Working on theme: The power of friendship to make a person stronger

A theme is an idea which is developed throughout part or all of a book, or song, or film.  We are learning to identify themes in one or more texts and be able to talk about how they are developed.

One theme in The Freedom Writers is the power of friendship to make a person stronger.  We looked at this theme when we read The Absolutely True Diary of the Part Time Indian.  We saw how Rowdy and Junior helped each other at the beginning, and then the struggles they had later on when Junior changed schools.

In order to get really good at thinking about themes in The Freedom Writers, we need to think about the idea that friendship can make a person stronger. Either individually, in pairs or in groups, choose one or more of the tasks below to work on in class today:

1. What does "friendship" mean?  Does it mean different things for people of different ages?  What makes a good friend? - make a brainstorm and then a poster on google drawings (or you could try canva if you feel like playing with a new digital poster tool).

2. How can a friendship make you stronger?  Do you think the old proverb "a problem shared is a problem halved" is true?

3. Look again at Miguel's speech in The Freedom Writers.  What does friendship mean to Miguel?

4. Think about Eva and Sindy in the film.  Can you describe the changes in their relationship?  (This short blogpost gives a useful rundown of key characters).