Kingdom of benin study
Click on the button above to test your knowledge of some basic Kingdom of Benin history facts.
Play with Kingdom of Benin words
Activity 1
After several years in the forest, Prince Ogun began to grow weary of his vagabond life and accepted to be crowned Oba Ewuare of Ubini land around the mid 15th century AD. His father's throne had been vacant for a while then and he was the oldest heir.
3. Use each word in a sentence of your own.
Activity 2
Find another word for the underlined words in the passage below:
The palace, which did not have a permanent site in previous reigns, was constructed on a massive scale covering several acres of land. In its present location, it became a beehive of political as well as spiritual activities and the nerve centre of the vast kingdom.
Activity 3
Paraphrase (simplify) a passage:
Steps:
First read the passage.
Then reread to make sure that you understand its contents.
Finally, write its message or meaning in your own words.
Task:
Paraphrase the following passage in your own words:
Between 1504 and 1550 AD, the Portuguese, a major European power at the time, happily negotiated and established diplomatic and trade relations with Oba Esigie and his kingdom of Benin. Portuguese mercenaries fought alongside the Binis in many territorial wars after the treaty. Trade between the Portuguese and Benin was mainly in coral beads, cloths for ceremonial attire and great quantities of brass manilas which Bini craftsmen melted for casting. In exchange for Portuguese goods, the Binis offered tobacco, spices, coolants, ivory, earthenware, jewellery, artefacts, domestic slaves etc.
Activity 4
Highlight the sentence in the passage below that shows the authorial motive:
“The king's palace or court is a square, and is as large as the town of Haarlem and entirely surrounded by a special wall, like that which encircles the town. It is divided into many magnificent palaces, houses, and apartments of the courtiers, and comprises beautiful and long square galleries, about as large as the Exchange at Amsterdam, but one larger than another, resting on wooden pillars, from top to bottom covered with cast copper, on which are engraved the pictures of their war exploits and battles, and are kept very clean. Most palaces and houses of the king are covered with palm leaves instead of square pieces of wood, and every roof is decorated with a small turret ending in a point, on which birds are standing, birds cast in copper with outspread wings, cleverly made after living models."
Description of the king’s palace from a seventeenth century Dutch engraving of Olfert Dapper's Nauwkeurige Beschrijvinge der Afrikaansche Gewesten, published in Amsterdam in 1668.
Read more about Kingdom of Benin history here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benin_Empire
Find more resources here: http://www.conceptvessel.net/iyare/index.html
Activity 5
Activity 6
Art
Words into art
Look at the words below:
Web link:
You can get steps by step tutorial how to draw in this YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=drawing+step+by+step+tutorial&page=2
Scroll down to find your subject for drawing.
Learn to paint step by step here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rW5lQFyleE
Activity 7
Draw an outline shape of one of the Benin soldiers in a victory celebration scene. These are the plaques showing Benin soldiers and musicians in the background. Put some feelings words inside the outline to show how he might be feeling. On the outside of the outline, put words others might use to describe him as they perceive him during the celebration.
Choose from the words below or use some of your own:
Edo soldiers Feelings words chart
Glad Brave Good Eminent Grateful Happy Ecstatic
Delighted Cheerful Clever Impressed Gratified Confident
Contented Inspired Joyous Overjoyed Excited Pleased
Powerful Proud Satisfied Jubilant Dignified Honored
Great Noble Contented Magnificent Majestic Impressive
Splendid Spirited Valiant Stately Memorable Grand
Illustrious Venerable August Awesome Sublime Smashing
Extension activities
This activity could be extended to adding a thought bubble to show the soldier's thoughts.
Students could form tableau of the plaque scene: in role, dramatize the plaque scene and on cue from the teacher, freeze at a chosen point. The teacher then completes a thought tapping exercise using these questions:
How do you feel right now?
What are you thinking about?
What are you most looking forward to right now?
Top tip: teach the domain feelings words to the students before starting the tableau exercise so they have the right vocabulary to use in their responses.
Have fun.
