Thinking About Your Thinking

Metacognitive Reading Worksheet

Tsotsi by Athol Fugard — Chapter 3: The Bluegum Trees

NAME

DATE

A DAY

B DAY

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BEFORE READING: ACTIVATE & PREDICT

Monitoring

CHAPTER 3 CONTEXT:

Tsotsi has just beaten Boston nearly to death. He flees the shebeen alone into the township night.

This chapter reveals Tsotsi's three rules for survival, a memory he cannot suppress, and an encounter that will change everything.

1. Boston's last words were: "One day it's going to happen." What emotional state is Tsotsi in as Chapter 3 begins?

Consider: Why did Boston's questions provoke such extreme violence? What has been destabilised inside Tsotsi?

2. Tsotsi is now alone for the first time in the novel. Predict: what happens when a person who avoids self-knowledge is suddenly left alone with his own mind?

DURING READING: MONITOR & RESPOND

Monitoring + Regulating

3. Comprehension check-in: As you read, pause after each section and rate your understanding (1 = lost, 5 = clear).

Section of Chapter	Rating (1–5)	What confused me / what I did about it
Tsotsi's three rules for survival
The flashback: Petah and the memory of "David"
The spider anecdote and Tsotsi's fear of the past
The encounter under the bluegum trees; the baby

4. Double-Entry Journal: Choose two passages that struck you — whether you understood them or not.

The Text (quote or describe the passage with page number)	My Thinking (what I thought, felt, questioned, connected)

5. Tsotsi's Three Rules: Record each rule and explain what it reveals about how he has survived.

RULE 1

RULE 2

RULE 3

AFTER READING: REFLECT & CONNECT

Self-Knowledge

Essential Question: "Can suppressing memories protect us or harm us? What is the relationship between memory and identity?"

6. Tsotsi sees Petah taken by police and is recognised as "David" — yet he refuses to acknowledge it. Why does he reject his own name? What would it cost him to accept it?

Think about: What do his three rules protect him from? What happens to those rules when a baby enters his hands?

7. The Metacognitive Parallel: The spider anecdote shows that one memory leads to another — and Tsotsi fears where that thread might lead. When have you avoided a thought because you feared where it would take you?

8. Tsotsi decides to keep the baby. What has changed inside him — and what predictions can you make about how this decision will disrupt the "pattern of his life"?

Tsotsi Unit — Metacognitive Reading Practice Chapter 3 Monitor. Question. Clarify. Connect.