Activities — Tapestry

In this section:

Influences

Jason and Hassan have become involved with the Young Patriots and The Circle of Truth as a result of various events and circumstances in their lives.

Participants should talk in pairs about why they think they got involved in these organisations based on what was seen in the play and what they heard the characters speak about. Write the events, circumstances and factors in the bubbles around the characters in the diagram following (on a pc you can download this by right-clicking it and choosing ‘save picture as’).

Image to support Influences activity
Add on any extra factors that people can think of.

The responses can then be used to discuss the following questions:

What has becoming involved in the Young Patriots and The Circle of Truth led Jason and Hassan to do?
If they stay with these organisations in the future what else could they end up becoming involved in?
Could they have chosen to respond differently to the events and circumstances listed?
What other choices could they have made? How would these have changed things?
Are there any similarities between Hassan and Jason?
What do Jason and Hassan get from belonging to their respective organisations?
If you were going to suggest one thing that Jason/Hassan should do now, what would it be?

This is a list of some of the factors that particpants might come up with; one could be added to the pictures as an example:

Jason’s sister marries Rafique
Jason’s sister leaves home
Bernard moves in with Jason’s mother
Jason can’t find a job
Jason meets Peter Jeffrey
Jason feels he hasn’t been given the same opportunities as others
Hassan considers his brother to be a bad Muslim
Hassan is rebelling against his father’s approach
Hassan meets Dr. Farooq
Hassan sees injustice in the world
Hassan experiences racism at the bus stop

You can try this interactive version too – just click on the text box and drag to where you want to write something. You can repeat this as many times as you like.

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Quick Links For Teachers

Hassan talks about how muslims are represented in the press. “You can’t see the word ‘muslim’ without the word ‘terrorist’ next to it.”

Use the newspaper headlines that appeared after the attack on the Twin Towers in New York below to investigate how the media might contribute to the construction of attitudes and opinions. You can download them here.

Divide the class into five small groups. Each group should be given a set of headines from a different newspaper.

Ask the pupils to read them amongst their group. Draw or project a table onto the white board (you can use this one – we’ve done it in Word so you can alter it – or design your own). Hand out post it notes to each group, ask them to identify the facts from their headlines and write them onto the notes and stick them to the white board in the appropriate box. Repeat the exercise identifying opinions. Ask each small group what the combined effect of fact and opinion in their headline has; what do we think when we read this? What do we feel? Add these on notes to the chart.
Working down the columns, ask the whole group if there are any things that the headlines have in common? In what ways do they differ? Perhaps count how many times some words are used
Ask the whole group how do these headlines help us paint a picture of the events? Are there any things missing, things we want to know more about?
Does anyone remember the events from when they happened?
Ask the group to speculate on the intention of the authors? What do they want us to think? How do they want us to feel?
What understanding of the events would you have if you read only one of the news papers?
Do you think we have an accurate understanding of the events on 9/11 from the papers?
Ask the small groups to write a short article to go with the headline. They can attempt to take an objective view or be as subjective as they want?
Make a still picture in their small group that would accompany the headline.

A whole group version of this exercise might be to project the headlines on to a smart board and ask pupils to identify facts and opinions, emotive words, adjectives etc. and mark them with different coloured pens.

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Terrorist or freedom fighter?

Quick Links For Teachers For Young People

Have a look at the photos below. You could print off copies , or you bring them up on the computer. You can enlarge the images by clicking on them. (Click here for a full size pdf of the pictures).

Ask the young people (or think about if you’re doing it yourself):

Do you know who the people in the photographs are?
What can you find out about them and what they have done?
How is the world different because of what they have done? Is it better or worse?

It may be helpful to provide some initial information on each to start the ball rolling:
1 Nelson Mandela (a member of ANC, an organisation that advocated bombing)
2 Osama Bin Laden (leader of Al Qaida, seen to be behind 9/11)
3 Guy Fawkes (attempted to blow up parliament and assassinate the king)
4 Malcolm X (who advocated “by any means necessary”)
5 Martin Luther King (conducted public demonstrations)
6 Martin McGuiness (member of IRA, widely regarded as a terrorist organisation, now an MP)
7 Suffragettes (engaged in civil disobedience)
8 Robin Hood (resisted taxation, opposed the rule of King John)

If you’re doing the activity as a group divide into smaller groups to research one of the people and feedback to the rest what they have found out. Do these people have anything in common?
For instance, they have all tried to change the world and have been criticised as trouble makers. Some have been imprisoned or killed. Some have been denounced as terrorists.

