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Multicultural Great Britain: Warm up

Before reading the chapter, ask the students to work in pairs or small groups and give them the following questions to encourage them to explore the subject of a nation and the ethnic varieties that are to be found within the country. At this point students should be tapping in to their knowledge of the subject and not doing any research.

• As a class, identify the countries that students are from and the ethnic groups that live there.

• Ask students about their awareness or knowledge of these groups. Do they mix with people from any of these groups?

• In what ways is a mix of nationalities advantageous or disadvantageous for a country?

• When the students think about Great Britain, what ethnic groups do they expect to find there? Ask students the reasons for their answers.

How all the students contribute some general facts about Great Britain.

15.1 The making of a nation

Text 15.1.1 ‘The British’ by Benjamin Zephaniah

In this section, students will read a poem by Benjamin Zephaniah. Learn about the author and listen to a performance of it by students.

Ask students to read Text 15.1.1 in pairs. Discuss their understanding of the poem. What questions do students have about the poem after the first reading? They should note them down and check if answers to these questions are given while working through the general comprehension and text handling exercises.

After listening to the poem being delivered on YouTube (search for ‘BBC Poetry Season – Zephaniah and students perform The British’), encourage students to do their own group reading of the poem. This could be video recorded.

As Benjamin Zephaniah is a well-known poet in Great Britain, especially among younger people, ask students to do further research into his works. Perhaps find other poems and read them as a class.

Text 15.1.2 Benjamin Zephaniah: biography

This text is based on the life of Benjamin Zephaniah. It provides an opportunity to talk about biographies and auto-biographies with students. For a writing activity, students could be asked to write their own auto-biographies (limiting the writing to either a number of words or a number of minutes). After students have read Text 15.1.2, they could then take a paragraph from the text and rewrite it as if Benjamin Zephaniah was writing himself (i.e. in the first person).

15.2 Cultural diversity

Text 15.2.1 explores some aspects of cultural diversity in Great Britain and students are asked to relate the theme to their own countries and experiences. Further research into the cultural diversity of a number of English-speaking countries is also a focus.

Give students an opportunity to share the results of the research they engage in by having a ‘share session’. One way to organize this is to put students in small groups to talk about their work and then rotate the members of the groups to enable more sharing. Work can then be displayed on the walls of the classroom until the work on the section is completed. This display should be on the wall for a limited period of time.

Work displayed on the walls of classrooms is an effective way of creating a group awareness of what everyone is doing but is only effective for a short time then it needs to be taken down and replaced with some new work. After a week it becomes invisible!

TEACHER’S GUIDE

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15.3 Manchester, UK

Text 15.3.1 Europe’s most exotic city? It’s Manchester! 153 languages spoken by a population of 500,000

Ask students to read the text aloud in pairs. While students are reading, ask them to note down vocabulary they want to look up. Words that students may not know: detractors, to portray, insular, to claim, residents, overseas, strictly. The teacher can also draw attention to vocabulary that students might skip over and ask them to create their own sentences to show their understanding of the word’s usage.

The grammar point is the use of the passive voice. Students should read newspaper articles and consciously examine them in order to identify the use of the passive.

Text 15.3.2 Restaurants reflect cultural diversity in Manchester: The Curry Mile

This section gives students an opportunity to think about the city of Manchester, but also how cultural diversity is often reflected in food and restaurants.

The individual oral activity requires the students to do some individual research on aspects of the city of Manchester and to give an oral presentation.

Text 15.3.3 What exactly is a curry?

Students read and write about the taste of curry. A further activity focusing on food could be to ask students to talk about different dishes particular to their countries: first finding out the vocabulary that they need to explain the ingredients and then describing the appearance and the taste.

15.4 Colourful London

Text 15.4.1 Spitalfields, London. Cultural diversity is not a new thing in London’s East End

This text presents the historical background to present-day Spitalfields. As students read, they should note down the chronology of events in a timeline.

Vocabulary: Teachers should ask students to explain the meaning of words that they identify as being necessary to understand the text fully. These may include: priory, polyglot, transient, rural, brewery.

The individual oral activity gives students the opportunity to use new vocabulary and express ideas about ethnic diversity. In preparation for the oral activity, students could explore online images of Spitalfields today and discuss the pictures shown. In the interactive oral activity in the final examination, students are required to describe a picture. They should be given regular opportunities to practise this close observation and oral description of detail.

Text 15.4.2 Visit Brick Lane, London: An app for tourists

Today one of the most well-known streets in Spitalfields is Brick Lane. A vibrant attraction for both locals and tourists, it is also the title of the novel by Monica Ali, a Bangladeshi-born British writer. The novel was published in 2003 and later was made into a film.

