COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

LESSON PLAN IN ENGLISH 8

I. Learning Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
a. identify the characters of the story;
b. show active participation in the class activities; and
c. arrange information extracted from the literary piece.

II. SUBJECT MANNER

Topic: Lesson 1: Beginning of Knowledge Quest
 “The Hands of the Blacks”
References:
 (Voyages in Communication English Learner’s Material 8, p. 9-10.)
 https://www.revuenoire.com/en/luis-bernardo-honwana-mozambique/
Visual Materials:
 visual aids, printed copy of the literary piece, graphic organizers, and pictures.
Value Focus:
 Respect
 Equality

III. PROCEDURE
A. Routine Activities
The teacher starts the class with an opening prayer, after that he/she will have the
students clean up their respective places and then once the students have settled down,
the teacher will check the attendance and review the previous discussion.
B. Motivation

Teacher’s Activity Student’s Activity

The teacher will tell a story about the Filipino
The students will listen.
adaptation of the creation myth.
The teacher will ask the students to recall and retell The students will respond
their own version of the story. accordingly.
The teacher will then share that Africans also have
their own creation story.

Have you seen an African?

If you could describe an African, what would it be? The student’s response varies.
In terms of appearance, what are the similarities of
Africans and Filipinos?
In terms of appearance, what are the differences of
Africans and Filipinos?
C. Author’s Background
Luís Bernardo Honwana was born Luís Augusto Bernardo
Manuel in Lourenço Marques Mozambique. He studied law
in Portugal and worked for some time as a journalist. Honwana is the
author of a single book, Nós Matámos o Cão-Tinhoso (1964), translated
into English as We Killed Mangy Dog and Other Stories, and the tale
"Hands of the Blacks". 

D. Vocabulary Enrichment

Unlocking of Difficulties
The teacher will provide some difficult words that the students should watch out while
reading the text.
*Baloney- foolish or deceptive talks
*Bleached-clean and sterilize
*Calloused- having an area of hardened skin.
*Clutch-become nervous and panicked

E. Presentation
The teacher will hand over the copy of the text.

The Hands of the Blacks

An excerpt from “We Killed Mangy-Dog”
by Luis Bernardo Honwana

F. Discussion

Pre-reading
The teacher will present the guide questions that the students should remember before
reading the text.
Guide Questions:
1. What is the text all about?
2. Who were the characters involved in the story of the hands of the black?
3. Of all the people who gave their explanation, who do you agree with the most? Explain
your answer.
4. Using the concept map, organize the various statements as to why the hands of the
blacks are white.

Discussion
The teacher selects seven students to play the individual characters in the story and the
rest of the class will read as the narrator.

The Hands of the Blacks

An excerpt from “We Killed Mangy-Dog”
by Luis Bernardo Honwana
I don’t remember now how we got onto the subject, but one day Teacher said that the palms of the black’s
hands were much lighter than the rest of their bodies because only a few centuries ago they walked
around on all fours, like wild animals, so their palms weren’t exposed to the sun, which made the rest of
their bodies darker and darker. I thought of this when Father Christiano told us after catechism that we
were absolutely hopeless, and that even the black were better than us, and he went back to this thing about
their hands being lighter, and said it was like that because they always went about with their hands folded
together, praying in secret.
  
I thought this was so funny, this thing of the black’s hands being lighter, that you should just see me now
– I don’t let go of anyone, whoever they are, until they tell me why they think that the palms of the
black’s hands are lighter. Dona Dores, for instance, told me that God made their hands lighter like that so
they wouldn’t dirty the food they made for their masters, or anything else they were ordered to do that to
that to be kept quite clean.
  
Senhor Antunes, the Coca Cola man, who only comes to the village now and again when all the Cokes in
the cantinas have been sold, said to me that everything I had been told was a lot of baloney. Of course I
don’t know if it was really, but he assured me it was; After I said yes, all right, it was baloney, then he
told me what he knew about this thing of the black’s hands.
  
It was like this : – ”Long ago, many years ago, God, Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, St. Peter,
many other saints, all the people who had died and gone to Heaven – they all had a meeting and decided
to make blacks. Do you know how ? They got hold of some clay and pressed it into some second-hand
mould. And to bake the clay of the creatures they took them to the Heavenly kilns. Because they were in a
hurry and there was no room next to the fire, they hung them in the chimneys. Smoke, smoke, smoke –
and there you have them, black as coals. And now do you want to know why their hands stayed white ?
Well, didn’t they have to hold on while their clay baked ?
  
When he had told me this Senhor Antunes and the other men who were around us were very pleased and
they all burst out laughing.
  
That very same day senhor Frias called me after Senhor Antunes had gone away, and told me that every-
thing I had heard from them there had been just one big pack of lies. Really and truly, what he knew
about the black’s hands was right – that God finished making men and told them to bathe in a lake in
Heaven. After bathing the people were nice and white. The blacks, well, they were made very early in the
morning, and at this hour the water in the lake was very cold, so they only wet the palms of their hands
and the soles of their feet before dressing and coming into the world.
  
