Bread
A Socially Conscious Approach to Literacy
BY DAVID TEMPLE
CONTENT
Preface ESL/LITERACY Good Ol’ Hands On Fun n’ Games
Unit 1 FEELINGS How Can People Be So Heartless?
Unit 2 CHILD ABUSE & CHILD LABOR A Chip Off The Old Block
Unit 3 LIVING WAGE/MINIMUM WAGE Living From Hand To Mouth
Unit 4 CONSUMERISM No More Sweatshops
Unit 5 DIRECT DEMOCRACY Give Us Bread & Roses, Too
Unit 6 WORKING CONDITIONS Making A Fashion Statement
Unit 7 LABOR UNIONS There Is Power In The Hands Of Working Folk
Unit 8 GLOBALIZATION The Whole World In His Hands
Unit 9 ACTIVISM Strikes and Explosive Talk
Unit 10 THE MEDIA Revolutions Aren’t Televised
Unit 11 TOLERANCE Why Can’t We All Just Get Along?
THEME AND GOALS
How do you draw the attention of ESL and illiterate teenagers in your high school class and help them achieve their dreams in a harsh and changing world? Since many students are or will become workers one day, they must be able to read the world, read the word, feel solidarity, and help their families make ends meet, and then some. This curriculum is designed to raise the social “workers” consciousness of students while welcoming them to the world of the written English word.
METHODS AND MATERIALS
Much material was collected from the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), UNITE union, The Botto Labor Museum, Maquila Solidarity Network, as well as a number of pedagogical and literary sources. These learning tools may be video, music, literature, and handouts. I have credited each individually. Much of the methodology employs the activities I have outlined and expanded on in the “Good Old Hands-On Fun & Games for ESL Literacy” section included before the unit plans. The Natural Approach, TPR, generative word exercises, and sentence strips are used throughout. The essential elements of Freirean unit design are employed throughout the curriculum
UNIT PLANS
Each unit has at least 6 hours of instruction and can be divided as time allows. In fact, there are extra activities for each sub-theme. The materials were used with students at reading level 2-4 (using the Bader Test) and are adaptable for any level literacy or ESL class, homogenous or multi-leveled. The sub-themes appear chronologically and could be followed in order to build on previous skills and knowledge but each activity is self-contained. The teacher is free to choose or add what works for him or her. Each unit includes: 1) controlled composition, 2) reading material, 3) audio/visuals, 4) phonic exercises, 5) charts and graphs, 6) sentence strips, 7) and TPR or Cooperative Learning activities. The literacy enrichment should never be at the expense of the theme. Go with the flow.
FEELINGS
Unit 1 How Can People Be So Heartless?
Materials:
1. Handout: “How’s Life?” or “Me” controlled composition
2. Song: “Allentown” by Billy Joel
3. Handout: “Feelings” from React-Interact unit 9
4. Reading: “The Greater Pragmatism” O. Henry
Aim: What causes good and bad feeling?
I.O.: To get in touch with our feelings, their causes, and establish a link between them and our social environment. Students will learn to use Word Pictures, Sky, Earth Water word recognition exercises, Sentence Strips, and Survey Graphs. Students will identify words with long and short “a” sounds, and practice word substitution and negative forms.
Motivation: Everyone here will be an adult one day. Name some nice things about being an adult. Now name some problems you think adults might have. Why is it important to have a “good” job? Why is having a living wage important for adults who work?
Procedure:
1. Break the ice with introductions. Write names and origins on the board. Ask the students if they notice any patterns (ex. “Most students come from Bangladesh.”) Make Sentence Strips with their reactions and post them. Ask the students how they feel; ask them why. Write the feelings on the board.
2. Hand out “How’s Life?” controlled composition. Have students do transformation # word substitution or # negative formation.
3. Draw Word Pictures around each word. Ask the students to fill-in the blank spaces. Introduce Sky, Earth Water penmanship awareness throughout. Erase everything but feeling words.
