No_strawberries_advanced.pdf

No strawberries and cream for fruit pickers

Level 3 l Advanced

1 Pre-reading 1

Look at the headline. What do you think the article will be about?

2 Pre-reading 2 Key Words

Predict the meaning of these words from the text by matching them with the deinitions.

a polytunnel a dozen a walking frame to witness something

deiance to cheer somebody on to object to something

to descend on (a place) to spring up a migrant

to say that you disagree with something

to see something happen

an open refusal to obey; a strong protest

to encourage somebody to continue what they are doing

twelve, or about twelve

someone who moves to another country to work or live

to appear suddenly and unexpectedly, as if by magic

a metal support that helps old or disabled people to move

a long, transparent polythene cover to protect growing

plants, tall enough for people to work inside

10.

to arrive somewhere in large numbers

Now read the irst four paragraphs and see if you were right.

No strawberries and cream for fruit pickers

1 When Val Salisbury walked down her lane in Herefordshire, in southern England, and into a giant plastic

polytunnel where dozens of Ukrainians, Lithuanians and other east Europeans were picking strawberries,

the workers were surprised. She was, after all, a 69-year-old Englishwoman using a walking frame. But

when she started pulling up the plants and throwing them to the ground, they realised why she was there.

2 Mrs Salisbury herself was surprised by what the east Europeans did next. According to some of the people

who witnessed her act of deiance against S&A Davies, Europe’s largest strawberry grower, the workers

started clapping, and then cheered her on. By the time the farm manager had arrived, Mrs Salisbury was a

hero. A hero, not just for those people in the county of Herefordshire who object to thousands of acres of

plastic-covered farmland, but also to an army of workers from all over eastern Europe who pick fruit for

British supermarkets.

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No strawberries and cream for fruit pickers

Level 3 l Advanced

3 “I felt so much better after my protest,” said Mrs Salisbury last weekend. “We don’t need these bloody

strawberries and these polytunnels in Herefordshire”.

4 Welcome to the English strawberry ields, where the beginning of summer sees at least 5,000 people from

eastern Europe descend on Herefordshire and Worcestershire to pick fruit. This year two villages, each of

more than 1,700 people, have sprung up without planning permission, each with 400 or more caravans,

football pitches, internet cafes and even saunas. The pickers are welcomed by the majority of local people,

but there is concern that the migrant labour force is being exploited. Last weekend an informal survey of

50 people working in the tunnels suggested that many pickers are as angry as Mrs Salisbury. Those who

spoke English said they were being paid less than they expected, that they had to wait for payment, that the

accommodation was expensive, that they had paid too much to get there, and that the management were

proiting excessively from their stay.

5 “In Lithuania I earn two hundred pounds a month,” said Mindaugas, a Vilnius policeman. “I thought I could

earn more here. It looks like I am not going to. It cost more than I thought to get here; it costs more to live.”

6 “None of us like strawberry picking,” said Svetlana, a Ukrainian student. “Today I have earned £23. But

I must pay £35 a week to live in a box with three other people. Perhaps I earn £150 in a week, but when I

have paid for food, accommodation, tax, everything, maybe I have £70 for a six days. It’s not good”.

7 “The money is bad,” said Artur, a waiter from the Czech Republic. “We waited days to have work. Last year

we heard there was a strike here; perhaps there will be one this year, too. It is like a prison. I have been

given a yellow card already. One more and I am sent home.”

8 Documents drawn up by S&A Davies and seen by the Guardian set out the terms and conditions for workers,

who live four or ive to a room. They must pay £26.25 a week for accommodation, £3 a week for sewage and

waste collection, £2.25 for electricity and £2.75 for leisure facilities, including a TV set, football pitch and disco.

For £30, they have access to medical and translation advice.

9 The documents state that pickers can be sacked for eating a single strawberry, for stopping work, going to

the toilet in a hedge, or for smoking indoors. If rooms are not “clean and tidy”, the workers can be asked to

leave. If they want to invite a visitor to the camp, they must ask permission two days in advance. “I have

never been anywhere like this,” said Irynya, a Ukrainian housewife. The company said they guaranteed

pickers £5.05 an hour when there was work, and a bonus if they met targets. But they said that at the start

of the season or in bad weather they could not guarantee hours. “When 3,500 people turn up, it’s hard to get

everyone going at the same time. We reduced the accommodation charge to £10 when it was raining, two

weeks ago,” said Graham Neal, a manager with S&A Davies.

