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     Volume 4 Issue 52 | July 1, 2005 |


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Education

What's the difference?

What do these words mean to you?
Write some words or phrases that you associate with the words in the circles.

Why do people leave their native country to go and live in a new country? Make a list of possible reasons. Think about reasons for emigration in the past as well as in the present.
Put one of the words from the box into the right place in the sentences below.

a. A __________ is a document that you need in addition to a passport to have the permission to enter some countries.
b. A work __________ is an official document you need to get a job in a country where you are not a citizen.
c. If you are found to be resident in a country without citizenship rights or the necessary documents, you might get a __________ order.
d. An illegal __________ is a person who enters a country without having the necessary documents to do so.
e. An economic __________ is a person who travels to another country in order to look for work there.
f. __________ is when you leave your native country to go to another country with the intention of staying there for a long time.
g. An asylum __________ is someone who enters a country and asks to stay there because they say that they are not safe in their own country.
h. _________ is the process in which people come into a country and start to live there.
i. Some people ask for political __________ if they have been persecuted in their own countries due to their beliefs or ideas.
j. A __________ is someone who is escaping from a war zone.

Think about these points
*Do more people immigrate into or emigrate from your country?
*Has this balance changed over the past 50 years?
*Is it difficult to obtain asylum in your country?

Read this article about immigration in Britain and how it has defined the country, answer the questions which follow.
People have been going to Britain from other countries for thousands of years. Some have stayed for only a short time, going back home or moving on. Others have settled there. Those that settle are called immigrants.
The history of migration into Britain is a rich and exciting story, although not without hardship. There have often been difficult journeys to get there, leaving family and friends behind. Some of those who have settled arrived as refugees, driven from their homes by natural disasters, persecution or war. From time to time they may have encountered prejudice and discrimination but have gone on to settle and establish communities.
Over the centuries immigrants have influenced every aspect of life in Britain from clothes, food and language, to religion and politics. As early as the 1st century AD the Roman army built Britain's road system.
In the 16th century French Protestants (Huguenots) brought with them skills in silk weaving and the making of clocks and guns. Irish labourers worked on the construction of new roads, canals and railways in the 18th and 19th centuries. Jewish and Irish tailors in the 19th century, and immigrants from Cyprus, Pakistan and Bangladesh in the 20th century, have made tailored and ready to wear clothes.
Curry and chow mein, Italian ice cream, smoked salmon and fried fish have all been introduced by people from overseas and are now part of everyone's diet. Even 'English' is based on the languages spoken by Anglo-Saxons, Scandinavian Vikings and Norman French invaders, with words added from the languages of other immigrants.
Immigrants have brought new musical sounds like reggae and calypso. They are sporting heroes and founders of many well-known businesses. Today health and transport services continue to be supported by nurses, doctors and managers from overseas. In many towns and cities there are not only churches but synagogues, mosques, Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist temples.
Over the centuries, people that have moved here have had a significant impact on most aspects of our society. Places such as Spitalfields and Soho in London, the Leylands in Leeds and Red Bank in Manchester have come to be closely identified with immigrant settlement.
Spitalfields, in particular, has seen great changes in its migrant population over the years. At one time or another it has been known as 'Petty France', 'Little Jerusalem' and now 'Banglatown'. Nowhere is this seen more clearly than in the building on the corner of Fournier Street and Brick Lane in Spitalfields, which has been in its time a Huguenot (French Protestant) church, an ultra-orthodox synagogue and is now a mosque.

1. What did the Romans do for Britain?
2. When did the Huguenots arrive in Britain? Where from?
3. What skills did they bring?
4. Name three important contributors to the 'English' we speak today?
5. What are the names of two places associated with immigrants in Leeds and Manchester?
6. What is Spitalfields also known as today? And in the past?

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