Reading Is Fun!

Here's an actual excerpt from our book:

The Great Famine

In 1845, most Irish lands were in the hands of absentee Anglo-Irish Protestant landowners. A farm labourer usually rented a small plot of land annually from a landlord at a very high price. He paid the rent by growing potato crops. Out of a population of 8.5 million inhabitants, over 1.5 million landless labourers and their families had no other real source of food or income except the potato.

Unfortunately a blight devastated Ireland's potato crop in 1845 and famine started. Unlike their tenants, landowners were not dependent on the potato for their survival, and while potatoes rotted in the fields, they remained unaffected.

All together now: "Huh?"

Bear in mind, I'm supposed to be using this text with students who started studying English two years ago. After two years of French, my Baker students can say things like "I went camping last weekend and saw many snakes and birds." These French kids are expected to discuss absentee landowners and potato blight. (You know what their first question was? "What does 'great' mean?") Longest hour of my life? Yeah, you could say that.