But I read in a book that happened to mention it, to mention it, that the blacks have hands lighter like this
because they spent their lives bent over, gathering the white cotton of Virginia and I don’t know where
else. Of course Dona Estefania didn’t agree when I told her this. According to her its only because their
hands became bleached with all that washing. Well, I don’t know what to think about all this, but the truth
is that however calloused and craked they may be, a black’s hands are always lighter than all the rest of
him. And that’s that !
  
My mother is the only who must be right about this question of a black’ s hands being lighter than the rest
of his body. On the day that we were talking about it, us tow, I was telling her what I already knew about
the question, and she just couldn’t stop laughing. What I thought was strange was that she didn’t   tell me
at once what she thought about all this, and she only answered me when she was sure that I wouldn’t get
tired of bothering her about it. And even then she was crying and clutching herself around the stomach
like someone who had laughed so much that it was quite unbearable. What she said was more or less this :
  
“God made blacks because they had to be. They had to be, my son. He thought they really had to be….
Afterwards he regretted having made them because the other men laughed at them and took them off their
homes and put them to serve like slaves or not much better. But because he couldn’t make them all be
white, for those who were used to seeing them black would complain, He made it so that the palms of
their hands would be exactly like the palms of their hands of the other men. And do you know why that
was ? Of course you don’t know, and it’s not surprising, because many, many people don’t know. Well,
listen : it was to show that what men do is only the work of men…
  
That what men do is done by hands that are the same – hands of people who, if they had any sense, would
know that before everything else they are men. He must have been thinking of this when He made the
hands of the blacks be the same as the hands of those men who thank God they are not black!”
  
After telling me all this, my mother kissed my hands.
  
As I ran off into the yard to play ball, I thought that I had never seen a person cry so much when nobody
had hit them.

Post-Reading
The teacher will now recall the guide questions previously presented for the students to
answer.
Guide Questions:
1. What is the text all about?
2. Who were the characters involved in the story?
3. Of all the people who gave their explanation, who do you agree with the most? Explain
your answer.
4. Using the concept map, organize the various statements as to why the hands of the
blacks are white.

G. Application

Teacher’s Activity Student’s Activity

After the discussion, the teacher will divide The students will group themselves
the class into three groups and present the accordingly.
related activity.

Task 1. Informational Frame

Directions: Relying only on memory, retell the story of each character using the
informational frames.

Senhor
Father Doña Antunes/ Senhor Doña
Teacher Mother
Cristiano Dores Cocacola Frias Estifana
Man
Rubrics for the group presentation:
Below Expectation Satisfactory (10-15 Exemplary (16-20 Score
(5-9 points) points) points)
Organizatio Presentation was not The presentation was Presentation was
n clearly organized and fairly organized and very organized and
the transition between followable. was very easy to
members seem to be Transitions between follow. Transitions
awkward. group members were between group
slightly discontinuous members were all
but it did not greatly well planned and
affect the presentation. executed cleanly.
Content The group members Most members of the Every member in
have shallow group have a solid the group has a
understanding of the understanding of the fortified knowledge
content, and several content but there’s of the content and
mistakes were made still some minor the content is
during the elements that is thoroughly
presentation. missing and some addressed. No
errors in grammar. errors were found
within the content.
Teamwork The group members The group members The group members
communicated work with each other, work well with each
relatively well with and some members other, and the
only a few lapses participated more presentation was
during the slightly than the shared equally
presentation, and others. among the
some members members.
dominated the
presentation while the
others hardly
participate.
Total score
H. Generalization
Teacher’s Activity Student’s Activity
The teacher will review what the story is The students will be given the opportunity to
about, then he/she will ask about what the answer.
students have realize after reading the text.
The teacher will then now introduce the The students were free to answer.
students to the moral of the story and ask
 some volunteers to reflect it to the real-life
scenario.

IV. EVALUATION
Directions: Match column A with column B.
A B
___1. The story “the hands of the blacks” is an excerpt from what
book? A. Mother
___2. Who says, “God made their hands lighter so that they B. Senhor Artunes
wouldn’t dirty the food they make…”? C. Teacher
___3. Who says, “God made blacks because they had to be…” D. Doña Estifana
___4. What is the moral of the story? E. Father Cristiano
___5. Also known as the Coca-Cola man. F. Doña Dores
___6. He is the author of the story. G. character
___7. “a few centuries ago, they walked around on all fours,” based H. Senhor Frias
on ______? I. respect and equality
___8. Refers to a person, animal, being, or thing in a story. J. Luis Bernardo
Honwana
___9. According to her, their palms were bleached with all the
K. We Killed Mangy-
washing. Dog
___10. Because their hands were folded together with all the
praying, is said by?
Answer key:
1. K
2. F
3. A
4. I
5. B
6. J
7. C
8. G
9. D
10. E

V. ASSIGNMENT
Directions: Research more about African literature and its influence on the modern literature.
Summarize the information you gathered and write it on a ½ sheet of paper.
 Prepared by:
Jessa Joy C. Deslate
Demonstrator