Shooting an Elephant

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Impacts of Oppression: A Timeline”

After reading about the impact of imperialism, students will conduct research on another formerly colonized country and create a timeline of significant events from colonization to independence.

Select a formerly colonized country and create a timeline of significant events that occurred in that country, ranging from its initial colonization to its independence.

• Conduct research for a formerly colonized country. Note the dates of important events, such as colonial conquests, uprisings, rebellions, and eventual independence. Research how these past events impacted future events or may still have impacts today.
• Create a timeline of events. For each timeline entry, provide the date, a summary of the event, and an image, if possible. Be sure to cite the sources of all borrowed facts, ideas, and images in a format appropriate to a visual presentation.

As students present, the audience could take notes about the similarities and differences between colonized countries.

Teaching Suggestion: This timeline activity should illustrate the wide range of imperialism, as well as its lasting impacts in the present day. To reinforce this purpose, you might consider having students present their timelines to their class. After every student has presented, you might facilitate a class discussion about the countries’ similarities and differences.

Differentiation Suggestion: Working with a partner or small group will make this assignment more manageable for students who struggle with larger tasks. For these students, you might also consider offering a single bullet point at a time to break the task into chunks. Students who work more comfortably in languages other than English can choose online resources written in their preferred languages. If you elect to have a class discussion about the similarities and differences between colonized countries, a graphic organizer, Venn diagram, or a T-chart might be helpful for visual learners.

Paired Text Extension:

The timeline activity could serve as a bridge to other texts that address British Imperialism, such as Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Yangsze Choo’s The Night Tiger, or Rudyard Kipling’s Kim.