10 Mr Neal blamed agents in east European countries for sending them unsuitable workers. “The old student

agriculture workers quota scheme meant we could go to an east European university and know people’s

history and character. We had superb people. Now the government says that we must recruit EU people.

Some countries ... have sent over their unemployed drunks,” he said.

11 As a inal irony, the east Europeans cannot afford to buy the fruit they pick. “Yes, we like strawberries but we

cannot pay for them,” said Linas Petraitis, a Ukrainian buying cheap white bread and margarine in the local

supermarket. “When you eat one, just think of us in the tunnels.”

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No strawberries and cream for fruit pickers

Level 3 l Advanced

3 Post-reading Point of view

Do you think the writer sympathizes more with the workers or with the management of the strawberry

farm? Why?

4 Detailed comprehension

Are the following statements true or false?

1. Mrs Salisbury was it and healthy.

2. She didn’t want the countryside covered with plastic.

3. None of the local people agree with her.

4. The workers were angry that she was destroying their work.

5. There is nothing for the workers to do in their free time.

6. Some local people think the management are making an unfair proit out of the workers.

7. The migrants’ working conditions are severe.

8. Doctors and interpreters are provided free.

9. There is not always enough work for everyone.

10.The S&A Davies manager is critical of all European workers.

5 Vocabulary 1 Word search

Find words in paragraphs 7-10 that mean:

When workers refuse to work, to protest about their conditions (7)

A sign or warning (originally from football) that you have done something wrong,

and may be dismissed (7)

Waste material from the toilet (7)

Dismissed (8)

Promised (to pay) (8)

Reached the totals set (8)

A number that is oficially permitted (9)

Find and employ ((9)

A strange or funny situation where things happen in the opposite way to what you

would expect (10)

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No strawberries and cream for fruit pickers

Level 3 l Advanced

6 Vocabulary 2 Phrasal Verbs

1. See if you can remember the missing particles in these phrasal verbs.

1. pulling

the plants

2. cheered her

3. descend

Hertfordshire

4. two villages have sprung

5. documents drawn

by S&A Davies

6. set

the terms and conditions

7. when 3,500 people turn

2. Now match numbers 1, 5, 6 and 7 to these deinitions:

a) prepared and written

b) explained clearly in writing

c) arrive (sometimes unexpectedly)

d) removing, roots and all

3. Check your answers in the text.

7 Interpretation and discussion

1. Do you agree with the idea of richer countries importing workers from poorer countries to do manual jobs?

If so, under what circumstances and conditions?

2. With a partner, take the roles of:

A. a migrant worker

B.the manager of the fruit farm

Try to reach an agreement about wages and conditions.

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No strawberries and cream for fruit pickers

Level 3 l Advanced

Key:

2. Pre-reading 2 Key Words

1. to object to sth

2. to witness sth

3. deiance

4. to cheer sb on

5. a dozen

6. a migrant

7. to spring up

8. a walking frame

9. a polytunnel

10. to descend on (a place)

5. Vocabulary 1 Word Search

1. a strike

2. a yellow card

3. sewage

4. sacked

5. guaranteed

6. met targets

7. (a) quota

8. (to) recruit

9. (an) irony

10. a strike

3. Post-reading Point of view

The writer appears to sympathize more with the

workers. He gives lots of space to various individual

workers, their complaints, and the unpleasant condi-

tions of their contracts. He gives much less space to the

manager, and gives the last word to one of the workers,

repeating and explaining the point made in the title.

6. Vocabulary 2 Phrasal Verbs

1. 1. pulling up the plants

2. cheered her on

3. descend on Hertfordshire

4. two villages have sprung up

5. documents drawn up by S&A Davies

6. set out the terms and conditions

7. when 3,500 people turn up

4. Detailed Comprehension

1. False; she used a walking frame

2. True

3. False; ‘a hero not just for those people in

Herefordshire who object…’

4. False; ‘the workers started clapping, and then

cheered her on’

5. False; ‘football pitches, internet cafes and even

saunas’.

6. True

7. True

8. False; ‘for £30 they have access to medical and

translation advice’

9. True

10.False; ‘We had superb people . Now ... Some

countries ... have sent over their unemployed

drunks ’

2. 1-d; 5-a; 6-b; 7-c

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