Дипломная работа: Современная британская проза в элективном курсе по британской литературе для старших классов школ с углубленным изучением английского языка

ПРИЛОЖЕНИЕ 5

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Рабочая тетрадь для учащихся для 6 уроков курса по современной британской прозе

J. K. Rowling and A Casual Vacancy (2012)

J. K. Rowling

Рис. 1 - Джоан Роулинг

What do you know about J. K. Rowling's biography? _________________

_____________________________________________________________

Now read her biography and write down five new facts for you that you've found out

Joanne Rowling (pen names - J. K. Rowling and Robert Galbraith) was born in 1965 in Gloucestershire. She tried to pass the entrance exams for Oxford University but didn't manage and did a degree in French and Classics at the University of Exeter, her course including one year in Paris. When she was a postgraduate, she lived in London, doing research in human rights abuses in Francophone Africa.

Her first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997) when published was a huge success as the whole series of the Potter books that followed. They became bestsellers, won several awards and were translated into more than 60 languages. Over 300 million copies were published worldwide, making J. K. Rowling one of the best-known modern British authors abroad. Critics think that the reason for this Harry Potter phenomenon is in the eagerness with which adults read the story which was initially for children-readers. There are a lot of things in her books which allude to other children books like the ones of Roald Dahl and Tolkien, but the fact that makes Rowling to stand out is her ability to sustain readers' interest so that it turns into addiction.

Rowling has lived a `rags to riches` life story, in which she progressed from living on state benefits to multi-millionaire status within five years. When she separated from her husband and returned from Portugal (where they lived) to Britain, she had a baby daughter, no money to get by, and was diagnosed with clinical depression. Rowling signed up for welfare benefits, describing her economic status as being `poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless.' However, when her Harry Porter books became popular, she was no longer poor. In the 2016 her Rowling's fortune was estimated at Ј600 million, ranking her as the 197th richest person in the UK. Now she also supports many charities.

After publishing her last Porter book, Rowling started to write books for adults. In them we can see the same feature of Rowling's style as in her previous works: ability of dealing with a great number of characters - as well as in the Potter books it is shown in her novels for adults like The Casual Vacancy (2012). Her other books for adults are The Cuckoo's Calling, The Silkworm, Career of Evil and Lethal White, known as Cormoran Strike series, and all written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

Five new facts I didn't know about Rowling before:

_______________________________________________

Read the quotations by Rowling and try to insert the missing words.

We do not need _________ to change the world. We carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: We have the power to imagine better.

It is our _________... that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.

Humans have a knack for choosing precisely the things that are _________ for them.

The _________ has been a boon and a curse for teenagers.

If you don't like to _________ you haven't found the right _________.

____________ are like mirrors: if a fool looks in, you cannot expect a genius to look out.

Which thoughts do you agree with her on?

A Casual Vacancy (2002)

Рис. 2 - обложка книги Джоан Роулинг “Случайная вакансия”

A Casual Vacancy is the first Rowling's novel for adults. The plot is realistic and describes relationships between people living in the small city of Pagford. In contrast to the Potter series there's no magic in this book. The author speaks about a great number of problems - from generation gap, teenager conflicts to alcoholism, drug-addiction and others. The narration starts with a sudden death of the councilor Barry Fairbrother who was also a coach of the school rowing team and a teacher loved by schoolchildren. While adults are into various machinations to get the councilor's vacancy, children are trying to solve their own problems and take part in adults' struggle. Most of children's characters are bright and controversial. In the following text you'll meet one of the main characters - the girl called Krystal.

In the extract you will read a talk between a schoolgirl and a school social worker/school psychologist. Why are schoolchildren sent to their office? __________________________________________________________________

How do schoolchildren who have `bad reputation' behave? __________________________________________________________________

Read the extract from Chapter IX and find out why the girl was sent to Tessa Wall

The room set aside for the guidance department at Winterdown Comprehensive opened off the school library. It had no windows and was lit by a single strip light.

Tessa Wall, head of guidance and wife of the deputy headmaster, entered the room at half-past ten, numb with fatigue and carrying a cup of strong instant coffee that she had brought up from the staff room. She was a short stout woman with a plain wide face, who cut her own greying hair - the blunt fringe was often a little lop-sided - wore clothes of a homespun, crafty variety, and liked jewellery of beads and wood. Today's long skirt might have been made of hessian, and she had teamed it with a thick lumpy cardigan in pea-green. Tessa hardly ever looked at herself in full-length mirrors, and boycotted shops where this was unavoidable.