Ask your group to try putting the people in a list with those they think of as terrorists at one end and freedom fighters at the other (or do it yourself if you are on your own). Ask:

Can you draw a line across the list to divide terrorists from freedom fighters?
What is the difference between the people on either side of the line?
Were these people right to fight for what they believed to be right?
Can you think of other people who might appear in this list?
Will this list be the same in twenty years (will Osama Bin Laden be nearer the freedom fighter end for instance?)
How far should people go to make change happen?
Should they use “any means necessary”?
In what other ways can people change things for the better?

Other people who could be included in this activity are:

Ghandi (conducted peaceful protests and went on hunger strike)
French resistance in WW2 (blew up bridges and trains)
William Tell (his actions started an uprising)

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Circle of consequences

Quick Links For Teachers For Young People Interactive

The diagram below shows a circle of consequences. Each segment of the circle represents a different line of consequences that may arise from the central action. Use the circle of consequences below and ask the group to come up with consequences for the actions listed below, or work on it yourself. Encourage people to think about consequences that are both intended and unintended. You can use the interactive activity later by dragging the text box to the right place, or you can right click the image below that to save a copy on a pc).

Image to support the Consequences activity

You can try this interactive version too – just click on the text box and drag to where you want to write something. You can repeat this as many times as you like.

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Truth or lies?

Quick Links For Teachers For Young People Interactive Video

Work in pairs or small groups. Have a look at this extract from Tapestry to remember the sort of things Dr. Farooq and Peter Jeffery were saying.

Read each of the statements made by Peter Jeffery and Dr Farooq (taken from the full speeches they made in (Tapestry) and decide in which circle it belongs – truth, lies or a mixture of the two (see diagram following – on a pc you can right-click and ‘save picture as’ to download this image). Present back to the class, including any evidence you have for your choices and debate where there are differences in opinions.

Dr Farooq:

What do they say now that we have made a home here? “You are foreigners, you are no longer welcome, you are the invaders”
As an immigrant we experience oppression everyday
I have friends who have been locked up for saying less than I have today, and they boast the right to freedom of speech?!
They seem to open their hands to us but really want to strangle us of our identity.
I see the women here, prostitutes and mothers at the age of fourteen
Their soldiers walk the streets in our countries, armed to the teeth, and doing as they please to our people.
They are draining our resources, filling our hospital beds, taking jobs from under our noses

Peter Jeffery:

If we show any signs of national pride we are branded as racist and fascist
Multiculturalism will not work here
They force their strange customs on us as they parade their festivals up and down our streets.
They flee into our bosom only to milk us of our national purity
Their women stay covered, as if they’re ashamed, or just terrified of being beaten at the slightest show of skin.

You can try this interactive version too – just click on the text box and drag to where you want to write something. You can repeat this as many times as you like.

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Tapestry

Quick Links For Teachers For Young People

This is a group discussion activity and the questions suggested below are only intended to start it off. There will be many more questions that arise as your discussions develop.

Write or project this quote on a board

“We are one people forever woven together in a tapestry ”
Roy Barnes
Former Governor of Georgia

Ask :

What do you think this means?
What does it make you think of?
What is a tapestry?
How does the idea of tapestry connect to the programme?

Hassan’s Dad is reported as saying “We have the chance to make a beautiful tapestry”.

What do you think is he talking about?
Do you agree with him? Or is it an impossible dream?
Is there anything we can do as individuals to contribute to the wider picture whilst maintaining our individuality?

Here is another quote that refers to tapestries that may also be a useful stimulus for discussion:

“We don’t accomplish anything in this world alone…and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one’s life and all the weavings of individual threads form one to another that creates something.”
Sandra Day O’ Connor

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Debate activities

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Establish the rules for a formal debate (time limited, opening statement from both the ‘for’ and ‘against’ sides of the motion, the right to reply, questions from the floor, closing statements from both sides, show of hands vote).

You as leader may wish to chair or you may wish to appoint a chair and time keeper from the group.
An image from a performance of Tapestry
Either debate as a whole class divided into two, with each group arguing ‘for’ or ‘against’ the issue.

Alternatively, if you wish the class to work in smaller groups, then divide the class into three. Give each group one statement to research (the list following has suggestions). Divide each of these groups into two. One half is set the task of constructing arguments to support the motion, and the other half to challenge it.

Depending on time availability the groups may be able to conduct some sustained research to find material that backs up their arguments

Suggested topics for debate

The media is biased against Muslims
One man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist
We have the right to say what we like no matter if it offends
“More unites than divides us” – Ken Livingstone Mayor of London at the time of 7/7
If you want to change things you have to fight for them
The world has changed since 9/11
We in the west have brought the terror attacks on ourselves because of out poor treatment of people in the rest of the world.

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Tapestry

In this section:

Influences

Read all about it

Terrorist or freedom fighter?

Circle of consequences

Truth or lies?

Tapestry

Debate activities

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