4. Hand out lyrics to “Allentown” by Billy Joel, a song about unemployment and listen to the song. Brainstorm the causes of unemployment and establish a link between them and feelings.
b Do a “rhyme pair” exercise with the lyrics of “Allentown.” Generate rhyming word lists for each pair. Ask the students if they recognize any vowels. Show them the long “a” and ask them to find examples from the song.
6. Give handout on “Feelings” (React Interact, unit 9) and do exercise on ‘almost opposite’ feelings. Brainstorm and make sentence strips about “Things that make people feel certain ways”(ex. “No money makes me nervous.”) Do ‘oral interaction’ exercise and build a Survey Graph with post-its on the board.
7. Hand out and read aloud O. Henry’s “The Greater Pragmatism”, a funny short story about a homeless ex-boxer and a reporter on a park bench. Discuss the story and make the link between feelings and causes.
CHILD ABUSE & CHILD LABOR
Unit 2 A Chip Off The Old Block
Materials:
1. Handout: “Dropping Out” controlled composition
2. Song: “Luka”, Suzanne Vega
3. Handout: “Child Labor Vocabulary”
4. Handout: “Movie Questions”
5. Video: “Lost Futures: The Problem of Child Labor”
6. Optional Handout: “About the R.A.P.P. Program”
7. Reading: Danger At The Breaker by Catherine A. Welch
Aim: What are the problems of child labor?
I.O.: To establish a link between the world of adults and the world of children. To discuss the problems of child labor, their causes and possible solutions. Students will understand the problems of child labor and child abuse, watch a film about Child Labor and do a comprehension exercise. Students will identify words with long and short “e” sounds and practice word substitution, plural forms, and the past tense.
Motivation:. How do you deal with your money problems? What do some adults do to solve their financial problems ? Why do some children have to work? Let’s learn about some good and bad ways adults deal with the financial pressures in life.
Procedure:
1. Hand out “ Dropping Out” paragraph revision. Do transformation #2b word substitution, #4b singular into plural, or #7a past tense
2. Listen to “Luka” by Suzanne Vega and discuss the problems and causes of child abuse. Do sentence strips question: “What was Luka’s problem?”
3. Introduce the R.A.P.P. program to eliminate child abuse.
4. Hand out “Child Labor Vocabulary”. Go over answers. Play “Twister” to reinforce.
5. Hand out “Movie Questions” and read together. Play “Lost Futures: The Problem of Child Labor” video.
6. Read Danger At The Breaker one page at a time. Do generative word lists with the long “a” sound. Have students do sentence strips of story details with books closed drawing circles around words with long “a” sounds.
LIVING WAGE/MINIMUM WAGE
Unit 3 Living From Hand To Mouth
Materials:
1. Handout “Paper Clothes” controlled composition.
2. Song: “I Love My Shirt,” by Donovan
3. Handout: “Living Wage” and “Minimum Wages”
4. Handout: “Differentiating Between Living/Minimum Wage”
5. Handout: “Key Sweatshop Terms”
6. Handouts: “The Women Behind The Label”
7. Role Play: The lives of sweatshop workers.
8. Reading: Danger At The Breakers (continued)
Aim: What is the difference between “minimum wage” and “living wage”?
I.O.: Students will consider the difficulties of earning a living on a minimum wage. They will learn what a “living wage” is and figure out the “living wage” for New York City. They will learn how to plan a budget. Students will identify words with long and short “i” sounds and practice negative forms.
Motivation: Who made your shirt? You would probably say Tommy Hilfiger? Actually, that’s just the name of a company. Where were your sneakers made? You might say USA. Probably not. The students will see where and who makes their clothes and how difficult it is to live without a “living wage”. Through role-plays, they will see where clothes are made and who makes the clothes.
Procedure:
1. Handout “Paper Clothes” controlled composition. Do transformation #10a, into negative. Go over with students.
2. Do “Your Clothes” Activity. Do a post-it survey on the board and have students interpret the information on sentence strips.
3. Handout “Key Terms” and “Minimum Wages”. Do “word bubble” activity to help familiarize the new vocabulary (Password? Concentration?)
