Identités et échanges
English · Première générale · BO : B1+ ; visée B2 vers C1
On a stony quay in the Scottish Highlands, an old man in a long cloak sits on a white horse. Around him, women, children and old people look out to sea, where the emigrant steamer has just left. Bags, boxes and a broken mooring lie on the ground.
Thomas Faed (1825 to 1900), The Last of the Clan, 1865. Oil on canvas, 84 × 110 cm. The Fleming Collection, London, FWAF/RF43 (a signed version of the painting in Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow). Public domain. Image: Art UK via Wikimedia Commons, not cropped or retouched.

S1 · Why Leave? The Last of the Clan

Recap: what do you remember?
  1. What is the difference between an emigrant and an immigrant?
  2. Name one English-speaking country that many people have moved to.
  3. Give one reason why people leave their country.
Answer key
  1. An emigrant leaves a country; an immigrant arrives in a new country. The same person is both.
  2. For example Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand or the United Kingdom.
  3. For example work, poverty, war, persecution, family, studies or the loss of land.
In this session you will
Key question: Why do people leave home, and why do so many choose Canada?

Look at the painting

Describe, then interpretCore

  1. Where are we? What has just happened? Look at the sea, the quay and the rope.
  2. Who is left on the quay? Look at their age.
  3. How do they feel? Find three clues.
  4. Why is the title The Last of the Clan?
Sentence starters

In the foreground, I can see…

The old man seems to be…

This suggests that…

The title implies that…

Answer key
  1. A Highland quay in Scotland; a steamer has just left with emigrants, and the rope has just been thrown off.
  2. Mostly old people, women and children: the young and strong have gone.
  3. Faces turned to the sea, a woman crying, heads down, bags on the ground.
  4. Only an old man and his granddaughter are left of a once powerful clan: the clan has emigrated.
Document 1 · The painter’s own text, Royal Academy, 1865
“When the steamer had slowly backed out, and John MacAlpine had thrown off the hawser, we began to feel that our once powerful clan was now represented by a feeble old man and his grand-daughter; who, together with some outlying kith-and-kin, myself among the number, owned not a single blade of grass in the glen that was once all our own.”Catalogue entry for The Last of the Clan, Royal Academy exhibition, 1865, quoted by the Fleming Collection.

The Highland Clearances: in the 18th and 19th centuries, many landowners in the Scottish Highlands removed families from their land to make room for sheep. Many of these families emigrated, a great number of them to Canada, especially Nova Scotia (“New Scotland”).

Understand the documentCore

  1. Who is speaking?
  2. What do the speakers no longer own?
  3. Find the word that means “a rope used to tie a ship”.
  4. What is the tone of the text?
Answer key
  1. A member of the clan who stayed behind: “myself among the number”.
  2. “not a single blade of grass in the glen”: no land at all.
  3. hawser.
  4. Sad, nostalgic, bitter: a lament for a lost way of life.
Document 2 · Canada in 2021
“In 2021, more than 8.3 million people, or almost one-quarter (23.0%) of the population, were, or had ever been, a landed immigrant or permanent resident in Canada. This was the largest proportion since Confederation, topping the previous 1921 record of 22.3%, and the highest among the G7.”Statistics Canada, The Daily, 26 October 2022, results of the 2021 Census.

Push and pull factorsCore

Sort these reasons into a table: push (what makes people leave) or pull (what attracts them).

Word bank: loss of land · jobs · war · family already there · persecution · land to farm · safety · poverty · studies
Answer key

Push: loss of land, war, persecution, poverty. Pull: jobs, family already there, land to farm, safety, studies.

Cause and consequenceStretch

Join the ideas with because of, due to, as a result, which led to, so many… that.

  1. Landlords wanted sheep. Families lost their farms.  
  2. Many Highlanders emigrated. Nova Scotia has a strong Scottish heritage.  
  3. Canada has received newcomers for centuries. Almost one in four people is an immigrant.  
Answer key
  1. Landlords wanted sheep, which led to families losing their farms.
  2. So many Highlanders emigrated that Nova Scotia has a strong Scottish heritage.
  3. As a result of centuries of immigration, almost one in four people in Canada is an immigrant.

Expanding your vocabulary

WordMeaningExample
to emigrate / to immigrateto leave a country / to settle in a new oneMany Highlanders emigrated to Canada.
a newcomera person who has recently arrivedNewcomers often learn English or French.
a host countrythe country that receives newcomersCanada was their host country.
push / pull factorsreasons to leave / reasons to comePoverty is a push factor.
a lamenta song or text of sorrowThe painting is a lament for the clan.
to be left behindto stay when others goThe old were left behind.
Petit glossaire en français

emigrate : émigrer · newcomer : nouvel arrivant · host country : pays d’accueil · lament : complainte · left behind : laissé derrière

Mediation

A French friend thinks that Canada is “a country of French and English people only”. Using Document 2, explain to them in English, in three sentences, why this is not true.

Homework
  1. Learn the vocabulary of the session.
  2. Write 80 to 100 words: “Why do people leave home?” Use two push factors and two pull factors.
  3. Find one person in your family or your town who came from another country or region, and note one thing they brought with them.