Millions of immigrants, one dream

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Millions of immigrants,
one dream
You are going to …
learn about the Red Star Line and immigration to America
look into individual stories of immigration to the US
be informed on the situation of migrant workers in America today
gain insight into the European refugee crisis
get to know more about the asylum procedure in the UK
understand how undocumented immigrant workers are exploited
revise the use of relative pronouns
analyse sources and check facts on immigration
review awareness-raising methods on the humanitarian crisis
read and enjoy an extract from Chris Cleave’s novel The Other Hand
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Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses
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After 1800, millions of people sailed from Europe to America, the promised land for everyone
looking for a better life. Between 1873 and 1934, for many the trip to the New World began in a
warehouse in Antwerp. Let us find out more about the Red Star Line ocean steamers and their
passengers.
1.1 Read the questions below and then watch the video. Pay attention: the translator made a few
spelling errors while writing the subtitles. Can you spot them?
1.2 Answer.
EF
a What three reasons are given by the immigrants for fleeing their home country?
b Complete the description of the horrible incident one refugee experienced
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on the train to Danzig.
#culture
A pogrom is a rio
t directed
against a certain
ethnic group,
e.g. Jews. Home
s, businesses
and places of wo
rship of the
target group are
destroyed.
Often people are
murdered.
Polish soldiers
his mother cradling her baby. They
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throw the six-week old baby out of the window. His mother had to give her
so they would leave her alone.
c How does the immigrant describe his stay in Antwerp?
d What does ‘steerage’ mean?
e Tick off which information is given about the poor conditions of the transatlantic crossing.
£ bad food
£ no toilets
£ no bathroom
£ awful odour
£ harassment of women
£ no leg room
£ seasickness
£ boredom
£ fights
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to
f How did the first and second-class passengers look upon the ones from steerage?
g How did the passengers react upon seeing the Statue Of Liberty?
h Correct the mistakes in this description of the arrival in New York Harbor.
They were taken to a small room on Ellis Island. Everybody waited quietly for their turn to
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be examined by a doctor. People who did not pass were put aside and placed in quarantine.
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The Red Star Line carried two million passengers across the Atlantic. Two million stories of leaving
everything behind and starting a new life from scratch. Let us find out more about them.
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2.1 Watch the video about the Statue of Liberty and complete the sentences.
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The Statue of Liberty is the universally recognised … (1) of the
US. It … (2) New York Harbor. It is the single most prominent …
(3) immigrants saw when they arrived by boat. It deserves its …
(4) status. It is both a spiritual and artistic statement of the … (5)
of the US. On the other hand it was an engineering … (6): no one
had ever attempted to build a statue anywhere near that size.
It was a gift from the … (7) and designed by Gustave Eiffel. The
frame had to support the heavy … (8). The Statue of Liberty … (9)
in importance. The eyes of the immigrants … (10) up on seeing it.
It was a welcoming … (11) for all those escaping persecution. It
symbolised the ideals of opportunity and the … (12) of happiness.
We are first and foremost an … (13) nation.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
(11)
(12)
(13)
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2.2 Pair work: pupil A reads Irene Bobelijn’s account, pupil B reads Irving Berlin’s story. Mark keywords.
Afterwards fill each other in on your story using the words you marked. Also discuss how you would
have fared in the situation you just read about.
a A taste of the American Dream: Irene Bobelijn’s childhood adventure
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‘What we all liked to watch most of all was when
the cooks threw food over the railings. Whole
bins of chicken. That’s when the flying fish would
appear. They leapt out of the water, jumping huge
distances to get that food. We could go anywhere.
We were allowed onto the main deck. But the
people below deck weren’t allowed out. They
were basically incarcerated, because they did not
dare come up. Only at Christmas, I was on board
then. It was all decorated. And all the little Poles
were allowed up on deck to celebrate Christmas.
But not the grown-ups, just the little ones.’
‘We had all modern conveniences. The house was
heated by a big boiler in the basement, which had
pipes leading to grilles in the floor. Mama had a
refrigerator; she had an oven with a temperature
control; she had an electric washing machine;
and I was even taken to school by car. Cars were
like what bikes used to be in Belgium back then.
America was just huge. I didn’t dare look up at
those buildings, they were far too tall.’
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40
45
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30
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Irene’s parents arranged for her to travel second
class, accompanied by a governess. Two stewards
were also instructed to keep an eye on the little
girl, who referred to them as ‘the detectives’. The
voyage was a big adventure for young Irene. Her
governess was seasick more or less constantly,
but that did not stop Irene from exploring the
ship. Years later, she still recalled many details.
an American school, however, where she quickly
learned English. There was a Belgian Club in
Moline, where people played traditional Flemish
games like vogelpik and sjoelbak. But Irene liked
real American life too: the clothes there were
more colourful and less constricting, and the food
was more varied and tasty. She ate cornflakes,
popcorn, marshmallows and hotdogs, and drank
Coca-Cola. Everyday life was much more
comfortable. Irene’s parents could save
money and afford a few luxuries.
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5
‘In 1928 my parents wanted me to go to America.
They were already there. Papa worked at the
John Deere plant in Moline. He was a model ironfounder. And mama had a really nice little job:
when they cast iron, there were stars in it, which
mama had to beat out with a little hammer.’
#glossary
an iron-founder: een ijzergieter
to incarcerate: opsluiten
After a two-day train journey, she finally arrived in
Moline. Irene’s parents were waiting impatiently
for her on the platform. Despite the long years
of separation, she ran straight to her father.
She had more difficulty recognising her mother.
Irene readily adjusted to American life. There
were lots of Flemish people there, so she could
speak Dutch in her neighbourhood. She attended
#culture
The Great Depression was the econ
omic crisis
that started after the US stock market
crash in 1929.
Many people lost their jobs and became
homeless.
(De Vroey, L. & Lombaerts, A., 2013)
4
The fairytale did not last very long. In 1931, when
the Great Depression became too much for them,
the Bobelijn family boarded the SS Pennland and
returned to Flanders, to a farmstead in Assenede.
Irene never forgot her stay in the United States.
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b From rags to riches: the American dream of Irving Berlin
#glossary
an exodus: een uittocht
a pedestal: een voetstuk
to huddle: samenkruipen
an anthem: een volkslied, een hymne
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success. Israel Beilin changed his name to Irving
Berlin and became one of the greatest composers
of the 20th century.
EF
After a richly filled career – he wrote the
evergreen songs Cheek to Cheek,
Cheek There’s no
business like show business and White Christmas –
Irving Berlin died at the age of 101 in his
beloved New York. He never forgot his humble
beginnings and would stay forever grateful for
the opportunities his new home country had
provided. He wrote the Broadway musical Miss
Liberty and composed the patriotic song God Bless
America with the lines ‘Let us swear allegiance to
a land that is free. Let us all be grateful for a land
so fair.’
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Nicholas II, the new Tsar of Russia, ordered
brutal anti-Jewish pogroms, which created the
spontaneous mass exodus to America. Thousands
of other families besides the Beilins would
also escape, including those of George and Ira
Gershwin, Al Jolson, the Warner brothers and
Louis B. Mayer, co-founder of the MGM studios.
The Beilin family made a hasty exit. Knowing that
they were breaking the law by leaving without a
passport, they smuggled themselves from town
to town until finally they reached Antwerp. There
they boarded the Rijnland. Israel saw the Statue of
Liberty for the first time on 14 September 1893.
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5
Irving Berlin was born in 1888 as ‘Israel Beilin’,
one of eight children. As an adult Berlin admitted
to having no memories of his first five years in
Russia except for one. He was lying on a blanket
by the side of a road, watching his house burn to
the ground. By daylight the house was in ashes.
When the family reached Ellis Island, Israel was
locked up with his brother and five sisters until
immigration officials declared them fit to be
allowed into the city. Once they settled in the
Lower East Side, an immigrant neighbourhood,
the large family no longer feared death but they
were barely able to support themselves.
Little Israel did his share and became a
news boy. He did not go to school very often;
life in his multicultural neighbourhood was a
source of inspiration for his life as a musician
and songwriter. He did not have to wait long for
One of the showpieces of the Red Star Line
Museum collection is Irving Berlin’s piano,
on which he composed many of his hits. His
youngest daughter, who lives in Paris, has lent
this invaluable item to the Antwerp museum on a
permanent basis.
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40
45
50
wing
rty the follo
tue of Libe
#culture
ta
S
e
ur
th
o
f
y
ive me
pedestal o
graved: ‘G
n
Inside the
e
is
s
to
ru
g
in
mma Laza
ses yearn
poem by E
dled mas
d
u
r!’
h
o
r
o
u
d
o
e golden
r poor, y
tired, you
p beside th
m
for
la
g
y
in
m
g
t
rants lon
e (…) I lif
ken immig
breathe fre
ric
st
en
yld
rt
o
ve
‘g
ugh the
invites po
e way thro
The Lady
th
m
e
th
is
s
S
The U
She show
ew World.
freedom.
and
into the N
ity
n
u
rt
f the free
o
o
p
p
d
door’ of o
as the lan
to
d
e
e
th
rr
f
fe
s also re
st verse o
sometime
is is the la
brave. Th
e
th
f
o
r’.
e
e
led Bann
the hom
tar Spang
‘S
m
e
th
n
a
national
(De Vroey, L. & Lombaerts, A., 2013)
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2.3 Learn about the heartrending fate of nine-year-old Ita Moel.
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One of the most touching stories featured in the Red Star Line Museum is that of Ita Moel. Museum
researchers found out about her through her brother Morris. He shared the experience of his family’s
emigration with the Ellis Island Oral History Project, which is dedicated to preserving the first-hand
recollections of immigrants who passed through the Ellis Island immigration station between 1892 and
1954. Each person is interviewed on their daily life in the country of origin, family history, reasons for
emigration, journey to New York, arrival and processing at Ellis Island and their adjustment to life in the
United States. To historians such tapes are invaluable, primary sources.
a Listen to Morris Moel describing how he and his family fled from Russia via Antwerp to America in 1921.
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b Visit the English version of the Red Star Line website: www.redstarline.be/eng. Find out about Morris
Moel’s sister Ita, who was sent back from Ellis Island to Antwerp. Does her story have a happy ending?
c Imagine you are a historian preparing an anthology of witness accounts of American
immigration. Visit www.libertyellisfoundation.org/oral-history-library and listen to another of the
1,900 interviews listed there. Summarise and report back to your fellow classmates.
