Matthew Jellick

Believing that authentic language learning is better accessed outside of the classroom, I try to provide my students with ample opportunities to practice, respecting their desire to learn without parameters. One such platform with which we have found success with is the Staff English Book Club, which I host each semester at Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech).

This semester, our book club is focusing on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s powerful novel “Americanah,” a complex reading which deals with issues pertaining to the dichotomies associated with self-identity. Race, immigration, integration and love all go to shape the development of the characters and how they deal with inner truth in juxtaposition to outward appearance.

Whether we admit it or not, to some extent all of us hide behind the mask we wear, and the main characters of the book, Ifemelu and Obinze, face their own personal reckoning with these contradictions.

With the setting jumping between the United States and Nigeria, the novel takes us inside the minds of our protagonists and how they identify as American or Nigerian, and in turn, what those labels mean to themselves and to others.

Money, power and love can be blessings, but at the same time, they can be curses, and the balance between the two must be traversed with care.

Meeting every other week throughout the semester, our group of 15 staff members analyzes, deconstructs and discusses this book, taking into account our own personal experiences as well and how they shape our viewpoints.

Gender issues transformed through the immigrant experience and notions of love defined by the past yet looking towards the future are some of the topics of discussion, expressing our thoughts through words, drawing from ourselves with support from the book.

Each semester we read a different book, shading our lens with a different color in how we look at not only words, but their deeper meaning.

Expanding our worldview through challenging novels increases our language attainment, but perhaps more importantly, also helps to shape our critical thinking skills.

This is the sixth consecutive Staff English Book Club that Matthew Jellick has hosted at his university.