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Texts for listening activities

Chapter 3, Unit 1, Activity 2: Listen for information and character, Learner’s Book page 34

IntroductionMiriam Makeba was an award-winning South African singer and civil-rights activist. She was born in 1932. She was in her early twenties when the events in this extract happened. She came from Riverside township outside Pretoria to live in Johannesburg. She was just starting her career as a singer, and she was still very shy and young.

TextI was still a little shy and not used to this Johannesburg life, but I loved being on stage. At times we would be asked to come and play at the Donaldson Community Centre, which was in Orlando East. The Donaldson Centre was the place. Everybody would come there, even the well-known and famous people. It was there one day that someone whispered to me that the Manhattan Brothers were there. The Manhattan Brothers were the group of the times. Everybody admired those always well-dressed, handsome men singing in harmony with their band backing them. In those days they used to sing with a woman called Emily Kwenane. They had been singing for about 10 years already. They were even played on the radio!

After the show, Nathan Mdledle, who was the leader of the group, came up to me. He introduced himself. I shook his hand and curtseyed, because that is what we do. When you greet an elder, you must go down and show respect. ‘I like the way you sing.’ I could not believe this man was even talking to me. With my eyes to the ground I managed to mumble ‘Thank you’. I almost dropped dead when he said, ‘How would you like to audition to sing for us?’ Ndithe batho! I did it. I went to audition to be the lead singer of the Manhattan Brothers. They liked my style, my voice and I got the job. I started singing with them right away. They said they would pay me only two pounds ten for a show, five pounds for a recording. All I was thinking was, ‘This is nice, you mean you get paid to sing! I had never imagined earning so much in my life!’

Listening comprehension text for Formal Assessment Task 1

Part 1: Desmond’s childhoodWhen Desmond was eight years old, in 1939, the family transferred to Ventersdorp. Zachariah (Desmond’s father, a school teacher) started work at a new school. Many people in Ventersdorp, including the black community, spoke Afrikaans. Desmond soon learnt Afrikaans too.

The young Desmond cycled into town every morning to fetch his father’s newspaper. Before he took the newspaper home, he spread it out on the pavement and eagerly read each page. He learnt all sorts of things about the world and South Africa from the newspaper. People trying to pass him on the pavement shook their heads because they had to step right over him and his newspaper. One morning, when he was cycling to the shop to fetch the newspaper, Desmond saw a group of white boys by the side of the road. He smiled at them, but they started shouting at him. Because Desmond could speak Afrikaans, he understood the horrible things they said to him. The names they called him hurt very much. He knew they weren’t true, but they still stung. He was sad that people called each other by those terrible names and later wondered why they did that. Desmond had

Focus on English Grade 12 © Maskew Miller Longman (Pty) Ltd. Permission is granted to photocopy this page.

tasted racial discrimination for the first time and he didn’t like it one little bit. This was something else that he would fight against for his whole life.

Part 2: Tutu wins the world’s most famous prizeShortly after Desmond was elected as Bishop of Johannesburg (in 1984), he took a short trip to New York in America. He planned to do some teaching at a theological college. Desmond loved to go jogging. Every morning, after his prayers, he put on his tracksuit and ran along the streets of New York. One day, just as he was going down the stairs in his tracksuit, one of the professors at the college stopped him.

‘I wouldn’t go out there, Bishop,’ the man said.‘Why not?’ asked Desmond.‘Because there are reporters and photographers and television cameras out

there waiting for you.’‘Whatever for?’ asked Desmond.‘I don’t know,’ the man replied, though he had a big smile on his face.A little while later there was a knock at Desmond’s door. The man at the

door was the Norwegian ambassador to the United Nations. He had come to tell Desmond that he had won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Chapter 12, Unit 1, Activity 2: Listen to a radio news commentary, Learner’s Book page 174

What’s up with drug mules?Welcome to ‘What’s up with the World?’ on Radio Newsline. This is Aubrey Jacobs, your weekly news commentator. Today I want to comment on the recent arrest of South Africans for drug smuggling. Dear listeners, this is a real problem for South Africa. Over 600 South Africans are in jails all over the world for trafficking drugs. So-called ‘drug mules’ are hired by drug syndicates to smuggle cocaine, heroin and other narcotics across international borders. They often take the risk because they are desperate for money, and we South Africans seem to be keen volunteers.

These traffickers use all kinds of methods to transport drugs. Some swallow condoms filled with drugs. This can be lethal if the condoms burst in their stomachs. Others hide them in the soles of their shoes, in shampoo bottles or between the pages of books. Recently, a South African woman hid cocaine mixed with flour in her dreadlocks!

Some of them get away with it. They think they are clever for making easy money. But they should think about the lives they are helping to destroy with drugs.

When South Africans are arrested for drug trafficking, it is not only bad for them. They waste years in jail. In some countries, they even face the death sentence. It also gives our country a bad name. South Africans come to be associated with criminal behaviour. This also has a negative effect on innocent South African travellers who will be searched and harassed by suspicious border guards.

Becoming a drug mule is highly risky, but also stupid and selfish. Being short of money is no excuse. There are legal ways of making money, even though the rewards might be smaller and take longer to earn. Honest, hard work will not put you in jail. So, to those considering drug smuggling, I say, ‘Think again’. In the end it is you, your family and your country that will suffer, not the big drug bosses who exploit their ‘drug mules’ for huge profits. Dear listeners, don’t fly high to get others high because who knows where and when you will crash to earth? It’s simply not worth it.