4. Handout: Do “minimum wage/living wage” activity
5. Show students how to make a budget with the results of the “living wage” activity
6. Read and Role Play: Each student assumes a sweatshop worker’s role. A panel of students reporters (congressional committee?) ask them questions about their work conditions.
7. Contest: Phonic Bingo: Demonstrate the long and short “A” sound. Play a few rounds until the bell rings.
CONSUMERISM
Unit 4 No More Sweatshops
Materials:
1. Handout: “Spend, Spend, Spend” controlled composition
2. Song: Sweatshop Christmas Carols or seasonal songs
3. Reading: “Assembly Line” by B. Traven
4. Video: “Sweating For A T-Shirt”
5. Handout: Your Clothes
6. Mad Lib “A Fable”
Aim: What Is An Educated Consumer?
I.O.: Students will learn about sweatshop conditions around the world in the context of a modern consumer society. They will identify where their clothes are made, create a “Sweatshop Map” and bar graph. Students will identify words with long and short “o” sounds.
Motivation: Whenever you turn on the TV, you see commercials urging you to buy something. What is your most and least favorite commercial? What are some of the things you would like to buy for the holiday?
Procedure:
1. Handout “Spend, Spend, Spend” controlled composition. Do transformation #1b copy, or #2b change the words.
2. Watch the video “Sweating For A T-Shirt”. Stop periodically for students to write Notes and ask questions. At the conclusion, ask the students to write a paragraph telling a friend what they’ve just viewed.
3. Hand out “Your Clothes”. Do a class survey on clothes origins, and collect data for a “Sweatshop Map”.
4. Show students how to create a bar graph with the data from their survey.
5. Read “Assembly Line” aloud to the students. Stop after each page to do closed-book sentence strips. Do generate word list with long “a”.
6. Do Mad Lib “A Fable” with vocabulary culled from “Assembly Line”. Read the silly results together
WORKING CONDITIONS
Unit 5 Making A Fashion Statement
Material:
1. Handout: “Simplify, Simplify” controlled composition
2. Handout: “My Job” followed by “My Job” response
3. Video: “Made In Thailand”
4. Song: “Twentieth Century Man” by The Kinks.
5. Reading: Fire At The Triangle Factory by Holly Littlefield
Aim: What Are The Working Conditions Of Those Who Make Our Clothes?
I.O.: Students will see who really makes their designer clothes and their work conditions. Students will see how to put on a show with a sweatshop fashion catwalk, game show, and sweatshop carols. They will also make links between sweatshops and globalization. Students will identify words with the suffix “y”, “tion”, “th”, and compare slang words with standard English.
Motivation: Students will compare modern working conditions with past conditions? How have they changed? Why haven’t they changed? Students will see a film about workers in Thailand who had to endure poor working condition and what they did to improve their working conditions.
Procedure:
1. Hand out “Simplify, Simplify” controlled composition. Have students do transformation #5b word substitution, or #9a into future “going to.”
2. Listen to “Twentieth Century Man” and go over lyrics. What are some things that make the writer “not want to be here”? Do sentence strips with reasons why.
3. Point out the suffix “y”, “tion”, and “th”, as well as slang words. Do generative word lists for all.
4. Hand out “My Job” worksheet and ask students to fill it in with information about their jobs, if they work, or their parents’ jobs. Afterwards, hand out “My Job” as described by the sweatshop worker. Do sentence strips comparing their work conditions.
5. Begin reading Fire At The Triangle Factory paying attention to the phonics already introduced. Review with the students words with particular long and short vowel sounds.
(Unit 6 conclusion)
6. Watch the video “Made In Thailand”. Compare the sweatshop conditions a century ago with the conditions that exist today. Have the conditions changed? Do sentence strips comparing conditions then and now.
7. Hand out “Designing a Sweatshop Fashion Show” and tell the students, if they wish, they could produce a show themselves. Ask for teams of volunteers: 1 model, 1 standard announcer, and 1 “sweatshop” announcer. Have students research the origin of their fashions and prepare to practice the fashion show.
