The Diary of Anne Frank (the play) Study Guide Questions
Prereading activities
Directions: Simply, use what you would like to use. There is no reason, given your student make up, why you may or may not use all of the activities. Up to you. Enjoy.
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Project Start – Anticipation guide
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Anne Frank Tree Leaves – Leave a leaf.
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Anne Frank Webquest with worksheet to go with it.
ACT I – Study Questions
Directions: Answer questions on your own paper in complete sentences. For every question, provide details from the text to support your answer . . .
- Reword the question in the answer.
- Give your answer.
- Provide details/support from the text.
You should work on the following questions throughout the play/text, so take notes in order to get these done.
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Compare and contrast Anne’s relationship with her mother to that with her father. (Double Bubble Map)
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Compare and contrast the relationship between Anne and Peter at the beginning of the play and later on in the play. (Double Bubble Map)
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In the early scenes of the play, how does Anne manage to get on others’ nerves?
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Compare Anne and Margot. Do their differences ever cause problems? (Double Bubble Map)
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How do the conflicts that characters have seem almost insignificant when Mr. Dussell tells them what has been going on outside? (Problem/Solution Question)
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How would you describe the problem between Anne and her mother? How does Anne describe the problem between her and her mother? What do you think would improve it? (Double Bubble Map)(Problem/Solution Question)
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How have Anne’s plans for the future changed? What did she plan to become in the beginning of the play? What is she planning to become now? Why does she “think more seriously about life.” (Compare/Contrast, Double Bubble Map, Tree Map, Venn Diagram, Essay)
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Note also that the first and last scenes of the play occur at the same time period.
In class we will be intermingling our coverage of the Anne’s diary as we view portions of the made for TV production called Anne Frank. If you miss what we saw in class, you can find the entire TV production on YouTube, as well as the entire play version.
- Your job is to take notes while viewing the movie excerpts in order to write a compare/contrast essay discussing the similarities and differences between aspects of the play we read and the excerpts we see.
- You can DOUBLE your grade by providing a detailed Double Bubble Map that goes with your essay.
Act I: Scene I
- Know some of the important world events between 1929 and 1945.
- Be able to identify each character in the play and describe their personalities. Create a characterization chart for each character.
- Be aware of typical comments made by each character or about him/her. This should be organized in a table or personally designed graphic organizer that you add to as you read the play.
- Make a note of the Thoughts, Speech and Actions of each of the characters.
- Define flashback.
- How do the writers use this device to bring the reader to the main action of the play?
o Note the change of the dates in Act I, Scene 2.
o Note also that the first and last scenes of the play occur at the same time period.
Act I: Scene II
- How were the Jews restricted in Amsterdam?
- Why is Mr. Frank a logical choice as leader for the group in the secret annex?
- Identify:
- ration books
- black market
- Take notes throughout the play in order to get this done . . . Compare and contrast Anne’s relationship with her mother to that with her father.
- Take notes throughout the play in order to get this done . . . Compare and contrast the relationship between Anne and Peter at the beginning of the play and later on in the play.
- Why did Anne find it difficult to destroy the Star of David? (LOL, )
- Anne looks at going into hiding as an adventure at first. When did she realize what it really meant?
- Read the following quote, then write your own answer to the question, THEN share your answers with your group. Discuss – “There are no walls, there are no bolts, no locks that anyone can put on your mind.” (LOL, 459)
i. Who is the speaker?
ii. Who is being spoken to?
iii. What does this mean?
- Take notes throughout the play in order to get this done . . . In the early scenes of the play, how does Anne manage to get on others’ nerves?
- Take notes throughout the play in order to get this done . . . Compare Anne and Margot. Do their differences ever cause problems?
Act I: Scene III
- Identify: Mrs. Quack Quack. What is the author’s purpose for including this event in the play?
- What are some of the causes of disagreement between Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan?
- Explain why the spilling of the milk is a climactic crisis in Act I, scene 3.
- In Act I, scene 3, Anne says that things have changed for her generation. Write your own answer to the question, THEN share your answers with your group. Discuss.
- Do you think that parents expect the same things from their children as parents in Anne’s time expected? Explain.
- Do Anne and Peter have typical teenage attitudes toward their families?
- Do you agree with Mr. Van Daan’s description of the type of woman men prefer? Explain why. Write your own answer to the question, THEN share your answers with your group. Discuss. (LOL, 466).
- Define: metaphor
- Explain the metaphor Anne uses. (LOL, 468)
- What are some of the things Mr. Van Daan does that cause Peter shame? Mrs. Van Daan?
- Do you think everyone in the annex should have had a part in the decision to take in Mr. Dussell? Write your own answer to the question, THEN share your answers with your group. Discuss.