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Passengers who had boarded a ship of the Red Star Line in Antwerp would land in Ellis Island, off
the New York coast. Watch the video and answer the questions.
a How many people had already come to the US when Ellis Island opened in 1892?
b During which period was Ellis Island an Immigration Station for new arrivals?
c Why did the Armenian family come to America?
e Explain this cartoon from the 1920s (n° 2).
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d Describe this 1909 political cartoon (n° 1).
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2
3
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f How does this 1898 cover of Judge magazine below (n° 3) compare with the cartoons above?
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For the last 13,000 years, people have flocked to the melting pot we now know as the US. Since
2000, the US has welcomed more than 10 million immigrants. Let us explore the challenges of
taking in the world’s ‘huddled masses’.
4.1 Watch part 1 of the slide presentation from www.good.is. Then complete the facts.
1607: English pilgrims … in Jamestown, Virginia.
b
1845-1850: over 500,000 arrive from … .
c
1862: … signs the Homestead Act.
d
…: Ellis Island opens its doors as the first federal immigration station.
e
More than … people pass through the island over the next 60 years.
f
Since 2000 … immigrants have arrived.
g
Of the post-2000 arrivals, it is estimated that over half are … .
h
In 2007 877,000 people were … at US borders.
i
Of those arrests, 98% occurred at the … border.
j
Attempts to cross the border have resulted in an estimated 4,000 …
since 1997.
k
The top-four sending countries are: ..., ..., ... and … .
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a
#spelling
dead: adjective
the dead [people]: noun
death: noun (NL: de dood)
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literature
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file 1 | Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses
4.2 Watch part 2. Then read the true / false statements. Correct where necessary.
true
Most immigrant workers are from China.
b
More than one third of the labour is done by immigrants.
c
Immigrant workers earn as much money as native workers.
d
Immigrant workers have taken jobs from American citizens in the 1990s.
e
There has been a steady increase of immigrants since 1970.
f
Immigrants cannot get any medical care.
g
Immigrants contribute 3% to the Gross National Product.
h
Immigrants pay more taxes than they cost the welfare system.
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a
false
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4.3 Watch former President Obama urge the American people to remember their common history.
a Explain: ‘Most of us used to be them.’
b What did each new wave of immigrants experience?
c Who is he referring to with the ‘Einsteins and the Carnegies’?
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#culture
Andrew Carnegie was a ScottishAmerican
captain of industry leading the expa
nsion of the
US steel industry in the late 19th cent
ury. In the
last 18 years of his life he became
a philantropist,
donating millions of his fortune to
good causes.
d In the last part of this speech Obama uses one of his favourite rhetorical devices. What is it?
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Its immense popularity and broad appeal is underscored by the fact
is was sung at Occupy Wall Street protests against the 2008 bank
crisis but also performed by the religious Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
The song seems to define what it means to be American for many,
regardless of their background or belief.
#glossary
a ribbon: een lint
to roam: rondtrekken
to ramble: zwerven
to stroll: slenteren
a steeple: een kerktoren
to trespass: ongeoorloofd binnengaan
a relief office: OCMW, armenhulp
5.1 Browse the Internet to find different renditions (= versions) of the anthem.
This Land is Your Land (Woody Guthrie)
As I went walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me.
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.
I roamed and I rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
While all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me.
10
literature
This Land Is Your Land is one of the United States' most famous folk songs. Its lyrics were written by
Woody Guthrie in 1940 in response to Irving Berlin's God Bless America
America, which Guthrie considered
too self-righteous.
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e What metaphor does he use meaning ‘anyone can contribute to the prosperity of the US’?
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When the sun came shining, and I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
A voice was chanting, as the fog was lifting,
This land was made for you and me.
As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.
In the shadow of a steeple I saw my people;
By the relief office I'd seen my people.
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking,
Is this land made for you and me?
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Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.
11
Running for their lives
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In the summer of 2015 Europe experienced the highest influx of refugees since the Second World
War. Time to get up to speed on the facts behind this crisis.
6.1 Watch the video, taking in the visual as well as verbal information. On the right-hand side you will
find the story board of the animated film. Allocate each transcript fragment to its screenshot on the
right-hand side.
All over the West, more and more people are beginning to take action, although support for asylum
seekers has mostly come from citizens, not from politicians.
2
The UN were not prepared for a refugee crisis on this scale. As a result, many refugee camps are
crowded and undersupplied, subjecting people to cold, hunger, and disease.
3
The Syrian population was trapped between the regime, rebel groups, and the religious extremists.
A third of the Syrian people have been displaced within Syria, while over four million have fled the
country.
4
Most Syrian refugees are educated and the population before the civil war was shrinking, not
growing.
5
Europe was badly prepared for the storm of asylum seekers.
6
Greece, in the midst of an economic crisis on the scale of the Great Depression, was not able to
take care of so many people at once, leading to terrible scenes of desperate, hungry people on
islands usually reserved for tourists.
7
The fear that the presence of refugees leads to higher crime rates turns out to be wrong. Refugees
who become immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than the native population.
8
Between 2007 and 2014, the EU invested about €2 billion in defences, high-tech security
technology and border patrols, but not a lot in preparation for an influx of refugees.
9
The world needed to come together and act as a united front, but, instead, it has become more
divided. Many states downright refused to take any refugees, leaving the border states alone in
their struggle.
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1
10 The European Union is the wealthiest group of economies on Earth, well-organised states with
functioning social systems, infrastructure, democracy, and huge industries. But while tiny Jordan
has taken in over 600,000 Syrian refugees, the UK will only allow 20,000 Syrians across its borders
over the next five years, the US a mere 10,000 and Australia 12,000.
11 Perceptions of the crisis changed when photos circulated of a dead boy from Syria found lying
face down on a beach in Turkey. Germany promised to accept all Syrian refugees, only to impose
temporary border controls a few days later and demand an EU-wide solution.
12 But there are fears in the Western world: Islam, high birth rates, crime, and the collapse of social
support systems.
13 In the Irish capital the EU agreed that a refugee has to stay in the state in which they first arrived.
This rule put enormous pressure on the border states that were already in trouble.
14 In 2014, the UK lobbied to stop the search-and-rescue operation that was designed to save
drowning asylum seekers in the Mediterranean. Politicians thought a higher death toll on the sea
would mean fewer asylum seekers. But in reality this meant even more drownings.
15 The fact that many refugees are travelling with smartphones has led to the misconception that
they’re not really in need of help. Social media and the Internet have become a vital part of being a
refugee. If you had to make a dangerous journey, would you leave your phone behind?
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16 Birth rates in many parts of the Western world are low, so some people fear asylum seekers might
overtake the native population in a few decades. But studies have shown that birth rates drop as
the standard of living and level of education rises.
17 The vast majority of refugees reside now in camps in the neighbouring countries, while the Arab
states of the Persian Gulf together have accepted zero Syrian refugees, which has been called
especially shameful by Amnesty International.
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18 When allowed to work, they tend to start businesses and integrate themselves into the
workforce, paying more into the social systems than they extract from them. Syrians are potential
professional workers, needed to sustain Europe’s ageing population.
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6.2 Watch the film to experience first-hand the lengths refugees will go to to reach a safe haven. Then
match the phrases on the left with the correct continuations on the right.
1
France 2 TV reporter Franck Genauzeau
witnesses how smugglers help families, …
a
... the relief on the boat is palpable: many
pray, others congratulate each other.
2
Others are forced off to help push the boat ...
b
... to take the wheel, and dives off.
3
At least one smuggler brandishes a weapon ...
c
… to show these people just who is in charge.
4
Then a smuggler assigns one of the
migrants …
d
5
His job is done and he and his colleagues …
e
6
As the journey proceeds into the night, ...
f
… can count their cash.
7
It is ten kilometres to ...
g
… which has been spewing toxic fumes, stops.
8
And then the engine, …
h
1
2
3
4
5
i
j
O
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… to tow the overloaded and rickety migrant
ship towards Lesbos.
… to stop moving around the boat, which is
rocking dangerously in the water.
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The migrants' relief has turned to despair, and
the passengers have to be shouted at …
Genauzeau uses his satellite phone to call for
rescue, and later a small Greek fishing boat
arrives …
9
… some with children as young as two
months old, wade through the water to
the boat.
… after it has become grounded by the weight
of passengers.
... the Greek island of Lesbos.
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7
8
9
10
•
•
•
•
•
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6.3 Upon seeing this shocking documentary, people may react in different ways. Discuss the following
questions with your classmates. Use phrases in the frame below to express your opinion.
Was it a good idea for the journalist to undertake this action?
Does it help the cause of the refugees?
Do you understand why the people smugglers allowed Genauzeau to film the crossing?
What action should be taken to prevent these dangerous trips from happening again?
Will people change their minds on refugees after having seen this video? Is it awareness-raising?
CONVERSATION SKILLS
expressing approval - disapproval
+
14
-
I warmly / heartily approve of …
I strongly disapprove of …
He has my approval to …
I severely condemn …
The journalist deserves praise for …
I think highly of …
These actions may come in for some harsh
criticism.
I fully support …
I am sharply critical of …
I entirely agree with …
I fiercely criticise …
I subscribe to the view / the idea that …
I am an outspoken critic of …
I pay my respects to the journalist for …
I am scandalised by the fact that …
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Knocking on heaven's door
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Imagine you have fled your war-torn home country. Like so many, you have risked your life as a
stowaway on a train, lorry or boat. Fortunately, you have survived the perilous journey into Europe.
Now you are faced with the tough choice: stay in the country without legal documents and as a
consequence without any rights, or apply for asylum.
7.1 Watch the short film.
a Who is the targeted audience?
b What is its purpose?
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c Why does the film use the unexpected format of a popular TV show?
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7.2 What does international law say? Complete the following text fragments with words from the box.
adopted – stipulates – applications – arose – entitled – persecuted – recommendations – establishes
The asylum policy of many European countries is strict and directly
contradicts the … (1) of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(= UNHCR). As a result, many … (2) are rejected, however justified
they may be. Let us look into the Universal Declaration on Human
Rights. It was … (3) by the United Nations in 1948. It … (4) directly
from the experience of the Second World War and expresses the
rights to which all human beings are … (5). It … (6), ‘Everyone has
the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from … (7).’
The Geneva Convention … (8) the standards of international law
for the humanitarian treatment of war victims. It defines a refugee
as follows: someone who has had to leave their home country
because, if they stayed, they would be … (9) because of:
• their race;
• their religion;
• their nationality;
• being in a certain social group;
• having political beliefs that their government did not like.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(Wikipedia, 2015)
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The UK Border Agency (UKBA) seems to foster a so-called ‘culture of disbelief’, in which many
people with strong claims for asylum are refused on the grounds of poor credibility. In plain English
this means their stories are not believed. Moreover, legal documents necessary for an asylum claim
are written in a language that is difficult for most people to understand, let alone refugees, many
of whom have not yet mastered the English language.
