Sample Pages from her diary,Kitty.
A closer look at this amazing girl growing!
ORAL BOOK TALK
ANNE FRANK – THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL By Maria Acedo
She was born on June 14, 1929 to a well off Jewish family in Frankfurt, Germany.
By the time she was 4 years old, her father, Otto Frank, migrated his family to Holland in 1933 when he was appointed Managing Director of Travis N.V., a sister company of Kolen & Company which he was a part owner. Anne has an older sister of three years named Margot.
Life for her family became difficult in 1938, when some members of her family moved to the US to escape the German Nazis. Her grandmother who she was very closed to lived with them until her death in January 1942. When Germany invaded Holland in 1940, life for them became more difficult because of the many anti-Jew laws that were enforced by Hitler who was one of the perpetrators of WW11.
Anne attended a prestigious school, Montessori Kindergarten in 1934 until she finished 6th grade. She later joined her sister, Margot, and attended the Jewish Secondary School.
There were a lot of challenges for Anne as early on in the novel that by the way was made from her diary entries.
First, Anne felt alone. Don't get her wrong, but she had a wonderful family, relatives and friends. However, at a very young age of 13, she felt she had no REAL friend who would be patient and honest enough to share her innermost thoughts, no matter how absurd or ridiculous they might be. Her circle of friends were only for fun and she could not find anyone in it who met her mind-serious and deep for the majority of the time. So, she created an ideal friend, patient and ever waiting, a diary she named "Kitty". It was on the pages of this cardboard covered notebook that she wrote of her thoughts far beyond her age mostly deep, melancholic, critical, funny and witty.
Second, Anne had trouble keeping her mouth shut in school. So one day, her Math teacher gave her a writing assignment entitled " The Chatterbox". She was very upset with this but she was clever enough to defend her side stating, "it is inherent for women to talk as part of their nature and that should not be eradicated. However, women must also be able to keep their mouths under control."
Third, Anne had to make the absolute sacrifice of surrendering her freedom by going with her family into hiding, if it were the only way to guarantee their survival. This was not an easy task for a teen-ager to do and she relieved herself of the situation by looking at it as a family vacation. She understood the purpose of the plan and was content with it for as long as it took.
Anne made a lot of accomplishments and one of them is being critical of her. When she acted like a brat, she reflected on her actions and talk to herself to be better. She never made any excuses for her misbehavior but treated the situation as a learning point to improve. For example, she was very open about upsetting Mr. Van Daan for the most part of the day but after every episode of the argument she would try her best to keep her opinion to herself to avoid confrontations. For a teen, to pull away from any adult to avoid confrontation is an accomplishment.
Another accomplishment I would share with you is that, Anne did not usethe situation to stop learning. She continued to educate herself by reading different books and studying new crafts. For example, she would request for new books to be delivered to her secretly through Miep or Elie, her fathers friends who know about the family secret. They both serve them as the family's link to the outside world. She also learned French and shorthand (a different form of writing used by secretaries to capture every word their bosses tell them when they write a letter of memorandum to the rest of their staff)
I would pause for now as I have not finished reading the diary-novel of this remarkable and magnificent girl. Until my next report.
P.S.
Remember the parts of your Book Talk:
- Basic Personal Information about your subject
- Issues/Concerns your subject faced and how they were resolved. You need to have three(3) with supporting details from the text and;
- Achievements this person made (atleast 2) include supporting details from text and an explanation for each achievement in relation to its importance.
Take a closer look at my Anne Frank Sample Oral Book Talk and just follow the pattern. Be ready for your presentation on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2009. You have two (2) minutes for your presentation.
Toodles,
Ms. Maria Acedo
