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 Activity

Use a map or globe to locate the following destinations.

• Syria
• ·Jordan
• Damascus
• Tunisia
• Lebanon
• Turkey
• Egypt
• Iraq
• Gulf of Aqaba
• Cairo, Egypt
• Aleppo

In your notes or reading journal, evaluate your skills with the map task. Was it easy to find the destinations, or challenging? Comment on your general successfulness. In your notes or journal, answer these questions:

• What countries border Syria?
• What are the major water systems in Syria?
• What is the predominant religious affiliation in Syria?

Teaching Suggestion: It may be helpful to post a large world map for students to view throughout the course of the reading of the book. For additional contextual understanding, students might explore the article below (focusing on the “Land” and “People” portions for the sake of time) or similar resources. Students might also investigate the area of Syria and the surrounding countries and bodies of water using additional sources. Doaa is a Syrian refugee who travels all over the Middle East and parts of Europe to escape the political upheaval in Syria and Egypt; some familiarity with the region’s geography will aid in comprehension of the text.