Lesson Overview 

Finally, a Vertext for this novel.  I think it took so long to get here because there so much to cover (in so few pages - the reading for this book is really quite small).  A Vertext is really the way to go here.  It is a class discussion that begins and ends with the actual text (well, the translated text anyway). See earlier discussions for more information and/or my page on class discussions.  And there is SO much to cover here:  Their arrival in the New World, their killing of the monkeys, El Dorado (that is a class in itself), their encounter with the slave.  It is the last one that is , to my mind, so incredibly significant.  The slave says if you want to know who to blame for his troubles - DO NOT begin with his masters who were so cruel - begin with the people in Europe who buy the sugar at his his, and other slaves', expense.  By doing this as a Vertext - and putting the quotes up there - you allow the students to make these connections without preaching to them.  This Vertext also  (for that quote) brings in the poem that they read before the novel about Coco Beans - and the theme should sound very familiar. 
I have also done these chapters as a Group Work - and I will try and include it below.

Thoughts on the Lesson 

I may have said this before - but the really great thing about a Vertext (besides it being "student centered", is that helps tame a lot of really wonderful text.  Sometimes - there is just so much there that it becomes overwhelming.  Well, find the right quotes and that wonderful stuff flow from the students.