This is a Reading Comprehension activity for an adult intermediate student To work on past tenses.

1- Read the text twice and find the nouns which are most repeated to use it to make a summary afterwards.

2- Put in a box the verb structures and write in your notes the tenses used

3- Give your opinion about the genre.

Blues

When millions of Africans were transported to America as slaves in the 18th and 19th centuries, their melodies and rhythms went with them. They knew that singing together made working easier, and it was in these work songs that African rhythms and melodies were preserved until slavery ended in 1865. Many African Americans became Christians and sang hymns in church. Others learned to play popular songs and dance tunes for money. But whenever they sang and played, the African rhythms of the old work songs could be heard. And when they expressed their feelings by creating new songs, African melodies could be heard in the tunes.

It was this new combination of African and Western music that led to the genre we now call «blues». Some blues songs told stories of heartbreak and pain, and these were often slow and sad. But others were about being in love, or having fun, and these were up-tempo and good to dance to. Various blues styles developed over the years, some in small towns of the American south and others in cities like Chicago and New Orleans. But wherever the music was played, listeners heard a sound that was going to influence nearly every genre of popular music to come, from jazz and soul to hip hop. If you’d like to hear some early blues, try searching for the recordings of Blind Willie McTell, Bukka White and Lightnin’ Hopkins. For later blues, try Billie Holiday, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and John Lee Hooker.