Starter quiz
- Enid is in six of 'Leave Taking's' eight scenes. Match her scenes to their plot points.
- Scene One⇔Takes her daughters to an obeah reading ✓
- Scene Two⇔Prepares for the Pastor's visit; slaps Del who leaves home ✓
- Scene Three⇔Finds out about her mother's death ✓
- Scene Four⇔Grieves her mother and gives Viv money for university ✓
- Scene Six⇔Sees Mai again; still processing her grief ✓
- Scene Eight⇔Has an obeah reading from Del ✓
- Scene Two of 'Leave Taking' begins with Enid preparing for the Pastor's visit by cleaning the house. What is Viv doing as Enid cleans?
- Preparing to go to a party
- Arguing with Del
- Listening to music
- Arguing with Brod
- Studying ✓
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- In 'Leave Taking', how does Pinnock establish that education is important to the character of Enid?
- She tells Viv to keep studying when she offers to help clean the house. ✓
- She boasts to Brod that Viv is descended from Nanny of the Maroons.
- She boasts that Viv will go to university. ✓
- She is more worried about Del who doesn't have solid qualifications, unlike Viv. ✓
- She takes Del to an obeah reading to try and convince her to go back to school.
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- Over the course of 'Leave Taking', what do we find out about Enid's upbringing in Jamaica?
- Enid's sister migrated shortly after her.
- Enid always dreamed of migrating to England.
- Her family didn't have access to basic necessities like running water. ✓
- Her mother encouraged her to migrate.
- Her family were extremely poor. ✓
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- In Scene Three of 'Leave Taking', Viv says she wants to take a gap year. How does Enid respond?
- Encouragingly
- Disapprovingly ✓
- Positively
- Negatively ✓
- Proudly
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- Jamaica was a British colony and then a Crown colony until it achieved independence in 1962. What does it mean to be a colony?
- To be a country that is fully or partially under the control of another. ✓
- To be a country that is a place to migrate to or from.
- To be a country that works with another country towards a certain aim.
- To be a country that asks another country for support and advice.
- To be a country that is exploited by another country for economic gain. ✓
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Exit quiz
- In Scene Six of 'Leave Taking', Enid says she is not worried about Viv because "They can't take you ______ away from you."
- 'education' ✓
- In 'Leave Taking', why might we describe Enid's upbringing in Jamaica as precarious?
- Enid's family depended on her salary as postmistress, which was quite small.
- Enid's family lacked basic day to day necessities for living. ✓
- Enid's life was very stable, if impoverished.
- Enid and her family relied on Brod, and he migrated when he was quite young.
- Enid's family depended on the land which did not always produce crops. ✓
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- In Scene Two of 'Leave Taking', Viv talks to Brod about her mother's work ethic and determination that she is successful academically. How do these characteristics of her mother's make Viv feel?
- nervous ✓
- confused
- proud
- angry
- unworthy ✓
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- In Scene Four of 'Leave Taking', Enid tells Viv about her upbringing. She says, "You think it easy living off the land? The land fail you, you might as well be ______".
- 'dead' ✓
- In Scene Two of 'Leave Taking', Brod argues with Enid about the way she is bringing up her children. He says, "You ______ these children all wrong."
- 'teaching' ✓
- In Scene Two of 'Leave Taking', Brod explains why Jamaica is "so poor". He says Jamaica is still suffering from the legacy of "______".
- 'colonialism ' ✓
Worksheet
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Lesson Details
Key learning points
- Enid values education.
- Enid believes education is a way to escape the rural poverty she experienced.
- Enid believes that education can't be taken away from someone.
- Pinnock says her parents received a colonialist education.
- Pinnock uses the character of Brod to explore the narrow focus of the British education system in the 1980s.
Common misconception
Education is only ever a positive power.
Consider Pinnock's words about her parents' generation and why and how education can be used as a tool of oppression.
Keywords
Rural poverty - situations in which people who don’t live in urban areas lack financial stability and necessities for day to day living
Precarious - when something is unstable or insecure
Eurocentric - when there is a focus on European culture or history, ignoring or excluding cultures and history from the wider world
Indoctrinate - when you make people believe something; a less formal synonym is to brainwash
Colonisation - when a country establishes control over another country, exploiting it for economic gain
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