1. EAL Nexus Resource Victorian child labour Emotive language Subject:
History
Age group:
8 – 11, 12-14
Topic:
Victorian child labour - mining
© Bell Educational Trust EAL Nexus – free downloadable teaching materials
This resource was originally developed by C. Hurley and has been adapted for EAL Nexus.

2. Emotive language pity anger We feel sorry for them We feel angry
= language that makes us feel a particular emotion
pride
We feel proud
fear
We feel frightened
horror
We are horrified

3. Children as young as five years old were used to supply this need.
They pulled heavy carts of cut coal to the pit surface.
Emotive language:
How does the sentence make you feel about the children in the sentence? Which part of the sentence/ which particular words do this?

4. During the Victorian period, the Industrial Revolution dramatically increased the need for coal which was needed to make steam and to drive the machinery. In order to produce more coal, the miners needed more workers. Children as young as five years old were used to supply this need.
This is eight year old Billy and he was employed as a trapper. Trappers operated the air doors providing ventilation for the miners. And by keeping the fresh air flowing, they stopped the build-up of dangerous gases. The young children would sit for hours in the draft of the door. Cramped, cold and frightened, with little or no light. Some would sing, to keep themselves awake, frightened that the miners would beat them if they fell asleep. They could cause an explosion if they didn’t do their job properly.
Can learners find the emotive language in the text?

5. Other children worked as drawers. They pulled heavy carts of cut coal to the pit surface with chains around their waist. These drawers worked directly for the miners. More coal meant more money and the miners could be cruel if the children didn’t work fast enough. These narrow tunnels were often wet and thick with coal dust. The children got chest infections, pneumonia and lung disease and drawers also got lumps and sores on their backs from constantly banging them on the roof as they crawled along. All this, and the threat of roof falls.
The older children, aged between ten and twelve, were trusted to operate the pulley which lifted the buckets of coal and people up and down the mine shaft. Serious accidents could occur if the chain slipped or the buckets fell.

6. While the children worked, the mine owners and their managers got richer. Long hours, poor pay and dangerous conditions all meant cheap and
speedy coal production and a hefty profit for them. Malnourished and exhausted, these children could only expect to live until they were twenty five.

7. heavy carts frightened cruel narrow wet thick sore rich long hours
Emotive adjectives
fresh air
young children
dangerous
cramped
old
heavy carts frightened
cruel
narrow
wet
thick
sore
rich
long hours
poor pay
hefty profit
cheap
speedy
malnourished exhausted
poor conditions
serious accidents
Examples of adjectives

8. sad. It
frightened.
sorry for them.
This word
shocked.
makes the reader feel
horrified.
angry.
This phrase
proud.
disgusted.
This sentence
ashamed.