DIRECT DEMOCRACY
Unit 6 Give Us Bread & Roses, Too
Materials:
1. Handout: “A Work Day”, controlled composition
2. Song: “Bread & Roses”
3. Reading: “The Strike For Three Loaves”
4. Video: “1912 Lawrence, MA Strike”
5. Handout: “Tips For A Successful Meeting”
Aim: How do we make changes in our community?
I.O.: Students will understand the historical struggle of labor against management. They will learn how to organize to improve conditions in their workplace by learning how to conduct a democratic meeting. Students will identify words with long and short “u” sounds.
Motivation: What are some reasons for improving our workplace conditions? Why is it sometimes difficult to make those changes? How can we go about starting to improve our working conditions?
Procedure:
1. Handout “A Work Day” controlled composition. Have students do transformation #10a, into the negative. Go over answers.
2. Listen to “Bread & Roses” and go over lyrics. Ask the students to find rhyming words and circle them. Do generative word lists with rhyming wo
3. View film “1912 Lawrence, MA Strike” with audio muted. Stop the film periodically and ask the students to write a sentence describing what they’ve just seen. Write sentence strips.
4. Handout “Tips For A Successful Meeting”. Tell the students to pretend they are a “Student Union” and go over the procedures for establishing a meeting. Have the students collectively decide on each tip. Institute Robert’s Rules for meeting procedure.
LABOR UNIONS
Unit 7 There Is Power In The Hands Of Working Folk
Materials:
1. Handout: “Who Makes History”
2. Song: “Labor History Rap”
3. Video: “Golden Lands, Working Hands,” first segment.
4. Reading: Poem: “A Worker Reads History” by Bertolt Brecht
5. Handout: FYI- Most Frequently Asked Questions About Unions
Aim: What is a workers’ union?
I.O.: Students will be able to understand the central role that workers and unions have played in reaching work place goals, such as higher wages and improved working conditions, as well as social and political goals, including equality, fairness, and democratic. Students will identify words from particular word families (see list).
Motivation: Who is responsible for improving conditions in our workplace? Why must we struggle to get those improvements? What are some improvements we can make if we organize into a union?
Procedure:
1. Handout “Who Makes History.” Have students number 1 through 10 on a sheet of paper. Tell students to write a list of the ten “most famous” people in the history of the United States.
2. Students share list and say why that person was selected. Copy the names on the board.
3. Ask students to make generalizations about what the people they named have in common. What kids of things make people famous in U.S. history? Are there other categories of people who have very important things but who have not received as much credit as the “famous” people? Use sentence strips.
4. Handout “A Worker Reads History” by Bertolt Brecht. Read the poem aloud with the class. Who does the poet feel gets most of the credit in the history books? Who else does he feel are the really important people in history? What makes them important? Why doesn’t history normally focus on workers and “common” people?
5. Watch video and listen to rap song “Labor History Rap”. What message do you think the rap conveys about how history is usually presented? Do sentence strips.
Watch the video “Golden Lands, Working Hands” segment #1. Do sentence strips regarding some of the accomplishments of workers’ unions.
GLOBALIZATION Unit 8 The Whole World In His Hands
Materials:
1. Controlled Composition: “Big Business”
2. Reading: Senor Payroll
3. Game: “Global Survival”
4. Handout: “Big Corporations Are Larger Than Many Countries”
Aim: To Recreate The Process of Economic Globalization
I.O. Students will be able to complete a task cooperatively and create comparison sentences. They will be able to identify words from particular word families (see list).
Motivation: We’re going to pretend to be powerful consortiums and buy up resources in countries around the world. We’re going to play a game where the object is to control as many countries as we can. The consortium with the most wealth and global influence wins.
Procedure:
1. Handout “Big Business” controlled composition. Students do transformation #11, into past tense. More advanced students do #14, into direct speech, or #19, sentence combining. Go over transformations.
2. Create cooperative learning “consortiums”. Tell the students they will work together as a team for this activity. One student is the “strip collector”, one is the “banker”, one is the “bookkeeper”. Students will be granted 20 million dollars for a good sentence, and 10 million for each long “a” word used. If the sentence is in-correct, they lose 20 million until they rectify it. Give a time limit of 5-10 minutes after reading each page for students to complete sentence strips.
