Unit 4.

2
Protest
Activity 2.14: Protest movements

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 Protest movement texts
• Step 1: In groups, pick a text (any text type) from a protest movement, and
write a few questions about the language of the text. See Activity 2.14 in
your coursebook for a list of suggestions.
• Step 2: Exchange texts and questions with another group. Each group
should read the text they’ve been given and answer the questions about
it.
• Step 3: Each group should then analyse their text and identify anything
else about the language that wasn’t covered in the questions.
• Step 4: Without doing any research, groups should consider how they
think the text was received by its audience when it was written.
• Step 5: Each group should then provide contextual information (such as
historical, biographical, social) to the other group about the text they
selected.
• Step 6: Provide additional information to the other group about the
context, including how it was received.
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 Example
This presentation will take you through this process as a whole
class exercise, to help you understand the expectations of the
assignment.

The following slides give an example of what you should do in

your groups.

Before beginning this activity and answering the questions on

the following slides, please search for and, we suggest, print
a transcript of the speech given by Emma Gonzalez during the
March for Our Lives rally in Washington DC on 24th March
2018. The speech begins, "Six minutes and about twenty
seconds."
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 Questions 1 and 2
Question 1: Why does the speaker open her speech by
saying ‘Six minutes, and about 20 seconds’?

Question 2: ‘touched by the cold grip of gun violence’

is a striking phrase. Why? What words create that
striking image, and what effect does it have on the
audience?

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 Questions 3 and 4
• Question 3: ‘For us, long, tearful, chaotic hours in
the scorching afternoon sun were spent not
knowing.’ What image is created in this sentence?
Who is in the sun? What don’t they know?

• Question 4: When the speaker states, ‘No one could

believe that there were bodies in that building
waiting to be identified for over a day’, what is she
referring to, and why? What effect does that have
on the audience listening?
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 Questions 5 and 6
• Question 5: What does the speaker mean by ‘Six
feet into the ground, six feet deep’? How do you
react to that statement? Why?

• Question 6: What makes this sentence powerful:

‘my friend Carmen would never complain to me
about piano practice’? Why?

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 Questions 7, 8 and 9
• Question 7: ‘Since the time that I came out here, it has been
six minutes and 20 seconds.’ What happened right before
this? How do you know this?
• Question 8: How does the speaker’s tone change in the
speech? Refer to this sentence in particular: ‘The shooter
has ceased shooting, and will soon abandon his rifle, blend
in with the students as they escape, and walk free for an
hour before arrest.’
• Question 9: Analyse the language, tone and sentence
structure in the last sentence of the text: ‘Fight for your lives
before it’s someone else’s job.’
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 Extra analysis
What else is there to analyse that isn’t covered in the
questions? Think about:
• the structure of the text
• the shifts in tone
• other images
• the use of anecdotes and personal stories
• anything else you think is important.

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 Context of reception
• How do you think the text was received? Why?
• What evidence do you have for that claim?

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 Contextual information
Author and speaker: Emma González, an 18-year-old
student (at the time) of Marjory Stoneman Douglas
High School and a political activist
Text type: Speech
Event: March For Our Lives rally in Washington DC
Time period: 24th March 2018
History: On 14th February 2018, a gunman killed 17
students and staff, and injured 17 more at Marjory
Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
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 More contextual information
Immediate context: After the school shooting, students from the
school organised a protest march in Washington DC to push for
gun control legislation.
According to Wikipedia:
Protesters urged for universal background checks on all gun
sales, raising the federal age of gun ownership and possession
to 21, closing of the gun show loophole, a restoration of
the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban, and a ban on the sale
of high-capacity magazines in the United States and a ban on
bump stocks. Turnout was estimated to be between 1.2 and 2
million people in the United States, making it one of
the largest protests in American history.
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 More contextual information
Social context: The United States has had a number of mass
school shootings including Columbine (19 dead), Virginia Tech
(33 dead) and Sandy Hook (28 dead). All numbers include the
perpetrators, according to Wikipedia.
Political context: There is huge debate about guns in the
United States. The second amendment of the U Constitution
protects ‘the right of people to keep and bear arms’.

The New Yorker claimed: ‘González’s silence was a remarkable

piece of political expression.’
https://
www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-passion-
of-emma-gonzalez
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 Emma González’s ‘March For
Our Lives’ Speech
Click on the link to watch a video of her speech:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u46HzTGVQhg

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