4.3 Responding to texts

Motau believes that there is hope. “Most students involved in the struggle became dropouts after 1976, but I feel there is potential. We need to empower the youth in tourism and life skills.”

As far as Motau is concerned, there is no place better to start empowerment than Soweto and Vilakazi Street with their rich heritage and huge attraction for tourists. Mafafane, who never finished school because of the disruptions to education following the 1976 uprising, also believes the cause is not yet lost. Freedom was only a start, and, hopefully, material things will follow.

As the sun sets over Vilakazi Street, this wish does not seem as far-fetched, as it sounds. After all, only 25 years ago, residents thought freedom was as distant as the moon.

[Extract taken from Sunday Times , June 17, 2001]

After you have read the article, answer the following questions:

Use your own words and answer in full sentences.

a) Why could Vilakazi Street be described as a war zone in 1976?

b) Explain in your own words what the pupils were protesting about on June 6, 1976?

c) What purpose did the rocks and tyres in the road serve?

d) How does Bobby Makwetla feel about the children’s involvement in the 1976 uprising?

e) What were the children “waiting for”?

f) Name at least three positive changes in Vilakazis Street which occurred after 1994.

g) Name at least three things which residents consider as current problems in Vilakazi Street.

h) How, according to Motau, can the current problems of Vilakazi Street be solved?

i) Quote a simile from the last paragraph of the article.

j) Which two Nobel Peace Prize winners used to live in Vilakazi Street?

k) Name two other South African Nobel Peace Prize winners:

l) Write a short paragraph giving, in your view, as many positive things about South Africa today as you can find and then compare your list to a partner’s:

Tip: A book to read that might give you the hope referred to in this article is:

‘ South Africa: Reasons to Believe’ by Guy Lundy and Wayne Visser.

Activity 2:

To read and respond to social texts

[lo 3.3, 3.5]

Advertisements form part of our everyday lives. Name a few places where we find advertisements.

Advertisements have certain things in common.

You should be able to identify the following aspects of advertisements.

• The PRODUCT that is advertised. What do they want us to buy?
• The name of the MANUFACTURING COMPANY. Who makes these products?
• The TARGET CROUP (People at whom the advertisement is aimed.)
• The LOGO of the manufacturing company (A typical sign, sketch or badge used on all its products).
• The SLOGAN of the manufacturing company. The short written expression used by the company to state its goal. It is short, easy to remember and appears on all the company’s products.

CHOICE OF PHOTOGRAPH, SKETCH AND WORDS. Always ask yourself:

• Why has a particular picture been used to advertise the product?
• What is the connection between the picture and the product?

7. MOST OUTSTANDING FEATURE OF THE PRODUCT:

What it is about the product that is so special that people will be convinced to buy it.