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Canadians Recover Native Art

Part of a Tsimshian First Nations collection of art taken from near Prince Rupert British Columbia by Rev. Robert Dundas of Scotland in 1863 was recovered at an auction house in New York. Museums around the world have tried to acquire the pieces, but negotiations fell through. Several Canadians were successful in acquiring pieces from the collection.

The Canadian Museum of Civilization spent around $82,000 on four winning bids. The Ottawa museum won a wooden bowl, a wooden comb featuring a high relief carving, a pair of Athabaskan birch bark baskets and a decorated wooden food dish.

Museum President, Victor Rabinovich is pleased that the museum is carrying out its mandate of protection important national heritage by bidding on and winning the art.

The Tsimshian face mask set a record for the highest price ever paid at an auction for a First Nations object. It was purchased by Canada’s David Thomson in memory of his father Kenneth Thomson for $1.8 million dollars. The Thomson families were newspaper giants in Canadian media.

The Royal B.C. Museum and the museum of Northern B.C. on Prince Rupert won an intricately carved polychrome wooden spoon that dates from between 1850 and 1870. Paul Rafferty, chief executive officer at eh Royal B.C. Museum told CBC news that he thinks it is really important that (the objects) be back close to the Tsimshian nation where they can talk about how culturally significant (the objects) are to their nation and history.

B.C. First Nations groups have been calling for the collection’s repatriation to the Tsimshian.

Vocabulary List

First Nations- Native tribes

Recovered- found and brought back

Auction House- a place where people offer increasing amounts of money for objects for sale

Acquire- to purchase at an auction

Negotiations- talking to come to an agreement

High Relief Carving- deeply grooved carving

Birch Bark- outer skin of a birch tree

Mandate- purpose, intention written into an organization’s reasoning

National Heritage- belonging to the history of a country

Polychrome – many colors, usually shiny in nature
Chief executive officer- person in charge of decisions to act

Repatriation- returning to the original owner
Bids- promising to pay a certain amount of money for something at an auction

Idioms

Newspaper giants- people who are very successful in the newspaper business
Negotiations fell through- talking did not bring a solution
Mandate of protection- purpose set out to preserve
Intricately carved- gouged with hand tools in a very detailed way
Culturally significant- meaningful to a certain group of peopleCalling for- asking the governments to do something


Listening Comprehension Exercise. 

Read the news story above and have students fill in the blanks

• Part of a Tsimshian First Nations collection of art taken from near _____ _______ British Columbia by Rev. Robert ______ of Scotland in 1863 was recovered at an auction in New York.
• Museums around the world have tried to _______ the pieces, but ___________ fell through.
• Several Canadians were successful in acquiring pieces from the _________.
• The Canadian Museum of ___________ spent around $82,000 on four winning ____.
• The Ottawa museum won a wooden ____, a wooden ____featuring a _____ _______ carving, a pair of ___________birch bark baskets and a decorated wooden ____dish.
• Museum President, Victor Rabinovich is pleased that the museum is carrying out its _______of _________.
• The Tsimshian ____ ____ set a record for the highest price ever paid at an _______ for a First Nations object.
•  It was purchased by Canada’s _____ _______ in ______ of his father Kenneth Thomson for $1.8 million dollars.
• The Thomson families were _________ giants in Canadian _____.
• The _____ B.C. Museum and the museum of _______ B.C. on Prince Rupert won an intricately carved polychrome wooden spoon that dates from between 1850 and 1870.
• Paul Rafferty, chief _________ officer at the Royal B.C. Museum told CBC news that he thinks it is really important that (the objects) be back close to the _________ nation where they can talk about how culturally _________(the objects) are to their nation and _______.
• B.C. _____ _______ groups have been calling for the collection’s ___________ to the________.  

Fill in the Blanks Answers:

• Prince Rupert, Dundas
• acquire, negotiations
• collection
• Civilization, bids
• bowl, comb, high relief, Athabaskan, food
• mandate, protection
• face mask, auction
• David Thomson, memory
• newspaper, media
• Royal, Northern
• executive, Tsimshian, significant
• First Nations, repatriation, Tsimshian

 Warm up Discussions

In your pair or group, decide which of the topics below is the most interesting. Chat about the topics you liked, and knew about, then chat about the ones you didn’t like or know about. Change topics and partners often.

• All First Nations art should be returned to the tribes that made them.
• The generosity of Native Peoples in Canada at the time of first contact left them open to losing their art to the Europeans
• Museums should house First Nations art.
• Governments should purchase native art back.
• Countries of the world should return native art to the native peoples worldwide.
• Native art should not be available to the general public for acquisition.

 More Quick Discussion topics

• Art profit
• Native rights
• Free enterprise rights of purchase
• Governments purchasing of native art
• Native purchasing of native art
• Funding for native arts and acquisitions
• Separation of native and non native funding
• Museum rights of acquisition
• Cultural objects reclamation
• Repatriation of native art
• Ability to preserve art objects



More Activities for Advanced Students >>>

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There are 5 Steps to each Level with between 8 and 12 interactive Slides in each Step.

The first 10 levels are the equivalent to Module 1 - Beginners.

The first Step of each Level can be downloaded free of charge at any time.  Try out a free interactive lesson here

Once downloaded, the Levels can be used as often as needed with no time limit.  Any number of students can learn from the Level(s) on that computer.

The Levels of this Interactive Series can be purchased and downloaded one at a time, or at a reduced price, or in groups of 10 or more, that allow the buyer to download and install on any number of computers.

This Series of Lessons Provides:

• Real life situations
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• Step-by-step introduction of English grammar that is practiced and used in real life situations
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• Many opportunities for the student to participate in the lesson
• Content that is related to the events taking place in many countries
• Content about sports, present day heroes, singers, famous people plus colorful snatches of history
• Short tests at the end of each Level
• Glossary for each Level
• Practice book for each Level

Interactive Listening Comprehension Companion Modules with Full Audio.

These can be used in small groups, 1-on-1, or for 'learn at home' style learning. A complete Course in Listening Comprehension.

Fully interactive so students can repeat as many times as they need.
Full Audio.

Companion Modules for Modules 1, 2 and 3 are now available on our website.

Try out a lesson from each module!

Blog for ESL Students

Visit our newest site www.learning-english.ca and check out our BLOG.

Learning English Blog

Welcome to our new ESL JOBS section which has proved to be very popular with our subscribers. Below are jobs posted on May. 03/07. For updates every day, please visit our website for daily updates.

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  We are searching for adventurous individuals whom wish to take a year out & experience the culture of another country.
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  For teaching jobs throughout China, from kindergarten through to tertiary-level institutions, look no further. With over 7000 schools that look to us to fulfil their foreign personnel requirements, we are your one-stop job shop.
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  TRUE English is looking for ESL teachers at our institutes in and around Seoul. NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY!
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This Newsletter is brought to you by Learning English with Laughter Ltd.!
http://www.efl-esl.com The author can be contacted at:
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No part of this document may be reproduced without the permission
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