Tous les documents compilés pour une séquence sur le thème de l'immigration avec quelques pistes d'exploitation:

- Document d'ouverture. Objectif = décrire une image et former des hypothèses sur le passé et l'avenir.

Télécharger ici

Trace écrite réellement produite:

"The picture was taken in New York City because I can see New York's skyline in the background. It was taken before September 2001, since there are the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
On the boat, which is a ferry, there may be tourists taking pictures.
The photograph may have been taken from another boat or from Ellis Island. Ellis island used to be an immigration station for people who wanted to go to the US."

Exprimer son opinion :
- To my mind, ...
- As far as I am concerned, ...

Exprimer le doute :
- Maybe / Perhaps / I suppose
- Utiliser un auxiliaire modal comme "may" ou "might".

- Document sonore pour aborder le thème plus en profondeur. Objectif = connaître la distribution en districts de New-York et prendre conscience que la ville est un "melting-pot".

Click here

- Vidéo "Ellis Island" (1984). Anticipation au texte "Don't send me back". Objectif = mobilisation du lexique + émission d'hypothèse + organiser un récit d'événement.

Vidéo au format mp4:  télécharger ici

Trace écrite réellement produite:

"The scene takes place in Russia in 1907. It depicts a "pogrom", the persecution of Jews at the beginning of the 20th century. Russian soldiers who were riding horses set the village on fire. Some people tried to flee the battle but they were shot dead. A man managed to escape but he was injured. He limped."

VOC:
- rifles / guns / swords
- injured = wounded

- How to write a letter + vocabulary sheet. Objectif = module de création de lettre sur le thème avec aide de vocabulaire pour enrichir le lexique des émotions.

How to write a letter: ici
Vocabulary (sadness, fear, anger, surprise): ici

Travail préparatoire à l'étude de texte (mini PPC) - Trace écrite:

- Ellis Island: 

        It's a symbol of liberty / freedom but also of stress. It was founded in the 1890's. Immigrants had to go through Ellis Island in order to enter the Us. They had to take two tests: a medical test and a literacy test. Either they passed the tests or they were sent back.

Point sur les structures engagées ici:

1. had to = l'obligation au passé.
2. in order to = exprime le but, la visée.
   
3. Either ... or ... = exprime l'alternative entre deux possibilité = soit ... soit ...
   

- E Pluribus Unum:

• It is the motto of the US. It means "out of many one". It is a symbol for the melting-pot. You can find it on the seal of America (on coins and dollars bills) and on official documents.
• It was created in 1776 to highlight the fact that the United States used to be a land of immigration.

Point sur les structures engagées ici:

1. used to = on l'utilise pour parler d'un fait du passé révolu et qui a changé (ce qui est sous-entendu ici, c'est: "les USA ne sont plus une terre d'accueil").

- Pogrom:

• It is a Russian word meaning "assault","attack". It designates the persecution of the Jewish community at the beginning of the 20th century in Russia. Jewish villages were destroyed and many Jews were looted and killed.

Point de grammaire de la leçon:

- la forme passive est souvent employée ici soit parce qu'on ne sait pas qui fait l'action (qui a créé Ellis Island ????), soit parce que c'est évident, soit parce qu'on veut insister sur la victimisation du peuple dont on parle (les immigrants ne choisissaient pas de retourner dans leur pays... ils y étaient forcés...).
- On remarquera que la traduction d'un énoncé à la voix passive se traduira souvent en français par "On". Ex: "Either they passed the tests or they were sent back".
= Soit les immigrants réussissaient les examens, soit ils étaient renvoyés chez eux // soit on les renvoyait chez eux.


At the end of the lesson, I asked you to make hypotheses about what Jacob was thinking before he shot the Russian soldier dead. Here is what you said:

He hesitated. Maybe the soldier had family.
He wondered if he should shoot the soldier.
He thought about the consequences.
He recalled his father's memory.
He remembered what the soldiers did to his village.

"Nowadays, both war refugees and Third World immigrants go to the US.
Before, immigrants had to go through Ellis Island.
They had to take a physical/medical and literacy test.
Either they passed the test or they returned to their country.

= They were sent back to their country.
= They were forced to go back."

- Texte: Don't send me back. Objectif = connaître les processus d'inspection à Ellis Island + travail sur l'attitude des personnages et les justifications sous forme d'hypothèses.
Texte: ici
Grille de lecture possible: ici

Trace écrite réellement produite:

The scene takes place in Ellis Island at the beginning of the 20th century. The main character is Jacob who was there to take the tests to reach the USA. There was also an inspector who was very strict and authoritative. He performed the literacy test and selected the immigrants. Finally, there was Doctor Carl Travers: he was gentle and more understanding than the inspector about the situation of Jacob. His role was to perform the medical test. At the end of the document, the doctor let Jacob enter the country. He may have understood Jacob's situation. He may have been an immigrant himself. He may have known that Jacob's life would be in danger if he was sent back to Russia." 

