big sigh. I am heading for the bathtub with a Mitford book. :-) Nice to do it right once in awhile. The "good mother" feeling is always one I welcome. Thanks for sharing in it with me. VIDEOS: "Beyond the Next Mountain" (missionary story--headhunting tribes in India) "Ghandi" "Candle in the Dark" "A Passage to India" "The Great India Railway", National Geographic The North India experience" Varanas through the Himalayas, by Lonely Planet Prod. "Man-Eaters of India", National Geographic, about Jim Corbett "Around the World in 80 Days", there are two versions, both good ADDITIONAL READERS: Favorite Folk Tales Told in India, compiled by Virginia Haviland Folk Tales of India by Brenda Beck Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young , The Valiant Chattee-Maker: a folk tale of India by Christine Price Once a Mouse by Hito Padesa The Stolen Necklace by Anne Rockwell The Beautiful Blue Jay and other tales of India John W. Spellman Rum Pum Pum - pick any author The Tiger and the Brahmin The Magic Cooking Pot by Faith Towle Adventure Book - one of her ongoing series Tigers at Twilight by Mary Pope Osborne - 1-2nd grade reading level Jim Corbett's India Stories compiled by R.E. Hawkins Man-eaters of Kumaon by Jim Corbett - 188 pages Calliope, January 2000 issue :Ashoka, India's Philosopher King The magazine is published by Cobblestone Publishers INTERNET WEB SITE: Indian Music: http://www.number1media.com/ MISSIONS: Bibles of the World has created packages to distribute Bibles to people in India. One package is $10 (suggested donation). It includes 4 Bibles, 4 mailing labels, 4 cardboard packages, & 4 customs labels. When you receive your package, you are encouraged to pray for the people on the mailing label that will receive the Bible. You then package each one up individually, then you take your packages to the post office & mail them International Surface Book Rate $1.56 each. Simple, yet potentially life changing! These names/addresses came from the phone books of major cities in India. Bibles for the World have received letters of how life changing receiving a Bible has been. Address for Bibles for the World is: PO Box 36888, Colorado Springs CO 80936-6888. WEEKS 28-30: MIDDLE EAST VIDEOS: Reader's Digest Life and Times of Jesus (3 volume video about the historical/ cultural aspect of Israel at the time of Christ) Reader's Digest Life and Times of Jesus (3 volume video about the historical/cultural aspect of Israel at the time of Christ) GAMES: Make and play a dreidel NOMADS AND SETTLERS is a game with sticks and stones. The players divide into two equal teams. The Settlers gather as many sticks and stones as they can find and place them in a large circle drawn on the ground. They join hands around the circle to try to stop the Nomads from entering it. The Nomads draw another circle around the Settlers' circle, about three yards from the inner circle. This space between the two circles is No Man's Land. The Nomads charge from their territory and try to dodge between the Settlers to steal their sticks and stones. The Nomads are not allowed to use their hands to get past the Settlers; they can only push with their hands and shoulders. If a Nomad gets in the circle, he must be allowed out with his booty, but once he is out of No Man's Land, he can be chased and captured by being touched with the palms of both hands. The game ends wither when all the Nomads have been captured or all the sticks and stones have been taken. INTERNET WEB SITES: Sudan: http://www.AngelsinSudan.com A web site that features facts about Sudan, ongoing efforts to end the genocide, tools and resources you can use to be an angel in Sudan, and arts and culture, such as Dinka hymns, poems about Sudan, photos and art work, and even recipes. Syria: The Story of Music: (This is from The Learning Kingdom's Cool Fact of the Day for August 18, 2000) In Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra) in Syria, an ancient tablet was discovered in the 1950s dating back to 1400 BC. The oldest known musical score, it takes the form of interval names and number signs, and even has lyrics. The text is identified as a hymn to the moon goddess Nikkal. There is some controversy among ancient musicologists over the proper interpretation of the notes, but all agree that it is a genuine musical score. The markings were made in cuneiform (wedge-shaped symbols) in the Hurrian language, and there is an exact correspondence between the syllables of the text and the musical notes. The find was especially interesting because it overturned conventional views of ancient music, showing that the diatonic (7-note) scale and musical harmony were in use more than a thousand years earlier than was thought. Listen to the song and read about the different interpretations: http://members.aol.com/jazzdd/index.htm/westhuri.htm More about the "oldest song in the world" with drawings of the tablet: http://www.webster.sk.ca/greenwish/EVIDENCE.HTM ADDITIONAL READERS: "Latkes and Applesauce", (Judaism) FManushkin WEEKS 31-36: AFRICA: FOOD: Jollof Rice 1 fryer, cut up 2 small onions, chopped 2 tbsp oil 1 cup rice (I used brown) 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper 1/4 tsp thyme 1 can of tomatoes 1 3/4 cup water 1 cup frozen veggies (I used more) Brown the chicken pieces in the oil in a large heavy pot (I used my Dutch oven). Remove and keep warm in the oven while you brown the onion. add the rice, stirring to make sure the rice is coated with the oil (I used less oil). Add the seasonings, pour in the tomatoes, water and veggies and stir. put the chicken pieces on top of the rice and veggies and bake at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour. GAMES: DERRAH: played in Nigeria, which is like Tic-Tac-Toe in its aim to make a row of three. It is also a game for two players. The grid is made up of six rows of seven columns, and each player needs twelve counters of his color. Begin the game by placing all the counters on the board, taking turns. Any squares can be used. Then, each player in turn moves one counter at a time up, down, or sideways, but not diagonally, to try to make a row of three. Each time he does so, he takes one of his opponent's counters off the board. The game ends when one player cannot make any more rows of three; he is the loser. (like Connect Four) MANCALA: to make this game, assemble the following materials: Note: Mancala is played in many countries with variations for each one. I know two of these, Nigerian and Egyptian. Search the internet and you can find many others. a clean egg carton, white or gray, with little or no printing on it (one made to hold 12 eggs) 15"X3" piece of heavy cardboard, for the base 2 small paper cups, scissors glue 48 objects for hasa (marbles, rocks, shells, nuts, dried beans, seeds, buttons, or beads); they should be 1/4" or 1/2" around and all about the same size. Here's how to do it: 1. Cut off the top of the egg carton. You are going to use just the bottom part. 2. Glue the bottom of the carton to the middle of the piece of cardboard. Cut the top off each of the paper cups so that only about 2" of each cup remains. Glue each cup to the board at the end of the egg carton. 