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ELA 7: Around the World—Semester A

Time to be the worldliest seventh grader on the whole internet.

  • Credit Recovery Enabled
  • Course Length: 18 weeks
  • Course Type: Basic
  • Category:
    • English
    • Literature
    • Middle School

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It's a great big world out there. And you live in just a small part of it. It's hard to truly understand another culture's perspective until you've walked in another culture's shoes, and that means listening and reading to thoughts and texts from other parts of the world.

Being an educated person of the world doesn't just mean knowing where Sri Lanka is on a map. It means being able to understand and respond to deeply-rooted human issues and be aware of how you're a product of the time and place in which you live.

Shmoop's seventh-grade world literature can do all this and more. In this course, you'll acquire a newfound knowledge of the world and its people, while also getting the tools and training you need to succeed in middle school and beyond. As an added bonus, you'll also get some tutoring in self-expression and the means to become active learners and participants in further studies of literature and the global community. In Semester A, we'll cover:

  • Europe: Theme, text evidence, drama, art, expository writing, and how history and context shapes literature
  • The UK: Characterization and archetype, setting, genre and character, persuasive writing
  • North America: Collecting research, plot progression, literary analysis essays

Get ready to walk in someone else's shoes—even if it makes you realize that the shoes you thought were a sweet American brand were actually made in a factory across the world.

(Collar tug.)

P.S. ELA 7: Around the World is a two semester course. You're looking at Semester A, but you can find Semester B here.

Unit Breakdown

1 ELA 7: Around the World—Semester A - Diary of a European

This unit will cover material from European authors, with a primary focus on the play version The Diary of Anne Frank and the situation of children and pre-teens during World War II. With such a riveting topic, Unit 1 will introduce analyzing literature for theme and for main idea and details. Students will practice expository summary skills, as well as work on the elusive skill of oral fluency.

2 ELA 7: Around the World—Semester A - Workhouses and Murder Islands: Good Times with the Brits

Sorry, Antarctica: the UK has so much literature, we're going to give the next continent spot to them. It will cover material from British authors and how they used fiction as an opportunity to express their views on class and social values, from Shakespeare to Dickens to Christie. Students will learn and practice persuasive writing techniques in order to produce a persuasive essay about the characters they've have read about in this unit, and grammar such as commas and coordinate adjectives will be reviewed and practiced as well.

3 ELA 7: Around the World—Semester A - The 'Mericans

This unit will bring world literature back to the states—specifically, through the snow-loving world of Jack London, The Call of the Wild, and primary source documents from the same period. The reading strategies for the unit will be identifying plot and conflict, as well as main idea in some seriously heavy survivalist philosophy. We'll conclude the semester with a literary analysis study: through scaffolding and deep questions, we'll provide students with a tool for organization of support and details.

Recommended prerequisites:

  • ELA 6: Once Upon a Genre—Semester A
  • ELA 6: Once Upon a Genre—Semester B

    • Sample Lesson - Introduction

    Lesson 1.05: Put on Your Happy Face

    A dapper but vacant-eyed man.
    "Why, I'm so happy I could eat my hat."
    (Source)

    Even the most miserable meanie deserves some happiness, right? Without happiness, mean people are just destined to be mean. But what about cold, calculating, methodical British aristocrats?

    Is Phileas Fogg a happy person? He says he is. He's happy going to his club, reading the newspaper, and having his servant set out his clothes. He's happy not being bothered by anyone or anything.

    Uh…yeah right. No one can be happy doing that. It's so boring. Maybe that's why secretly, deep down, Fogg is "happy" to be going on an adventure. It certainly didn't take him long to accept a wacko wager that involves spending his entire fortune speeding around the world.

    Maybe we're just a bunch of optimists looking at this whole thing through rose-colored glasses, but we're happy Fogg has found some friends and is having a good time rescuing, dueling, and being generally courageous. Could there be a small fire of happiness burning in that deeply buried beating thing Fogg calls a heart?

    We bet you a game of whist that there is.

    Sample Lesson - Reading

    Reading 1.1.05a: Vocabulary Activity

    G'day Shmooper! This here is the final vocabulary activity for this week. After completing these words in your Vocabulary Sheet you should have five lessons worth of words and information of your very own. Here's your last one for the week:

    • imperturbable (adjective): unemotional, cannot be upset
      Example Sentence: The tourists did everything they could to make the guard at Buckingham palace laugh but his attitude remained imperturbable.

    Sample Lesson - Reading

    Reading 1.1.05b: Pre-Reading Activity

    Think about the following themes we've covered so far in Around the World in Eighty Days. They're simple terms with gigantic interpretations: money, gentlemen, time, and adventure (the one in this lesson is happiness).

    A theme is what the author wants you to learn from the text he or she writes, so pretty much every author has an agenda about what you should or could be learning by reading his or her stuff.

    Right now, Shmoop's interested in what these ideas mean to you. On your Pre-Reading Sheet (the last entry for this week's worth of lessons), list the themes from the novel and what each one means to you.

    For example:


    To us, happiness lies in the small things like clean laundry, but it also lies in the big things like friends and family.

    Sample Lesson - Reading

    Reading 1.1.05c: Happy, Happy! Joy, Joy!

    Are you happy right now?

    How about…now?

    Maybe as a teenager, you're never happy. Aw come, on—now you sound like Phileas Fogg.

    How can a novel with a main character who has ice for a heart be centered on the theme of happiness? And how does the theme of happiness tie into all the other themes in this book? Theme recap time: that should make you smile.

