ENGLISH TEST DATE:

NAME: CLASS: MARK: /20

COMMENTS:

READING COMPREHENSION

NOTE AUX CANDIDATS

Les candidats traitent le sujet sur la copie qui leur est fournie et veillent à :

- respecter l’ordre des questions ;

- faire toujours suivre les citations du numéro de la ligne ;
- recopier les phrases à compléter en soulignant l’élément introduit ;
- Répondre brièvement en anglais aux questions posées sans mention du nombre de mots imposés.

(Document 1)

 Identify the following information : type of document / source / writer

The document under study is an online article (written ) by Laura F which was posted on the
website of Amnesty International UK .
 When was the document published ? Include elements from the document in your answer.
The article was published “ 30 Apr 30, 2013.”
 Find the corresponding information :

 Name of the competition
 Founder of the competition
 People targeted
 Competition of the Year ……………
 Country where the competition is
held
 Location of the Award Ceremony
 Special Guest Jury member
 Number of categories
 The Grand winner
Young Human Rights Reporter and Protest Song Competition
Amnesty International
Young people / talented young people/ young journalists,
photographers, songwriters and performers
2013
The UK /United Kingdom
London
Kate Tempest
5
The band Gypsy’s Anchor + Penwith College

 Say whether the following statement are True or False . Justify with one element from the text for
each statement:
 a- The competition is only open to British artists . True 

(l.3) “Young people from across the UK proved the power of their voices”
b- The competition only accepts primary school children. False 

(l.5/6) “said Holly Gomez from Woodfarm High School, Scotland who went on to win
Sixth Form Reporter of The Year.”
c- The aim of the competition is to discover new talents. False 

(l.23) “I hope it will raise awareness of the death penalty” / (l.3) “Young people from
across the UK proved the power of their voices expressing themselves on human rights
issues”

 Name the 4 Human Rights issues the winners talked about in their works . Quote the text.
The winners talked about “bullying” , “the death penalty “, “ women’s rights in Afghanistan” ,
“North Korea ‘s “ ghost prisoners” , “Child Soldiers” and the right to “education”
 Say if this statement is True or False . Explain your choice in your own words and justify with 2
quotations from the text.  The article is critical of the competition.

Wrong : This article posted on Amnesty International Website about a competition organized
by Amnesty is informative and the tone (positive) is full of admiration for this young
generation of Human Rights artists “ Amnesty Rocks with the Voices of a New Generation” / “
It”s such an honour to have been part of this competition “ (l.5) / “Amnesty celebrated a new
generation” (l.1)
 Using elements from the text, explain the participants’ main motivations and the goal of the article
regarding the competition. (40 words)

The participants’ main motivations is to use the power of their voices to denounce, criticize
and to protest against human rights abuses. The article aims at raising awareness about Human
Rights issues. Thanks to this competition Amnesty UK wants to encourage young people to
take action and spread the word by expressing themselves about HR in order to make a
difference in the future. / => young people will make themselves heard / they will become
aware of theses world issues.

(Document 2)

 What is the song topic ? Justify your answer by quoting the text .
The song deals with Emmanuel Jal’s personal story as a war child and his fight against child
soldiers.  “I’m a war child “ “I believe I’ve survived for a reason to tell my story to touch
lives .”

 What type of narrative is it ? What does it tell you about the narrator.
Tick  the correct box and justify your choice by quoting the text .

 a first-person narrative 
Emmanuel Jal, the singer –songwriter is the narrator .  “I’m” / “my” / ”We”/ “my story”  It’s
a first-person narrative because Emmanuel Jal tells his own story. It’s a personal testimony.

 List all the persons mentioned .

 The persons mentioned are Emmanuel Jal , his father, his mother, his grand-mother, his
brothers . The “people” from Sudan, his home country , the Christians and Muslisms, and the
government are also mentioned.

