Homework, Monday 13th March, 2017

The following is an extract from the acceptance speech Barack Obama gave when he was nominated as the Democrat Party's candidate to run in the presidential election in 2008. Read it and answer the questions that follow. 

This is due tomorrow (Tuesday, 14th March). 

You can watch the speech here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe751kMBwms&t=52s

I want to congratulate Senator Clinton on a hard-fought victory here in New Hampshire.

A few weeks ago, no-one imagined that we'd have accomplished what we did here tonight. For most of this campaign, we were far behind, and we always knew our climb would be steep.

But in record numbers, you came out and spoke up for change. And with your voices and your votes, you made it clear that at this moment - in this election - there is something happening in America.

There is something happening when men and women in Des Moines and Davenport; in Lebanon and Concord come out in the snows of January to wait in lines that stretch block after block because they believe in what this country can be.

There is something happening when Americans who are young in age and in spirit - who have never before participated in politics - turn out in numbers we've never seen because they know in their hearts that this time must be different.

There is something happening when people vote not just for the party they belong to but the hopes they hold in common - that whether we are rich or poor; black or white; Latino or Asian; whether we hail from Iowa or New Hampshire, Nevada or South Carolina, we are ready to take this country in a fundamentally new direction. That is what's happening in America right now. Change is what's happening in America.

You can be the new majority who can lead this nation out of a long political darkness - Democrats, Independents and Republicans who are tired of the division and distraction that has clouded Washington; who know that we can disagree without being disagreeable; who understand that if we mobilize our voices to challenge the money and influence that's stood in our way and challenge ourselves to reach for something better, there's no problem we can't solve - no destiny we cannot fulfil.

Questions

1. Who did Barack Obama run against in the election?

2. What did no-one imagine a few weeks ago?

3. Complete the sentence: ‘For most of this campaign, we were far _____________, and we always knew our ______________ would be ___________.’

4. What, according to the third paragraph, did people come out and speak up for?

5. Which three place names are mentioned in the fourth paragraph?

6. What does Barack Obama say in the fifth paragraph instead of ‘turn out in large numbers’?

7. Which particular group of people does Barack Obama mention in the fifth paragraph?

8. What, according to the fifth paragraph, is happening in America right now?

Extension questions:

9. Why do you think Barack Obama congratulates Hilary Clinton at the start, even though he fought against her in the election?

10. In the second paragraph, there is a metaphor. What is it, what image does it put in your mind, and why has it been used?

11. There is an example of alliteration in the third paragraph. Find it and copy it out.

12. In the sixth paragraph, what does Barack Obama do when he talks about ethnic groups and American states, which technique does he use?

13. What does Barack Obama want people to think he represents more than anything else? How does he get this point across?