Children on the mines

Among the saddest aspects of old time mining were the accidents suffered by boys -some of quite tender years- and by the young girls employed in surface operations. Before the invention of automatic machinery to carry out the various refining processes, every mine required a large amount of this kind of poorly-paid, unskilled labour; and the general poverty prevailing at the time compelled parents to send children into this kind of employment to raise the family income.
Many of the resulting accidents to children were caused by their disobedience or playfulness. A grim example of this occurred at Dolcoath in Wales, in April 1869. During the previous summer, the boys had begun the practice of climbing on to the wooden roofs of the houses in the mine to eat their dinner. They preferred this airy and elevated place to the room provided for them; but as this open-air dining injured the roofs and put the kids in danger, they were scolded and fined for this offence by the owners.
One day a little boy of eight was released at twelve for his dinner. Half an hour later he was found crying for help from the top of a cottage: the roof was so damaged that it could not stand the weight of his body.

PREGUNTAS

A. In your own words and based on the ideas from the text answer these questions. Be careful with the grammar. Write precise answers. (Puntuación máxima: 2)
1. Why was child labour common in mines?
2. Why was the practice of eating on the roofs disapproved of by the mine owners?

A.1. Possible answers:
* There was no automatic machinery for refining processes in mines and a lot of unskilled workers were needed. On top of that, families were very poor.
* Parents sent their children to work in mines because they were very poor and a lot of unskilled workers were needed there.
* A lot of unskilled workers were needed in mines and children could do that. People were very poor, so it was common that children had to find a job.

A.2. Possible answers:
* Mine owners were worried about the roofs of the houses in the mine and the risk of accidents. They not only scolded the children, but also fined them.
* Because it injured the roofs of the houses in the mine and put the children in danger. (Si vas casi a copiar el texto, busca sinónimos, completa ideas...)

B. Are the following statements TRUE of FALSE? Copy the evidence from the text. No mark are given for only True or False. (Puntuación máxima: 2)
1. All accidents in the mine were due to the danger of the work carried out by the children.
2. Children ate on the roofs because they did not have a proper place for dinner.

B.1. False. The text states, "Many of the resulting accidents to children were caused by their disobedience or playfulness."

B.2. False. The text explains, "They preferred this airy and elevated place to the room provided for them."

C. Find the words or phrases in the text that mean: (Puntuación máxima: 1)
1. not specialized (paragraph 1): unskilled
forced (paragraph 1): compelled
sad (paragraph 2): grim
reproved (paragraph 1): scolded

D. Complete the following sentences. Use the appropriate form of the words in brackets when given. (Puntuación máxima: 2)
1. On (the) 5th April 1869, only three men were at work when the accident happened.
2. Did you see (you see) the documentary about child labour on TV yesterday? It was very shocking.

3. Put in the passive: The workers immediately organised a search party to find the missing miners.
A search party to find the missing miners was inmmediately organised by the workers.

4. Put in order these words to make a meaningful sentence: / enough to eat/ do/ the/ children/ many/ world/ have/ not/ in/
Many children in the world do not have enough to eat.

5. Write about 60 to 100 words on ONE of the following topics. Do not copy from the text. (Puntuación máxima: 3)
5.a. What can be done today to fight against child labour in developing countries?
5.b. What are the main problems of children in Spain?

I am going to write about the topic of the main problems of children in Spain. (Escribir sobre un tema no es responder a una pregunta. Os hacen la pregunta para facilitar que se sepa qué poner. Pero el enunciado de la pregunta dice "topic" y eso significa "tema" y el tema es el tema, no una pregunta concreta que hay que responder... Sobre lo de que no hay que contraer al escribir, aquí os presentamos un ejemplo en el que sería una barbaridad no hacerlo: si reproducimos el habla de un niño de ocho años, está claro que tendremos que hacerlo. Así que como norma general, no contraed en un estilo formal, pero no olvidad que en un texto literario puede ser necesario.)

Jonnathan Lubumba García

My name is Jonnathan Lubumba García. I'm Spanish. My father's a black man from Senegal and my mother's a white woman from Spain. At school, everybody thinks I am from Africa because I look black. I'm not exactly black--I'm a mulatto. (42 + 4)
There are a lot of racist people. They think black people are silly and lazy. Of course, that's not true. The problem with most racists is they don't know they're racist or how much their ignorance hurts. I'm Spanish and Senegalese, and I'm proud of it. (46 + 5)