This teaching unit focuses on English lessons at intermediate levels and covers Young Adult (YA) literature. Comprised of 16 lessons, this unit is designed for classes working with a full text novel in English for the first time: Sherman Alexie's YA novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007). The novel deals with themes such as loss and grief, poverty and social injustice, changing schools, sports competition and identity formation. It is a good idea to connect these themes with heroification and discuss the intersections in class.

The textual analysis work is based on the findings of the SFB 948 (sub-project Ö). In the course of the lessons, knowledge will be gained about the specific characteristics of the genre. In concrete terms, this means that the novel’s heroes and heroines will be analyzed in terms of both content and narratology.The terms 'hero/heroine' are defined and revised in the course of the lessons in order to make heroization comprehensible as a process with multiple aspects to it.

The materials provided should, enable the students to understand the overall content of Alexie's novel and, on the other hand, encourage them to work out concepts of heroism and to contrast and discuss these with their own understanding of heroes. To this end, the concept of the hero is introduced in the first unit and then taken up again at various other points.

The materials include a vocabulary list, a vocabulary test, smaller grammar units, questions for guided reading and various worksheets to help students understand and discuss the content of the novel. In addition, the student teachers and the teacher who designed this unit have created a detailed plan for each lesson, which includes all activities, alternative exercises and the general learning objectives.

When reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian in class, it is helpful to establish a historical and contemporary context in order to give pupils a better understanding of the book's references. Topics such as colonization policy, land theft, boarding schools and discussions about historically correct and self-chosen names of the indigenous peoples of North America are good starting points.

The materials for school lessons provided on this page were developed by researchers in close co-operation with teachers. They are based on the results of sub-projects D11 (Head: Prof. Dr Joachim Grage, Collaboration: S. K. Mouzakis).

The unit will be continuously improved and we would be happy if you would contact us with feedback and suggestions for improvement.