The High School English Department organized an interesting activity for Grade 11 this week. Students attended a special lesson led by Dr. Agustin Reyes, professor at the School of Education in the University of Valencia, on post-colonial literature. The session was based on a novel students have been recently reading called Things Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe and the scholarly article written by Dr. Agustín Reyes titled “How Chinua Achebe Puts Things Back Together” that was published in 2010.
Dr. Reyes’ presentation on post-colonial literature and the priceless contribution of Things Fall Apart to the literary world highlights traditional African culture as told from an insider’s perspective, without the prism of Western mindsets. Students made interesting contributions to the discussion regarding multiculturalism and being open to different values: “We are different, but not as different as we think because in the end we all are human beings”.
Our guest conducted two sessions: one for 11.1 and 11.2, and the second for 11.3. Discussion on multiculturalism is part of the ASV philosophy as students live in a rich school community -with members of 42 different nationalities- and have multiple opportunities to participate in academic exchanges and athletic activities involving schools in other countries.
