MOVE,FEET, MOVE

• Use an autobiographical story to identify how a person's size and position influence a conflict situation.
• Evaluate ways in which communication, including public opinion, can influence the outcome of a conflict.

Suggested Time

1 class period

Comments to the Teacher

At some point in levels 4-6, the class should deal directly with conflict as a theme or concept, much as we did with the introduction to systems in Part 2. Picture studies provide good material for such an exercise.

As children gain experience with the concept they will discover the many forms conflict can take, the variety of means for resolution, and how communication is involved. They can consider why some conflicts are harmful while others serve a positive function, and can easily apply these ideas to events in their own lives and in their schoolwork. For instance, the long series of events that led to the American Civil War makes much more sense when the learner views it through the lens of conflict.

Beginning the Lesson

Children enjoy having this story read aloud to them, but of course it is also suitable for sight-reading. It is best used after introductory work with the nature of conflict and can also be a lead-in to studies of other cultures. The story is based on an autobiographical account by Robert Wellesley Cole, a surgeon who was born and grew up in Sierra Leone.

Tell the class that the story takes place about 1920 in Sierra Leone, Africa, and have them locate the country on the map. At that time it was a colony of England. If the story is used as part of a culture studies program, you can have the students compare Cole's classroom and conflict with their own school experiences. The story can then contribute to awareness of human differences and similarities.

The first question following the reading should form the basis for initial discussion of the story. Some children may have trouble with the other questions. You can help by encouraging them to think of similar examples from their own experience (e.g., classroom episodes). This, and making use of other stories, plays, and television dramas, will help emphasize the universal nature of those aspects of conflict they have encountered.

In English classes you may want students to compare an autobiographical study with other kinds of writing.

Vocabulary Words

prefect
translate
emergency
revenge
culprit

THE STORY

Move, Feet, Move!

Did you ever have trouble with a bully? You are going to read a story about a boy who had this problem. As you read, keep this question in mind: How did the storyteller handle his conflict with the bully?

This is not easy for me to say. But I must start by telling you I was the smallest boy in the class. Even now it makes me blush to write that I usually shared a desk with a girl. We sat in the front of the room. That was how it was done in all schools in Sierra Leone. The smallest boys and girls were near the front of the room. As you moved toward the back, the students were of greater size. The largest sat in the last row.

Now, whenever the teacher left the room, he would appoint a prefect in his place. You would probably call the person a monitor.

The prefect stood in the front of the room, next to the teacher's desk. His job was to see that students continued with their work, with no talking.

This was an iron rule. If someone broke it, the prefect ordered him or her to be silent. If that didn't work the prefect wrote the person's name on the board. Or, he could order him to stand until the teacher returned. When the teacher came back, the culprit would be punished. Usually this was a whack with a stick-right where you sit!

Since I was close to the front of the room, the teacher often chose me as prefect. I suppose now it was rather funny. Picture this small-sized boy, which was me, standing in front of that class. I was ordering boys twice my size to shut up. Or I was telling them to stand up and remain standing until they got their punishment.

I think my classmates were very fair about this. They hardly ever tried to get revenge. I say hardly ever because sometimes there were threats. On those days, I was careful to leave school as quickly as possible. And I tried to walk next to Mr. Cole, who happened to be my father.

But one day I missed this protection. And this happened to be the day that the biggest boy in class had lost his sense of humor. I had ordered him to stop talking. He refused, but had to obey my order to remain standing until the teacher returned.

He took his punishment. But he vowed to take it out on me. I knew this was not an empty threat. And there I was, hastily departing the school, when I heard someone shout my name. Did I say "shout"? I meant "roar"!

"Hi, there," the voice ordered. "Wait for me."

Of course I knew who it was. I don't know why he ordered me to wait. To put it mildly, I did just the opposite. And he started running after me.

Now this boy was more of a man than anyone in the school. He was the oldest, largest, and strongest. His name was Mohammed Bundukar. During vacations, he ran a business. He came to school to better his position in the business world. He knew that reading and writing would help. I don't think he liked taking orders from one so small.

In such an emergency, my tribe, the Krios, have a saying: "Fut we'tin a it a no gi yu?" You might translate it like this: "Dear feet of mine, have I ever refused you anything? Have I not eaten so that you may b e strong? Please do your job and get me out of this mess!"

I have lived to tell you that my feet did not let me down. They did their job. This could be seen on that hot afternoon in tropical Africa. Like a small trim boat racing ahead of a full-sailed ship, I was beginning to break away. We sort of looked like the two different ships, too. Mohammed B. was in his flowing Arab robes and I was wearing short pants. Years later I understood how the English felt when their little ships took on the great Spanish Armada.

I ran, I sped! He bore down on me, but could never quite catch up. I continued to pull away from him. Then I noticed that people in the street were watching. They started to shout at him to "leave the little boy alone!"

"Bully!" they called out.

"Yeah, Bully!" I echoed in my beating breast.

Then I had an idea. Instead of getting away for good, why not keep just out of reach? Public opinion would do the rest for me.

It worked. More and more people took up the cry. I noticed that he slowed down. He was being beaten. Not by me, but by the shouts of the people.

I couldn't resist the temptation to stop. That was the last straw for him. He leaped at me and missed. He left me alone then. As I turned the corner into Foulah Town, I peeked over my shoulder and saw him walking back up the street. His head was hanging down and people were still shouting at him.

The next morning in school, he shook his fist at me. But the matter was over and he never tried again.

*Based on Kossoh Town Boy, by Robert Wellesley Cole (Cambridge University Press, 1960); portions reprinted in Lalage Bown, ed., Two Centuries of African English (1973).

Understanding Conflict

1. The two boys ran down the street and neither spoke. But there was communication. What message did the people receive? How did they know there was a conflict?
2. Can you think of another example where you could tell there was a conflict without words? What were the messages? (A good clue is to think of television programs where you know there is trouble before anyone speaks. How do you know?)
3. How was communication involved in ending the conflict?
4. Can you think of another conflict where public opinion mattered? That is, where a problem was settled by what watchers said or did?
5. Can public opinion make conflicts worse? Think of an argument at a baseball game. A player is arguing with the umpire. Can the people watching make things worse?