She had attempted to soften the guidance room's resemblance to a cell by pinning up a Nepalese hanging she had owned since her student days: a rainbow sheet with a bright yellow sun and moon that emitted stylised, wavy rays. The rest of the bare painted surfaces were covered with a variety of posters that either gave helpful tips on boosting self-esteem or telephone numbers to call for anonymous help on a variety of health and emotional issues. The headmistress had made a slightly sarcastic remark about these the last time she had visited the guidance room.

'And if all else fails, they call ChildLine, I see,' she had said, pointing to the most prominent poster.

Tessa sank into her chair with a low groan, took off her wristwatch, which pinched, and placed it on the desk beside various printed sheets and notes. She doubted that progress along the prearranged lines would be possible today; she doubted even whether Krystal Weedon would turn up. Krystal frequently walked out of school when upset, angry or bored. She was sometimes apprehended before she reached the gates and frog-marched back inside, swearing and shouting; at other times, she successfully evaded capture and escaped into days of truancy. Ten forty arrived, the bell sounded, and Tessa waited.

Krystal burst in through the door at ten fifty-one and slammed it behind her. She slumped down in front of Tessa with her arms folded across her ample bosom, her cheap earrings swinging.

'You can tell your 'usband,' she said, her voice trembling, 'that I never fuckin' laughed, all right?'

'Don't swear at me, please, Krystal,' said Tessa.

'I never laughed - all right?' screamed Krystal.

A group of sixth-formers carrying folders had arrived in the library. They glanced through the glass pane in the door; one of them grinned at the sight of the back of Krystal's head. Tessa got up and let down the roller-blind over the window, then returned to her seat in front of the moon and sun.

'All right, Krystal. Why don't you tell me what happened?'

'Your 'usband said sumthin' abou' Mister Fairbrother, right, an' I couldn't hear what he was saying, right, so Nikki tole me, and I couldn't fucking - '

'Krystal! - '

' - couldn't believe it, right, an' I shouted but I never laughed! I never fuck - '

' - Krystal - '

'I never laughed, all right?' shouted Krystal, arms tight across her chest, legs twisted together.

'All right, Krystal'.

Tessa was used to the anger of students she saw most often in guidance. Many of them were devoid of workaday morals; they lied, misbehaved and cheated routinely, and yet their fury when wrongly accused was limitless and genuine. Tessa thought she recognized this as authentic outrage, as opposed to the synthetic kind that Krystal was adept at producing. In any case, the squawk Tessa had heard during assembly had struck her at the time as one of shock and dismay rather than amusement; Tessa had been filled with dread when Colin had publicly identified it as laughter.

'I seen Cubby - '

'Krystal! - '

'I tole your fuckin' 'usband - '

'Krystal, for the last time, please do not swear at me - '

'I told 'im I never laughed, I told 'im! An' he's still gave me fucking detention!'

Tears of fury gleamed in the girl's heavily pencilled eyes. Blood had flowed into her face; peony pink, she glared at Tessa, poised to run, to swear, to give Tessa the finger too. Nearly two years of gossamer-fine trust, laboriously spun between them, was stretching, on the point of tearing.

'I believe you, Krystal. I believe you didn't laugh, but please do not swear at me.'

Suddenly, stubby fingers were rubbing the smeary eyes. Tessa pulled a wad of tissues from out of her desk drawer and handed them across to Krystal, who grabbed them without thanks, pressed them to each eye and blew her nose. Krystal's hands were the most touching part of her: the fingernails were short and broad, untidily painted, and all her hand movements were as naive and direct as a small child's.

Tessa waited until Krystal's snorting breaths had slowed down. Then she said, 'I can tell you're upset that Mr Fairbrother has died - '

'Yer, I am,' said Krystal, with considerable aggression. 'So?'

Tessa had a sudden mental image of Barry listening in to this conversation. She could see his rueful smile; she heard him, quite clearly, saying 'bless her heart'. Tessa closed her stinging eyes, unable to speak. She heard Krystal fidget, counted slowly to ten, and opened her eyes again. Krystal was staring at her, arms still folded, flushed and defiant-looking.

