Unit 01: Ill-gotten gains never prosper
Sequence 03: Reading and writing
Step 02: While-reading
Read the text carefully then do the activities.
“Child labour” is, generally speaking, work for children that harms them or exploits them in someway
(physically, mentally, morally or by blocking access to education). An estimated 158 million children aged
5-14 are engaged in it. One in six children in the world. In Africa, one child in three is at work, representing
69 million children. In Latin America, one child in five works. In South Asia, another 44 million are at
work.
Not all work is bad for children because some kinds of it may be completely harmless. For instance, a
child who delivers newspapers before school may actually benefit from learning how to work, gaining
responsibility, and earn a bit of money.
On the other hand, the International Labour Organization (I.L.O) estimated in 2000 that some 8.4
million children were engaged in unconditional worst forms of child labour and hazardous situations which
include working in mines, working with chemicals and pesticides in agriculture, working with dangerous
machinery, using children in armed conflicts, trafficking in children and in their organs, toiling as domestic
servants in homes, laboring behind the walls of workshops, hidden from view in plantations, …. Children
work the longest hours and at the same time, they are the worst paid of all labourers. Besides, they are
deprived of the simple joys of childhood which together with hard work hinder their physical and mental
development.
The top reason why children work at inappropriate jobs for their ages is poverty. Though they are not
well paid, they still serve as the major contributors to their family income. Without forgetting the impact of
illiterate parents who prefer their children to do these illegal works rather than to study. Lack of motivation
for schooling also contributes to child labour, lack of other services such as health care, and family
problems.
The UNICEF often interferes with children’s education. Ensuring that all children go to school and
that their education is of good quality, is a key to preventing child labour.
1-Circle the letter which corresponds ti the right answer:
The text is: a-descriptive b-expository c-prescriptive
2-Choose the main idea of the text: a-Children and exploitative work.
b-The child and labour organizations.
c-Children’s educational problems.
3-Write the letter which corresponds to the right answer:
A-………. children are engaged in child labour in the world.
a-One out of six b-Fifty eight million c-Sixty nine million
B-Some African and Asian children are working in ……….
a-fair conditions. b-unsafe conditions. c-legal conditions.
C-The UNICEF is an institution which ……….
a-encourages child labour. b-protects children from child labour. c-prevents children’s
education.
4-Say whether the following statements are true or false according to the text:
a-Children’s work is always harmful.
b-The number of African children involved in work is higher than the one in Latin America.
c-Poverty is considered the only cause of child labour.
5-Answer the following questions according to the text:
a-What does child labour mean?
b-Mention two tasks children are forced to do?
c-In which continents are children engaged in child labour?
d-What are the causes behind child labour?
e-How can we fight child labour?
6-In which paragraph is it mentioned that “Children are involved in exploitative works”?
7-What/ who do the underlined words refer to in the text?
8-Find in the text words or phrases closest in meaning to the following:
safe = ….. (§2) risky = ….. (§3) unsuitable = ….. (§4) answer = ….. (§5)
Step 02: After-reading
1-Complete the following chart:
VERB NOUN ADJECTIVE
….. labour …..
to engage ….. …..
….. ….. expoitative
to harm ….. …..
2-Fill in the gaps with words from the list:
{ illegal, poverty, due, think, issue}
Child labour is a worldwide …1… . It is …2… to overpopulation, unemployment and especially to …
3… . Parents have to send their children doing …4… works rather than studying. If they …5… that this
brings them happiness they are mistaken.
