Prejudice terminology

Kwela enjoyed his life.

But then something happened which changed everything.

His parents were killed in a landmine accident and Kwela was sent to stay with a foster family until a suitable family could be found for him.

This family was very different and very soon Kwela started changing.

He found that his attitudes hardened, that his perceptions of other people became more distrustful and his prejudices surfaced.

One day he was listening to his new foster mother talk about their neighbourhood.

“You know,” she said, in a complaining voice, ” Noor from next door is such a liar. He told me that bananas cost R1,99 but when I gave him some money to buy some for me, he told me that

the price has gone up to R2,30! I don’t believe him – he is a taxi-driver. What can you expect! He took my money! Don’t you trust him, you hear, Kwela!”

His foster mother continued in the same vein. “ Honestly, men are so stupid. They can’t even buy bananas properly! Typical! . . . So, Kwela, I want you to buy the bananas for me, OK? I know you do not understand much, but you can buy bananas, can’t you? And I don’t want you buying them from that Chinese man – they are also all crooks if you ask me!”

Soon Kwela did not like the man from next door, did not believe that he was capable of doing anything and became a quiet, angry young man, who distrusted taxi-drivers and Chinese people.”

Activity 4:

Find synonyms

[lo 6.1.5]

• Here are SYNONYMS for some of the words used in the passage:

• Can you find the corresponding words in the passage?

WORDS from Paragraph 1 and 2:

attractive, bonny, gorgeous, handsome, lovely, pretty

holding, lulling, nestling, rocking

dearly, kindly, tenderly, warmly

benevolent, compassionate, considerate, kind-hearted

civil, courteous, gracious, mannerly, respectful

consideration, deference, regard

Paragraph 5

acceptable, appropriate, eligible, fit

Paragraph 9

bemoaning, disapproving, griping, grousing,

Paragraph 10

cheats, criminals, gangsters, racketeers

Paragraph 11

competent, qualified, skilful

mild, reserved, retiring, shy

bitter, cross, furious, indignant, resentful

suspected, had misgivings

Activity 5:

Language test on above synonyms

[lo 6.1.2]

• Before we answer some questions on the above story, let us have a quick language test, based on the above synonyms you have just learnt:

Gorgeous - Why is this word spelled with an ‘e’ after the ‘g’? (2)

Bonny - ‘A bonny baby’ is an example of what poetic device? (1)

Lulling - Why is this word spelled with two ‘l’s’? (1)

tenderly, warmly - What part of speech are these two words? What gives you a clue? (2)

Benevolent - Identify the prefix in this word and give its meaning.(2)

compassionate, considerate - Identify the prefixes in these words and give their meaning. (3)

courteous - What is the root of this word. Now give the original explanation of this word. (3)

consideration, deference - Give the suffixes of these two words. (2)

eligible - How is this word different from ‘illegible’ (2)

Bemoaning - What part of speech is ‘moan’. And ‘bemoan’? (2)

Disapproving - Break up this word into morphemes and explain your divisions.(6)