This Educator’s Guide accompanies the youth novel, Whitney’s Escape, published by Voices in Africa. Whitney’s Escape is a story for learners in Grade 8 with the primary aim of helping to prevent drug abuse. The book is intended for English First Additional Language Level and seeks to promote and achieve the aims of the CAPS Curriculum including:

• Whitney’s Escape is rich in dialogue and vocabulary, and can be used in a variety of ways to promote the integration of the four CAPS Skills Areas: Listen and Speak, Read and View, Write and Present and Language Use.

• The book encourages critical thinking and decision making, especially as they relate to values. This is one of the book’s main themes and is achieved through the portrayal of opposing values and behaviour patterns within the plot. Learners will find themselves having to evaluate whether or not they can agree and identify with the different characters in the book, and with opposing sides of conflicts within the plot.

• Whitney’s Escape helps the learner understand the inter-relatedness of systems and problems in the young person’s world of school, home, community and relationships. The book clearly illustrates to the learner that the problems and solutions associated with drug abuse do not exist in isolation.

• The book has a multicultural cast and seeks to promote cultural understanding and sensitivity, whilst attempting to maintain relevance and appeal to a wide spectrum of different learners from various backgrounds.

• The novel will allow educators to develop the literary themes of plot, conflict, characters and characterisation, theme and setting, role of narrator, suspense and surprise.

The novel speaks powerfully for itself and learners will easily identify with and be challenged and inspired by the characters in the book. However, your learners can also benefit much from further class discussions, activities and exercises, which will encourage critical thinking and decision-making. This Educator’s Guide is designed to help you with some ideas in this regard.

CAPS Approach and Presentation

The Reading Activities for Whitney’s Escape have been developed according to the frameworks and guidelines of the CAPS Curriculum and in particular the following prerequisite:

“All cultures, and most people, live lives imbued with stories…. Narratives (novel, short story and folklore) need to be read, discussed, and enjoyed. Whatever the teacher does in the classroom, the sheer pleasure of engaging in a good story must remain paramount.”