Natasha Bowen's ‘Skin of the Sea’: understanding the extract
I can show understanding of Natasha Bowen's 'Skin of the Sea' through comprehension and annotation.
Natasha Bowen's ‘Skin of the Sea’: understanding the extract
I can show understanding of Natasha Bowen's 'Skin of the Sea' through comprehension and annotation.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- 'Skin of the Sea' centres around a protagonist called Simidele who is a Mami Wata, in this instance a mermaid.
- As a Mami Wata, Simidele must collect souls of enslaved people who die as they are transported across the Atlantic.
- Natasha Bowen makes use of flashback in the opening chapter to hint at Simidele's life before she became a Mami Wata.
- When annotating a text, you can use a range of symbols and notes to help develop an understanding of the text’s ideas.
Keywords
Mami Wata - a water spirit or deity (god) sacred to West, Central and Southern Africa
Flashback - a transition in a story to an earlier time in the life of one or more characters
Mortal - human
Annotate - to make short notes on, and about, a text
Common misconception
A Mami Wata is always presented as a mermaid who saves the souls of enslaved people.
Mami Wata is a water spirit and has a rich tradition in West, Central and Southern Africa. Bowen has used the deity in her novel and presented her as a mermaid with a specific task, but the goddess is presented in different ways in other art.
To help you plan your year 8 english lesson on: Natasha Bowen's ‘Skin of the Sea’: understanding the extract, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 8 english lesson on: Natasha Bowen's ‘Skin of the Sea’: understanding the extract, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 3 english lessons from the Myths, legends and stories that inspire unit, dive into the full secondary english curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
You and your pupils will need a copy of 'Skin of the Sea' by Natasha Bowen, published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
Content guidance
- Depiction or discussion of discriminatory behaviour
- Depiction or discussion of upsetting content
- Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended
Licence
Lesson video
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Starter quiz
6 Questions
the narrator is a character in the story using pronouns like 'I'
the narrator speaks directly to the reader using pronouns like 'you'
the narrator isn’t a character in the story using 'he', 'she', 'they'
a short section of a text
the person who wrote the story
the person telling the story
a short description on the back of a book giving an overview
a way of dividing stories into sections
a transition to a time earlier in the life of one or more characters
when an object is given human characteristics
a method of comparison using the word 'like' or 'as'
a narrative perspective in which the narrator is a character
a body of water moving in a specific direction
waves created by the sea rather than the wind
the overlapping plates that protect the skin of fish
hard, colourful substance created by some marine life
Exit quiz
6 Questions
Yemoja transformed her into one.
she was once mortal.
she gathers the souls of enslaved people.