2.3 Adam small

History

Grade 4

People who served mankind

Module 8

Adam small

A glimpse at the life of Adam Small, one of South Africa’s best-known poets.

Activity 1

To study sources and to determine whether the information is an opinion or a fact [lo 3.2]

Fact: That which can be proved Opinion: Someone’s opinion

(a)study the following sources and say whether the statements that follow are opinions or facts.

Source 1

Thus I was born in Afrikaans at Wellington in the Cape, but was carried as a child in my mother's arms to Robertson on the other side of Bain's Kloof. There I stayed till I was about eight years old in the loneliness of Goree of those times; a small community just outside of Robertson. This is where we had moved to just after my birth. My father, a lonely teacher and always a leader, but never leader of the pack, became "sir" to all those beautiful and dusty heart-sore children and their parents... the farm labourers of the Goree area. Close to where the Rooiberg wines originate, where the Breede River flows through the Boland.

It was there, then, that I got to love this planet, more specifically our own South African earth, and even more specific the red-orange soil of Goree, for the first time also through the language my father taught me, Afrikaans. He was my first, and certainly the best teacher I had. Afrikaans, the language of that red-orange soil, the orange earth.

Source 2

By Goree het my pa my ‘n lei en griffel in die hand gegeeen gesê skryfHy’t geglo dis werk hy was immers meester registerhouer van die skool en scriba van die kerk. Dit was nagmaaltyd by Goree (ons praat op Engels van communion).You see, it is going to be Eastertime and Mamma, who had adopted Pappa’s faith, Nederduitse Gereformeerde Sendingkerk . . . . . . well, she has to bake some bread.For the Easterservice . . . To thank God.Nagmaal . . . Communion.

Source 3

Adam Small was born in Wellington on 21 September 1936. He spent his first nine years in Goree, on the outskirts of Robertson. Thereafter he went to Heathfield, Cape Town. His primary education was within the context of the reformed church, but his secondary schooling was Catholic. He became a student at the University of Cape Town in 1954 and obtained a B.A. degree in 1956 and an Honours degree in philosophy in 1957. He then studied abroad for a few months. He became a lecturer at the University of Fort Hare and later became a lecturer at the University of the Western Cape. After an interruption he is once again back at the latter university.

(From: Groot Verseboek )

a) Source 2 is Adam Small's account of his own life.

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b) Source 1 should indicate precisely for what length of time Small lived at Goree.

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c) Source 1 is closer to the truth than source 2.

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d) Source 3 supplies the true facts.

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e) Source 1 indicates that Small's father was a headmaster.

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f) Source 3 proves that Adam was born in Wellington in 1936.

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More brainteasers for you!

• 312Which source indicates that Adam Small attended church while in secondary school? (colour in)

• NOYESCan you deduct from any source whether Small chose to speak Afrikaans rather than English? (colour in)

• Which fact from source 1 corresponds (is the same as) with source 2?
• What would anyone who is interested in Robertson learn from source 1? (Talk to your friend about this!)
• 321Which source would you use if you wanted to tell your teacher more about Adam Small? (colour in) Why?

• What do you admire (like very much) about Adam Small?

Design your own comic-strip (6 blocks) in which you talk about the place where he grew up. (use a blank page)

Assessment

Learning outcome 3: interpreting history

The learner will be able to interpret aspects of history.

Assessment standard

We know this when the learner:

3.2 Distinguish between fact and opinion:

• be familiar with the question “How do we know?” as well as the answers to the question;
• understand that contemporary sources can differ from what will be written at a later stage;
• understand and make deductions from documentary as well as actual source material.

Memorandum

(a) All the statements are opinions. (Learners could argue that certain statements could be opinions!)