Yellow Triangle – Christy Moore – Notes
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Yellow Triangle – Christy Moore – Notes Activity types: Discussion, Internet search, reading texts, listening for specific words, gap fill, watching films Level: Intermediate Language: Talking about the Holocaust, expressing opinions Grammar: Past simple and Past participle • Notes: The 27 th January is the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This song by the Irish folk singer Christy Moore was released on his 1996 album Graffiti Tongue and is based on First They Came, a famous statement, or poem, by Pastor Martin Niemöller. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1. Write the word HOLOCAUST on the board and ask students to think of words or phrases referring to it. Write their answers on the board as a spidergram. Possible answers: World War II – Hitler – Nazism – Jews – concentration camps – genocide – gas chambers – final solution 2. Ask students to comment and discuss their previous answers, reporting what they already know about the Holocaust. They can refer to other school subjects (such as History), personal readings or films. You or students can also download further information from several websites, including Wikipedia. 3. Tell students about Martin Niemöller (1892-1984), a German anti-Nazi theologian and Lutheran pastor. Although he initially supported Hitler, he opposed the nazification of German Protestant churches. After being imprisoned in Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps from 1937 to 1945, he became an ardent pacifist, anti-war activist and campaigner for nuclear disarmament. You can find his biography on Wikipedia. 4. Give each student a folded copy of the worksheet and let them read Niemöller’s statement (or poem) First They Came . This deals with indifference towards the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets (communists, trade unionists, Jews). For more detailed information search for First They Came on Wikipedia… Let students express their opinions about it. 5. Explain they are going to listen to a song based on Pastor Niemöller’s statement. Students listen to the first part of the song (chorus) and circle the colours they hear. KEY: black - pink - green - red - blue - lilac - yellow 6. Focus on Nazi concentration camp badges. Explain in the Nazi camps, the prisoners were obliged to wear fabric triangles on their uniforms, painted in different colours according to the category they belonged to in order to be immediately identified. Jews wore a yellow triangle overlapped by a David star. Political prisoners (communists and trade-unionists) wore a red triangle, homosexuals a pink triangle and Jehovah's Witnesses a purple triangle. Green triangles belonged to the "common criminals", black triangles to the so-called "asocials", brown triangles to Gypsies, white triangles to work strikers and, finally, blue triangles to war prisoners from occupied countries. 7. Students do activity 2 and write the past simple and the past participle of the verbs. Feedback. 8. Play the song. Ask students to fill in the gaps with the missing words, based on their answers to the previous activities and context. Verbs can be in any form or tense. KEY: See complete version of the song 9. Play the song again. Students check their answers in pairs or in groups, then correct in open class and sing together! FOLLOW-UP. You can show students a film in English about this topic (such as Schindler’s List ). Roberto Begnini’s La Vita E’ Bella also deals with this topic. This worksheet is to be used for educational purposes only Activity © Tune into English 2011 – www.tuneintoenglish.com Worksheet written by Prof. Mena Bianco, Naples Yellow Triangle – Christy Moore They came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for me and by that time no one was left to speak up. - Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892-1984) ACTIVITY 1. Circle the colours you hear: BLACK - BLUE – BROWN – GREEN – GREY – LILAC – ORANGE – PINK – PURPLE – RED – WHITE - YELLOW ACTIVITY 2. Write the past simple and the past participle of the following verbs: BE _______________________ LEAVE _______________________ BEGIN _______________________ ROUND _______________________ COME _______________________ SPEAK _______________________ FETCH _______________________ TAKE _______________________ GATHER _______________________ WEAR _______________________ __________________________________________________ FOLD_______________________________________________ ACTIVITY 3. Complete the lyrics with the colours and verbs (in any form) from the previous activities: ________ triangle, ________ triangle ________ triangle, ________ triangle ________ triangle, ________ triangle And they ________ the ________ triangle When first they _________ for the criminals I did not ________ Then they ________ to ________ the Jews When they ________ the people who ________ members of trade unions I did not ________ They ________ away the Bible students, ________ up the homosexuals Then they ________ up the immigrants and the gypsies I did not ________, I did not ________ Eventually they ________ for me But there ________ no one ________ to ________ ________ triangle, ________ triangle ________ triangle, ________ triangle ________ triangle, ________ triangle And they ________ the ________ triangle (repeat 3 times) I did not ________ This worksheet is to be used for educational purposes only Activity © Tune into English 2011 – www.tuneintoenglish.com Worksheet written by Prof. Mena Bianco, Naples Yellow Triangle – Christy Moore - Complete Black triangle, pink triangle Green triangle, red triangle Blue triangle, lilac triangle And they wore the yellow triangle When first they came for the criminals I did not speak Then they began to take the Jews When they fetched the people who were members of trade unions I did not speak They took away the Bible students, rounded up the homosexuals Then they gathered up the immigrants and the gypsies I did not speak , I did not speak Eventually they came for me but there was no one left to speak Black triangle, pink triangle Green triangle, red triangle Blue triangle, lilac triangle And they wore the yellow triangle (repeat 3 times) I did not speak This worksheet is to be used for educational purposes only Activity © Tune into English 2011 – www.tuneintoenglish.com Worksheet written by Prof. Mena Bianco, Naples .