Study Work Guide: Finders Keepers Grade 10 First Additional Language: Grade 10 First Additional Language

By Charlene van Rooyen and Rosamund Haden

This study work guide has been compiled to help learners understand and grasp all aspects of the novel and use of language in Finders Keepers, the prescribed novel for Grade 10 English First Additional Language. This study work guide has been compiled to the requirements of CAPS and all important aspects relating to the novel have been covered – in accessible language. The story is about Lufuno leaving Jozi to start a new life in Cape Town. She is bullied at school because of her Venda heritage. She develops a friendship with a Xhosa chief's son. This study work guide forms part of a series. It is not only a guide in which the novel is discussed, but also a workbook in which learners can make notes. This provides revision for exams and tests. This study work guide supplements the prescribed text Finders Keepers. The answers to all questions are available on www.bestbooks.co.za.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Best Books
• Release date: Nov 10, 2017
• ISBN: 9781776071623

Charlene van Rooyen

Charlene van Rooyen is the chief examiner and education specialist for languages at the DoE. She studied B.Ed. (English; Afrikaans/Nederlands; Educational Science). She was the HOD of languages at Langlaagte High before moving to Greenside High as HOD (languages). Charlene knows Afrikaans and English and is proficient in Dutch, isiZulu and German.

Book preview

Best Books Study Work Guide: Finders Keepers

For Grade 10 First Additional Language

Compiled by Charlene van Rooyen

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The page references in this version refer to the pages in the printed book.

In instances where learners are asked to ‘answer the questions below’ the questions may appear on the next page depending on the device being used.

References to the back cover of the book refer to the About the book section in this version.

Foreword to the learner

Dear Grade 10 Learner

The novel Finders Keepers is an action-packed and emotionally-laden novel about a sixteen-year-old South African girl. Her life and experiences are portrayed so accurately and realistically in such a complex and riveting series of events that you will find it impossible not to be drawn into them.

The novel’s main themes concern issues which affect us all. Elements such as love, loss, unemployment, poverty, violence, bullying, striking, traditions and friendship will immediately grip your attention and ensure your involvement in the joy, frustration and sadness of a week in the life of Lufuno Mukwevho, the main protagonist.

These universal themes direct your empathy as you follow Lufuno’s struggles. She has to face a new reality while hankering for the way things used to be at her grandmother’s home in Venda and the time when she and her best friend were still together having fun. She now finds herself, as a Grade 11 student, in a strange school, in a different province, having to cope with unresolved trauma, gangsters and nasty cyber-bullies. While trying to do the right thing as expected by her family and tradition and at the same time dealing with the stress of her new life, she falls in love and makes new friends. All of this is set against the backdrop of an increasingly violent strike action at the factory where both her parents work.

In this guide, the novel is thoroughly analysed and all literary and contextual elements are explained to make it easily comprehensible for you as a First Additional Language learner. This is to ensure that you do not miss out on any nuance of meaning or compromise your complete enjoyment and understanding of the novel. For this reason, a thorough chapter-by-chapter analysis – including a summary, contextual questions and a thematic discussion – is included. Detailed literary elements – such as the use of figures of speech; a formal timeline; the use of idioms and proverbs; a description of all the characters; the significance of names; and the setting of the novel – make this novel accessible to you, the reader.

Finally, you are provided with test and examination questions as well as informal assessment tasks to ensure that you achieve optimal results.

Enjoy your study of the novel and good luck with your literary endeavours.

The compiler

Section A: Helpful information

1. Overview

The novel is set in modern-day South Africa with its poverty, unemployment and civil unrest, as well as the conflict between traditional cultures and the often-corrupting influence of Westernisation and technology. Add to this backdrop stressed teenagers that have experienced recent personal trauma and the strain of relocating to a strange province, and the scene is set for human emotions to reach boiling point.

Lufuno Mukwevho – the chief protagonist in the novel and the first-person narrator – has moved from Jozi with her parents and her younger sister Tshilidzi, shortly after losing her best friend Dudu. The family are in dire straits financially and have to rent a shack in Mrs Jantjies’s backyard.

Mandla Nkosi – the second main protagonist – is the son of a chief from the Eastern Cape. He is relatively well off financially and is a popular guy at school. He is also a soccer star and the girls find him intriguing. However, he has also recently suffered the loss of his beloved younger sister and has moved to Cape Town. He has a troubled and hostile relationship with his father.

The On the Rise Bakery where Lufuno’s parents have secured employment is in the midst of labour unrest and the already volatile community is up-in-arms because of the union’s stirring influence.

Lufuno must learn to stand up for herself in this harsh township community where she is confronted by gangs of trouble-seeking sluggards and girls who are jealous of Mandla’s interest in her. On the flip side, she befriends Noki and Chantelle who are kind to her and show her the ropes in the community.

Lufuno is a credible character as she is not without faults. Although she has been traditionally brought up and does not wish to disappoint her parents (especially since her mother has just recently fully recovered from tuberculosis), she lets her sister go out alone, she sees Mandla against her parents express wishes and she goes to the party at Zakes’ Lucky Tavern. She manages her stress by inventing flights of fantasy or movies – with which she entertains Tshilidzi and formerly Dudu – as a means of escapism from the harsh realities of her existence.

The beauty in the novel stems mostly from memories of Lufuno’s early childhood in Venda when her grandmother was alive. The beauty and tranquillity of the natural surroundings, the gentleness and love of her grandmother, and the stability and magic of the old traditional beliefs sustain her in her times of trouble and depression.

The novel portrays the development of the romance between Lufuno and Mandla which starts when he picks up her precious little Venda bracelet