Teaching A Passage to India

Instructions for You

Objective: The British and Indians seem to be like the ultimate dysfunctional family. They can't really agree on much. The Indians are all, "Give us civil rights!" The English are like, "Yeah, no." The characters in Passage are pretty much a reality show's dream.

The Indians and the British weren't born this way, though. (Sorry, Lady GaGa.) Instead, people are, at least in part, products of their environments. We become who we are based on our life experiences—and as we experience new things, we change and grow.

Here's what we're curious about: if Passage really were a reality show, what would our circus of characters say in their personal interviews and voiceovers? How would they answer the same questions? Why exactly would their answers differ?

Let's find out. For this assignment, students will analyze how different personalities develop throughout the novel by crafting surveys that deal explicitly with its themes—and then answering those survey questions from the perspectives of various characters.

This will take at least two class periods, especially since we're pretty confident that these interviews are going to be so good that you feel compelled to provide an opportunity for your students to publish their interviews in some way.

Materials Needed: Copies of A Passage to India, and a way to record students' ideas on paper and/or using computers. We're not sure about you, but we aren't exactly working with a full reality-show budget, so we're keeping it simple here.

Step 1: At this point, you should have already read and discussed the whole book. As a review, go over some of Passage's most prominent central ideas and themes. Write down students' ideas on the board.

Students stuck? We'll pull an Adela and save the day. Check out Shmoop's page on themes in the novel here.

Step 2: Next, organize the desks into clusters of three to four. Assign each small group a theme. Then, explain to the class that each group will create a list of ten or so questions that address their assigned theme. These questions should not be fact based; rather, they should be open-ended and able to be answered by different people in different ways.

Take a look at these examples:

• Can an Indian and an Englishman be friends? Why or why not?
• Who holds the most power in India? Why or why not?

These work really well because a) there isn't one correct answer and the answers are completely based on the interviewee, and b) they'd create a healthy dose of drama amongst the characters in the book, and—let's face it—drama = good TV.

Step 3: After each group has brainstormed their ten questions, have them meet with another group, and together, select the five juiciest ones for each theme.

Step 4: Now, here's the fun part. For each question, have students choose at least two characters from Passage to "interview"—at least one Indian and one British character. Using evidence from the text to support their responses, students should write answers to all five questions from each character's perspective. To recap, that's five questions x two (or more) answers = at least ten responses total.

Feel free to let students be creative with this. If you have time, we'd suggest squeezing in some mini-lessons about dialect and/or writing effective dialogue to give the interviews a more authentic feel.

Step 5: We're hoping these interviews are too good to simply live in the world of print forever. Have students publish their work by doing some Readers' Theater in front of the room, sharing on a blog or via Google Docs, or even having students record podcasts or movies. Pick a publication method that works with your time and material constraints as well as your students' technology know-how.

Step 6: Finally, debrief by discussing how each character's perspectives and views influence the events of the novel: How do the characters propel the plot forward?

We'll be standing by, waiting on a call from Netflix.

Instructions for Your Students

Objective: The British and Indians seem to be like the ultimate dysfunctional family. They can't really agree on much. The Indians are all, "Give us civil rights!" The English are like, "Yeah, no." The characters in Passage are pretty much a reality show's dream.

The Indians and the British weren't born this way, though. (Sorry, Lady GaGa.) Instead, people are, at least in part, products of their environments. We become who we are based on our life experiences—and as we experience new things, we change and grow.

Here's what we're curious about: if Passage really were a reality show, what would our circus of characters say in their personal interviews and voiceovers? How would they answer the same questions? Why exactly would their answers differ?

Let's find out. For this assignment, you will analyze how different personalities develop throughout the novel by crafting surveys that deal explicitly with its themes—and then answering those survey questions from the perspectives of various characters.

Bring on the drama.

Step 1: At this point, you should have already read and discussed the whole book. As a review, let's go over some of Passage's most prominent central ideas and themes. Raise your hand when you've got one.

Stuck? We'll pull an Adela and save the day. Check out Shmoop's page on themes in the novel here.

Step 2: Next, organize your desks into clusters of three to four. Each small group will be assigned a theme and will create a list of ten or so questions that address their assigned theme. These questions should not be fact based; rather, they should be open-ended and able to be answered by different people in different ways.

Take a look at these examples:

• Can an Indian and an Englishman be friends? Why or why not?
• Who holds the most power in India? Why or why not?

These work really well because a) there isn't one correct answer and answers are completely based on the interviewee, and b) they'd create a healthy dose of drama amongst the characters in the book, and—let's face it—drama = good TV.

Step 3: After your group has brainstormed your ten questions, meet with another group, and together, select the five juiciest ones for each theme.

Step 4: Now, here's the fun part. For each question, choose at least two characters from Passage to "interview"—at least one Indian and one British character. Using evidence from the text to support your responses, write answers to all five questions from each character's perspective. To recap, that's five questions x two (or more) answers = at least ten responses total.

Be creative. Think about what the characters would say as well as how they would say it in order to give your interviews a more authentic feel.

Step 5: We know your interviews are too good to simply live in the world of print forever, so it's time to share your work with the world—or maybe just your classmates. Stay tuned to your teacher's instructions for publication info.

Step 6: Finally, debrief by discussing how each character's perspectives and views influence the events of the novel: How do the characters propel the plot forward?

We'll be standing by, waiting on a call from Netflix.