 What do you learn about the narrator ? (40 words) (name / origin / occupation / religion / childhood /social
background )

The narrator is a Sudanese (from South Sudan) singer-songwriter . He grew up in war time
and he himself became a child soldier as most of his family was killed in the war . He is a
Christian. He came from a middle-class family as his father was a policeman before joining a
rebel movement. His father and his brothers fought in the war. Both his mother and grand-
mother had a mental illness.

 Briefly explain what was going wrong in the narrator’s country .

There was a civil war at the time in Sudan and a lot of tension between the Christians and
the Muslims. (The country was at war)

 List 4 Human Rights that the narrator was denied as a child .

The song is about the right to live in freedom and safety, the right for children to have a
childhood, the right to food and shelter / the right to have a family , the right not to be used
as soldiers in a war / the right to education / the right to be treated fairly.

 RIGHT or WRONG ? Justify your answer by quoting from the text .

a- He was born in a lower- class family . WRONG 

 (l.11) “My father was working for the government as a policeman”

b- His family were deprived of their belongings. RIGHT 

(l.15) “We lost our possession”

c- He has overcome his trauma now . WRONG 

(l.25) “the pain I’m cutting is too much to handle”
(l.27) “Is there anyone to hear my cry ? ”
 Identify the repetitions in the song .

“I’m a war child” X 4 / “child” X 6 / “ I believe I’ve survived for a reason to tell my story to
touch lives …” X6 / “blessed” X 2 / “touch lives” X 15

 What is the effect produced ?

It gives more power, more impact, more strength to the message. The aim is to raise
awareness about the issue of child soldiers. He wants to “touch” the hearts of the listeners.

 What is the overall tone of the song ? Justify your choice by quoting the text .

The overall tone of the song is sadness (sad) and suffering (painful) (l.25) “ The pain I’m
cutting is too much to handle “ /(l.27)” is there anyone to hear my cry ,” as the song deals
with a serious issue, war and child soldiers. It is a very emotional song.

 Read these 2 lines . What does the imagery convey?

 “ The pain I’m cutting is too much to handle. Who’s there to light up my candle”.

On the one hand, the imagery conveys pain and suffering, but on the other hand the words
“light” and “candle” convey some hope.

 Come up with 2 adjectives to describe Emmanuel Jal .

Emmanuel Jal is brave and courageous as he survived the atrocities of the civil war as a child
soldier. He is a committed singer - songwriter who writes songs to tell the world about his
personal story. / he is determined. / inspiring .

 What do you think is the purpose of his song ? What does he hope to achieve ?

Through his own story as a war child, he hopes to raise awareness about the issue of child
soldiers and let the world know that many children’s rights are denied in some countries where
children are forced to serve as soldiers in the war.

 Emmanuel Jal calls himself a “ warchild” . Explain why he may be called so. ( 40 words)

I agree with the fact that he may be called a “war child” as he grew up in wartime . He was
ill-treated as a child and forced to become a child soldier in his home country. He was denied
the right to a family and to live in safety. He must have been tortured by his captors.

(Document 1 and Document 2)

 What topic is common to both documents ?

Both documents illustrate the Power of Words and Human Rights abuses.
  Comment on the Power of Words as shown in the documents. Compare and contrast both
documents . (50 words)
Both documents illustrate the Power of Words in so far young people use the power of their
voices to make themselves heard about fundamental rights or to convince people to take action
(take a stand) . The words used in both documents are meaningful and powerful . The 2
documents are a good illustration of the different tools the young generation may use to raise
awareness about Human Rights abuses around the world / to express themselves about the
violation of Human Rights.
They have the power to denounce Human Rights abuses and make people react . We are
dealing with 2 documents raising the issue of Human Rights. Contrary to the article ,
document 2 is a protest song based on a true story which aims at “touching people’s lives” .
It is more emotional and consequently has more impact. On top of that, the singer tells us
about his own story and experiences as a war child , which gives more power to the
message that he wants to deliver. Emmanuel Jal’s protest song highlights the fact that words
can also be used to heal people in pain.
(Document 1)

Amnesty International UK / Blogs Amnesty rocks with the voices of a new

generation Posted 30 Apr 2013, 10:39pm
By Laura F Amnesty celebrated a new generation of human rights journalists, photographers,
songwriters and performers at today’s Young Human Rights Reporter and Protest Song competition award ceremony in
London. Young people from across the UK proved the power of their voices, expressing themselves on human rights
issues ranging from bullying, to the death penalty, women’s rights in Afghanistan and North Korea’s ‘ghost prisoners’.