3. Put aside the forty-eight objects you have decided to use. Review the rules for the game, which follow, and then start to play. Good Luck! Rules for Playing Mankala The game is played with two opponents facing each other across the board. Each player has six cups (compartments in the egg carton) on his side. Each cup contains four of the playing pieces (like seeds or marbles). An empty bank is on the end to his right (the paper cup). The game begins when the first player picks up the four pieces from any cup on his side and distributes them one by one, beginning with the cup immediately to the right of the empty one, and continuing counterclockwise around the board. He picks up all the pieces from the cup into which he drops the last piece. He continues in this fashion, leaving the last cup empty and dropping his next piece into the next cup. His turn ends when he drops his last piece into an empty cup. Points are always scored in groups of four pieces. Whenever the first player drops his last piece into a cup that already has three (giving the cup four pieces), he collects those four for his bank and his turn is over. If he drops a fourth piece (not his last) into a cup during a move, however, the four pieces immediately go to his opponent. The first player does not collect the four pieces unless the fourth piece was the last one in his had. He finished his turn by dropping his last piece into an empty cut or into a cup already containing three pieces. During the player's turn, his opponent collects pieces for his bank every the first player drops a fourth piece into a cup already containing three, unless the fourth piece was the first player's last piece. When the first player's turn ends, his opponent takes up the pieces from any cup on his side and distributes them in the same way. The game continues until all of the pieces are collected in the banks. The player who collects the next- to-the-last four pieces earns the last four as a bonus. The player who has collected the most pieces wins the round, and takes over any one cup on his opponent's side as his own. The game can end at any time decided in advance by the players. It can end after a certain number of plays or after one player scores 100 points, or it can go on until one player has taken over all of his opponent's cups. LANGUAGE The Akan tribe of West Africa believes that a person's first name is his soul name. It is taken from the name of the day that he or she is born on. They believe there are seven different kinds of life-souls—one for each day of the week—and people born on the same day have the same kind of soul. Ask your parents what day of the week you were born on so that you can find out your Akan name. Days of the Week: (Akan tribe of West Africa) Girl's Name Boy's Name Monday (Dwoda) Adwoa Kwadwo Tuesday (Benada) Abena Kwabena Wednesday (Wukuda) Akua Kwaku Thursday (Yawda) Yaa Yaw Friday (Fida) Afua Kofi Saturday (Memeneda) Ama Kwame Sunday (Kwasida) Akosua Kwasi FOOD: This is a weblink to a host of African recipes and information on African food from the Congo. http://www.geocities.com/NapaValley/Vineyard/9119/ Banana Fritters: fried fruits and vegetables are quite popular all over the African continent. Ingredients 1 1/4 c. flour 1/4 c. sugar 1 tsp. ground cinnamon 1 egg 1/2 c. milk 3 medium bananas, mashed oil for deep-frying confectioner's sugar 1. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon. Beat egg. Add milk gradually, continuing to beat until batter is smooth and satiny, about 5 minutes. Stir in the bananas and let mixture sit while the oil is heating. 2. Use a medium-high flame on the stove to heat the oil. Take out about 1/4 c. of the batter and pour it, all at once, quickly, into the hot oil. Let brown 2-3 min.; turn with slotted spoon. 3. Remove when golden brown to paper towels to drain. Keep warm in a low-temp oven. Spring with confectioner's. sugar. Injera Ethiopian Flat Bread Ingredients: 4 c. self-rising flour 1 c. whole wheat flour 1 tsp. baking powder 2 c. club soda water vegetable oil to grease the frying pan Here's how to do it: 1. Combine flours and baking powder in a bowl. Add club soda plus about 4 c. water. Mix into a smooth, fairly thin batter. 2. Heat non-stick frying pan. Dip enough batter from the bowl to cover the bottom of the pan. Pour it in quickly, all at once. Swirl the pan so that the entire bottom is evenly coated, then set it back on the heat. 3. When the moisture has evaporated and small holes appear on the surface of the batter, remove the injera. It should be cooked on only one side and not browned. If your first try is too pasty and undercooked, you many need to cook it a little longer or to make the next one thinner. Be careful not to cook it too long; it should be soft enough to fold. 4. Stack the injera one on top of the other as you cook, covering them with a clean cloth to prevent their drying out. To serve, lay them on a platter overlapping. Serves six to eight. ADDITIONAL READERS: Learning to Swim in Swaziland, (Africa) Nila K. Leigh Exploration Into Africa, by Isimeme Ibazebo (overview of the history of the continent) Trailblazers series: Assassins in the Cathedral and Quest for the Lost Prince Thirty-one Brothers and Sisters, by Reba Paeff Mirsky VIDEOS: "Born Free" "Live Free", sequel to "Born Free" "Gorilla in the Mist" about Jane Goodall