Activity 8: Dictation
Tips for dictating text aloud to students
Extension:
Individuals to write up their group story from the oral composition.
List of Words for dictation: Ancient, defence, dug, Kingdom, around, enemy, moats, Benin, two, depopulate.
Activity 9
Extending vocabulary work - spellings and definitions
Make spelling tests fun using the ideas below.
Resources: Text extracts from Kingdom of Benin text books or story books.
Read the text from the British Museum publication below:
Source 4
The king himself was in charge of trading slaves, ivory and other important goods, so that all the profit went to support his court and government. Other merchants could only trade with the king’s permission.
- British Museum
Idea 1
What to do
Idea 2
Find a word from its first 2 or 3 letters and its meaning.
Students say: find the word which means 'returns or revenue from investment. Its first 2 letters are 'pr'. (profit)
Spelling Bee: You can turn these activities into whole class spelling competitions and each group earns points on the number of words they can name and spell correctly.
Activity 1
- Write the definitions of the underlined words in the passage below in your own words.
- Use a dictionary to check meanings of any unfamiliar word.
After several years in the forest, Prince Ogun began to grow weary of his vagabond life and accepted to be crowned Oba Ewuare of Ubini land around the mid 15th century AD. His father's throne had been vacant for a while then and he was the oldest heir.
3. Use each word in a sentence of your own.
Activity 2
Find another word for the underlined words in the passage below:
The palace, which did not have a permanent site in previous reigns, was constructed on a massive scale covering several acres of land. In its present location, it became a beehive of political as well as spiritual activities and the nerve centre of the vast kingdom.
Activity 3
Paraphrase (simplify) a passage:
Steps:
First read the passage.
Then reread to make sure that you understand its contents.
Finally, write its message or meaning in your own words.
Task:
Paraphrase the following passage in your own words:
Between 1504 and 1550 AD, the Portuguese, a major European power at the time, happily negotiated and established diplomatic and trade relations with Oba Esigie and his kingdom of Benin. Portuguese mercenaries fought alongside the Binis in many territorial wars after the treaty. Trade between the Portuguese and Benin was mainly in coral beads, cloths for ceremonial attire and great quantities of brass manilas which Bini craftsmen melted for casting. In exchange for Portuguese goods, the Binis offered tobacco, spices, coolants, ivory, earthenware, jewellery, artefacts, domestic slaves etc.
Activity 4
Highlight the sentence in the passage below that shows the authorial motive:
“The king's palace or court is a square, and is as large as the town of Haarlem and entirely surrounded by a special wall, like that which encircles the town. It is divided into many magnificent palaces, houses, and apartments of the courtiers, and comprises beautiful and long square galleries, about as large as the Exchange at Amsterdam, but one larger than another, resting on wooden pillars, from top to bottom covered with cast copper, on which are engraved the pictures of their war exploits and battles, and are kept very clean. Most palaces and houses of the king are covered with palm leaves instead of square pieces of wood, and every roof is decorated with a small turret ending in a point, on which birds are standing, birds cast in copper with outspread wings, cleverly made after living models."
Description of the king’s palace from a seventeenth century Dutch engraving of Olfert Dapper's Nauwkeurige Beschrijvinge der Afrikaansche Gewesten, published in Amsterdam in 1668.
Read more about Kingdom of Benin history here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benin_Empire
Find more resources here: http://www.conceptvessel.net/iyare/index.html
Activity 5
- See how many new words of interest you can find and write down about the Kingdom of Benin.
- Play word games with your friends using the words.
- Learn to spell each word.
- Use some of the words in sentences and stories of your own.
- Compose a quiz for your friends to answer.
- Compose a dictionary of Kingdom of Benin words.
Activity 6
Art
Words into art
Look at the words below:
- Dispute
- Trade
- War
- Celebration
- Choose one of them.
- Really think about it. What image does it bring to your mind?
- In your group, discuss and select one of the images to work with.
- Working with your group, form a tableau with the word. This means, use your physical bodies to form the image you have selected.