8.1 Read the excerpt from the Handbook for asylum-seeking women.
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You may be applying in-country because:
• You were brought through immigration control by someone who told you not to speak to the
immigration officers, or who held onto your passport until you had left the point of arrival.
• You entered the UK hidden inside a lorry or a train, and did not come through immigration control at
all.
• You were already in the UK on a visa, such as a student or work visa, but something has happened,
either in your personal life or in your country, which means it is no longer safe for you to return
home.
If you are already in prison, or if you are placed in immigration detention, you can claim asylum by telling
the prison officer or UKBA officer that you want to make a claim.
If you passed through immigration control without claiming asylum, you are expected by law to
apply as soon as reasonably practicable. The UKBA and the courts interpret this to be within 72 hours of
your arrival in the UK.
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5
You can apply for asylum in two ways:
• On arrival. This means telling the immigration officer, straight away, that you want to claim asylum
as you pass through immigration control in the UK. The immigration officers will arrange a screening
appointment for you.
• In-country (inside the UK) at the Asylum Screening Unit at Lunar House, the UKBA office in Croydon.
If you have delayed claiming asylum, it is important that you explain the reasons for this, otherwise your
asylum claim may not be believed, and you may be refused financial support while your claim is being
decided.
At the time of writing it can be difficult to claim asylum at the
Asylum Screening Unit. If you arrive without an appointment
you may be turned away and asked to make an appointment
for another day by telephone. However, it can also be
difficult to contact the Unit by telephone.
The law says you must claim asylum as soon as reasonably
practicable. Therefore you are strongly advised to make
a note and keep evidence of how many times you (or
any organisation assisting you) tried to telephone for an
appointment, how long you had to wait on the telephone,
how long you had to wait to be seen, and, if you were
turned away without being screened, how many separate
journeys you made to the Screening Unit office.
(Rights of Women, 2012)
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8.2 Give advice to the following candidate asylum seekers. Use phrases from the text on the previous page.
• Amira from Iraq was brought to the UK by people smugglers. She was hidden in a lorry she got into in a
parking lot in Jabbeke, Belgium.
• Mo from Egypt was reading chemistry in Birmingham when the Arab Spring started. Because
he was involved in politics before he left for the UK, he now fears for his life on returning to Cairo.
• Akram fled Afghanistan. He entered the UK by plane. But he was arrested at Heathrow Airport for
travelling on a false passport. He is now being held in a refugee detention centre because of this
unauthorised arrival.
• Saumen from China was put in a detention centre after police found her working as an undocumented
apple picker in Norwich.
• Ever since she arrived in London, Gulda from Kurdistan has been trying to get an appointment at the
Screening Unit in Croydon. She went there several times, only to be kept waiting for hours before
being sent away. When she tries phoning the office, either the phone is engaged or she is told new
appointments are deferred indefinitely.
8.3 Match the phrases in legal jargon on the left with the corresponding explanations on the right.
You have leave to remain.
All asylum seekers are liable to detention.
3
You should urge your witnesses to be ready
to attend any future appeal hearing.
The law allows the UKBA to put you in prison
while your case is being decided.
b
The UKBA will look at all your circumstances
and the circumstances in your country to see
whether you should still be allowed to remain
here.
c
Your asylum request may be rejected because
of failure to cooperate with the asylum
process.
d
They may have to take time off work or get
someone to look after their children. The
Judge will not give much weight to their
evidence if they are not present.
O
2
a
EF
1
At every stage of considering your case
officers must apply anxious scrutiny.
5
Your whole claim can be refused for
‘non-compliance’.
e
They must look at your claim sensitively. They
must understand how difficult it is for asylum
seekers to get evidence of what has
happened to them.
6
In law the burden of proof rests on you.
f
You must have enough room in your house for
them, and be able to support them financially,
without claiming any extra benefits.
7
You must show that you can maintain and
accommodate family members without
recourse to public funds.
g
They will not tell you the answer straight
away, but will go away and think about your
case.
8
Your case will be subject to a full review when
you apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain.
h
It is up to you to say what happened and give
enough details and evidence to show that you
have a claim for international protection.
9
The Immigration Judge will say ‘I will reserve
my Determination’.
i
You have permission to stay on British soil.
PR
4
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
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A lot of immigrants try to escape poverty in their home country, looking for a better life in
the West. If they are not being persecuted for any of the five reasons laid down in the Geneva
Convention, they are not eligible for refugee status. That is why economic migrants usually enter
the UK illegally, leaving them prone to exploitation.
9.1 Establish what the 2004 Morecambe Bay cockling disaster was about, using both a visual source
(video news flash from ITN) and written source (Wikipedia entry). Complete the WH-questions.
who:
when:
EF
where:
what:
while doing:
O
why:
PR
source 1
video newsflash from ITN source
5
10
15
source 2
The tragedy occurred on the evening of 5 February 2004
at Morecambe Bay in north-west England, when at
least 21 Chinese undocumented migrant labourers were
drowned by an incoming tide whilst picking cockles off
the Lancashire / Cumbrian coast. A father and son team
from England had unlawfully hired a group of Chinese
workers to pick cockles; they were to be paid £5 per 25
kg of cockles, far less than the typical local rate at the
time. The Chinese had been imported unlawfully via
containers into Liverpool and were hired out through
local criminal agents of international Chinese Triads. The
cockles are best found at low tide on sand flats near Hest Bank. The illegal alien
workers were unfamiliar with local geography, language, and custom. They were cut off by the incoming
tide in the bay at around 9.30 pm. Although the emergency services were alerted by a mobile phone call
made by one of the workers, only one worker was rescued from the waters. This was partly because
the phone call was unclear as to both the extent and severity of the danger, and to the location of the
workers. This was presumably due to a lack of English language-speaking ability. A total of 21 bodies, of
men and women between the ages of 18 and 45, were recovered from the bay after the incident.
(abridged from Wikipedia, 2015)
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9.2 Watch the trailer of the Nick Broomfield film Ghosts and answer the questions.
a Why does Ai Qin leave her country?
b Complete: She will endure a
journey.
c What is meant by ‘ghosts’? It means
.
d Explain: ‘This is ghost food at the employment agency.’
The immigrants
the employment agency with
.
e She does farming work harvesting spring onions. Where do these vegetables go to?
f What other job does she do?
She works at a
factory.
g How about her working conditions?
hours a day to earn less
a week.
EF
She works
h Why is the salary of the Chinese workers not as high as they expected?
They are paying a
, which has been deducted from their pay.
i In what other way are they exploited?
per week for a
on the floor in a run-down house.
O
They have to pay
j What better paying alternative is offered to Ai Qin?
‘Massage work’, i.e.
, which she refuses to do.
PR
k Complete the conclusive sentence of the trailer:
Millions of migrant workers are the
of modern industry.
9.3 Check the facts in the article below.
5
10
15
Nick Broomfield's documentaries tell compelling
stories and connect emotionally with audiences.
During his research for the immigration subject,
he went undercover as an undocumented worker.
Prior to shooting Ghosts, Broomfield spent several
weeks in China researching, and trying to find
somebody to play the lead role. The director said
he was unprepared for the ‘incredible poverty’ he
found.
Actress Ai Qin Lin was herself an illegal
immigrant who undertook a four-and-half-month
journey to England on a false passport in 1998. At
just 21 years of age she was forced into a series
of low-paid jobs, including at a garment factory
where she was paid £2.50 an hour and worked
80 hours a week, in an attempt to pay back her
massive debts. She had to send her son back to
China as she was unable to provide for him. She
now has legal status to stay in England with her
son, with whom she was reunited in China during
the making of the film.
20
19
25
30
35
Ai Qin Lin commented on her own experience:
‘No one wants to take a risky route. But what
alternative have we got? We Fujianese don’t
stand a chance of getting a proper visa. There
is simply no legal means to enter Britain.’ It is
estimated that there are more than 70,000
Chinese illegally working in Britain alone.
Hsiao-Hung Pai researched employment of
foreign workers in England for the film. He
claims he witnessed unbelievable exploitation.
Legitimate British agencies were taking
advantage of the unauthorised status of workers,
employing them as a half-price army of labour
to run the food-processing factories that supply
supermarkets. He saw how they struggled with
ruthless exploitation in a first-world country.
They lived in social isolation, suffering constant
insecurity and anxiety. Although there are
various ‘middlemen’ who take their cut from the
immigrants’ earnings, Broomfield wanted to shift
attention onto the role of the supermarket giants.
He told The Times, ‘I wanted to do a film about
modern slavery … It was interesting that so many
illegals were working in the production of food,
most of which is for the supermarkets.’ The chains
are engaged in a constant ‘price war’ that is based
on maximising profits at the expense of both
their suppliers and their customers. Enormous
pressure is placed on farmers to drive down
the price that the major food retailers pay for
agricultural produce.
O
EF
a We used several sources to piece together this article. Key in (part of) a phrase in quotation marks into a
search engine to find out where the information comes from.
PR
b Are these sources trustworthy? Find out more about them.
c Find an alternative source on British supermarkets and how they allegedly
exploit their suppliers (i.e. farmers). Are they responsible for the abuse of
undocumented immigrants? Or was the information provided by the two
sources above biased, i.e. one-sided and not based on the complete facts?
20
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40
45
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10 Fortunately, not all immigrants go through such harrowing ordeals as the Chinese cockle pickers.
Let us look into some success stories.
PR
O
EF
10.1 Do the famous refugees quiz. Guess the names of the following famous people who were once refugees, and have since become household names all over the world. Choose from the pictures below.
1 This singer is a refugee who was forced to flee at the age of one with his family during the Civil War in
Beirut, Lebanon:
.
2 He was born in Haiti, from where he fled with his parents and three siblings at the age of nine. He settled
in Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York. The family later moved to New Jersey, which is where he met up
with Lauryn Hill to start the Fugees:
.
3 In 1989 her family left the Soviet Union thanks to perestroika, a period during which President Gorbachev
opened up the communist regime and its borders:
.
4 He was born Farrokh Bulsara on September 5 1946, in Zanzibar, which is a tropical island off the east
coast of Africa. At the age of 17, he and his family fled due to the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution, in which
thousands of Arabs and Indians were killed:
.
5 His father was a Syrian refugee who lived happily for many years in Beirut, Lebanon, before he left for
America:
.
6 This former supermodel, whom David Bowie married, was born in Somalia to a diplomat, and her parents
were both activists in the independence movement for the country:
.
