OSAMA BIN EVERYWHERE: THE MANY FACES OF THE ISLAMIC WORLD

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

1. Objective: To consider what factors influence our personal identities and loyalties, such as family, friends, locality, religion and school (PSHE, RE, Citizenship)

Introduction

Explain that this lesson is going to be a chance to explore our identities and the loyalties we feel as part of groups or communities. It will be about knowing ourselves and knowing each other.

Before showing the film (or part of it), divide the students into groups and ask each group to write down what they 'definitely know', what they 'think they know' and what they 'would like to know' about Muslims. Emphasise that you want them to think about Muslims, that is people.

This could be done as a carousel activity where the students write down their answers on a sheet of paper and then pass it to the next person in their group. When each person in the group has added their answers, stick each sheet of responses onto a notice-board for the students to look at later.

Show the film, or the introduction and some clips.

Discussion

Discuss what has changed in the students' perception of Muslims after seeing the film. What surprised them most? Were there any characteristics that seemed to be shared by most of the Osamas? If so, what were they? If not, what conclusions can the students draw from that?

Identify the fact that participants had hyphenated identities (for instance, Canadian-Muslim; Nigerian-Muslim) and very different lifestyles, though they shared a Muslim identity. Recall how the film's presenter, Farrah, described growing up in a family that was proud of coming from Pakistan but settled in Southend, where she enjoyed eating cockles and whelks and building sandcastles.

Activity

What makes up our identity?

You will be asking the students to write up profiles of themselves but they will need headings such as 'What I eat', 'Where my family comes from', 'My favourite music' and so on. Discuss what headings will create a useful framework for describing the students' identities and aim to achieve a class consensus. Include in the final list of headings: 'Something I don't think other people know about me (that I don't mind them knowing).'

Using the agreed headings, organise students to work in small 'friendship groups' in which one student writes about himself or herself while the others write about that student. Afterwards, ask them to compare the different versions and try to identify which are the most important elements of their personal identity.

Plenary

Choose some profiles to share with the class. Discuss the differences between our image of ourselves and other people's images of us. Identify the differences and commonalities between students that emerge from the descriptions.