- Get someone to use a view finder to pinpoint a part of your tableau.
- What is the part showing?
- Use drawing to show this e.g. if it was a gesture, use gestural drawing to show it.
- Use different media e.g. paint, crayon, pastel to bring your drawing alive.
- Display your drawings.
- Evaluate each others’ drawing. What worked well (WWW) ?What could have been even better (EBI)?
Web link:
You can get steps by step tutorial how to draw in this YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=drawing+step+by+step+tutorial&page=2
Scroll down to find your subject for drawing.
Learn to paint step by step here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rW5lQFyleE
Activity 7
Draw an outline shape of one of the Benin soldiers in a victory celebration scene. These are the plaques showing Benin soldiers and musicians in the background. Put some feelings words inside the outline to show how he might be feeling. On the outside of the outline, put words others might use to describe him as they perceive him during the celebration.
Choose from the words below or use some of your own:
Edo soldiers Feelings words chart
Glad Brave Good Eminent Grateful Happy Ecstatic
Delighted Cheerful Clever Impressed Gratified Confident
Contented Inspired Joyous Overjoyed Excited Pleased
Powerful Proud Satisfied Jubilant Dignified Honored
Great Noble Contented Magnificent Majestic Impressive
Splendid Spirited Valiant Stately Memorable Grand
Illustrious Venerable August Awesome Sublime Smashing
Extension activities
This activity could be extended to adding a thought bubble to show the soldier's thoughts.
Students could form tableau of the plaque scene: in role, dramatize the plaque scene and on cue from the teacher, freeze at a chosen point. The teacher then completes a thought tapping exercise using these questions:
How do you feel right now?
What are you thinking about?
What are you most looking forward to right now?
Top tip: teach the domain feelings words to the students before starting the tableau exercise so they have the right vocabulary to use in their responses.
Have fun.
Activity 8: Dictation
Tips for dictating text aloud to students
- Use a simple introduction to place the text you are going to read in context.
- Practise reading the text beforehand to ensure your reading flows smoothly.
- Make sure everyone can hear you.
- Speak at a moderate speed. Do not speak too fast or too slow.
- Vary your voice to show change of characters, moods or scenes.
- Maintain eye contact throughout your reading; your facial expressions will aid your audience understanding of word meanings.
- If you have to turn a page during the reading, get it ready so that you do not have to interrupt the flow of your reading.
- Ask the class to listen to the words you are going to read to them.
- They must make a list of the words as you read them.
- Read the words at a fast pace.
- When each person has finished writing their list of words, ask each group to combine their list into one.
- Ask the groups to orally compose a plausible story for their list of words.
- Each group should tell their story to the rest of the class.
Extension:
Individuals to write up their group story from the oral composition.
List of Words for dictation: Ancient, defence, dug, Kingdom, around, enemy, moats, Benin, two, depopulate.
Activity 9
Extending vocabulary work - spellings and definitions
Make spelling tests fun using the ideas below.
Resources: Text extracts from Kingdom of Benin text books or story books.
Read the text from the British Museum publication below:
Source 4
The king himself was in charge of trading slaves, ivory and other important goods, so that all the profit went to support his court and government. Other merchants could only trade with the king’s permission.
- British Museum
Idea 1
What to do
- Divide this text into 3 or more and allocate each to different pairs or groups.
- Ask students to highlight and select one domain word from their given phrase or sentence.
- Students should then use the dictionary to find the meaning of the word.
- Students compose a spelling word puzzle on the word around meaning and spelling as below.
- Students present their puzzle to rest of group or class by saying e.g. ' My word has 5 letters. It begins with i and ends with y. It means 'a tusk, as of an elephant' What is my word and can you spell it? (answer: ivory)
Idea 2
Find a word from its first 2 or 3 letters and its meaning.
Students say: find the word which means 'returns or revenue from investment. Its first 2 letters are 'pr'. (profit)
Spelling Bee: You can turn these activities into whole class spelling competitions and each group earns points on the number of words they can name and spell correctly.