To help or not to help.
Characters:
Theme: Comprehension strategies.
Competencies
Competence in Linguistic Communication
Personal, social and learning to learn competence
Citizen Competition
Competence in cultural awareness and expressions
Subjects and year by Educational System
Spain > English > 2nd ESO > Communication
Enunciation
Watch this picture and read the text by Radhika Chalasani, who photographed the famine in Sudan, and do the activities.
Read the text and answer the questions
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/jul/28/gutted-photographers-who-didnt-help (22/03/2022).
Radhika Chalasani: 'To this day, I think I didn't necessarily do the right thing'. Some photographers and journalists think that you should never interfere, because your job is as an observer. I decided a long time ago that I had to follow my conscience. I've been in very hard situations.
Some years ago, there was a great famine in Sudan. People were dying because they had nothing to eat. I was photographing a woman carrying her baby into a feeding centre. He was extremely malnourished, and I was photographing her as she walked. Suddenly, the people started directing her for the photos. They sat her down and indicated her how to hold her child. I asked for a translator, and said: 'Tell her to take her child to the feeding centre. She should not stop because I'm taking a photograph.'
Another time, there was a family sitting under a tree near the feeding centre. They couldn't walk, they were so weak. And there was a group of photographers around them. I took a few pictures, but then I walked into the feeding centre and asked a nurse, 'Is there anything you can do for this family?'.
On one occasion, a group of photographers went into an abandoned refugee camp and found a massacre. There were some children who had survived. There were two baby twins in a hut. Another photographer and I wanted to take the kids in the car. The other people said it wasn’t safe. In the end, we didn't take the children. When we found the Red Cross, we reported the situation to them.
I believe that our main contribution is trying to make people understand the stories behind the pictures. And sometimes, when you think you're helping, you're actually making a situation worse.
Questions
1. What is a feeding centre?
2. Where was the photographer working?
3. What was the problem in this country?
4. First situation
a. Who was malnourished?
b. What did the people do?
c. What did the photographer do?
5. Second situation
a.What was the family’s problem?
b. Where were they sitting?
c. What did the photographer do?
6. Third situation
a. What did the photographers find in the refugee camp?
b. What did Radhika wanted to do?
c. What did she do in the end?
7. Summarize the text in two sentences.
8. Watch more pictures of her work and debate about it.
Observations and context
This activity can be worked on together with the activities A difficult situation (Donna Ferrato) and How many Pulitzers do you have? (Carol Guzy / Carolyn Cole) in several sessions and reflect on the consequences, beneficial or detrimental, of the intervention of people who photograph conflicts.
Distribute the students preferably in heterogeneous groups so that everyone can participate according to their level, as some are easier and others more difficult.
- Her work is framed within the framework of photo-reportage and social denounce photography, as it covers topics such as violence against women, catastrophes or the disastrous consequences of social inequalities and decolonisation, such as wars and extreme poverty.
- Other women photographers who have dealt with these issues include Donna Ferrato, Lynsey Addario and Jodi Hilton. As a historical example, we have Gerda Taro, photographer of the Spanish Civil War and pioneering female war photographer.
Description
Students read the text extracted and adapted from an article in The Guardian and answer the questions.
The aim is to distinguish types of comprehension: general meaning, essential information and main points.
Also, to infer from the context the meanings of less frequently used or more specific words and expressions. Predicting the meaning of unfamiliar words using knowledge of the language.