1865
I was working with my least favorite class today (by far), and we read a story about a Texan who was African American. He learned to read at the age of 98 and wrote his first book at the age of 101. The short story of his was about the lingering feelings of racism in the USA. We were talking about the history and roots of said racism, and of course we got on to the topic of slavery.
We asked the class what they knew about slavery, so that I knew how much I had to tell them in order for the class to grasp the story. I asked if anyone knew when slavery was abolished. After explaining the word “abolished”, there were a few hands in the air. I called on one girl, Sophie, who said confidently that it was abolished in April of 1978. Say what?! That is news to me. Nobody came to within 100 years of the actual date, and two students thought it was still legal. Welcome to the world of ESL.
3 years ago