Page 35 - Think 3. Teacher's Book B3+

Unit 2
A hard life Reading; Train to ; Speaking

Culture notes THEY MADE A HARD LIFE UNIT 2
The Reverend James Ramsay was
a ship’s surgeon, Anglican priest and A DIFFERENCE
leading abolitionist. Born in 1733 in
Scotland, he joined the Navy at the
age of 24. He was hugely influential THE SLAVE TRADE
in the growing anti-slavery movement From the 16th to the 19th century, millions of people in Africa
and met with the British Prime were taken from their homes and forced into lives of slavery.
Minister, William Pitt the Younger, By the late 18th century many people had realised this was Mary Prince was born in Bermuda in 1788.
wrong and wanted to stop it. These people became known as
several times, giving him first-hand ‘abolitionists’ and together they helped demolish one of the As her mother and father were slaves she
was a slave, too. She was sold a total of four
evidence of the horrors of the slave cruellest systems in the history of our world. Here are two of times in her life. The first time with the rest
the men and women who made a huge difference.
trade. He died in 1789 and although One day in November 1759, the British ship Arundel was of her family, but when she was 12, she was
separated from them and went to work as a
he did not live to see the end of sailing the West Indies when a slave ship approached it, maid. She had been working at this job for
begging for help. Many of the slaves on the ship had died of
a few months when she ran away to be with
slavery, he was instrumental to its disease and the others were living in horrible conditions. One her mother, but she was soon captured and
abolition in the UK 18 years later. person from the Arundel went to help – a young doctor called sent back. The third time she was sold to
work in the salt ponds. The work was long
James Ramsay. He was horrified by what he saw and he never
William Wilberforce (born 1759) was forgot this experience. Soon after this, he went to work on and hard and the sun caused blisters on her
body. She was also treated cruelly by her
the island of St Kitts in the Caribbean. There he enraged local
a British politician, philanthropist businessmen as he helped the slaves who worked for them owners, who often struck her for the smallest
and leader of the movement to and treated them for injuries and disease. He also worked as of things. When she was 40, new owners
a church minister and he insisted on opening his church up
took her to England. Slavery was illegal in the
abolish the slave trade, whose to slaves as well as the white people. When Ramsay returned UK, so she was able to go and work with the
abolitionists. In 1831, the Anti-Slavery Society
to England, he wrote books about his experiences. The vivid
campaign eventually led to the details he included shocked many people. He was also a huge published a book about her life story called
Slavery Abolition Act 1833. He died influence on William Wilberforce, the leader of the anti- The History of Mary Prince. Lots of people
read the book and it helped many change
slavery movement in the UK and a politician who worked
just three days after hearing that the tirelessly to smash the laws and eventually succeeded in doing their minds about slavery.
just that.
act had been successfully passed just that.
through Parliament.
Mary Prince, born 1788, was a British
abolitionist born in Bermuda to a
family of African slaves. At 12 years
old, Mary was sold for £38 (the
equivalent of £4,484 nowadays).
In 1828, her master, Adams Wood,
travelled to London and took her
with him as a servant. English law
at the time ruled that it was illegal
to transport slaves out of England.
However, Adams Wood refused Following an idea through a paragraph
It can be difficult to follow what a writer is trying to say in a longer paragraph.
to sell or free her. Her first-hand We need to read carefully to understand fully what the writer is saying.
description of the brutalities of 4 Answer the questions. SPEAKING
enslavement had a motivating effect In paragraph 2 it says: ‘he wrote books about his experiences.’ 5 Work in pairs. Discuss these questions.
on the anti-slavery movement. 1 Look back at the paragraph. What were his experiences? Make a list 1 Who would you suggest for the
of them.
‘They Made a Difference’ series?
Near the end of paragraph 3 it says: ‘the Anti-Slavery Society published 2 Why would you include this person?
a book about her life story.’
4 Encourage students to 2 Look back at the paragraph. What things might the book include? 21
underline the parts of the text
that give them the answers.
Activity idea Revision
5 Clarify that the article was one To review narrative tenses before the next lesson, ask students which past
of a series describing world- tenses are used in the extract. Elicit past simple, past continuous and past
changing people. You may want perfect and, with a strong class, past passive. Tell them they are going to do
to give your own ideas as an a reading race. Write on the board: Read the article and find …
example to get them started. ten irregular past tense verbs (was, became, made, went, forgot, wrote,
ran away, struck, took, read)
Homework two examples of the past continuous (was sailing, were living)
Ask students to research a person two examples of the past perfect simple (had realised, had died) and an example
of past perfect continuous (had been working)
from around the world for the series
on They Made a Difference. They can eight examples of the past passive (were taken, [were] forced, was born,
upload a picture with a description was sold, was separated, was captured, [was] sent back, was treated)
of the person and what they did
in English. If students do not have
access to the internet, they can more
create their own ideas. As a follow-
up, students can bring the picture Worksheets
to the next lesson and present their Project Hard times in history Get ing Would you like a
person to the class. Communication Hard times demanding job when you leave school?

Critical ing Unit 2 | A hard life T21
Understanding and analysing links between ideas
Identifies the basic structure of an argument.