    The Gentleman

    Gentlemen like Phileas Fogg were expected to have money, property, nice manners, a sense of style, and defend their honor through duels to the death. But where does happiness figure in for a gent? Do the things required for being a gentleman secure happiness?

    Adventure

    It isn't until Fogg is halfway around the world, adventuring and doing things he doesn't really want to be doing, that the slightest bit of happiness starts to dawn on him. Through all the adventures and misadventures, he slowly understands that there are people out there he can count on, and who count on him in return.

    Time

    Disregarding the time necessary to perform emergency rescue operations for both Passepartout and Aouda turns out to be good for Foggs' happiness. Every instance in which Fogg has to sacrifice his time to save another person proves to be rewarding in the end. Aouda becomes a traveling companion Fogg can rely on (and who just might love him), and Passepartout is the most loyal of friends. What more could a guy ask for?

    Money

    Fogg is spending money left and right. What's he going to do if he doesn't win the bet and he's out of money? Does money buy you happiness? We've seen that Passepartout can enjoy himself without money. Aouda gives up being a princess and she's not too sad about it. Fix might be a jerk, driven by money and dedication to his job, but he's definitely got the goods to be a loyal and dependable friend as well. Maybe the reward for being a gentleman isn't money or honor or that other stuff: it's friendship and loyalty.

    Sample Lesson - Reading

    Reading 1.1.05d: What We Left Out

    Riding a train for six days in a row is bound to make anyone go a little stir-crazy. With Phileas avoiding a duel to the death, and a Sioux Indian attack on the train, things went from snoresville to excitement city in just three chapters. As usual, we're going to skip ahead; here's what you're missing.

    Sample Lesson - Reading

    Reading 1.1.05e: Sad Face, Happy Face

    What is Fix's problem anyway? Fogg has been really kind and generous to him—what gives with following through with the arrest? There's not even any reward money left since Fogg has spent it all.

    All this and more will be answered when you read Chapters 34 – 37. 

    Once you're done, read our chapter summaries:

    How about that for a cliff-hanger?

    Sample Lesson - Activity

    Activity 1.05a: Turn 'Em In!

    Before we move on, we're going to need the week's worth of Vocabulary and Pre-Reading worksheets.

    Upload them all below and feel that lightness in your backpack.

    Participation Only Rubric - 10 Points

    OutstandingNeeds Improvement
    Quality of Participation

    Student did the assignment as instructed. 

    (10)

    Student only did part of the activity or assignment.

    (5)

    Sample Lesson - Activity

    Activity 1.05b: Web of Themes

    Whoa, let's recap that chapter for a minute:

    • Fogg is thrown in jail.
    • His deadline is super close to passing him by, he has no way of getting out of this one, and is depressed.
    • Fix comes claiming the whole thing is a mistake, as the real criminal was caught three days ago.
    • Fogg punches Fix in the nose and goes home to pout…until Aouda proposes.
    • While running to grab the nearest preacher to marry Fogg and Aouda, Passepartout finds out that it's actually Sunday (not Monday like the group thought). By traveling eastward around the world, the group actually arrived two days early.
    • Fogg presents himself at the club with minutes to spare and effectively wins the bet. He's rich once more, but more importantly (as he says so himself), he has won the heart of a "charming" woman.

    Cute, right? With the themes of Around the World in Eighty Days being so extremely intertwined, we're thinking it would take a few days to untangle them. Instead, we want to you to form some of the trickiest webs out there—word problems.

    A word problem in math gives a situation, presents information, and asks you to find a solution. Can you do the same with the themes from our novel study? We bet you can.

    Here's our example of a word problem for you:


    Question: Phileas Fogg is very wealthy. In order to be a gentleman, a man must have a lot of money. What theme could Phileas Fogg participate in, because he's a gentleman that has money?
      
    Answer: Adventures

    Create four more word problems that use the themes from the novel as the answers and submit them below.

    Representing Information Rubric - 25 Points

    OutstandingProficientDevelopingNeeds Improvement
    Content Understanding

    All content is accurate and presentation reflects sophisticated understanding.

    (10)

    All content is accurate.

    (9)

    May contain minor errors.

    (8)

    Major errors.

    (7)
    Organization

    Has a logical organizational scheme. Each piece of information flows logically and smoothly to the next.

    (10)

    Has a clear organizational plan. Information is presented logically with some sense of connection.

    (9)

    General sense of organizational plan. Information makes sense within it, but transitions are lacking.

    (8)

    Information appears disconnected or illogical.

    (7)
    Style

    Language is clear and interesting. Enhances presentation of information. No errors.

    (5)

    Language is clear and appropriate to topic. Minor spelling or grammatical errors.

    (4)

    Language is occasionally unclear, but meaning is generally understandable. Frequent spelling/grammar errors that do not impede comprehension.

    (4)

    Language use makes writing very difficult to understand. Frequent spelling or grammar errors that impede comprehension.

    (3)

    Sample Lesson - Activity

    1. Which of the following quotes from the novel Around the World in Eighty Days best supports the theme of "the gentleman"?

    2. Which event in the novel proves that Phileas Fogg is concerned about people's happiness?

    3. Phileas Fogg's duel with Colonel Proctor is an example of which theme in the novel?

    4. Which of the following obstacles threatened the time the adventurers had to complete their voyage in Around the World in Eighty Days?

    5. Of the following explanations, which one does the best job supporting the connection between the theme of adventure and the theme of happiness in Around the World in Eighty Days?