3. Sentence Strips: Tell students to write a detail from the just read page and write it on the sentence strip making sure the sentence has at least one word with the long “a” sound. Go around the room and “pay” students for their efforts.
4. Instead of cash, change the reward to countries; they control one country for a good sentence and another one for using a long “a” word.
5. Students move from the reading to the country cards themselves. Point out some of the facts listed on the back of the card. Tell the students to write a paragraph telling about their consortium (ex. How many countries do they control, what do their countries produce, how many people are there in their countries.)
6. Hand out “Big Corporations are Larger Than Many Countries” sheet. Tell students to compare their countries with the companies on the list; sentence strips At the end of class, staple together the bookkeeper’s totals along with sentence strips and a paragraph from each member. Next class, tell the students which consortium was most powerful and wealthy.
ACTIVISM
Unit 9 Strikes and Explosive Talk
Materials:
1. Controlled Composition: “Bureaucracy”.
2. Song: “The Popular Wobbly”. 3. Reading Play: “Explosive Talk”, by Lyn Jenkins Thompson
4. Video: Golden Lands, Working Hands, segment.
5. Reading Quotes: Two Quotes by Eugene Debs.
6. Role Play: “You Are In The IWW”
Aim: Why is it sometimes important to go to demonstrations for social change?
I.O.: Students will be able to discover how degraded conditions of workers led to the creation of unions. They will contrast the development of strong unions with powerful anti-union forces that repressed union activity. They will analyze the different outcomes of strikes including violence, political action and popular interest in more radical analyses of capitalism, such as socialism. Students will identify words from particular word families (see list).
Motivation: What action have union workers resorted to in order to improve their working conditions? Why are these actions sometimes necessary? Why aren’t bosses willing to make these improvements without pressure from workers?
Procedure:
1. Handout, “Bureaucracy” controlled composition. Do transformation #1, copy, or #15, into passive voice.
2. Listen to song, “The Popular Wobbly” and go over lyrics. Brainstorm the actions of activists that people “go wild over.” Do generative word with rhymes.
3. Watch video segment from “Golden Lands, Working Hands” dealing with Los Angeles and San Francisco workers strikes. What do these strikes have in common? How are they different? How were anti-union attitudes created and maintained by the rich and powerful?
4. Read “Two Quotes” from Eugene Debs. What did he mean by “money constitutes no proper basis of civilization”? How did Debs see the role of unions in an industrial capitalist economy? Agree or disagree with the quotes
5. Read the description together with students which describes the differences between the AFL and IWW styles of unionism. After the reading, have students work in cooperative groups to prepare their answers together. Make a T-chart comparing the most significant differences between the two unions.
6. Do role play “You Are In The IWW”, some groups being Wobblies and others AFL members. Take a vote afterward on which union you’d prefer to join. Explain your reasons why. Write sentence strips explaining why you would join one union or the other.
THE MEDIA
Unit 10 Revolutions Aren’t Televised
Material:
1. Controlled Composition: “The Throwaway Society”
2. Song: “Too Much Of Heaven” by Eiffel 65
3. Reading: “Monocultures of The Mind”
4. Handout: “Steps To Break Free of TV”
5. Handout: “Kellogg’s to American/European Families”
6. Video: “Oakland General Strike 1947”
Aim: What Role Does The Media And Commercialism Play In Our Lives?
I.O.: Students will see the brainwashing role corporate media plays in our lives. They will learn to read between the lines and be less dependent on TV in general. They will brainstorm different sources for news and information. Students will identify words from a particular word family (see list).
Motivation: Do you know what’s going on in the world? How can you find out what is happening in your old country? What are some of the ways we get the news? How do we know that we are hearing the truth? Name some of the differences between TV in the USA
and TV in your old country.
Procedure:
1. Hand out “The Throwaway Society” controlled composition. Do transformation #11 past tense, #14 reported speech, or #26 sentence combining.
2. Listen to “To Much of Heaven” and go over the lyrics. Give an example to support the statements. What does this song really mean?