“It’s such an honour to have been part of this competition,“ said Holly Gomez from Woodfarm High School, Scotland
who went on to win Sixth Form Reporter of The Year. “I wrote about North Korean political prisoners and it was
difficult to find information because it is kept in so much secrecy. I hope that my article means more people get to
hear about the problems and become interested and research it for themselves. It is so important that young people
become more aware of human rights issues because they will be the ones dealing with them when they grow up.”

The winners were revealed at the afternoon’s glittering awards ceremony, hosted by former-Newsround presenter Sonali
Shah and featuring extracts of winning articles, stunning live protest song performances and a special guest performance
by competition judge Kate Tempest.

Photojournalist of the Year Eve Wilson, 10, from Laugharne School, Wales hoped that winning would make a real
difference: “My photo is of someone being bullied in the playground because they’re paralysed. To a young girl or boy
bullying feels like the end of the world but it’s not and I hope my photo will get people talking about it more.”

Liliana Newsam-Smith from Rhodes Avenue Primary School was named Upper Primary Reporter of the Year and had
been inspired by another remarkable young activist: “I wrote about girls’ education and focused on Malala Yousefzai. It
enraged me to find out that some girls don’t have education. That should change. I’m just so happy now that the
message will go around now and people will know more about it. ”
Isla Ratcliff, from The City of Edinburgh Music School was awarded the Protest Song Competition Lyrics prize for her
song Death Row: “I‘ve always been against the death penalty and when I originally came up with the melody I wanted
to use it to talk about that. A few days earlier Troy Davis was executed so I decided to tell his story. I wanted the
song to have meaning and I hope it will raise awareness of the death penalty - we don’t have it in the UK so it’s
easy to forget it still happens in lots of other countries and it’s important we are aware of that.”
The band Gypsy’s Anchor from Truro + Penwith College were crowned Protest Song Performance and Overall Winners
for their song Full Score.“ Our song is about the contrast in the lives of a child soldier in the Congo and a Western
child with all kinds of disposable things,” said singer Beth Penrose. “There is so much going on in the world and we
are so sheltered here. It’s easy to forget other people out there with big problems.”

(Document 2)

WAR CHILD
(lyrics by Emmanuel Jal)

I believe I’ve survived for a reason to tell my story to touch lives

I believe I’ve survived for a reason to tell my story to touch lives

All the people struggling down there

Storms only come for a while
Then after a while they’ll be gone
Blessed, blessed

I’m a war child

I’m a war child
I believe I’ve survived for a reason to tell my story to touch lives (touch lives, touch lives, touch
lives, touch lives, touch lives, touch lives, touch lives)

My father was working for the government as a policeman

Few years later I heard he joined a rebel movement that was formed to fight for freedom
I didn’t understand the politics behind all this ‘cause I was only a child
After a while I saw the tension rising high between the Christian and the Muslim regime
We lost our possession
My mother, my mother’s mother suffered depression and because of this…
I was forced to be a war child

I’m a war child (ane ge kore, kore*)

I’m a war child (ane ge kore, kore*)
I believe I’ve survived for a reason to tell my story to touch lives (touch lives, touch lives, touch
lives, touch lives, touch lives, touch lives, touch lives)

I lost my father in this battle

My brothers too perished in this struggle
All my life I’ve been hiding in the jungle
The pain I’m cutting is too much to handle
Who’s there please to light up my candle
Is there anyone to hear my cry.

* South Sudanese dialect, translation: ‘and I’m crying, crying’