Suggestions for further reading

Teachers may want students to read passages from the novel Brick Lane, or the whole story depending on their ability.

The text offers an opportunity to discuss register. Students may sometimes have difficulty in getting a feeling for register. In the text handling activity, students are asked to discuss the text from this aspect, identifying typical examples of spoken English, but also suggesting more formal ways to express the same ideas. They may also want to identify examples

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of formal and informal register that they hear around them at school. How do students express things to each other and how does that change when they talk to parents/teachers?

Students read the application (app) description and discuss the content. The written work assignment asks them to plan a trip for the students in the first year of the Diploma Programme.

Text 15.4.3 Carnival in London

Introduce the text by showing online images from the carnival celebrations in London. It might also be interesting to link to carnival celebrations in South America, Italy, or Germany.

Give the students the opportunity to speculate or share their knowledge with the class about the reasons behind the celebrations.

Research activity: What is the historical background to carnival and where does it originate?

Exam practice

Organise students in groups according to the assignment they will be doing. Ask them to discuss ideas, vocabulary and grammar that will be necessary to complete the task. They could brainstorm some vocabulary before they begin. The task should then be completed under examination conditions. Encourage students to complete the assignment without the use of a dictionary.

Answers

Text 15.1.1

General comprehension

1 He is saying that the British nation is a mix of many tribes and peoples from all over the world.

2 The verbs remind the reader of those found in cookery books.

3 A reference to the need to regard all people as equal, with equal rights to justice.

4 The first phrase refers to temperature, the second to attitude.

Text 15.1.2

General comprehension

1 School influence played no part in his love of poetry.

2 His popularity had been established in Handsworth, Birmingham at local events.

3 To ensure that the art form of speaking poetry aloud to an audience (which has been memorised by heart) continues.

4 His first anthology for children was re-printed after 6 weeks. This shows that the publisher underestimated the extent of the popularity and success of the book.

5 The novel was a success because he chose themes of interest to boys, and he wrote in an exciting and realistic style.

Text handling

1 a following

2 reluctant

3 avid

4 aspiring

5 b – continuing to be successful

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Grammar in context

1 reasonably cheap

2 absolutely quiet

3 extremely ill

4 badly damaged

5 slightly changed

6 terribly sorry

Text 15.2

General comprehension

1 They both refer to the rich cultural background of Great Britain.

2 They bring food, music and clothes.

3 Suggested answers: language, art, religion

4 They bring new words which are assimilated into the English language.

5 No, the value of diversity is not always seen.

6 variety

Text 15.3.1

General comprehension

1 False – ‘Two-thirds of Mancunian school children are bilingual’

2 False – ‘rivalled only by New York and Paris’

3 True – ‘a population of 500,000’

4 False – ‘people who are passing through – diplomats, businessmen, etc’

5 False – ‘The policy of recruiting from abroad for public services, such as the NHS’

Grammar in context

1 Oh dear, was anything taken?

2 Every day it is used by millions of people.

3 When was it cancelled?

4 It was blown down in the storm yesterday.

5 It is being redecorated.

6 Yes, she is liked by everybody in school.

7 No, the time has been changed.

Text 15.3.2

General comprehension

1 Due to the number of Bangladeshi and Pakistani restaurants and takeaways.

2 The street is located in Rusholme, south of the city centre.

3 The restaurants have won awards (prizes).

4 Other restaurants usually close earlier.

5 b

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Text 15.3.3

Text handling

1 C 2 F 3 E 4 A 5 D 6 B

Text 15.4.1

General comprehension

1 Tourists: the text gives a brief reference to history but no details, and the information is probably of most interest to tourists.

2 The name originated from the hospital and priory, St. Mary’s Spittel, that was founded in 1197.

3 There has been a settlement there for over 800 years.

4 Reasons for groups’ settlement:

a escaping religious persecution in France

b escaping hunger

c escaping religious persecution in other countries

5 The potato famine triggered a large wave of emigration from Ireland.

6 b – good at starting business

Text 15.4.2

Text handling

1 have existed

2 modern and up-to-date

3 highly recommended

4 very crowded

5 that’s fine

6 for people who enjoy late-night activities in the city

7 people who like to go to music clubs

Text 15.4.3

General comprehension

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Date/Number Reference

1959 the first carnival was held (indoors)

1966 the first outdoors event

150,000 the number of people attending in 1976

2.5 million the number of visitors in recent years

50,000 the number of performers at the carnival in recent years

38 the number of sound systems playing music in recent years

2 answers will vary

3 answers will vary

4 answers will vary