PREMIÈRE : EMC - Firearms in the USA

FIREARMS IN THE USA - VOCABULARY 

INDEX BOOK - Letter F

- a mass shooting

- to pull the trigger

- a gun owner / to own a gun

- strict / tough

- mandatory

- background check

- to impose a waiting period

- to create data banks

- to outlaw guns / to ban guns

- to arm oneself

- self-protection / the right of self-defense

- a constitutional right / to stand up for one’s rights

- to run deep into the psyche

- trauma / traumatized

- to load / to unload

- gun control laws

- to register a gun / gun registration

- a license / a permit

- to run a check

- to provide information

- to push to gun control

- accidental shooting / to kill by accident

- to defend oneself against

FIREARMS IN THE USA

#Docu : Bowling for Columbine (Michael Moore, 2002)

Le travail est à faire à partir du lien ci-dessus (YouTube)

Introduction : 

Some political, social and economic reasons that mights account for gun-related deaths of young people in the USA : a case study, Buell Elementary School (in Bowline fir Columbine, by Michael Moore)

I tragedy  (01:23:45 to 01:24:28)

Fill in the blanks while listening to the first extract (One blank, one word) .

Michael Moore (voice over) : Back in my hometown Flint, ________________________ , a ____________________ -year-old first-grade boy, at Buell Elementary, had found a ______________ at his uncle’s house, where he was staying because his mother was being evicted. He brought the _____________________ to school and ____________________

another first-grader, __________________ -year-old Kayla Rolland. With one bullet that passed through her body, she fell to the floor and laid there __________________ while her teacher called 991 for help. No one knew why the little boy wanted to ______________ the little girl. As if the city had not been through enough horror and tragedy in the past two decades, it was now home to a new _________________ : the _____________________ school shooting ever in the United States.

Sum up this tragedy in 30 words maximum.

II A special program (01:31:38 to 01:35:00)

Answer the following questions while and after watching the extract.

1. Who was Tamarla Owens?

2. Why did she have to work for the state of Michigan

3. What is the name of the program that gives a job to poor people in exchange of welfare money?

4. Who is the ’new enemy’ now that the Cold War is over and the Russians are allies?

5. How many hours a day did the mother travel to get to her job?

6. What is the sheriff’s opinion on that program?

7. How did Tamarla Owens go to work?

8. How far from her home was her job?

9. When did she leave home and when did she come back home?

10. How much money does he (young Afro-American) make an hour?

11. Is it enough to pay the bills?

12. How many jobs did Tamarla Owens have? Why?

Sum up : Give an account of Tamarla’s life before the tragedy (40 words maximum)

III The specific case of Tamarla Owens (01:35:00 to 01:37:00)

Fill in the blanks while and after listening to the third extract (One blank, one word).

Michael Moore (voice over) : his restaurant and the Fudgery, here in Auburn Hills, applied for special _________________ breaks because using ________________ people as employees. Even though Tamarla worked up to _________________ hours a week at these ________________ jobs in the mall, she did not earn enough to _________ ___________ ________________. And one week before the shooting was told by her landlord that he was evicting her. With nowhere to go and not wanting to take her two children ________ _______ _________, Tamarla asked her brother if they could stay with him for a few weeks. It was there that Tamarla’s son found a small 32 calibre _______________ and took it to school. Tamarla did not see him take the ______________ to school, because she was on a _______________ ______________ to go serve drinks and make fudge for ____________ _______________

BANSTAND

I decided to fly out to ___________________ to ask Dock Clark what the thought about a system that forces ___________, ________________ ___________ to work ____________

low-wage ______________ to ________________.

Relate the whole process that led the young boy to kill the young girl (highlight the social and economy aspects).

III Be ready for te debate

Find out pro and anti-guns arguments. Then, make up your mind on this issue. You will have to debate in class.