Comprehension questions and tasks
Aim: to enhance students' understanding of the characters by comparing them. Students continue working in groups.
1. Do these sentences describe Ray's or Charles's life? Write R or C near each one.
He has stability in life (С)
He makes friends all over the world (R)
He is quite wealthy (С)
He lives in foreign countries (R)
He gets to know other cultures (R)
He travels but for business (С)
2. Compare Charlie and Ray. Add more criteria if you feel it's needed. Possible answers are presented below.
Та
блица 11 - Сравнение главных героев (ответы)
|
Criteria for comparison |
Charlie |
Ray |
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|
Job |
Businessman, good, well-paid job |
Teacher, changes his jobs and counries he lives in |
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|
Wealth |
Wealthy, big house, no money-problems |
Not as wealthy as Charlie |
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|
Family status |
Married (happily?) |
Not married, (unhappy) relationship with `some airhead girl with a drink problem' |
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|
Satisfaction with life |
Students' own opinions |
Discussion questions
Then students express their opinions on the discussion questions in a group or pair and then they discuss it all together. Aim: to develop students' speaking skills and critical thinking, let them discuss their life attitude principles by providing them with an opportunity to express freely their opinions about lifestyles, real friendship and success.
Then ask students to comment on the following quotes
Success is liking yourself, liking what you do and liking how you do it. (Maya Angelou, American poet)
Success? I don't know what that word means. I'm happy. But success, that goes back to what in somebody's eyes success means. For me, success is inner peace. That's a good day for me. (Denzel Washington, American actor)
Focus on language
In these extracts students have come across some interesting vocabulary, so it's useful to do the following task. The following tasks may be given as homework and then checked when you collect the Workbooks.
Task 1. Match the words or phrases from the extract you read with their synonyms. Aim: to enlarge students (passive) vocabulary.
1. tedious
2. to swap stories
3. a life-long friend
4. it's dead simple
5. to be moved by smth
6. to be destined for
7. to vanish
8. to give smb a hand with smth
a. it's very simple
b. to disappear
c. to be affected, touched, impressed by smth
d. to tell stories to each other, to exchange stories
e. to help smb with smth
f. dull, tiresome, boring
g. a friend since your childhood and for the whole life
h. to be certain to achieve something: certain to have a particular job, status like following a pre-existing plan
Answer key: 1.f 2.d 3.g 4.a 5.c 6.h 7.b 8.e
Task 2. There are many words which can be built using the root `achieve'. Try to translate these words and then insert them in the sentences. Aim: to develop students' wordbuilding skills.
This exercise can be of use as there is a word-building task in the State exam.
to achieve
an achievement
an underachievement
an overachievement
an achiever
an overachiever
achievable
unachievable
achievability
1. Their gold medal at the Olympics was a(n) _________________ because they were expected to get a silver or a bronze but not a gold.
2. It is often a good idea to start with smaller, easily ____________ goals.
3. They call themselves `dreamers, believers, ____________ ' and they are really motivated to succeed.
4. She got only C for her exam what definitely was a(n) ____________________ as she studied well and everyone was sure she would get A.
5. He was an ambitious person, worked hard and finally he managed to ____________ all his goals.
6. The Committee has demonstrated the ______________ of its objectives.
7. It was a great _____________ for her and she was satisfied as two months of hard work paid off.
8. This result is _______________ in such a short period of time.
9. My friend who studies at the US University is an _______________ - she works extremely hard and always gets only A-levels for all her papers.
Answer key: 1. overachievement 2.achievable 3.achievers 4.underachievement 5.achieve 6.achievability 7.achievement 8.unachievable 9.overachiever
Task 3. In the text you came across a phrase: … to get a job in any faraway corner you fancied.
The verb to fancy can be tricky for students as it has several meanings. Ask students to read the information below, translate the examples and built their own ones. Building their own examples will help students to memorize its usage. Aim: to introduce students' to the word fancy, explaining the meanings of it and practicing it.
Task 4. The next task can be used as additional or can be done at lesson together if time allows. Doing the task in the Workbook (p.) students get to know more idioms with the word `leg' because in the text they came across the idiom: to be on one's last legs (Things are on their last legs with us). Aim: to introduce students' to English idioms with the word leg and enhance their motivation to learn the language.
1. to be on one's last legs
2. to pull someone's leg
3. to cost someone an arm and a leg
4. not have a leg to stand on
5. to give someone a leg-up
6. to shake a leg
7. with one's tail between one's legs
a. cost somebody a lot of money
b. hurry up
c. be very tired or ill
d. tease somebody, make somebody believe something that is untrue
e. have nothing to support one's opinion
f. in a obedient or sad manner
g. help somebody towards success
Answer key: 1.c 2.d 3.a 4.e 5.g 6.b 7.f
Now insert the idioms from the table to complete these sentences
a) You can't say that, you _______________________________!
b) After working all day, he felt he _______________________________.
c) Move! _______________ or you'll be late again!
d) The defeated player left the field _____________________________.
e) When he joined the company I noticed his talent, so I _____________________________ he needed.
f) I don't believe you, you are _______________________.
g) I don't have enough money to buy this computer. It would ______________________.