3. Read “Monocultures of The Mind” paragraph by paragraph. Identify new vocabulary and do generative word lists with some. Play the syllable/ stress game of identifying a word. Do sentence strips with details from the article.
4. Hand out “Steps To Break Free of TV”. Ask students which tips are the best and why. Have them make sentences with “instead of” with TV turnoff suggestions.
5. Hand out “Kellogg’s to American/European Families”. Read the letters aloud stopping to check comprehension and do generative word. Compare and contrast the message in the letters. What does the different messages mean to consumers?
6. Watch video “Oakland General Strike 1947”. Compare and contrast the two different points-of-view. How are they different? Students write an essay on their findings.
TOLERANCE
Unit 11 Divide And Conquer
Materials:
1. Controlled Composition: “The United Nations”
2. Song: “Free Your Mind” by En Vogue
3. Handout: “Public Values Religion and Tolerance”
4. Video: A Place Sat The Table, segment
5. Reading: “Breaking New Ground,” Boston Globe
Aim: How Can Be Different And Still Live Together?
I.O.: Students will see how prejudice keeps us from getting together and will discuss ways to fight for our civil rights.
Motivation: “A free society is one where it is safe to be unpopular.” What does this quotation by Adlai Stevenson mean? What are some cultural differences we have. Have you ever been a victim of prejudice?
1. On Speaking Terms by Jim Harris and Ron Hube, Collier Macmillan, New York, 1975
2. Your First Job (Putting Your English To Work) by David Prince and Julia Lakey Gage, Prentice-Hall, New Jersey, 1986
3. Finding A Job by Annie DeCaprio, Steck-Vaughn, Texas, 1990
4. Danger At The Breaker by Catherine Welch, Carolrhoda Books, Minneapol
5. Talking Unionis, 1992
by Joyce Maupin, UNION W.A.G.E., San Francisco, 1979
6. Labor In the Schools: How To Do It!, AFL-CIO Dept. of Ed., Washington D.C.
7. “The Greater Pragmatism” by O. Henry, from 41 Stories, Penguin, New York, 1984.
8. “The Gift of The Magi” by O. Henry.
9. Stop Sweatshops: An Education/Action Kit, Maquila Solidarity Network, Toronto, 2000
10. Sweatshops And Child Labor: Teaching Resources, UNITE, New York, 1998
11. The Triangle Factory Fire by Zachary Kent, Children’s Press, Chicago, 1989
12. Fire At The Triangle Factory, by Holly Littlefield, Carolrhoda Books, Minneapolis, 1996
13. 10 Steps: A Course in Controlled Composition, by Gay Brookes and Jean Withrow, Language Innovations, New York, 1974
14. 26 Steps: Controlled Composition For Intermediate And Advanced ESL Students, by Linda Ann Kunz, Language Innovations, New York, 1979
15. The Natural Approach: Language Acquisition in the Classroom, by Steven Krashen and Tracy Terrell, Pergamon Press, New York, 1983
16. Pedagogy of the Oppressed, by Paulo Freire, Continuum, New York, 1993
17. Mad Libs, by Roger Price and Leonard Stern, Price Stern Sloan, Los Angeles, 1958
18. “Explosive Talk”, by Lyn Jenkins Thompson, from Scholastic Search magazine, Vol. 19, No. 5, Jefferson City, Mo., Feb. 1991
19. Flipping Phonics developed by Nancy Coleman, New Readers Press, Syracuse, NY, 1997
20. Sound Out by Rosella Bernstein
21. “Assembly Line”, by B. Traven
AUDIO/VISUAL MATERIAL
1. Golden Lands, Working Hands, California Federation of Teachers, Oakland, 1999
2. Lost Futures: The Problem of Child Labor, American Federation of Teachers, Washington D.C., 1998
3. Sweating For A T-Shirt, Global Exchange, San Francisco, 1998
4. Made In Thailand, Women Make Movies, New York, 1999
5. NLC/Hard Copy, “Maquila in Nicaragua”, National Labor Committee, New York, 1997
6. A Place At The Table, Teaching Tolerance, Washington D.C., 2000
