Read to Speak Adult ESL Book Club Meeting - DOWNTOWN Fridays

Read and discuss a picture book for Black History Month. Learn about the life of Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad.

Book Title: Harriet Tubman (Little People, Big Dreams)

Author: Isabel Sanchez Vegara

Prepare for the meeting!

Words you need to know:

Nouns: slavery, slave, master, overseer, freedom, property, protect, escape, sign, destiny, journey, safety, passengers, civil war, spy, mission, explosives, hero, trip, celebration, rights, strength

Verbs: beat, exist, trace, guide, lose/lost, break out, sign up, carry on, demand

Adjectives: free, determined, enslaved, unequal

Expressions: from dawn to dusk, stand up for someone, war broke out, come to an end, reach safety, be against something, take to the stage

Other: the South (the main region of the US where slaves worked on plantations, e.g., cotton and tobacco), The Underground Railway (a secret network of safe houses), the North Star, Moses (a person in the Bible who freed the Jews from slavery in Egypt), Philadelphia (city in Pennsylvania), The Free States (the states where slavery was abolished)

Practise Vocabulary on Quizlet:

https://quizlet.com/_7l8gpqx=1qqt&i=1a862t

Discussion Questions:

1. Some Aboriginal groups and European settlers practised slavery in Canada. It was banned in 1833. What do you know about slavery? Share with the group.

2. Harriet Tubman made nineteen trips along the Underground Railroad to lead enslaved African Americans to freedom in the north. What do they think motivated Harriet Tubman to risk her life for others?

3. Tell the group about a courageous person you admire. Where is this person from? When did this person live? What did this person do?

Next Book Club Meeting – Session 7/10

Date: Friday March 6 Book Title: Hachiko by Pamela S. Turner