Razzismo

text of the topic

 

 

The first English colony in America was in Virginia at the beginning of the 17 century.

Here they didn’t find gold or silver, but they discovered tobacco. Virginians were soon  making a lot of money withgrowing and selling tobacco. In the island of Barbados the inhabitants made themselves rich with the plant of sugar. These planters used Negro slaves who had to do very hard work.

 

This was true of all the English colonies south of Maryland, and in West Indies. Europeans used to give guns to African black people, who assaulted and destroyed rival villages and took many prisoners. They put heavy collars round their necks and tied them in long lines. If the prisoners lived too far from the sea, they made them walk many miles every day as far as the sea where Europeans waited to buy them. They struck them with whips, if they didn’t walk fast enough, and if someone fell exhausted they just shot them were they laid.

 

 They used to sell them one by one, not in groups of families so it often happened that families were kept at distance and never met again. Then came the worst: they were taken to ships and chained together. They sailed for weeks in this condition, the smell and the heat was unbearable. Many died from desease, and some from dispair.

 

When they arrived they were taken to a market place, where they were sold once again. They treated them as horses for the same reason: the buyers wanted them to work and if they disobeyed they were struck with whips. Besides, they were obliged to marry the women they didn’t love. They desired to rebel and go back to Africa, but they knew they were going to be slaves, and so were their children and their children’s children forever. No one knows how many Africans were taken to America as slaves. Merchants in Liverpool and Bristol loaded their ships with cotton cloths and iron goods. They swapped these goods with slaves in Africa, and sold the slaves in the West Indies or in the southern colonies on the mainland. With the money they bought sugar and tobacco. Men in the slave trade became rich, as did the planters.

 
Per praticare: "reading" e "listening comprehension" (lettura e comprensione orale) si svolge la seguente attività ludica:
 
Vince la persona che riconosce e afferra il numero maggiore di vocaboli.
 
Educare al rispetto delle regole:
Tenedo conto delle "Intelligenze multiple" (H: Gardner) e dando per scontato che i ragazzi "più dotati" traggono utilità da qualunque metodologia di insegnamento, questo modo di far lezione affascina molto gli alunni, specialmente quelli con intelligenza "cinestetica"
Spesso, quando in classe si propongono delle attività alternative/ludiche, si creano delle dinamiche problematiche.
E' importante saper affrontare queste situazioni, perché sono quelle che ci permettono di intervenire come educatori.
Prima di iniziare l'attività si stabiliscono le regole che variano a seconda della tipologia di problematiche della classe:
 
Bisogna trovare in classe la punizione giusta e immediata (T. Gordon) per fare in modo che i ragazzi che non rispettano le regole o disturbano l'attività, desistano da tali atteggiamenti:
 
  • non si spinge
  • non si prendono le flash cards a caso
  • si scrivono su delle flash card delle parole prese dal testo (quelle evidenziate)
  • si appendono al muro o si posizionano a terra,
  • un alunno legge il testo
  • due alunni devono afferrare le parole man mano che vengono pronunciate

 

Se un alunno non rispetta le regole si chiede ad un altro ragazzo di sostituire l'alunno in questione. Si prende in disparte il ragazzo e usando "l'ascolto attivo" di T. Gordon si cerca di fargli capire l'importanza del rispetto delle regole per svolgere l'attività. Gli si fa capire che finché lui non è in grado di rispettare le regole, non può partecipare al gioco. Spesso questi ragazzi ammettono di aver sbagliato, ma prima di riuscire a rispettare le regole, è necessario che l'adulto glielo ricordi diverse volte. E' molto importante che l'educatore abbia fiducia nelle capacità di "migliorare" dell'alunno. E' un lavoro che richiede molta pazienza, ma è un lavoro URGENTE al giorno d'oggi.
 
 

Vocabulary

 

1.      Find: trovare                                                       13. Taken to: portati

2.      Growing: coltivazioni                                         14. Unbearable: insopportabile

3.      Slave: schiavo                                                   15. Desease: malattia

4.      True: vero                                                           16. Despair: disperazione

5.      Gun: arma                                                          17. Sold: passato di sell (vendere)

6.      Neck: collo                                                         18. Struck: passato di strike (colpire)

7.      to tie: legare                                                       19. Forever: per sempre

8.      whip: frusta                                                         20. Swap: scambiare

9.      buy: comprare                                                    21. Bought: passato di Buy (comprare)

10. enough: abbastanza                                         22. Trade: (mercaco, traffico)

11. shot: passato di shoot (colpire)

12. laid : passato di to lay (giacere)

 

 

 

 

 rispondi se le seguenti frasi riferite al testo sono vere o false

 

                                                                                                                                                               T     F

 

a.      Black people distroyed the villages to take prisoners and to sell them to white people    

 

b.      If black people disobeyed, Europeans let them free

 

c.      Families of prisoners were bought toghether and they could live in the same houses

 

d.      They could marry a person they  loved

 

e.      Merchants in Liverpool and Bristol swapped slaves with cotton cloth and iron goods

 

f.        They were taken to a ship and brought to a market place

 

g.      This text is about the slave trade in the 17th century

 

 

Exercise n1

 

Answer the questions

 

1.      What is this text about?

2.      Where was the first colony?

3.      Who attacked and destroyed the African villages?

4.      Why did they attack the villages?

5.      Could the prisoners stay with their families?

6.      What happened if they refused to obey orders?

7.      Where were the black people taken?

8.      What did the merchants exchange the prisoners for?

9.      What were the slaves obliged to do?