21
7 This hip hop idol’s refugee experience is one of the things she’s famous for, and she uses it in many of her
songs. Mathangi Arulpragasam was born in Sri Lanka, but left at the age of nine during the beginning of
the civil war that would rock the country for 26 years:
.
8 A German Jew, he faced anti-Semitism years before Hitler came to power. He emigrated to the US in 1932
to work for the Institute for Advanced Study, the offices of which were on the Princeton University
campus:
.
10.2 Mark the relative pronouns in ex. 10.1, and the preposition they sometimes are preceded or
followed by. Then complete the grammar box below.
GRAMMAR
defining relative clause: contains necessary information
antecedent = person
subject
Mika was a refugee
object
The man who(m) / that /
prep. obj.
The governess who(m) / that /
possessive
A refugee
Barack Obama’s mother married was a Kenyan student.
Irene Bobelijn was travelling with got seasick.
relatives already live in the UK may be eager to join them.
antecedent = animal or thing
O
2
/ that was forced to flee.
EF
1
M.I.A. left Sri Lanka because of the civil war
for 26 years.
object
Wikipedia has introduced a page which /
they have made.
prep. obj.
That is one of the things which / that /
PR
subject
/ that would rock her country
allows people to explain changes
she is famous for.
Immigrants often come from countries
Immigrants often come from countries the economy
agriculture.
possessive
Immigrants often come from countries
agriculture.
economy is limited to agriculture.
is limited to
the economy is limited to
pay attention
When the relative pronoun is the object of a defining relative clause:
• it is preferably left out (= Ø)
•
can be used for persons in formal English
• the preposition is usually put at the
3
(= informal English)
antecedent = sentence
According to the Dublin Regulation, a refugee had to stay in the state they arrived in first,
enormous pressure on the border states.
22
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put
non-defining relative clause: gives extra, unnecessary information
• is put between
• does NOT use the relative pronoun
1
antecedent = person
subject
Ita Moel,
was sent back from Ellis Island to Antwerp, suffered from trachoma.
object
Iman,
David Bowie married, was born in Somalia.
prep. obj.
Ai Qin now has legal status to stay in England with her son,
she was reunited in China.
possessive
Nick Broomfield,
documentaries.
2
film Ghosts was shot with non-actors, makes narrative
antecedent = animal or thing
subject
Wyclef Jean’s family moved to New Jersey,
is where he met up with Lauryn Hill.
object
Wikipedia,
prep. obj.
Freddie Mercury’s father fled due to the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution,
thousands of Arabs and Indians were killed.
possessive
Einstein worked for the Institute for Advanced Study, the offices
on the Princeton University campus.
O
EF
people often criticise for unreliability, has improved its credibility.
were
defining relative clause
antecedent
object
animals / things
prepositional obj.
possessive
who / that
ø / who(m) / that
ø / who(m) / that +
preposition
whose
that / which
ø / that / which
ø / that / which +
preposition
of which
whose
PR
people
subject
non-defining relative clause
antecedent
subject
object
prepositional obj.
possessive
people
who
whom
preposition +
whom
whose
animals / things
which
which
preposition +
which
of which
10.3 Watch the video on Muzon, the Syrian Malala.
#culture
Malala Yousafzai is a young Pakistan
i education activist. She
is a strong advocate for girls' and
women's rights, especially
the right to go to school. She surv
ived a gunshot attack by
the Taliban in October 2012. In 2014
, at the age of 17, she
received the Nobel Peace Prize.
23
10.4 Read about the courageous young woman and complete the relative pronouns. If the sentence is
correct without relative pronoun, write Ø.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
PR
O
EF
When her family fled Syria in early 2013 the bright 14-year-old
Muzon had been studying hard all year for her grade-nine school
exams, … (1) were just a month away. Her father ignored her aunt
… (2) urged the family to let her stay and continue her education
and, deciding the risks were too great, took her with him and
her siblings across the border to Jordan. ‘The schooling … (3) she
lost could be made up for’, said Abu Mohammed, 45, … (4) wife
and children now live in Jordan’s Azraq refugee camp. Education
has always played a big part in the life of Muzon, … (5) parents
were teachers. She explains. ‘Our house was built by an engineer
and when I was sick I went to a doctor, … (6) proves education is
everything in life.’ Now 17, she continued her studies in Jordan, the
country … (7) granted her asylum. Furthermore, she has become
an increasingly high-profile advocate for education among Syrian
refugees women and girls, many … (8) are eager to learn.
Her campaigning has drawn comparisons with Malala, Pakistan’s
Nobel Prize-winning education advocate, … (9) Muzon has met
several times and considers a personal friend. ‘She taught me that
no matter what obstacles … (10) I face in life, they can be
overcome.’ Before the crisis began, Muzon led a normal,
middle-class life surrounded by friendly neighbours and relatives,
the memories … (11) she treasures. The family’s main home in Izra
was close to a military base … (12) regularly came under attack,
leaving no alternative but to flee to Jordan.
Back home, Muzon and her three younger siblings each had
their own room, and now the whole family was forced to share
a single tent … (13) they slept, cooked and washed. As she
continued her schooling in the camp, she heard about one girl
… (14) had dropped out and was trying to sell her schoolbooks.
Muzon sought her out and convinced her to change her mind.
A campaigner was born.
After that she began advocating for education to friends or
even just girls … (15) she met in the street. According to Muzon,
education is the armour … (16) will protect you in life. But many
young girls break off their schooling to marry, … (17) passes on
illiteracy and deprivation to the next generation. ‘Indomitable‘
was the description … (18) used by UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador
Khaled Hosseini, … (19) wrote The Kite Runner. When I express
admiration at the things … (20) she has achieved despite her
age and difficult circumstances, she brushes off the compliment.
‘Being a refugee doesn’t have to ruin your life. Many successful
people have gone through hard times.’
(adapted from Dunmore, 2015)
24
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(9)
(10)
(11)
(12)
(13)
(14)
(15)
(16)
(17)
(18)
(19)
(20)
10.5 Each time combine the two sentences into one longer complex
sentence, using a relative pronoun. When the relative pronoun is
object of a defining relative clause, leave it out.
a Ekeh immigrated to America from Nigeria eight years ago. Ekeh was
accepted to all eight Ivy League universities.
b Immigrant students face economic barriers. Even with these economic
barriers, Ekeh proves the American dream can still be realised.
c Ekeh’s parents moved to America for the economic opportunities. Ekeh considers going to Yale
EF
University.
O
d His mother works for a human resources agency. That human resources agency has congratulated the
high-achieving student.
f
PR
e His father works for the New York Police Department. The NYPD has even offered the kid a student job.
After college, Ekeh wants to become a neurosurgeon to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. His
grandmother suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.
g ‘I want to explore the human body. The human body makes us who we are.’ says Ekeh.
h Ekeh joins Kwasi Enin, another first-generation son of African immigrants. Kwasi Enin was also accepted
to all eight Ivies last year.
(adapted from Dunmore, 2015)
25
Checking the facts
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11 People often spout opinions that are not backed by factual evidence. Let us debunk some myths
about asylum seekers.
11.1 The Research the Headlines blog claims opinions expressed in the media are often not backed by
research. Check out the facts below and use them to set straight prejudices about refugees.
MYTHS
‘The UK is doing enough already, and it’s not our problem anyway.’
2
‘There are too many people in the UK, we can’t take anymore.’
3
‘They pick and choose countries, why don’t they stay in Hungary and Greece?’
4
‘They come for the benefits, they don’t contribute.’
5
‘These refugees are mainly men, not women and children, and they carry smartphones.’
6
‘More refugees will add pressure on services – how will schools and hospitals cope?’
7
‘Taking some now will encourage more to come.’
8
‘Refugees undermine our national culture, especially if they are Muslims.’
EF
1
PR
O
FACTS
#spelling
a Agencies working in the refugee camps across
Names of religions are spelt with a capit
al letter:
Europe have reported that over 75% of the refugees
Dutch
English
are women and children. It is true that refugees
moslim
Muslim
walking on foot across Europe include men too,
islam
Islam
christelijk
Christian
who are no less in need of a safe haven but more
than half of the Syrian refugees in Europe are under
17 years of age. Some of them have been separated
from their parents and travel alone. Syria was a fairly rich country until recently, and with the low
cost of technologies everywhere, people could afford clothes and phones. When fleeing, mobiles
become a vital tool for navigation and communication.
26
b
The ‘Dublin Regulation’ requires refugees to stay in the first ‘safe’ country they arrive in. In practice,
however, this has left thousands of refugees stranded in Southern Europe. Greek reception
centres, where arriving refugees are held, lack sufficient food and health care. They are insanitary
and chronically overcrowded. The harsh treatment of refugees in Hungary on the other hand has
followed Prime Minister Victor Orban’s objection to non-Christians seeking asylum. This helps to
explain people’s decisions to continue to move across Europe to other countries where attitudes to
migrants are more positive.
c
Given the UK’s role in ongoing conflict zones in the Middle East and involvement in the arms trade,
we have a moral responsibility to do more to help those displaced. In 2014, the European nation
that accepted the largest number of refugees in proportion to its population was Sweden. Hungary,
Malta, Switzerland and 13 other countries accepted more asylum applications than the UK, based
on data from Eurostat. Currently, the UK and the US have some of the lowest numbers of refugees
per 1000 people, at 1.9 and 0.9 respectively.
03
file 4 | Checking the facts
Evidence suggests that refugees are less likely to make use of core services, even while they are
likely to contribute significantly more in taxes. In particular, refugee children integrate well at school,
bring a wealth of languages to the learning experience and have been credited in recent studies with
increasing attainment rates in schools.
e
The current figure provided by the Office for National Statistics for the UK's total population is
64.5 m. It is unevenly spread, however, with a heavy concentration of people in the South East of
England and much lower population levels in Wales (3 m) and Scotland (5 m). Moreover, the UK
also has an increasingly ageing population. This presents a clear economic argument for policies to
attract working-age people.
f
People become refugees because their basic human rights have been violated or threatened. There
is no evidence to support the view that giving refugees asylum in one country encourages more to
uproot their families and make a perilous journey. But in Syria, both Bashar al-Assad’s regime and
the so-called ‘Islamic State’ have systematically targeted civilians, creating a strong incentive for
people to flee.
g
Of the 5.5 million working-age benefit claimants in 2011, only 6.4% were foreign born. Most recently
arrived refugees are young, skilled and less likely to claim benefits. According to a recent study of
the fiscal impact of migration broadly, the authors highlighted a net contribution of £20bn to the
UK over the last ten years. But presently, asylum seekers in the UK are not allowed to work and are
forced to rely on state support.
h
In the early part of the twentieth century, Jewish refugees fled
to Britain from the pogroms in Eastern Europe. Jews often
lived ‘according to their traditions, usages and customs’. This
generation of refugees gave us ‘national’ icons such as Marks &
Spencer and soon established a space for themselves. National
identities are not fixed in the past, but are dynamic and change
over time.
1
PR
O
EF
d
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
11.2 The source of the information for the exercise above is Research the Headlines. This is a blog which
addresses the way in which information is presented in the media. Contributors are all members
of the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Young Academy of Scotland, a multidisciplinary group of
individuals. Read its guidelines to assess the trustworthiness of information.
When reporting on research in the media, it is good practice to tell the reader (i) where the study
was published, and (ii) who carried it out, preferably with direct links to both pieces of information. This gives a good impression of the reliability of the reporting and headlines. Sadly, links to
the source of the data are still often lacking in media articles. The take-home message is simple:
do your own research into where the science behind the story comes from, who has carried it
out and where it is published.
27
11.3 The original source text of ex. 11.1 has been edited down. Below you find some more sentences
from the original article. The left box lists phrases that may introduce an unsubstantiated opinion.
But since Research the Headlines prides itself on its reliability, it provides hyperlinks behind the
words underlined in blue, which lead to the source that underpins the information provided. Find
the correct continuation of the phrases on the left.
1
Some commentators have argued that a
‘refugee influx’ or ‘swarm’, …
and their rights to benefits.
2
Much has been said in the current crisis about
the UK’s contribution …
b
so insanitary and chronically overcrowded
that conditions may amount to cruel,
inhuman, and degrading treatment under
international law.
3
Many claim we have a moral responsibility …
c
with 0.7% of its GDP in contributions.
4
It is true that the UK is the second biggest
bilateral donor of international aid, …
d
as the Prime Minister recently described
refugees, would affect the UK in negative
ways.
5
It has been reported that more than 11 million
homes are empty across Europe, …
e
including 700,000 homes in the UK (with
30,000 empty homes in Scotland alone).
6
It has been said that Greek detention centres
are …
f
that extremists might also be seeking entry
to the EU.
7
Some segments of the press have also
commented on the appearance of the Syrian
refugees, …
g
to act immediately and do more to help those
displaced.
8
Some media reports have focused on asylum
seekers …
h
the fact that they are relatively well dressed
and carry mobile phones.
9
It is impossible really to substantiate or
refute …
i
in terms of international aid.
1
PR
O
EF
a
2
3
4
5
6
7
11.4 Below are phrases quoting authoritative sources. Complete them choosing from:
states – provided – predicts – carried out – described
28
a
The current figure … by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows an
increase of about 4.5 million people since 2004.
b
The ONS … that, by 2044, 25% of UK’s population will be 65+.
c
A medic from Doctors Without Borders recently … the situation in Greece as
the worst he had ever seen.
d
Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) …: ‘Everyone
has the right to seek and enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution’
and all UN members are required to afford this.
e
Research … by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) proves that
foreign-born nationals are half as likely to claim benefits than UK nationals.
03
file 4 | Checking the facts
8
9
11.5 Refute the following unsubstantiated statements about
immigrants in the US.
•
•
•
•
Use the collocations from ex. 11.3 to rephrase the myths.
Use phrases from ex. 11.4 to provide factual evidence.
Each time mention the source to lend authority to your claim.
Use a contrasting linking adverbial followed by a comma:
however, yet, but, still.
MYTH: There is a huge increase of the number of immigrants in
the United States.
FACT: There is a decline in the number of undocumented US immigrants from 12.2 million in 2007
to 11.3 million in 2013.
EF
SOURCE OF FACT: Homeland Security
MYTH: Immigrants are responsible for high crime rates in the United States.
O
FACT: Incarceration rates are lowest among young Latin Americans who make up the bulk of the
undocumented population.
PR
SOURCE OF FACT: the Justice Department
MYTH: Immigrants take jobs from American citizens.
FACT: Immigrants and native-born workers hardly ever compete for the same jobs.
SOURCE OF FACT: Immigration Policy Center
MYTH: Immigrants come to the United States for welfare benefits.
FACT: Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for federal benefits programs.
SOURCE OF FACT: the US Chamber of Commerce
(adapted from Haynes, 2015)
29
Do the right thing
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12 ‘Sticks and stones’ is a phrase used to say that words cannot hurt a person, only physical violence
can. Yet we all know words can have violent or discriminating connotations. Find out how this
applies to the immigration issue.
12.1 Write down the first words that come to mind on seeing the keywords below. Compare with the
associations that your classmate has written down and discuss why you made your choices.
refugee
Arab
EF
12.2 Read the text below to find out about the problematic associations of the word 'illegal'.
10
15
20
This example illustrates the phenomenon of
collocations, which basically means that
certain words just go.. It’s important that we appreciate
the power of collocations. Because when we begin to
read or hear certain words, our brains begin a process
of word association. We automatically think of which
words go together. We brain-google a word and our
mental search engine begins to autocomplete the
phrase. ‘Strong’ goes with coffee. ‘Powerful’ goes
with computer. Which brings us to the use of the
word ‘migrant’ to describe the thousands of people
desperately trying to get across the Mediterranean
to escape war in their home countries. Theresa May,
the home secretary, is clearly fond of the word. She
used it promising tougher laws to distinguish between
‘economic migrants’ and ‘genuine refugees’.
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Here we need to heed the power of collocations.
Thanks to years of fearmongering by right-wing press
and politicians, both ‘migrant’ and ‘immigrant’ have
become collocalised with another word – ‘illegal’.
Encouragingly, there’s been some movement to stop
using the phrase ‘illegal immigrant’. After all, telling
someone who is running for their life that they are
an illegal immigrant is a profoundly harmful label that
ignores their difficult situation. But because they have
been sitting together so long, the essential meaning of
the words immigrant and migrant have been twisted
– they’re now branded with illegality, forever altered,
never innocent again. The concept of illegality conjures
up images of wrongdoing, and a threat to our safety.
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I can say that I’m drinking strong coffee and sitting
at a powerful computer. But swap the adjectives –
powerful coffee and a strong computer – you’d get the
meaning, but it would jar.
This is exactly the mental picture that May tries to
evoke. She knows that when we hear immigrant or
migrant we can’t help but think – at least on some
subconscious level – of foul play. She wants us to
ignore the pictures of suffering we see every day. She
wants our hearts to harden and our compassion to
dwindle. We must resist such suggestive word-play.
(Gingell, 2015)
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#language
A collocation is a natural combination of words, i.e. a group of words that are often used together.
There are:
• fixed, strong collocations, e.g. take a photo (make, draw a photo);
• more open collocations, e.g. keep to / stick to the rules.
An idiom is a special type of collocation, i.e. a fixed group of words where the meaning cannot be guessed.
‘I was just pulling your leg’ does not make sense if you only understand the literal meaning of the words.
The idiom means, ‘I was just joking’. Learning collocations will help you build new vocabulary. That way
you can avoid simple, overused words like ‘nice’, ‘fine’, ‘do’, ‘make’ or ‘get’, and sound more like a native
speaker.
Study words with their collocations. It is easier for our brains to remember vocabulary in blocks or chunks
rather than as single words. You find them in the vocabulary list under ‘c’ for chunk / collocation.
If you are not sure if two words collocate, put quotation marks around them and enter them into a search
engine. The number of search results will tell you how frequently the words occur together.
#strategy
See V1: learning new wo
rds
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.
12.3 Complete the following formal collocations for giving opinions. Choose words from the box.
basically – obviously – gathered – have – gives – acknowledged – perfect – fundamentally
play – sets out – done – faultless – collected – admitted – clearly – committed
The text … illustrates the phenomenon of collocations in our language.
b
This … means that certain words go together and others do not.
c
Collocations … a part in conditioning our thinking.
d
The author … some powerful arguments for avoiding the word ‘migrant’.
e
The journalist has … evidence scanning news media for collocations.
f
I hope he has … his sources.
g
Otherwise he may have … plagiarism.
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a
12.4 Of the three synonyms given, mark the word that collocates best with the phrase.
a
The author supports / backs / maintains the claim …
b
This has shaped / modelled / formed our thinking …
c
Statistics extensively / broadly / commonly support the view that …
d
Research offers excellent / irrefutable / absolute proof …
e
It is a(n) important / noteworthy / significant trend …
f
He challenges / defies / fights the theory of …
g
She makes / creates / establishes a connection between …
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reading
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speaking
conversation
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vocabulary
grammar
literature
13 Political cartoons offer a clever and creative way of commenting on delicate subjects. Have a look
at the graphics below.
13.1 Leaf back to ex. 4.3 Can you explain the cartoon?
......
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13.2 Come up with clever phrases to complete the captions.
......
......
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A banker, a worker, and an immigrant are
sitting at a table with 20 cookies?
The banker takes 19 cookies and warns
the worker:
reading
listening
speaking
conversation
writing
watching
vocabulary
grammar
literature
14 You cannot fully understand somebody until you have walked in their shoes. Discover how
Australian TV company SBS took this maxim quite literally.
14.1 The following sentences come from the teaser of the TV show you are going to watch.
Number them in what you think is the chronological order.
They're leaving their suburban lives behind
to undertake a dangerous refugee journey ...
in reverse.
At times, they will turn on each other.
Refugees, asylum seekers, boat people,
issues that divide the nation ...
Their beliefs will be challenged in extreme
situations.
For one month, the six Australians will be
living the life of a refugee.
Ultimately, they will travel to some of the
most dangerous countries on earth.
But what do we know of those who risk life
and limb to reach these shores?
EF
Six Australians with strong views on this
subject have accepted an invitation to take
part in a life changing experiment.
14.2 Watch the trailer to check if you numbered the sentences in the correct way.
14.3 Who says what? Allocate each quote to its speaker.
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d
e
f
g
‘When the boat crashed into Christmas Island, I thought: serves you bastards right.’
‘I guess I'm a bit racist. I just don’t like Africans.’
‘More than 30 million people around the world have fled their homes. It’s one of the big issues of our
time, so what better way to understand the refugee experience than by living it.’
‘My biggest concern is being painted as a giant lefty.’
‘I think that we have the capacity to take, perhaps, more refugees.’
‘People who come here by boat without any documentation should be immediately expatriated.’
‘We are spending millions of dollars on housing these criminals.’
PR
a
b
c
Raye Colby, retired social worker from South Australia:
Roderick Schneider, aspiring politician from Brisbane:
Raquel Moore, unemployed from Western Sydney:
Darren Hassan, businessman from Adelaide:
Gleny Rae, a singer from Newcastle:
Adam Hartup, Cronulla lifeguard:
Dr David Corlett, refugee expert and Melbourne academic:
14.4 And you? Would you volunteer to take part in this programme? Tick off the phrases that ring true to
you and discuss them with your fellow classmates.
£
£
£
£
£
£
£
£
I would be reluctant to go on such a dangerous trip.
I would have a hard time coping with the blatant human misery.
It would scare the living daylights out of me not to know what is in store for me along the way.
The confrontation with human suffering would certainly rock my views on the issue.
It would be an eye-opener to feel what it means to risk life and limb to reach our shores.
I wonder if such a commercial TV show focuses on the facts and the stories that really matter.
I would be disgusted by the narrow-minded ideas of some of the other participants.
I am sure a programme like this has the power to open people's eyes to some tough realities and to
change their minds.
file 5 | Do the right thing
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Should Europe seal its borders?
reading
listening
speaking
conversation
writing
watching
vocabulary
grammar
literature
15 The current immigration crisis is a controversial topic. There are fierce opponents of an open-door
policy, while at the same time idealistic volunteers commit themselves to welcoming newcomers
the best way they can. Where do you stand? Research a variety of sources to form a grounded
opinion on the question: should Europe limit the number of refugees and seal its borders?
15.1 Team up in groups of four. Discuss who is going to do which part of the assignment.
15.2 Do field research to find primary sources.
Step 1: look for eye-witness accounts.
Find somebody near you who is of foreign descent. According to government statistics , nearly one in five
Belgians has immigrant roots. Chances are, somebody in your neighbourhood is willing to talk to you.
Interview them and record their account, either in writing or with digital means (audio / video).
EF
Step 2: look for written sources.
Ask your interviewee if they are willing to share with you any documentation, such as photos, films or
papers.
15.3 Do desk research.
O
Step 1: browse the Internet for similar, primary sources as described in 15.2.
You may look for autobiographical accounts of refugees and immigrants, either written or on video sites
such as YouTube, Vimeo, etc.
PR
Step 2: the source material in this folder may present too narrow a view. Browse the Internet for
extra secondary sources.
Take into account that news providers (newspapers or websites) may have a political bias. They often
betray their stance on a controversial topic by selecting certain news items and ignoring others.
That is why you are advised to consult a variety of sources. Find at least two articles from each of the
following:
• popular media, the so-called tabloids in the UK: the Sun, the Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror
• so-called quality papers: the Guardian, The Times, the Independent, USA Today, the New York Times,
the Washington Post
• news websites: The Huffington Post, BBC, CNN, Buzzfeed, The Daily Beast, Fox News, etc.
15.4 Gather facts.
Find two sources providing numbers, statistics and facts about the immigration issue. Check the guidelines
featured in ex. 11.2. Make sure your data comes from trustworthy sources.
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15.5 Check the reliability of your sources.
Step 1: mention each source using the APA norm for referencing.
Consult the Connect Research Guide on www.scoodle.be.
Step 2: check the credibility of the source.
• Read the ‘About (us)’ tab in the task bar of the home page.
• Does the author have an academic background?
• Does the author have any other background lending him / her credibility?
• Is the author linked with a neutral or sponsored institute or organisation?
• Is the information up to date?
• Are there active hyperlinks that back up the information in the article?
15.6 Present the result of your source study to the class orally. Answer the research question quoting
arguments from all of your sources.
draft
peer
evaluation
final
version
We have found a primary oral source through field research.
£
£
£
We have found a primary written source through field research.
£
£
£
We have found an primary oral source through desk research.
£
£
£
We have found a primary written source through desk
research.
£
£
£
Our secondary sources are taken from the popular press,
quality press and digital news sites.
£
£
£
We have gathered reliable facts and statistics.
£
£
£
We have acknowledged each source using APA referencing.
£
£
£
We have looked up background information on the author(s)
and websites of each article to ensure credibility.
£
£
£
We have answered the research question using collocations for
stating opinions and giving evidence.
£
£
£
We have presented our answer to the research question
underpinning our opinion with all the source material we
gathered.
£
£
£
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checklist
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Attachment: The Other Hand
reading
listening
speaking
conversation
watching
writing
vocabulary
grammar
literature
16 The blurb on the back cover of Chris Cleave’s novel reads: ‘We don’t want to tell you what happens
in this book. It is a truly special story and we don’t want to spoil it (…) Once you have read it, you’ll
want to tell your friends about it. When you do, please don’t tell them what happens. The magic is
in how the story unfolds.’
16.1 Read the review while completing the missing relative pronouns.
56 of 58 people found the following review helpful
ééééé The Other Hand, April 18, 2012
On a beach in Nigeria, the lives of Little Bee, a teenager from a small village, and Sarah O’Rourke,
editor of a posh British women’s magazine, are brought into brutal conjunction. Little Bee and her older
sister have the misfortune to live on valuable Nigerian oil deposits,
their family
pays a deadly price. Sarah and her husband, heedless tourists out for a walk in the sand, are confronted in an instant with a choice: save the girls at great personal cost or ignore them.
Though the scene doesn’t come until later in the book, it casts a queasy spell over the novel from the
beginning,
EF
finds Little Bee in a dehumanizing British immigrant detention center
two years later. She’s plotting her suicide if ‘the men’ ever come for her again. Her Nigerian enemies and the interests
they work for are never explicitly identified because Little Bee herself understands only that they were paid to remove her
people. But Little Bee’s stubbornness keeps her going. ‘Take it from me,’ she says at the outset, ‘a scar does not form on the
dying. A scar means, I survived.’
Sarah, meanwhile, has a life
invites envy: a whip-smart husband, an adorable son, a satisfying adulterous affair
O
and a glamorous career. When Sarah’s husband spirals into depression after their crisis on the Nigerian beach and commits
suicide, Sarah is left to reckon with her own moral culpability and an orphaned 3-year-old. Then Little Bee,
she feels a powerful and naive responsibility, appears at her door, having escaped from the detention
PR
facility. The Nigerian refugee girl immediately takes a liking to Sarah’s toddler Charlie.
The Other Hand leaves little doubt that Cleave deserves the praise. He has carved two indelible characters
choices in even the most straitened circumstances permit them dignity – if they are willing to sacrifice for it. The Other Hand is
the best kind of political novel: you’re almost entirely unaware of its politics because the book doesn’t deal in abstractions but
in human beings.
The Other Hand. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Comment (1) | Permalink | Most recent comment: Nov 29, 2014 13:42 PM PST
(adapted from Courteau, 2009)
16.2 Charlie, Sarah’s four-year-old son, has gone missing in Richmond Park, South London, on an
afternoon out. In desperation Little Bee calls the police. Find out what happens next.
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One of the policemen came close while the other two
ran down the steps. The policeman who came, he
was not much older than me I think. He was tall, with
orange hair under his hat. I tried to smile at him, but I
couldn’t. My heart was beating, beating. I was scared
that my Queen’s English would fail me. Then the most
wonderful thing happened. The policeman’s radio
buzzed and crackled and a voice came from it, and the
voice said: THE CHILD HAS BEEN FOUND. I gave a smile
like the sun, but the policeman did not. My smile faded.
If this policeman began to suspect me, he could call the
03
immigration people. Then one of them would click a
button on their computer and mark a check box on my
file and I would be deported. I would be dead, but no
one would have fired any bullets. I realized, this is why
the police do not carry guns. In a civilized country, they
kill you with a click. The killing is done far away, at the
heart of the kingdom in a building full of computers and
coffee cups. I stared at the policeman. He did not have
a cruel face. He did not have a kind face either. He was
young and he was pale and there were no lines on his
face. He was nothing yet. He looked like an egg. This
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The policeman looked at me with no expression.
“What is your relationship to the person who was
reported as missing?”
“It is not important.”
“It’s procedure, madam.”
He took a step toward me and I stepped back, I could
not help myself.
“You seem unusually nervous of me, madam.”
He said this very calmly, looking into my eyes all the
time. “Your name,” he said. “Now.”
(…) That is when I ran.
Outside the cell, Lawrence was arguing with a police
officer. “This is a bit excessive, isn’t it? They shouldn’t
deport her. She has a home to go to. She has a
sponsor.” “They’re not my rules, sir. The immigration
people are a law unto themselves.” “But surely you
can give us a bit of time to make a case. I work for
the Home Office, I can get an appeal together.” “If
you don’t mind my saying so, sir, if I worked for the
Home Office and I knew all along this lady was illegal,
I’d keep my mouth shut.” And this, exactly, is what
Lawrence did. I did not hear his voice after that. The
guard looked into the cell. “You’ve got five minutes,
that’s all,” he said. Sarah was crying. “I won’t let them
do it,” she whispered. “I’ll find a way. I won’t let them
send you back.” (…) They came for me at four o’clock
in the morning. “It is not necessary to handcuff me,” I
said. “How could I run away?” The female officer looked
back at me. She was surprised. “You speak pretty
good English,” she said. “Most of the people we bring
in don’t speak a word.” “I thought if I learned to speak
like you people do, I would be able to stay.” The officer
smiled. “It doesn’t matter how you talk, does it?” she
said. “You’re a drain on resources. The point is you don’t
belong here.”
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35
in his bat mask, I could see that he was smiling in his
sleep. That made me smile too.
My story is not like the movie I told you about,
The Man Who Was in a Great Hurry.. I did not have a
motorbike to escape on, or a plane that I could fly
upside down. In my mind I saw how I would escape
through the crowds, with the policeman chasing after
me and shouting, Stop that girl! I would run across
the road and the brakes of the cars would scream and
their horns would hoot and a fat man would shout,
Whaddayathinkyadoin?, and then I would be running,
running, and of course there would be a seller of
brightly colored fruits, and his apples and his oranges
would spill all over the road, and there would be two
men carrying a big sheet of glass, and I would roll under
it and the policemen would crash through it and then I
would get away and think to myself, Phew! That was a
close one.
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policeman, if he opened the door of the police car and
made me get inside, then to him it was only the inside
of a car he was showing me. But I would see things he
could not see in it. I would see the bright red dust on the
seats. I would see the old dried cassava tops that had
blown into the foot wells. I would see the white skull on
the dashboard and the jungle plants growing through
the rusted cracks in the floor and bursting through the
broken windscreen. For me, that car door would swing
open and I would step out of England and straight back
into the troubles of my country. This is what they mean
when they say, It is a small world these days.
