TWINAGERS NEWS 

When Italians were ready to cross the ocean just to follow their dreams.

 Why did italians choose to emigrate ?
     Since the unification of the nation many Italians decided that the best thing to do was to migrate, to go towards new opportunities, hoping to find a better life. In Italy  finding a job was really hard, the increase of the births and the demographic raise were not well proportioned to the work opportunities. Men could not earn the money that their families needed. Often, especially in the south, but all around Italy, the living conditions were really poor. Italy wanted to grow, but there were no chances. Because of this many people just packed their bags and left for an expensive and also dangerous travel, many of them headed to America.                     

Useful words:                             
towards:  vers, en direction de
an increase = a rise : une augmentation
grow: grandir
head for: go to : aller vers

The American dream
     From 1876 to 1914 more than four million Italians migrated to America.
     The new world was thought to be the best place to build a better life, with a kind of naïve attitude it was considered the solution to every problem, and many thought that the difficulties they would have met were worth to be faced. But people often left without realising what they had to face, the American dream seemed the easiest thing to be fulfilled. They were tired of poverty , this made them really motivated, and people who had barely moved from their birth place crossed the ocean to get to the United States.
     They sold their properties to get the necessary money to buy a ticket, often the men of the families went there first and the family followed them when they had found a job, or they left with the hope to come back richer, and live happily in their home land, Italy.

Useful words : 
barely: à peine
To realise : se rendre compte de
Worth to be faced :  qui vaut la peine d’être affronté
To fulfill a dream : to make a dream come true: réaliser un rêve

Travelling conditions
     The ships to get there were really overcrowded, often illnesses spread all around, because of the bad hygienic conditions. While in the first and second class there was more comfort, in the third class there were too many people. There were children and pregnant women. They travelled for 40 days. And their hearts were full of hope.

Useful words :
overcrowded :  surpeuplé
illness : maladie
spread: s’étendre

Ellis Island
     Ellis Island was the place where almost all the Italians who were migrating to America stopped. Most of the ships which were going to the United States arrived there. The immigrants were registered and kept there for a quarantine. After a tiring travel, they had to stay there wondering what would happen to them. The richer passengers of the first and the second class weren’t much controlled, but the really poor ones, who had spent 40 days in conditions that were more proper to animals than to human beings, were kept there for a longer time. Doctors visited them to see if they were ill. After a few days most of them could go.

Useful words :
quarantine : Période de quarantaine
registered : enregistré, inscrit, comptabilisé   

Disillusionment...and what we should remenber
     What they found there was not what they expected, some found someone who took advantage of them, making them do  a job everybody refused to do. And they would have to deal with rejection and discrimination, that still nowadays are not totally overcome. Italians were seen as robbers, people who were not to be trusted .
And in our day and age, when Italy is affected by immigration itself, and the situation is upside-down, we should remember that.
We should understand that when someone does not have the means to defend himself, when there is ignorance, poverty, hunger, this person can be used by anybody. This person if really desperate, can do things that are not good. We should understand that after all there are not many differences between us all. We should not just claim, and pretend, and convince ourselves that we have an open mind.

Useful words :
overcome: Surmonter.
robbers : voleurs
upside- down : à l'envers (things are the revers
of what they where before)

                                                                                                                                                                        Liceo Alessi e Lycée Lurçat
                                                                                                                                                                 alunni delle Prof.esse Antonini e Bailly