'I'm very sorry about Mr Fairbrother too,' said Tessa. 'He was an old friend of ours, actually. That's the reason Mr Wall is a bit - '

'I told 'im I never - '

'Krystal, please let me finish. Mr Wall is very upset today, and that's probably why he ... why he misinterpreted what you did. I'll speak to him.'

'He won't change his fuck - '

'Krystal!'

'Well, he won'.'

Krystal banged the leg of Tessa's desk with her foot, beating out a rapid rhythm. Tessa removed her elbows from the desk, so as not to feel the vibration, and said, 'I'll speak to Mr Wall.'

She adopted what she believed was a neutral expression and waited patiently for Krystal to come to her. Krystal sat in truculent silence, kicking the table leg, swallowing regularly.

'What was wrong with Mr Fairbrother?' she said at last.

'They think an artery burst in his brain,' said Tessa.

'Why did it?'

'He was born with a weakness he didn't know about,' said Tessa.

Tessa knew that Krystal's familiarity with sudden death was greater than her own. People in Krystal's mother's circle died prematurely with such frequency that they might have been involved in some secret war of which the rest of the world knew nothing. Krystal had told Tessa how, when she was six years old, she had found the corpse of an unknown young man in her mother's bathroom. It had been the catalyst for one of her many removals into the care of her Nana Cath. Nana Cath loomed large in many of Krystal's stories about her childhood; a strange mixture of saviour and scourge.

'Our crew'll be fucked now,' said Krystal.

'No, it won't,' said Tessa. 'And don't swear, Krystal, please.'

'It will,' said Krystal.

Tessa wanted to contradict her, but the impulse was squashed by exhaustion. Krystal was right, anyway, said a disconnected, rational part of Tessa's brain. The rowing eight would be finished. Nobody except Barry could have brought Krystal Weedon into any group and kept her there. She would leave, Tessa knew it; probably Krystal knew it herself. They sat for a while without speaking, and Tessa was too tired to find words that might have changed the atmosphere between them. She felt shivery, exposed, skinned to the bone. She had been awake for over twenty-four hours.

1. What have we learnt about the main hero, Krystal?

Prove the evidences about her with statements from the text

Таблица 3 - Информация о главной героине

2. Express your opinion

1. Do you think Tessa Wall was behaving as a school psychologist should behave? Was she speaking with the girl in the right way? __________________________________________________________________

2. If Barry Fairbrother were alive, could he be the person who would completely change Krystal's life in your opinion? Do you believe that one person like a teacher or friend can change your life, making you a much better person and bringing you to a happier future? ______________ __________________________________________________________________

3. Do you think Tessa's and Krystal's second names are speaking? (Wall and Weedon (from `weed' = a plant that grows very quickly where it is not wanted and covers or kills more desirable plants)? __________________________________________________________________

4. Can you try to imagine what future the girl will have? __________________________________________________________________

Focus on stylistics

1. In the text you've come across some spelling features, for example: Your 'usband said sumthin' abou' Mister Fairbrother, right, an' I couldn't hear….. This method is called `eye dialect'. It means nonstandard spellings that indicate a standard pronunciation. Do you think the person speaks incorrectly or it's just one of the ways to show everyday colloquial speech?

2. Is Krystal's speech polite? _________________________________

3. What can speech tell us about a person? __________________________________________________________________

4. What conclusion can we make about her social status judging by her speech? _________________________________________________________

Focus on socio-linguistics

Read the text given to you by your teacher and in your group fill in one of the blanks that corresponds to what you've read.

1. A group of sixth-formers carrying folders had arrived in the library.

Is the sixth-former in a British school the same as in Russia? If not, who are they?

They are ______ years old.

They study at ________________________________.

They study to ______________________________________.

They study ________ years.

2. The room set aside for the guidance department at Winterdown Comprehensive opened off the school library.

The people who work in a guidance department are called _____________.

There functions are

_____________________________________________________________

Their main focus is on _____________________.

3. An' he's still gave me … detention!

Detention is a kind of ___________________.

