Things Fall Apart -â Letters from Africa Letter Writing Project Watch

Things Fall Apart -‐ Letters from Africa 

Letter Writing Project 

Watch Mister Johnson DVD – Pre-‐assignment 

Take note of the period English language and the cultural differences between the 

Nigerians and the English. 

Quick Write Into Assignment 

Imagine it is the year 1895 and you are a teenager living in London. You just attended an 

exciting event – perhaps a cricket match, a concert, or a ball. Write a letter to a friend 

telling about the event using the most authentic English period language you can. 

Specifications of Assignment 

• Earn a possible 72 points. Each letter is based on a 4-‐point rubric totaling 24 points. 

• Write a total of three letters. Together they will tell a complete story (See story 

paradigm on next page). 

• Write rough drafts at home and type final drafts in class. 

• There are no opportunities for rewrites. Have a peer proof your letters. 

• Adhere to the friendly letter visual format (see next page). 

• Write from the point of view of an English person (male or female of adult age or 

your own age). 

Choose just one character type to emulate. 

1. You are an English missionary going to Africa to bring Christianity to the Igbo. 

2. You are English and work for the British government and are being sent to Nigeria 

to be a District Commissioner who brings “law and order” to a large area in what 

Britain is now calling Nigeria, a colony of the British Empire. 

3. You are English and work for the East Africa Trading Company and are going to 

Africa to run trading store designed to purchase palm-‐oil and kernel from the Igbo 

and initiate trading of other goods as well. 

Write each letter from your character’s POV and write to the same person each time. 

1. Write to someone in England explaining your mission, your expectations, your 

hopes, and your fears. Talk about your ocean voyage, your arrival, and your first 

week in an Igbo village. Recount what you did, saw, heard, felt, and thought. 

2. You have just heard that the villagers in Abame killed a white man and then left his 

bicycle tied to the sacred tree. You have also learn how men abandon twin 

newborns and their mothers are cast out of the clan. In addition, you hear that some

of the men of the village carried out a sacrifice decreed by the oracle. They young 

man was given to the clan as a tribute for a crime committed. What do you think, 

feel, and wonder about this What if anything, will you do about it 

3. Write about any event of your choice that occurs in Part 3 of the novel. And write 

about the events in the last two chapters of the novel. Explain from your character’s 

point of view what happened. Conclude with what you plan to do next. 

Story Paradigm – exposition (setting, mood, tone, hint of conflict, characters); inciting 

incident; rising action; climax; falling action; resolution 

Character Arc – a change a character undergoes from an experience, usu. growth/awareness

Name_______________________________________ 

Letters From Africa 4-‐point Rubric 

Letter 1 

_________Proper friendly letter format 

_________Mechanics of English (punctuation, grammar, usage and spelling) 

_________Vocabulary/diction, organization of information, and language expression 

_________Accurate detail from the novel 

_________Body paragraphs, salutation, and closing 

_________*Letter adheres to story paradigm (see below) 

_________Total (Possible 24/letter and 72 for assignment) 

















_________Total for Project 

*First letter – exposition 

Second letter – inciting incident and rising action 

Third letter – climax and resolution

Some Basic Tips on Writing 

Two letter spaces are needed after a period. Only in journalism do you use one letter 

space to save space. Select the paragraph symbol on the toolbar to show all nonprinting 

characters. 

A comma splice is when you take two sentences and combine them by using a comma. It 

is basically a run-‐on sentence. 

Express yourself. Really dig deep to discover your emotions on a topic and then articulate 

those feeling in words. 

A Run-‐on sentence is two sentences back to back without needed punctuation. 

A Homophone error is when you misspell a word that sounds like another word: your, 

you’re; whether, weather; to, too, two 

Redundancy is when you repeat information previously given. It is not necessary. 

Repetition can be used creatively as a device; know the difference between the two. 

A sentence may be unclear to the reader if there are missing words, misplaced modifiers, 

or awkward syntax. Make sure you say what you mean as well as mean what you say. 

Diction or word choice is key in writing. Choose the best words to express your ideas. 

Varying your diction. Avoid using the same word more than once. Explore and expand 

your use of vocabulary. Writing is the perfect opportunity for this. 

Transitional words or phrases help create a smooth link from one idea to the next and 

from one paragraph to the next. 

Parallelism or parallel structure is necessary when combining several related ideas in 

one sentence. This is achieved by using the same form or part of speech to express each 

idea. 

Incorrect: 

I am not much of an athlete, but I like softball, soccer, and playing hockey. [two 

nouns and a gerund phrase] 

Correct: 

I am not much of an athlete, but I like softball, soccer, and hockey 

[three nouns] 

Combine sentences to avoid choppy sounding paragraphs. And vary sentence length by 

using both complex and simple sentences. 

Formal/professional language is used most often for letters, essays, and reports. 

A non sequitur is when a sentence doesn’t logically follow the previous one. Avoid this.

Things Fall Apart -â Letters from Africa Letter Writing Project Watch

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