- Why is Dussell’s surprise at seeing the Franks in Amsterdam good news for those living in the annex? Explain why. Write your own answer to the question, THEN share your answers with your group. Discuss.
- Identify: Zurich. Where is it in relation to the Frank’s original home, the Secret Annex
- How do the conflicts that characters have seem almost insignificant when Mr. Dussell tells them what has been going on outside? Explain why. Write your own answer to the question, THEN share your answers with your group. Discuss.
- Why does Mr. Dussell feel as he does about going into hiding?
- What conflicts arise between Anne and Mr. Dussell? Why?
- Discuss the irony of Mr. Dussell’s comments about getting along well with children. Write your own answer to the question, THEN share your answers with your group. Discuss. (LOL, 474)
Act I: Scene IV
- As Act I, scene 4 opens, what is Mr. Van Daan doing?
- What is the author’s purpose for including a dream sequence in a work of literature? What does Anne’s nightmare in scene 4 tell the audience about her? Write your own answer to the question, THEN share your answers with your group. Discuss.
- Are girls the age of Anne always closer to their fathers? Write your own answer to the question, THEN share your answers with your group. Discuss.
- Why do Mr. and Mrs. Frank speak German in this scene?
- How does Anne describe the problem between her and her mother? What do you think would improve it?
- Define
- fatalist (LOL, 478)
Act I: Scene V
- Define
- Hanukkah (LOL, 480)
- Menorah (LOL, 480)
- How does Anne make Hanukkah special for the group?
- How does the Maccabees’ fight compare and contrast with the fight involving the Annex inhabitants? (You’ll have to combine information from the actual play with information from the footnote and maybe, just maybe, a bit of research to answer this).
- Give an example of Jewish resistance to the Germans. (LOL, )
- Define irony
- Explain the irony of Mr. Van Daan’s complaint about Mouschi’s eating up all of the food.
- What happens during the Hanukkah celebration that causes fear among the group?
- Mrs. Van Daan thinks a thief may never tell that they are in hiding. Mr. Dussell disagrees with her, saying a thief might make a bargain with the Green Police in exchange for information about people in hiding. Which is the more logical conclusion? Why? Write your own answer to the question, THEN share your answers with your group. Discuss.
- What does Anne’s gift giving reveal about her? How do her gifts to her mother and Peter show that she has changed?
ACT II – Study Questions
Directions:
- Answer questions on your own paper using complete sentences.
- Many (but not all) of the questions require details and support for your answer . . .
i. Reword the question in the answer.
ii. Give your answer.
iii. Provide details/support from the text.
REMEMBER, you are working on these throughout the play/text.
- Compare and contrast Anne’s relationship with her mother to that with her father. (Double Bubble Map)
- Compare and contrast the relationship between Anne and Peter at the beginning of the play and later on in the play. (Double Bubble Map)
- In the early scenes of the play, how does Anne manage to get on others’ nerves? How does that change by the end of the play?
- Compare and contrast Anne and Margot. Do their differences ever cause problems? (Double Bubble Map)
- How do the conflicts that characters have seem almost insignificant when Mr. Dussell tells them what has been going on outside? (Problem/Solution Question)
- How would you describe the problem between Anne and her mother? How does Anne describe the problem between her and her mother? What do you think would improve it? (Double Bubble Map)(Problem/Solution Question)
- How have Anne’s plans for the future changed? What did she plan to become in the beginning of the play? What is she planning to become now? Why does she “think more seriously about life.” (Compare/Contrast, Double Bubble Map, Tree Map, Venn Diagram, Essay)
Act II: Scene I
- Based on the cake incident, has Mr. Van Daan changed at this point?
- What does the fur coat incident reveal about Mr. Van Daan’s character?
- Mr. Kraler brings news of a new problem. Explain. (LOL 493)
- What do the responses of Mr. Frank, Mr. Dussell, and Mr. Van Daan reveal about the type of person each man is?
- Give evidence that Peter’s feelings toward Anne have changed.
- What does Peter admire about Anne? Write your own answer to the question, THEN share your answers with your group. Discuss.
Act II: Scene II
- How do Anne’s visits with Peter cause conflict for Mrs. Frank?
- Write your own answer to the question, THEN share your answers with your group. Discuss.
- Explain: “Well, here I go . . . to run the gauntlet.” (LOL, 499)
i. Who said this?
ii. What do you think this means?
- Take notes throughout the play in order to get this done . . . How have Anne’s plans for the future changed? (What did she plan to become in the beginning of the play? What is she planning to become now?) Why does she “think more seriously about life.”
- Explain Peter’s inferiority complex.
- Why do the playwrights have Anne mention that the rats have been eating the food? (LOL, 502)
Act II: Scene III
- What is the only event that causes Mrs. Frank to really become angry? What is the result?