If you are given detention, you have to __________________________________________________________________

If you've committed something really bad, you'd probably have to __________________________________________________________________

5. Tessa hardly ever looked at herself in full-length mirrors, and boycotted shops where this was unavoidable.

Initially, the word `boycott' (either verb or noun) was _________________

This man was __________________ and lived in the _________ century.

At that time there was a conflict between Irish _________ and landlords, because there was a crisis in the country, farmers were poor and couldn't pay the rent.

Boycott tried to punish the farmers but they __________________________________________________________________

Since then, his name has been used to describe this particular ______________ strategy.

Focus on language

1. Match the words in two columns to make the phrases from the text

1. boosting

2. walked out

3. devoid

4. filled

5. sarcastic

6. authentic

7. numb with

8. rueful

A. with dread

B. of workaday morals

C. self-esteem

D. smile

F. fatigue

G. of school

H. outrage

I. remark

2. Choose the right particle for the phrasal verb used in the text

in up out in up

1. Can you imagine that he turned ______ at the party?! Nobody expected to see him there!

2. She entered the room suddenly, with a lot of noise, just burst _____ it.

3. He was listening to music and beating _______the rhythm of his favourite songs by a hand.

4. I was comfortably sitting in an armchair, watching TV but I had to get ____ to walk my dog.

5. My elder sister is always listening ____ my talks with friends. She knows all my secrets!

3. In the next sentences three verbs which in the story were used with preposition `down' are missing. Insert them in the appropriate form.

slump slow let

1. When you close the roller-blind, you _____ them down.

2. If a person is very tired or depressed or angry, he can ______ down in a chair or on a sofa meaning that s/he sits heavily.

3. When you start to calm down and stop breathing so fast, your breaths _____ down.

What meaning does usually the preposition `down' has? ______________________________

Can you give any examples with other verbs used with down? __________________________________________________________________

Did you know? Reading Harry Potter books makes children more tolerant and open-minded - it's now scientifically proved! The research has been carried on by several Italian universities and is called The Greatest Magic of Harry Potter: Reducing Prejudice. To find more go there: https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/08/study-finds-harry-potter-may-teach-kids-empathy.html

Multiculturalism and Kazuo Ishiguro

Multiculturalism is one of the most important tendencies of modern English literature. It dates back to the 1950s but now is developing especially actively. Multiculturalism is the result of the intensive, so-called “reactive” migration (the coming of former colonies' inhabitants to the territory of the former monopoly). So nowadays in the UK live plenty of people for whom English is not a mother tongue. It influences the literature as well, for example, since 2014 the Booker prize is awarded for any novel written in English, no matter the author's nationality. Before it could be awarded only to an author-Commonwealth citizen or the one from Ireland or Zimbabwe for a novel in English. The attitude to this tendency is different; there are absolutely controversial points of view on it. It's brightly shown in two last volumes of the Oxford History of English Literature which describe the post-World-War II period. The volume 1960-2000: The Last of England is written by Randall Stevenson, who has the reputation of a Scot who claimed that the idea of English literature is outdated, and the volume 1948-2000: The Internationalization of English literature by the Canadian Bruce King, who is praising multiculturalism as a revival of the English literature. Speaking about the main themes in the literature of `new Englishmen' they are trying to reconsider their cultural dualism, social marginality, the intercultural conflict, living far away from their Motherland.

The Man Booker Prize for Fiction (commonly known simply as the Booker Prize) is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original novel written in the English language and published in the UK. A high-profile literary award in British culture, the Booker Prize is greeted with great anticipation and fanfare. It is honourable for writers to be selected for the shortlist or even to be nominated for the longlist.

Рис. 3 - Эмблема Букеровской премии

1. How is multiculturalism connected with globalization? __________________________________________________________________

2. What's your attitude to the fact that nowadays there are a lot of people (emigrants, refugees, etc.) who live in a country that is not there Motherland?

What are the most important problems, created by immigration? Rank the following ones from 1 to 5 (according to how serious they are in your opinion) and be ready to give reasons for your decision:

__ higher criminal rate

__ extra money spent on social service, housing, language courses for migrants

__ less working places for citizens

__ racism, clashes between ethnical groups

__ difficult to preserve traditions (for hosting nation)

In what way does the society benefit from migration? Give 3 examples:

1. ______________________________________________________

2. ______________________________________________________

3. ______________________________________________________

What qualities do we need to live a globalized world? List 5 of them: