Trans-Saharan Trade Expedition! - Simulation

Students embarked on the journey of a lifetime today pretending to renact the travelers along the trans-Saharan trade network.  Students were split up--half becoming African traders and half becoming Arab traders.  Students chose a new name (African or Arab) and wore name tags to distinguish themselves.  Then, they randomly picked 10 trade items from a paper bag--the Arabs receiving items such as spices, incense, boiled candies, and Arabic and the Africans receiving items such as gold, salt, beads, and silver.  Students continued onto a message board on Edmodo introducing themselves, their trade items, and their feelings about their travels.  Then, students proceeded to "travel and trade" with one another. Students used language and gestures to communicate with each other trading items, bargaining, and walking away with new goods! After gathering their bounty of goods, students reflected  in writing on the journey, including the trade items students received and how they might use their items once at home.  They finally voted on the most popular trade items and used Google Translate to write in Arabic something they learned or learned to speak during their trade expedition.  Enjoy the fun-filled day in photos below!

Students then wrote first person journals about their experience: