Don't send me back !

22.09.2009

After a quick oral recap of the previous lesson, we began to study a text. It is the story of Jacob, a Jewish immigrant who fled Russia because of the pogroms. He decided to go to the US in order to save his life. The text begins when he is with the literacy inspector.
Here is what we said about the characters:

Group 1: "The first inspector was strict because there were lots of immigrants a day going through Ellis Island. He chose the immigrants. He did a literacy test in order to select who could enter $\varnothing$ the US.

On the contrary, the second doctor was more sympathetic. He was in charge of the medical test. He examined Jacob's wound / injury.

Jacob was stressed out because he knew he could go back to Russia . If he didn't pass the test he would be sent back."

Attention aux faux-amis en anglais:

"sympathetic" ne veut pas dire "sympathique" mais "compatissant", "qui partage la douleur".
"pass" ne veut pas dire "passer" mais "réussir". Il y a une différence entre "take a test" (passer, se présenter à un examen) et "pass a test" (réussir un examen). "The immigrants had to take a medical and literacy test but they were stressed out. They didn't know if they were going to pass the tests or fail (échouer) the tests."

Group 2: "Jacob may have been a Russian immigrant who was in his thirties and fled Russia because he was persecuted as he was part of the Jewish community. He wanted to become an American citizen. He arrived in Ellis Island in order to take the literacy and medical tests to enter $\varnothing$ the US. The first inspector was extremely strict. He was not cooperative because there were many immigrants. He was in charge to check if Jacob was literate (if jacob could read and count) and healthy.".

You can download a copy of the text here:

and your worksheet again here:

If you want to listen to the audio version of the text:

See you next time.

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