Two Old Women

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 Answer

1. What are some of the struggles Indigenous peoples might face living in interior Alaska? What resources might be used? What foods might be available? How might the importance of family be characterized? How might lifestyles be influenced by the resources of where a tribe lives?

Teaching Suggestion: Two Old Women is the story of Sa’ and Ch’idzigyaak, who are members of an Athabascan tribe. The women are forced to survive in the interior of Alaska following the chief’s decision to abandon them due to their frailty and lack of contribution to the tribe. Consider analyzing the Athabascan culture and how they survived the Alaskan interior.

• This article describes the culture and beliefs of Athabascan tribes.
• This article offers information on Athabascan lifestyle and interactions between Athabascan tribes.

Short Activity

Complete an investigation to determine the climate in which the Athabascan tribes lived. Describe the average temperatures at different times of the year, the plant and animal life, and resources that may have been used by the Athabascan people.

Teaching Suggestion: One way to introduce students to the Athabascan people and their lifestyle might be to explore the Alaskan interior region. Students may wish to use the resources below to draw conclusions about the Athabascan people and life in the interior region of Alaska. One way for students to complete this activity is to explore plant and animal life in the interior region of Alaska after identifying where the Athabascan people resided.

• This article reports the range of Alaskan temperatures by region.
• This article provides a map of Indigenous groups in Alaska.
• This article represents Alaskan regions and identifies the groups that live in each region.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

Describe a time when you felt discriminated against because of your age. Where were you when you felt singled out or treated unfairly for this reason? What assumptions were made about you because of your age? What assumptions do people in society make about others based on age? Why do you think people make generalizations about people in different age groups? What are ways people can work to combat ageism?

Teaching Suggestion: In Two Old Women, the protagonists have been left behind because their tribe no longer finds them valuable due to their age and lack of contribution to the group. You may wish to discuss ageism among different age groups and generalizations made about those age groups.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who require an extra challenge, consider allowing additional time to research ageism, how it can be harmful to societies and individuals, and instances of ageism in everyday life that they might recognize. Sharing the details of their research through a short presentation or on a visual display for the duration of the unit may benefit the class as a whole.