The characters

Jacob is the main character. He immigrated from Russia to escape from the persecutions of the Jews. He used to live in a small village but now he wants to enter the US so as to have a better life.
The first inspector was very strict and authoritative. He checked if immigrants could read and write in English. He also checked whether / if immigrants were healthy or not. He was quick because he may have wanted to intimidate the immigrants. But he may have wanted to have the most important number of immmigrants pass the tests.
The first inspector may have been authoritative because he thought he couldn't help everyone. If he did help everyone, the immigrants might have taken advantage of him.

Doctor Carl Travers was, contrary to the inspector, very gentle and understanding. He may have wanted to help Jacob. He may have understood Jacob's situation. If he didn't let Jacob enter the US, Jacob might have died.

- Ecoute du texte pour travail phonologique sur la prononciation de /-ed/:

Click here

Télécharger ici


- Document de clôture / remédiation. Objectif = s'assurer que les élèves savent forger des hypothèses et imaginer un récit.

Télécharger ici

Trace écrite réellement produite:

Group 1: "She may be an immigrant. She may be Polish because on her passport there are an R and a P and the eagle which I think is the symbol of Poland.
According to me, she is destitute. She is wearing an old-fashioned traditional costume.
She may have tried to escape the attacks of WWII.
She may go to the U.S. She might prepare herself to sail (to travel by boat) to the U.S."

Group 2:

* WHO IS THIS WOMAN ?

She may come from Poland because she is wearing old-fashioned clothes, and necklaces. With her head-scarf, she looks like a pirate. It may be the traditional costume of Eastern European Countries.
Moreover/Besides, there are an R and P on the passeport.
It may mean Republic of Poland.
I disagree, her passeport isn't written in Polish alphabet.

* WHAT HAPPENED ?

She may have been attacked in her country. Her mother may have died. She was too young to immigrate so she may have taken her mother's identity in order to enter the US.

* WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN ?

She may take a boat/sail to Ellis Island.



GRAMMAR: Dont' forget ! If you have to describe a picture -- use present Be+ing to conjugate your verbs.
SPELLING: Don't forget the capital letter (majuscule) for country-related words (nouns AND adjectives). 

Révision après rendu des productions écrites type lettre:

Trace écrite réellement produite:

• Le prétérit:

- à la forme affirmative: pour les verbes réguliers, on prend la base verbale et on ajoute -ed. Pour les verbes irréguliers, il faudra apprendre PAR COEUR les verbes au prétérit.
--> Jacob fled Russia in order to escape from the pogroms. (irrégulier)
--> He managed to escape but he was wounded. (régulier)

- à la forme négative: on doit utiliser l'auxiliaire "did" auquel on doit rajouter "not" pour faire la négation et GARDER la base verbale
--> The doctor DIDN'T accept all immigrants.

- à la forme interrogative: On doit également utiliser l'auxiliaire "DID" et garder la base verbale. Et évidemment, utiliser l'ordre de la phrase: DID+Sujet+V(base verbale)
--> Did a doctor treat Jacob's wound?

• Les adjectifs:

- se placent avant le nom
- INVARIABLE = jamais de "s"
- ed est différent de -ing
- partcipe présent est différent du p.passé
--> frightening (effrayant) / frightened (effrayé)
(ing = qui fait l'action du verbe) (ed = qui est "l'action" du verbe)

• Le déroulement de la narration, la succession d'action:

- First / First of all
- Then qui est différent de After+phrase ou groupe nominal.
- Finally / Eventually

• Some important vocabulary words concerning "fear":

- to be appalled of
- to be terrified of
- to be afraid of, frightened of, to be scared of
- frightening, fearful
- to fear, to dread

- Test de fin de séquence. Objectif = vérifier que les objectifs des documents ont été atteints (phonologiques, lexicaux, grammaticaux, et culturels).
Télécharger ici

On pourra mettre en jalon beaucoup de choses au cours de cette séquence, et notamment en terme grammatical: l'utilisation de la voix passive (pour le côté "victimisation" des immigrants dans les documents abordés) et le système temporel dans son ensemble (prétérit bien sûr, mais prétérit BE+ing, present perfect, expression du futur...).

Tâches finales suggérées par des collègues:

- Prise de parole en interaction: jouer le dialogue entre un inspecteur et un immigrant qui a quelque chose à cacher.

- Expression écrite: écrire une entrée dans le journal de bord d'un immigrant (jour à choisir: juste avant le départ, pendant la traversée, à l'arrivée, les jours suivants l'arrivée).

Si vous avez des idées pour l'exploitation des documents, n'hésitez pas à les poster dans la partie commentaire de cet article. Si vous avez d'autres documents que vous pensez pertinents pour la séquence, merci de les partager en commentaire également.