Call Me American

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. Can you find Somalia on a map? What do you know about the country?

Teaching Suggestion: Even older students may not know where Somalia is; a quick internet search or location activity with a map or globe will help students with a beginning point of reference. You might also use this as an opportunity to discuss how “Africa” is sometimes presented as a monolithic concept, with little attention to the differences between individual countries. Encourage students to think about why this is and what it might indicate about the American perspective on the world beyond its borders.

• Encyclopaedia Britannica provides basic information about Somalia’s history, conflicts, and politics.
• Human Rights Watch compiled information following the collapse of the Somali state that can be useful in considering how relevant Abdi’s narrative still is today.

2. What are the denotation and connotation of refugee? How does one become a refugee?

Teaching Suggestion: Students likely have heard the term refugee before, but they may not know the difference between a refugee, an asylum seeker, and a migrant. This can be important in setting the stage for discussions of the process of coming to the US from another country, as well as introducing the themes of Loss of Innocence, Cultural Differences, and Individualism Versus Collective Action.

• Amnesty International offers definitions of refugee, asylum seeker, and migrant and explains the differences between people in these categories.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the text.

What is a memoir, and what are its defining features? Why might someone decide to write a memoir? How does a memoir help you understand someone else’s experience?

Teaching Suggestion: Students may have read memoirs before, and Abdi’s memoir is fairly straightforward in its presentation of his experience in Somalia and then as a refugee first in Kenya and then in the United States. However, it may be beneficial to use this as an opportunity to discuss the differences between a memoir and an autobiography.

• Grammarly explains the differences between memoir and autobiography and provides a list of examples.
• Blurb offers detailed descriptions of the biography, autobiography, and memoir genres and explains how they differ.

Differentiation Suggestion: For English language learners and learners who might benefit from graphic organizers, it may be helpful to supply a Venn diagram for comparing autobiographies and memoirs; students can then use the diagram as a springboard to discuss what can be learned from memoirs.