Listening with Discrimination
By 1942 the Dominions Office in London began to consider what should be done about the political status of Newfoundland. Should it continue as a colony of Great Britain, ruled by the Commission of Government? Could it survive as an independent country under Responsible Government? Or would confederation with Canada as its tenth province be the best solution? The Newfoundland government did not have large reserves of cash to go it alone, and Britain could not afford to allocate scarce dollars to Newfoundland after the end of a costly war.
Britain decided to put the question before the people. To do this, 45 representatives were elected from 38 districts to recommend to the British government the possible future forms of government to be put before the people at a national referendum. This group, which became known as the National Convention, began its proceedings on September 11, 1946.
Tracks 5, 7, and 8, in the Confederation Debates in the Resource Room contains the more striking speeches of Smallwood, Higgins, and Bradley at the National Convention. The purpose of this lesson is to have students listen critically in order to analyse the relationship between speaker and the audience and the methods used to convey a message, and, in doing so, to gain a deeper understanding of confederation issues.
The exercises attempt to focus attention on the use of tone in speech-making to elicit the desired response in the audience. A suitable tone depends upon a skilful blend of rational qualities, emotional appeals, and delivery. A rational tone will rely upon the use of facts, statistics, references to authorities, illustrations, brief anecdotes/stories, descriptions, coherence, and rhetorical questions. Speeches designed to arouse emotions in the audience will employ such appeals a diction, figurative language, sound devices (e.g., alliteration), repetition, and connections with audience characteristics (e.g., economic status).
By engaging in these tasks, students will achieve the following outcomes.
Canadian History 1201
Social Studies Skills
This lesson also promotes the following social studies skills:
Participating in Groups