That is how the story went in my head. But in my life,
the chase was not so good. My legs started to run and
the policeman reached out his hand and grabbed hold
of my arm, and that was it. If my life was a movie, it
did not have a good chase scene. The audience would
grumble, and throw popcorn, and say to one another,
That foolish African girl did not even make it to the
edge of the screen. (…) Sarah and Lawrence came to
visit me that night. I was in a holding cell at the police
station in Vauxhall. The police guard, he banged open
the door without knocking and Sarah walked in. Sarah
was carrying Charlie. He was asleep in her arms with
his head resting on her shoulder. I was so happy to see
Charlie safe, I cried. I kissed Charlie on the cheek. He
twitched in his sleep, and he sighed. Through the holes
(…) “But please, what does it mean?” I said. “What does
it mean, to belong here?” The female officer turned to
look at me again. “Well, you’ve got to be British, haven’t
you? You’ve got to share our values.”
I turned away from the woman and looked out at the
rain. Three days later a different group of officers (…)
took us to Heathrow Airport. (…) A guard was standing
at the front of the room. She had a truncheon and a
can of pepper spray in her belt. I asked her, “What is
happening here?” The guard smiled. She said, “What
is happening here is that a large number of flying
machines that we call AEROPLANES are taking off
and landing on a long stretch of tarmac that we call
a RUNWAY, because this is a place that we call an
AIRPORT, and soon one of those aeroplanes is going
to set off for UM-BONGO LAND, where you come
from, and you’re going to be on it. Yeah? Whether you
like it or bloody not. Now, has anyone else got any
questions?”
(…) They gave us no food or water, and I became faint.
After a few more hours they came for me. They walked
me straight onto the aeroplane. The other passengers,
the paying passengers, they made them stand back
while I went first up the aeroplane steps. Everybody
was staring at me. They took me to the back of the
aeroplane, to the last row of seats before the toilets.
They put me in the seat next to the window and a
guard sat down beside me, a big man with a shaved
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The man tapped his finger against the side of his head.
“But that’s how you’ve got to think, these days, isn’t
it? It’s the global economy.” The plane began to roll
backward on the tarmac and some television screens
came down from the ceiling. They started to show
us a safety film. They said what we should do if the
cabin filled with smoke, and they also said where our
life jackets were kept in case we landed on water. I
saw that they did not show us the position to adopt
in case we were deported to a country where it was
likely that we would be killed because of events we had
witnessed. (…) After the takeoff, the captain came on
the intercom. He said it was a fine, sunny day in Abuja.
I understood that for a few hours I was not in anyone’s
country. (…) And then I heard a voice, a kind and gentle
voice that was familiar.
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#culture
Africa with a
Nigeria is a large country in West
urces make it one
reso
population of 154 million. Its oil
. Abuja is the
inent
cont
of the richest countries on the
ts Watch
Righ
an
Hum
capital, Lagos the largest city.
in
ions
elect
tial
iden
noted relatively peaceful pres
rity
secu
nt
rnme
gove
2015. Yet, there is evidence that
Boko
es.
abus
s
right
forces are implicated in human
Islamic State, is
Haram, a branch of terrorist group
cted women
abdu
reported to have killed civilians,
laced hundreds
disp
and girls, destroyed homes, and
and talking to himself in foreign. Some of you people,
I’m sorry to see you go, but this one, I tell you, I couldn’t
wait to sign him over. Good money though, that job
was. There was no flight out for three days, so they
put me up at the Sheraton. Watched Sky Sports for
three days, scratched my arse, got paid time and a half.
Course the people who really make the money are the
big contractors. The ones I’m working for now, Dutch
firm, they run the whole show. They run the detention
centers and they run the repatriations. So they’re
earning either way, whether we lock you up or whether
we send you back. Nice, eh?” “Nice,” I said.
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135
head and a gold earring. He wore a blue Nike T-shirt
and black Adidas trousers. He took off my handcuffs,
and I rubbed my wrists to bring the blood back into my
hands. “Sorry,” said the man. “I don’t like this shit any
more than you do.” “Then why do you do it?”
The man shrugged and did up his seat belt. “It’s a job,
isn’t it?” he said. He pulled a magazine out of the seat
pocket in front of him, and opened it up. There were
men’s wristwatches there for sale, and also a fluffy
model of the aeroplane that could be given to children.
“You should do a different job, if you do not like this
one.” “No one chooses this job, love. I don’t have
qualifications, do I? I used to do laboring, casual, but
you can’t compete with the Polskis now. The Poles
will do a full day’s work for a kind word and a packet
of fags. So here I am, chaperoning girls like you on the
holiday of a lifetime. Waste, really, isn’t it? I bet you’re
more employable than I am. You should be escorting
me, really, shouldn’t you? Back to this place we’re
going, whatever the name of it is again.” “Nigeria.”
“Yeah, that was it. Hot there, is it?” “Hotter than
England.”
#culture
In Britain, Australia
and the US many ref
ugee detention
centres are privatise
d. This means privat
e companies run
these facilities with
the aim of making mo
ney. They are
reputed to treat both
inmates and guards
with contempt,
because they have
no financial incentive
to
provide decent
healthcare, food or
adequate levels of hyg
iene.
of thousands of people.
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“Thought so. These places usually are, where you
people come from.” He went back to his magazine and
he turned a few pages. Each time he turned the page,
he licked his finger to make it stick. There were tattoos
on the knuckles of his fingers, small blue dots. His
watch was big and gold but the gold was wearing off.
It looked like one of the watches from the aeroplane
magazine. He turned a few more pages and then he
looked up at me again. “Don’t say much, do you?”
I shrugged. “That’s all right,” he said. “I don’t mind.
Rather that than the waterworks.” “The waterworks?”
“Some of them cry. Some of the people I escort back.
The women aren’t the worst, believe it or not. I had this
bloke once, Zimbabwe we were going to, sobbed away
for six hours straight. Tears and snot everywhere, like
a baby, I kid you not. It got embarrassing after a while.
Some of the other passengers, you know? Giving it the
looks, and all of that. I was like, cheer up mate, it might
never happen, but it wasn’t no good. He just kept crying
(Cleave, 2008)
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03
“Bee?” said the voice. I turned from the window and
saw Sarah. She was standing in the aisle and she was
smiling. Charlie was holding her hand and he was
smiling too. He was wearing his Batman outfit and he
was grinning as if he had just killed all the baddies.
“We is in the sky, isn’t we?” he said. “No darling,”
said Sarah. “We are in the sky, aren’t we.” I did not
understand what I was seeing. Sarah reached over the
guard and she put her hand on my hand. “Lawrence
found out what flight they were putting you on,” she
said. “He’s not entirely bad, at the end of the day. We
couldn’t let you go back alone, Bee. Could we Batman?”
Charlie shook his head. Now he looked very solemn.
“No,” he said. “Because you is our friend.”
The guard, he did not know what to do.
“I’ve seen bloody everything now,” he said.
Finally he stood up and made room for Sarah and
Charlie to sit beside me. They hugged me while I cried,
and the other passengers turned around in their seats
to stare at this miracle, and the aeroplane flew all of us
into the future at five hundred and fifty miles per hour.
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16.3 Answer the questions.
Why is little Bee’s ‘Queen’s English’ so important?
b
Explain: they kill you with a click.
c
The policeman ‘looked like an egg’. What does that description say about his character?
d
Explain how Little Bee would see things he could not see in the car.
f
Explain why her story ‘is not like the movie I told you about’.
g
What does Lawrence mean by ‘She has a sponsor’?
h
Why does the police officer say, ‘I’d keep my mouth shut.’?
i
What justification does the female officer quote for the deportation of Little Bee?
j
What does she mean by ‘You don’t belong here’?
k
What sort of a man is the guard on the plane?
l
How does he describe some of the other deportees’ behaviour?
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a
m What information is given about the organisers of the repatriation?
file 7 | Attachment: The Other Hand
39
Vocabulary
Give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses
an account
Eyewitness accounts are called primary sources.
een verslag
an anthology
Historians are preparing an anthology of witness accounts of
American immigration.
een bloemlezing,
een verzameling
a beacon
The Statue of Liberty was a welcoming beacon for new immigrants.
een baken
an emblem
Lady Liberty is a universally recognised emblem of the US.
een embleem,
een symbool
The copper statue was an engineering marvel.
een wonder,
een meesterwerk
a melting pot
America is a melting pot of nationalities.
een smeltkroes
persecution
Some refugees leave their country to escape religious persecution.
vervolging
prosperity
Many immigrants have contributed to the prosperity of the US.
welvaart
a show piece
One of the show pieces of the museum collection is Irving Berlin’s
piano.
een pronkstuk
to accompany
Young Irene was accompanied by a governess on the boat trip.
vergezellen
to flee
There are numerous reasons for immigrants to flee their home
country.
vluchten
to hassle
Polish soldiers hassled a young mother cradling her baby.
lastig vallen
to huddle
The immigrants huddled together for warmth on the packed boat.
bijeenkruipen
heartrending
In the museum you learn about the heartrending fate of young Ita
Moel.
hartverscheurend
iconic
The Statue of Liberty deserves its iconic status.
zeer beroemd, iconisch
from rags to riches
The life of Irving Berlin reads like a from rags to riches tale.
het helemaal maken
to start from
scratch
Two milllion people travelled to the US to start a new life from
scratch.
scratch
van nul beginnen
American pupils swear allegiance to the flag every morning.
trouw zweren aan
c
O
a
PR
v
EF
n a marvel
to swear allegiance
Running for their lives
Studies have shown that birth rates drop as the standard of living
and level of education rises.
een geboortecijfer
In the summer of 2015 Europe experienced the highest influx of
refugees since the Second World War.
een toestroom
a misconception
Refugees travelling with smartphones has led to the misconception
that they’re not really in need of help.
een misvatting
to displace
A third of the Syrian people have been displaced within Syria.
ontwortelen
Working immigrants pay more into the social system than they
extract from it.
halen uit, krijgen van
Syrians are potential professional workers, needed to sustain
Europe’s ageing population.
onderhouden
a birth rate
n an influx
v to extract
to sustain
40
03
palpable
The relief on the boat is palpable: many pray, others congratulate
each other.
voelbaar
rickety
A small fishing boat tows the overloaded and rickety migrant ship to
safety.
gammel, krakkemikkig
to get up to speed
on
It is time to get up to speed on the facts behind this crisis.
je kennis bijspijkeren
over
to go to lengths
Watch the film to experience first-hand the lengths refugees will go
to to reach a safe haven.
er alles voor over
hebben
the vast majority
The vast majority of refugees reside now in camps in neighbouring
countries.
de overgrote
meerderheid
a
c
Knocking on heaven's door
een aanvraag
exploitation
Undocumented immigrants are prone to exploitation.
uitbuiting
a household name
Famous people who were once refugees have become household
names all over the world.
een bekende naam
an ordeal
Fortunately, not all immigrants go through such harrowing ordeals as
een beproeving
the Chinese cockle pickers.
a recommendation
The EU asylum policy contradicts the recommendations of the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees.
een aanbeveling
a stowaway
The crew found a stowaway hidden in the cargo on the ship.
een verstekeling,
een blinde passagier
the tide
The Chinese cockle pickers were drowned by the incoming tide.
het getij, de vloed
to adopt
The Universal Declaration on Human Rights was adopted in 1948.
aannemen
O
EF
As a result, many applications are rejected, however justified they
may be.
