Tasks: to learn the basic facts about slavery in the US (by putting sentences in the correct order)
to name various forms of discrimination and various forms of protest
to complete three quotes attributed to King (optional)
to learn some facts about King’s death
Preparation: make copies of the worksheet (1 per student; cut off the upper part before the lesson)
make copies of the cards for Task (1 set per pair/group of 3 students)
make copies of the extension activity and homework (1 copy per student – optional)
Skills: reading, listening
Language: collocations with slavery
various forms of discrimination and protest
had to and could not
negative prefixes
Sources: Coleen Degnan-Veness, Martin Luther King, Pearson Education 2003 – PENGUIN READER Level 3.
E. & M. Tierksy, The U.S.A. Customs and Institutions, Longman 2001.
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English on CD-ROM
WIKIPEDIA (en.wikipedia.org) – the FREE encyclopaedia
■ Distribute the upper part of the worksheet (with Tasks and ). Ask Ss to read the first text and elicit some of their associations and/or ideas.
■ Then, read together the texts in Task and try to identify the key words in the quotes. Again, elicit your Ss’ associations and ideas.
■ Elicit/explain that the quotes refer to Martin Luther King Day, which is a public holiday in the US.
Key
· Both texts refer to the period of segregation and discrimination of African-Americans (=we) in the US.
· The words in Task are a variation of a song written in 1901 which is often played on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday (i.e. the third Monday in January).
· The key words in Task are colour of their skin and lynching. Martin Luther King Jr. used these two sentences in his speeches.
■ Divide your group into pairs or smaller groups. Give each pair/group a set of cut-up sentences (cf. the last page of Teacher’s Notes). Ask your Ss to recreate the original order of the text, which describes the history of slavery in America. You can ask Ss to try and divide the text into two paragraphs (and justify their choices).
■ Once Ss have built their continuous texts, distribute the main part of the worksheet and let your Ss compare their versions with the original. Explore the differences between the texts, focusing on cohesion and coherence.
■ Finally, ask your Ss to complete the missing words on the worksheet and explain the meanings of the phrases they form.
(The correct order is given on the worksheet.)
The first paragraph describes the situation of African-Americans when they were slaves (i.e. untill the end of the Civil War).
The second paragraph describes the legislation which ended slavery and white people’s reaction to it.
MISSING WORDS:
· labour
· trade
· cotton
· former
· vote
· passed
■ This task develops the subject of “Jim Crow” laws, which was introduced in Task . Ss will learn the names of some forms of discrimination of African-Americans, if they complete the sentences with had to and could not.
· You may want to pre-teach or revise these two modal constructions, explaining that we use had to to talk about obligation in the past and could not – prohibition or lack of permission (in the past).
(a) had to (b) could not (c) had to (d) could not (e) had to
■ Explain that in the mid-20th century, people began to demand equal rights for all Americans. (Particularly after 1954, when the US Supreme Court made segregation in public schools unconstitutional – also known as Brown v Board of Education.)
■ In this task Ss have to match four various forms of protest with their definitions on the right.
■ Once they complete the task, you may ask them to find one common element of the protest. Thus, try to elicit that these were peaceful methods (= non-violent). You can also mention Malcolm X – an Afro-American leader who was against King’s peaceful protests. He argued that blacks should defend themselves with guns and fight for their rights.
· boycotts – B
· sit-ins – D
· freedom rides – A
· protest marches – C
■ Explain that during the protest marches various people gave speeches. King was among the most famous speakers of the civil rights movement. Ss have been already presented with two of his quotes (cf. Task ).
■ Explain that now they are going to read and re-create three more quotes. Distribute the activity (cf. the last page of Teacher’s Notes) or write the sentences on the board. Give your Ss a few minutes to read the sentences and cross out any unnecessary prefixes which make the quotes illogical or untrue. Ask the Ss to pay special attention to the historical context when these sentences were delivered.
QUOTES:
· "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane."
· "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
· there are 2 logically possible answers, though because of the historical context (b) is true
(a) “One has a moral responsibility to obey just laws.”
(b) “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”
■ Explain that you are going to read out a short text about King’s last speech and his death. First, try to elicit from your Ss how King died. Once you establish that he was murdered, point out the similarity between King and other peaceful fighters, e.g. Gandhi in India.
■ Read the text twice, while your students complete the two parts of this task.
■ Check the answers and solve any vocabulary problem Ss may have, paying particular attention to the fragments underlined, i.e. the answers.
Text
&
(to be read out by the teacher):
On the stormy evening of April 3, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, King gave his last speech. He was speaking to workers who wanted higher pay from the city. The city refused so the men stopped working.
King spent much of the next day with his friend, Abernathy. That evening, they were getting ready to go out to dinner with friends. Waiting for Abernathy, King went outside of room 306 of the motel. He joked with friends in the parking lot below. At six o’clock, a gunshot was heard. King was hit in the face. Abernathy ran to his friend and tried to stop the blood. King was taken to the hospital, but died at 7.05 p.m. on April 4, 1968.
The FBI found the killer’s gun and they got a description of a white man. James Earl Ray was arrested on June 8 in London’s Heathrow Airport. He was a criminal and hated blacks. Ray was sent to prison for thirty years for King’s murder. But did he act alone? Many people think that he was working for others. But this is still an unsolved mystery today.
[Adapted from: Coleen Degnan-Veness, Martin Luther King, Pearson Education 2003]
· April 3, 1968 – King gave his last speech
· April 4, 1968 – King was shot and he died
· June 8, 1968 – King’s murderer was arrested
· False
· True
■ [VOCABULARY] Distribute copies of the homework task (cf. the last page of Teacher’s Notes). Explain that first Ss have to match the words to form correct phrases (all of them are collocations taken from the text in Task ). Then, Ss should use the phrases to complete the sentences.
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