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WHO WOULD YOU EMPLOY?

You’re an office manager looking for a new employee. Based on these images, who would you employ?

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BRUCE PIOTR JACK BEN DMITRI

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BRUCE

Aged 19 is from

Australia. He’s on a gap year travelling around Europe

PIOTR

Aged 23, he has just

finished an admin

degree from a university in Poland, and has

moved to the UK

JACK

Aged 16, he has just left school with

5 A-C grades and is keen to find a job

BEN

Aged 25, Ben has

never had a proper job

DMITRI

Aged 27, he has worked as an office manager for the past 7 years. He

moved to the UK from

Russia when he was 17

LEARNING OBJECTIVE

To explore immigration in the past and understand why Britain is multicultural; to challenge the

stereotypical thoughts of immigrants and realise it is no different to what the British people did

centuries before.

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IMMIGRATION CLIP

Write down your initial thoughts of the content of the video in your books.

Do you agree with the opinions expressed? Why?

Do you have other opinions?

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You have 2 minutes to write your thoughts down.

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WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE FOOD?

Describe your favourite meal – what ingredients does it use?

Where do these ingredients come from?

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How did these come to the UK?

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MAKE THE LINK

What is the link between the following countries?

Malta Barbuda Canada Zimbabwe

Ghana Australia Hong Kong India

Fiji USA Egypt Jamaica

Dominica South Africa KenyaTrinidad

Pakistan New Zealand

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Australia

India

USA

Canada

South Africa

Zimbabwe

Pakistan

Egypt Fiji

BarbudaJamaica

New Zealand

THE BRITISH EMPIRE

The British conquered the Empire bit by bit over 300 years and ruled different places in different ways. It is said that the sun never set over the British Empire; this is due to its sheer size. In the Empire’s prime it covered nearly a quarter of the Earth’s surface and a quarter of the world’s population. During the 1600s and 1700s Britain gained foreign land as they were a source of raw materials and labour and would therefore be financially valuable. Land was often gained by wars which involved the death of native people trying to defend their homes, native people had spears, the British had guns.

The people who left Britain to live abroad were known as settlers; they took land andfarmed it for themselves irrespective of what the native people wanted. The Britishconsidered themselves superior to native people, they took with them the British formof government, Christianity and education and therefore considered themselves to bebenefiting the colonies. People in the colonies often did not share these feelings.

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THE BRITISH EMPIRE

Many Christians went to the colonies as missionaries, wanting to convert people to Christianity. They purposefully set out to change native religion and culture and enforce their own.

British settlers in America and the West Indies were short of labourers therefore theytraded guns, wine and cloth with the Africans in exchange for slaves. The slaves weresailed to America and exchanged for rum, sugar and tobacco; these luxuries weresold in Britain. This marked Britain’s involvement in the slave trade.

As a result of Britain taking over foreign lands she became wealthy and a highlyrespected nation. People’s lives in Britain were affected, new foods such as bananas,dates, spices and tea were introduced and new textiles such as silk, rubber and ivorywere present thanks to the colonises.

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YOUR FINAL THOUGHTS

Does knowing how much Britain was involved in other countries affect their opinion of

immigration?

Is it fair that other countries can now do what Britain did hundreds of years ago?

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Immigrants are looking to improve their standard of living, and immigration is a way

of sharing beliefs, culture & food.

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