This is one of the most famous speeches of all times. It was pronounced by Martin Luther King Jr., at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C., 28 August 1963. It would be a good practice to imitate his emphatic way of reading.
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.
We cannot turn back.
There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."2
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:
My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
William Shakespeare - To be, or not to be (from Hamlet 3/1)
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.
Some reflexions on our topic -the use of theater in the classroom.
*In what sense can teachers be considered actors? Do you think there's any connection or similarity between teaching and acting?
*To Play. A Play. Jugar un papel. To play a role. Let's play! Don't you think playing is the best way of learning? Why do you think activities related to theatre can be particularly convinient for language learning?
*Literary genres are flexible, their boundaries or limits are not fixed, or at least can be crossed. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was based on a short story by Mateo Bandello; we can easily prepare a dialogue based on already known Fairy Tales. The possibilities are innumerable.
*Children are creative and imaginative. Some say the school tends to close those fantastic doors. Let's keep them open!
*Music and theatre can also be related. Reading outloud is a good way of improving our pronunciation, but singing is even better; when we sing, we usually pronounce better than when we speak, because we depend less on the articulatory or pronouncing habits of our mother tongue.
*What kind of movies do you like most? Have you ever considered the possibility of becoming a dubbing actor ? Would you like to try? What about musicals?
On this blog you fill find complementary materials for our course.
To start with, here you have an inspiring poem: the one Nelson Mandela used to read in his darkest hours in Robben Island, where he was imprisoned for many years. It's a Victorian poem. I hope it will inspire you to greatness. Yes, we can! We shall overcome!
I Am The Captain Of My Soul
Out of the night that covers me
black as the pit from pole to pole
I thank whatever gods may be
for my unconquerable soul
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud
Under the bludgeonings of chance
my head is bloody, but unbowed
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
looms but the horror of the shade
and yet the menace of the years
finds, and shall find me, unafraid
It matters not how strait the gate
how charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate
I am the captain of my soul
"Invictus,"
by William Earnest Henley
Bajo la noche que me cubre
negra como el fondo del pozo,
agradezco no sé a qué dioses
por mi ánima inconquistable
En las garras circunstanciales
no he gemido o clamado en alto;
bajo los golpes del azar
sangra mi frente: no se inclina
Este lugar de iracundia y hiel
cueva es de horrores y de sombras,
mas la amenaza de los años
me halla y me hallará sin miedo
No importa la estrechez del paso,
cuánto castigue la sentencia,
soy el dueño de mi destino,
soy el capitán de mi alma.
UNIVERSIDAD AUSTRAL DE CHILE CENTRO EDUCACION CONTINUA
PROGRAMA I. Información General Nombre de la Asignatura : Play Reading Código : Horas Presenciales : 60 Período Académico : Cuarto Semestre Destinatarios : Profesores de Educación Básica Descripción : Taller orientado a reforzar en l@s docentes-alumn@s las habilidades de compresión y producción oral a través de la lectura de un texto dramático. Profesores del módulo : Javier Aguirre
II. Objetivos Objetivo General Fundamental Al finalizar el curso los docentes-alumnos serán capaces de producir lecturas dramatizadas de un texto corto en inglés.
Objetivo General Transversal 1. Que los alumnos y alumnas-docentes valoren la lengua inglesa y su cultura, como herramienta de comunicación que potencia su desempeño profesional. 2 Que las alumnas y los alumnos-docentes demuestren una actitud crítica, metódica y autónoma frente a su proceso de aprendizaje.
Aprendizajes Esperados: Los alumnos y alumnas-docentes: 1. Analizan compresivamente un texto dramático breve. 2 Analizan la relación ortografía-pronunciación. 3. Aplican la simbología fonética en la lectura (articulación acentuación, entonación) 4. Leen el texto con intención comunicativa..
III Contenidos Análisis léxico-gramatical Estudio textual teniendo presente los elementos lingüísticos propios de un texto dramático (grupos de sentido, pausas lingüísticas, asimilación, elisión, etc.). - V. METODOLOGIA Exposición teórico-práctica del profesor. Trabajo individual y grupal en el análisis del texto dramático en estudio.
V. EVALUACION Evaluación formativa Lectura dramatizada final= 100%
VI. BIBLIOGRAFÍA Guías de Fonética elaboradas por el profesor del curso Guías de ejercicios de relajación y respiración
