7.2C – Read the Text #3: Practicing Fluency
Read the module text again with a partner or in a small group.
Take notes:
- Do you still have questions about words or ideas in the module text?
- Ask your classmates or teacher – make sure to cite the paragraph numbers where you have questions (and where you find the answers)!
READING TEXT
Module 7: Civic Participation and Power of the People
Paragraph 1
The people who live in a city, state, or country expect their government to help them in different ways. A government’s responsibilities include making and enforcing laws as well as protecting people by providing police, military, and emergency services. Governments also collect taxes and try to spend this money in ways that support a good quality of life for the public. For example, governments use tax money to build and maintain roads, bridges, prisons, parks, schools, and government buildings (like post offices and courthouses). Tax money also pays for federal, state, and local programs like public education, Social Security and disability benefits, health services, and much more.
Paragraph 2
People in a society also have responsibilities to each other and to the government. The government requires all people living in the United States to obey laws, pay taxes, and attend school if they are a certain age. U.S. citizens who are 18 years old or older must participate on juries in courts if they are chosen; this is called “jury duty”. If there is a war, the government can also ask certain U.S. residents who are 18 and older to serve in the military. All male citizens and immigrants between 18 and 25 must register with a U.S. program called the Selective Service to prepare for this. Most U.S. citizens 18 and over can participate in choosing their government officials by voting in elections. Some people lose the right to vote after a court finds them guilty of serious crimes.
Paragraph 3
All people living in the United States have the power to participate in civic activities that support their communities and help others. Informed citizens are an important part of democracy, and can include community members who don’t have citizenship status. We can all become informed by learning about news and information from different sources (such as newspapers, internet media, TV, radio, and local meetings) and thinking about this information critically. Informed citizens participate in their communities and in civic activities. As informed citizens, we can vote, volunteer in schools, support community programs, and organize political campaigns for elections. If eligible, we can run for government positions to represent the people in our area. We can join unions to support worker’s rights to fair pay, benefits, and safe working conditions.
Paragraph 4
Another opportunity for community members to become better informed about local issues and work together with others who share their political beliefs is to support a political party. Political parties are groups of people with similar ideas who coordinate to elect candidates to the government. They look for candidates who will try to use their power to advance the goals that the party agrees on. While parties are run by political professionals and volunteers from the community, politicians often have to listen to the people, companies, and organizations that donate money to their campaigns to help them get elected.
Paragraph 5
The two major political parties in United States politics are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Democrats usually believe in liberal ideals, like voting equality, equal rights, and spending government money on social programs such as health care, Social Security, and unemployment insurance. Republican beliefs are more socially and financially conservative; they support lower taxes, less funding for government programs, and less government regulation of business. There are also smaller, less well-known political parties in the United States. These parties shine a light on issues that their members think deserve more attention in politics. For example, the Green Party fights for environmental conservation.
Paragraph 6
Because of the protective laws written in the Bill of Rights, all people in the U.S. can express the ideas that they believe in, organize meetings and protests to share their ideas, and try to influence lawmakers to support certain policies. Social progress in the U.S. and the world has happened because of the power of people coming together to fight for their rights and for equal opportunities for everyone. People got involved and used their freedom of speech to push against unfair practices and ideas. As a result, many groups today have the right to vote, to run for office, to own property, to attend college, and to receive government benefits. “People power” and civic participation help drive our society forward to a future that supports the needs of every person.
Let’s review the key words of Module 7
Dictation: What do you hear?
When someone is speaking to you, it’s very important that you understand what they’re saying. For practice, listen to the following sentences from the reading and write what you exactly hear on a piece of paper. You can listen to it as many times as you want. Then, type the sentences into the spaces below and check and see if they are correct.
