Nelson Mandela and the Fight against Apartheid

This KS3 unit will take at least two lessons to complete. The Power Points lead students through all activities with accompanying resources included.

LESSON 1: Aims and Objectives:

• To be able to define apartheid.
• To understand how and why apartheid existed.
• To be able to explain how apartheid affected people in South Africa.

LESSON 2: Aims and Objectives:

• To know some facts about his life.
• To understand how Mandela’s life was linked to apartheid.
• To reach a judgement on whether Mandela’s campaign was more peaceful or violent.

LESSON 1: Activities include a role play starter whereby students enter the room according to eye colour and are treated differently. They are asked how this made them feel. Key terms for this unit are then linked to their definitions. A short video is used to answer students’ who, what, why, where, when and how questions on Apartheid. Students then read through the fact cards and pull out those which are untrue. The remaining facts are sorted from the most to the least oppressive. Finally, students write a paragraph summarising what they have learned so far.

LESSON 2: Having watched a 4 minute biography, students complete a cloze exercise on Mandela’s life. Using a Mandela quote, they consider what method he claims to have used to end Apartheid (co-operation with enemy). Students then use the timeline to find evidence to test his claim that he worked with his enemies, rather than fought against them. They end the lesson with a paragraph answer to this debate.