January Week Two

This week in honor of Martin Luther King Day celebrated on Monday in the United States, we examined the history of Black Americans and took a close read of Martin Luther King's famous I Have a Dream speech. In class we focused on the last 5 minutes of his speech, but I highly recommend reading the whole thing. Check out Stanford University's Freedom Rings website to see an illustrated version of the speech.

Listening:
Learners should start with a listening exercise about Martin Luther King's life and then move on to the Voice of America article about the great orator and activist as well as his impact on American history.

For original version, there are numerous great documentaries that you can watch online. Eyes on the Prize is one of the most famous documentaries about the American Civil Rights Movement. Check out Freedom Writers about the same period of History. If you happen to have a Netflix account, I highly recommend their original documentary called 13th.

Reading:
Learners can try a five minute English reading activity about MLK. Or, you could try a reading comprehension activity about another very important civil rights activist, Malcolm X.

For original version, try any of the newest articles available at history.com about the civil rights movement. Or you may be interested in some of the recent race controversies sweeping the United States, including the latest from Donald Trump.

Writing:
Now it's time to put some of that study to work with your writing. Please write a short text talking about how prejudice and racism affects your world today. You can think about the situation in Spain or Europe or in other places around the world.
Best,
Kelly