- Identify: “We don’t need the Nazis to destroy us. We’re destroying ourselves” (LOL, 504 )
- Who is the speaker?
- What is the situation?
- What does this mean?
- Explain the cruelty and destructiveness of the inhabitants.
- Why does Mr. Frank not want Miep to see the group arguing? (LOL, 506)
- Identify: This is computer lab work and/or homework . . .
- D-Day
- General Eisenhower
- Sir Winston Churchill
- After news of the invasion, why does Mr. Van Daan’s stealing no longer seem to matter? (LOL, 506)
- What new threat has now appeared (at the end of the scene 3)?
- Define: irony
- Explain the irony of the following quote “I want to go on living even after my death.” (LOL, p )
Act II: Scene IV
- Anne tells Peter that she has a way of “escaping” the annex. Explain.
- How does Anne attempt to explain the war to Peter? How does he react?
- Explain: “For the past two years we have lived in fear. Now we can live in hope.” (LOL, 511 )
- Who is speaking?
- Who is being spoken to?
- What does this quote mean?
Act II: Scene V
- Remember the flashback question? Explain what just happened?
- What does Mr. Frank mean in the last scene when he says, “She puts me to shame”? (LOL, 512)
- Does the play offer any evidence of Anne’s statement that “people are really good at heart”? (LOL, 512)
Literary Technique Culminating Questions
- What is the climax of the play?
- What is the main conflict of the play?
- What is the theme of the play?
Post-Reading Activities, Behaviors, and Project Suggestions
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Anne Frank Tree Leaves – Leave a leaf.
Anne Frank
Thank you so much for sharing such a helpful resource!
You’re welcome!
Thank you!! I’m new to Middle School and these questions and activities are exactly what I needed!!
There are a bunch of other activities on my site. Feel free to dig in. I’m gradually moving everything to my google drive, so check back for an update to that effect.
Thank you for these questions! They have been so helpful
One of my many purposes is to do the greatest good in an effort to reduce educational suffering wherever and whenever it may occur. It is my honor.
Hey, I am hoping to use this for my students and I was wondering if you have a answer key for it. It would be very helpful if you could post it and send me the link!
The answers have to be gleaned from the text. Otherwise, multitudes of students would pirate them away.
Where can I find the answers?
The answers have to be gleaned from the text. Otherwise, multitudes of students would pirate them away.
You re right
Mr. Moshe, thank you for this resource and with your permission I will use and adapt questions and activities from your work to improve my own lessons for my 8th graders. We read this play every year and I struggle with a comprehensive way to cover it and I think I just found it. It is such an important topic that we spend a great deal of time on it and we also participate in the Elie Wiesel writing contest. Complete the tasks in your lesson plan while reading the play will help build the students’ background knowledge. Bless you for sharing.
Have at!!! I have recently integrated the Print/Pdf option at the bottom of the page/post. Using it, you can take pieces out of the document before you print.
Thank you so much for this great resource. I love the questions and the activities. They are so well thought out. I plan to share this with the other teachers.
Hi, I am a hosp. teacher. One of my students: a 14 yr.old girl has recently become paralized from the waist down. We have been reading The Diary of Anne Frank. Because of her meds everything has to be shortened. So the play was perfect. Your site helped me still make this vialble learning too. She indentifies alot with Anne. Becoming house bond, losing the life she had and her closest family members annoying her as they transistion to her condition.
Thank you,
Augustine Pain
This is why I do what I do. Let me know if you ever need anything. Feel free to contact me through this website.
I am teaching my eighth graders about this play and the questions have been very useful. This is an excellent tool for teachers and students. Congratulations!
Love the study guide. Do you have any suggestions for higher level activities or novel/realistic activities? I am doing career ladder in my district.
I’m not sure exactly what it is you are looking for. Can you be more specific? What is your goal in how I can help you? I am updating my resources almost daily this time of year. Check back periodically to see if I have added anything like what you’re looking for. If I haven’t, make a suggestion. Hope all is well out their in DRY Arizona.
Thank you very much for the use of your resources. I am not new to teaching. Even though I have taught Anne Frank many times, it is great to find a refreshing way to present the information.
As a first year Language Arts teacher, I am so thankful I found your blog! So very helpful. Thank you! 🙂
Thanks so much for this great resource. I was disappointed in the resources available to me in my district! I really like how the students are required to respond to the literature with this study guide!
We help each other and by that we help ourselves. Your reach into the resources I develop can only help me be inspired to create more. I look forward to our future mutual positive movement.
This has been so helpful for me. I am new to teaching middle school literature. I have adapted some of your questions. THANKS
Glad I could be of service. I have to extend your thanks to the School Board of Broward COunty whose resources were a great, well, source for me.