The information provided by the two sources is biased.
bevooroordeeld,
subjectief
In the immigration debate people should first debunk myths about
asylum seekers.
ontmaskeren,
ontkrachten
I want to defer that important decision until next week.
uitstellen
The Geneva Convention establishes the standards of international
law for the humanitarian treatment of war victims.
bepalen
to grant
Now 17, she continued her studies in Jordan, the country which
granted her asylum.
verlenen
to persecute
Refugees are people who had to leave their home country because, if
they stayed, they would be persecuted.
vervolgen
to stipulate
The UDHR stipulates that everyone has the right to seek asylum
from persecution.
stipuleren,
voorschrijven
to substantiate
It is impossible to substantiate that extremists are entering the EU
as refugees.
hardmaken, bewijzen
Economic migrants are prone to exploitation because they fear being
sent out of the country.
kwetsbaar, gevoelig
voor
to bias
to debunk
to defer
v to establish
a prone to
PR
n
an application
Do the right thing
to conjure up
The concept of illegality conjures up images of wrongdoing and a
threat to our safety.
oproepen
to evoke
The minister tries to evoke a picture of immigrants being a threat to
our civilisation.
oproepen
v
Millions of immigrants, one dream
41
PR
O
EF
Personal vocabulary list
42
03
REconnect
voc
1
Fill in the blanks with the correct word: 1, 2, 3 or 4.
a Lady Liberty is a universally recognised … of the US.
1 mark
2 emblem
3 logo
b The copper statue was an engineering … .
1 marvel
2 genius
3 mastermind
c Many immigrants have contributed to the … of the US.
1 benefit
2 well-being
3 prosperity
d One of the … pieces of the museum collection is Irving Berlin’s piano.
1 show
2 boasting
3 great
e There are numerous reasons for immigrants to … their home country.
1 run away
2 fleet
3 flee
f In the museum you learn about the … fate of young Ita Moel.
1 tearjerking
2 sad
3 miserable
g The Statue of Liberty deserves its … status.
1 representative
2 iconic
3 characteristic
2
4 prodigy
4 welfare
4 fine
4 run off
4 heartrending
4 evocative
Replace the words in heavy type with a word from the box with the same meaning.
EF
voc
4 sign
promotor – inflow – unmistakable – nightmare – request
3
b
He’s a strong advocate of state ownership of the buses.
c
The hostages’ ordeal came to an end when the army stormed the
apartment.
d
Have you filled in the application form for your visa yet?
e
When her son won the race, her joy was palpable.
O
Turkey is expecting an influx of several thousand refugees over the next
few days.
PR
8.1-8.5, 14.1
a
Fill in the missing relative pronouns in the news report on self-declared
good Samaritan Rob Lawrie and judge for yourself if he did the right thing.
Rob Lawrie … (1) faces jail in France after he tried to smuggle a four-year-old girl
out of Calais, is a former British soldier. The man from West Yorkshire attempted
to bring Afghan youngster Bahar Ahmadi to Britain in his van, … (2) he used to
deliver supplies to the migrant camp. He decided to take supplies to Calais after
seeing pictures of Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi, … (3) drowned when his boat capsized
off the coast of Turkey. The 49-year-old was stopped on the border trying to take
the little girl to her relatives, … (4) are living in Leeds. ‘Aiding illegal immigration’,
… (5) he is charged, is considered an offence in both France and the UK. As a
consequence, the kidnapping of the girl, … (6) he calls a ‘crime of compassion’,
could bring him a five-year jail sentence in France.
When he met the little girl in the camp he took her in a moment of ‘paternal
instinct’. ‘When you realise that you are 22 miles from this little girl having a warm
house and a family … (7) loves her, rational thought goes out of your head.’ Friends
Millions of immigrants, one dream
#glossary
thorny: stekelig
to reinforce: versterken
converted: bekeerd
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
43
in Yorkshire have set up a petition … (8) calls on the Foreign Secretary Philip
Hammond to appeal for mercy from the French authorities.
The so-called ‘New Jungle’ camp, … (9) is an hour away on foot from the centre
of the northern French city, has swollen in size as more and more migrants
arrive, attempting to get to Britain. A French court yesterday ordered the local
government to install 10 more water stations at the overflowing migrant site,
… (10) is dubbed the ‘jungle’ because of its appalling living conditions.
His impulsive act of humanitarianism caused his wife, … (11) he had not consulted
about his actions, to break up the marriage.
The French court, … (12) had requested Bahar and her father to accompany
Lawrie to the tribunal, let him off with only a suspended fine. As he left court,
Lawrie drew attention to their differing fates. He was returning to Leeds. Bahar
was going back to the Jungle. ‘She is an intelligent, articulate four-year-old girl
… (13) may become a doctor, lawyer or teacher, if allowed into our [the UK]
education system. Now, they will become doctors, lawyers, teachers. Leave her in
the Jungle and she may rot and die of cold.’
4
EF
(abridged and adapted from Spillett, 2015)
Listen to Melissa Fleming’s TED talk: How to help refugees rebuild their world.
Then answer the multiple choice questions. Only one answer is correct.
#glossary
to dodge: ontwijken
determination:
vastberadenheid
O
a Which sentence is wrong?
£ The mother of the Syrian boy Hany did not want him to go to school because it was too dangerous.
£ Hany realised his future depended on graduating from high school.
£ Hany’s uncle and aunt were killed because they refused to leave the school where they were teaching.
PR
b Living in Lebanon was hard for them because …
£ they were still in danger.
£ the Lebanese people were not welcoming.
£ living conditions were terrible.
c The most troubling thing of all is that ...
£ there are not enough educational opportunities for children in Lebanon.
£ the children still have nightmares of their past.
£ there are so many children in refugee camps.
d What keeps refugees from rebuilding their destroyed countries?
£ With wars going on and on, the average time spent in exile is 17 years.
£ Young refugees are too isolated and frustrated to go back.
£ Refugees want to build a new life abroad and as a consequence do not want to return.
e Tick off the only wrong statement.
£ Hany learned English by himself.
£ There are more refugees in the world today than there were during the Second World War.
£ Too little is being done to stop and prevent the wars that are driving people from their homes.
f
44
Which of these four pieces of advice is not given to Americans and Europeans?
£ They should realise that the vast majority of refugees are living in the developing world.
£ They should allow every person fleeing war and persecution into their countries.
£ They should send teachers to refugee camps.
03
g What is meant by ‘We can help them thrive’?
£ We should build schools in Somalia.
£ We should help refugees cope with their traumas so they can go home to rebuild their country.
£ We should accept refugees as new citizens in our own country.
h What is the difference between the Sudanese girl from Djibouti and Jacob Atem?
£ Unlike the girl, Jacob was not traumatised by war.
£ Unlike the girl, Jacob would end up in a safe refugee camp.
£ Unlike Jacob, the girl did not have the opportunity to study.
What is meant by ‘Hany is at a tipping point’?
£ He has many dreams but they will never be realised.
£ Will Hany get an education or will he become a member of the lost generation?
£ Melissa Fleming will pay for Hany’s university.
j
Which sentence sums up best the speaker’s conclusion?
£ If we do not support refugees, there will be no peace and stability in the world.
£ We should make sure children of refugees get an education.
£ It is a tragedy how we turn our backs on refugees now.
5
Read the text and answer the questions.
Reality TV tackles immigration
EF
i
5
10
15
20
25
PR
O
For three consecutive nights the Australian
network SBS has applied the methods of the
reality show genre to the thorniest of political
issues – the arrival of immigrants by boat –
offering viewers a fly-on-the-wall insight into
both the homes of Congolese and Iraqi families,
and also their troubled homelands. The cameras
were there to film six Australians with strong
views on asylum seekers as they embarked on a
refugee journey in reverse.
With a voice-over that could almost have been
scripted by the UN refugee agency – Go Back to
Where You Came From has been the must-watch
show in Australia this week, and by far the most
talked about. Would this be a journey of personal
discovery, was the question asked throughout.
Or would the prejudices and existing views of
the participating Aussies merely be reinforced?
A question has been asked of viewers as well:
could you walk a mile in a refugee’s shoes?
The participants have done much to frame
the political debate. As television, it was an
exceptional piece of work. As a social experiment,
it was hugely insightful. There have been
complaints that it was contrived. But by its very
nature it had to be. Two of the six participants
had never left Australia, still less visited a
troublespot. How else were they going to find
out where refugees came from unless the
producers of the show took them there? One of
the participants said they were being subjected
to ‘enforced empathy’. For those who believe
that the national debate over boat people
should become a lot less shrill and a lot more
compassionate, perhaps the biggest drawback of
the programme was that it was preaching to the
converted.
Perhaps the most intriguing character was Raye
Colby, a 63-year-old former social worker from
South Australia, who has seen an immigration
detention centre opened on her doorstep. ‘When
the boat crashed coming into Christmas Island
I thought, serve you bastards right,’ she said at
the beginning of the programme. ‘Come the right
way and it wouldn’t have happened.’ Raye now
still has certain problems with the manner in
which some immigrants arrive, but speaks with
a much more tender heart about their situation.
Her moment of epiphany came when she first
met the Masudis, a Congolese family in rural New
South Wales, and listened to their harrowing
testimony. The glib thing to say is that Raye
is a case study in the transformative power of
television. But what she experienced was reality,
not TV.
30
35
40
45
50
55
(Bryant, 2011)
Millions of immigrants, one dream
45
46
This article is an argumentative / persuasive / informative / narrative / literary text.
b
Why is this TV show important? What is its merit?
c
Quote two passages that prove the author liked the programme.
d
Give two elements of criticism. Explain.
e
What expression in the text means ‘to influence the way we look at a political issue’?
f
True or false: ‘The TV show was sponsored by the UN refugee agency’.
g
What is meant by ‘moment of epiphany’ (line 49)?
h
Explain the last sentence of the text.
PR
O
EF
a
03