When students read complex novels with multiple characters and settings, it can be very confusing for them. One way that teachers can aid students is through setting and character mapping. With these simple template storyboards, readers will be able to keep settings and characters well sorted.
Other Words for Home tells the story of 12-year-old Jude, who lives with her family in a seaside, tourist town in Syria. The increasingly violent Syrian Civil War forces her parents to make the difficult decision for Jude and her pregnant mother to flee to the United States to live with their uncle's family. Engage students with premade Storyboard That activities!
The setting of a story is the all important time and place. Jude in Other Words for Home lives in Syria with her family but then emigrates to the United States as a refugee from the Syrian Civil War. Students can use a setting map to illustrate the different settings in the book and write a short description of each time and place in the description box.
Storyboard Text
SETTING in Other Words for Home
SYRIA
Coastal towns in Syria such as Latakia
MEDITERRANEAN SEA
PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
CYPRUS
ISRAEL
LEBANON
TURKEY
JORDAN
BLACK SEA
Damascus
SYRIA
Aleppo
IRAQ
GEORGIA
ARMENIA
RUSSIA
AZERBAIJAN
IRAN
CASPIANSEA
UNITED STATES
Cincinnati
OHIO
DISTANCE FROM HOME TO HOME
6,058 mi
MODERN DAY -SYRIAN CIVIL WAR (2011- __ )
EGYPT
Other Words from Home begins on a coastal town in Syria. Jude lives with her mother, father, and brother in a beautiful seaside town that typically hosts many tourists.
RED SEA
SAUDI ARABIA
KUWAIT
PERSIAN GULF
As the Syrian Civil war threatens to get worse and worse, Jude's family decides that for their safety, Jude and her pregnant mother must flee to the United States. Jude and her mother move in with their Uncle Mazin, his wife, Aunt Michelle, and daughter Sarah in a historic section of Cincinnati, Ohio called Clifton.
The journey from Syria to the United States is a long one - 6,058 miles! Jude's mother tells her how lucky they are to have been able to come when they did. As the war progresses and there are many other refugees trying to flee, they find that it is not as easy to enter the United States.
The story is set in modern day. The Syrian Civil War began in March 2011 when pro-democracy protests erupted around the country in an effort to unseat Bashar Al Assad's repressive regime. The war continues as of this writing in May 2021.