Answer key:
a.don't have a leg to stand on
b.was on his last legs
c.shake a leg
d.with his tail between his legs
e.gave him a leg-up
f.pulling my leg
g.cost me an arm and a leg
Tell students about the expression “Break a leg!” but add that though one can say: `Break a leg on your final exams!', this idiom is usually used to wish good luck to artists before some performance.
Additional task
There hopefully will be some students who will like the story and read it up to the end. In the Workbook there are some questions which the students can answer in writing after finishing. Aim: to let students express their thoughts and ideas after reading the whole nocturne at the same time letting them have more practice of writing.
Graham Swift and Chemistry (2008)
Ask one student to prepare a story about Swift's biography to tell the rest of the class at the beginning of the lesson. Aim: to introduce students' to the biography of Graham Swift. To ensure that other students are listening and to make listening more actively, ask them to do a multiple-choice task while listening.
Obviously, before creating a task you need to have a look at the information the student has chosen for the story so that the task agrees with his/her story. The sample text (the student can base his story on) is presented in Worksheet 4 (См. Приложение 11) and the task for while-listening activity with keys is below.
1. Graham Swift works in the genres of
a) short story and novel
b) novel only
c) short story, novel and poetry
3. He studied at
a) Cambridge and York Universities
b) Oxford University
c) London University
3. Main heroes of his books are usually
a) children
b) ordinary middle-aged people
c) old people
4. One of the main themes of his books is
a) personal histories and how they are connected to the world's events
b) politics
c) war
5. Swift was awarded
a) Nobel prize for literature
b) Booker Prize
c) Pulitzer prize
6. His novels are (several answers are possible)
a) Last Orders
b) Great Expectations
c) Saturday
d) Waterland
e) Shuttlecock
f) Never Let Me Go
Answer key: 1.c 2.a 3.b 4.a 5.b 6.a,d,e (Great Expectations - Charles Dickens; Saturday - Ian McEwan; Never Let Me Go - Kadzuo Ishiguro)
There are some interesting quotes by Swift. Let students work in pairs, choose one quote they like most and comment upon it. Then ask some of them to say to their classmates what quotes they like.
I share my name with an aerobatic bird that can whiz across a whole summer sky in seconds. A swift is so equipped for speed that it can scarcely cope with being stationary. Translate the unknown words in this quote and ask students why they think Swift has mentioned this parallel with a bird.
Aim of the task: to make students more interested in the writer's personality and improve their speaking skills.
Chemistry (2008)
Unlike the previous lessons when students read only extracts from the books, with Chemistry we suggest reading the whole story to be able to discuss the author's ideas and the themes. It is obviously impossible to read the entire story at a lesson so reading it should be students' homework. Aim: to introduce students to the short story Chemistry by Graham Swift. Chemistry is not a long story but it's quite demanding from the point of view of the language. It may be quite a challenge to read it in original, so we suppose it's okay to allow learners to read the story in Russian translation if they find the original variant too difficult. The whole class-work will be done in English and they will work on the language too, but it is of primary importance that students come to the lesson having a clear picture of the story in their heads. There is a lot to speak about in this story, which is included in GCSE. The work on this short story is based on the Cambridge guides for students which aims at helping students understang the story more profoundly in order to write an essay on it at the exam.
Title
It is no doubt more like a pre-reading task and if the time allows, it is perfect to do it before reading. However, taking into consideration the school timetable, all the tasks will be most probably done after reading.
Students work in pairs and write down their ideas about meanings of the word chemistry they can think of. Then ask a couple of students to share their ideas with the classmates.
After that students match three quotations to the people who you think said them.
1. I wanted to do math and physics, but my father made me do chemistry because he thought there would be no jobs for mathematicians.
2. We've all seen great actors and actresses who are missing a certain chemistry. And it's not about getting along or not getting along.
3. The explosive story of chemistry is the story of the building blocks that make up our entire world - the elements. … everything is made of elements.
a) Jim-al-Khalili, British physicist, broadcaster and presenter of science programmes on BBC
b) Stephen Hawking, English physicist, cosmologist
c) Johnny Galecki, American actor
Keys: 1.b 2.c 3.a
Aim of the task: to expand comprehension of the title of the story by discussing several meanings of the word.
Reading the story
Comprehension questions are needed just to check if students have read the text. Long, detailed answers are not necessary. Aim: to check students' general understanding.
1. What relationships did the son, mother and grandfather have in different periods of their life (before boy's father died, after this death, after Ralph moved in)? (Answer: before boy's father died - tense relations (explain why), after boy's father died they lived in harmony, quietly, calmly, contentredly; after Ralph moved in - conflict, tense relations again)
2. What choice did the boy's mother make between her new boyfriend and her family? Was it an easy choice? Why?
3. “We stood at the ceremony, Mother, Ralph and I, like a mock version of the trio - Grandfather, Mother and I - who had once stood at my father's memorial service”. Why does the author call them a “mock version”? What has changed since the funeral of the boy's father? (Answer: the relations were absolutely different, that's why it's called a `mock version')
Then students look closer on some important parts of the story.
Task 1. Read the first paragraph of the story.
a) Ask the students to fill in the table they have in their Workbooks. They are to prove with evidences the statements about the relations in the family. Aim: to explore the main characters (the boy, his mother, his grandfather) and their relationships more profoundly. This task can be done in pairs or in small groups. This and all the following tasks certainly imply that students have texts in original. Possible answers are given below:
Таблица 12 - Информация о семье главного героя (возможные ответы)
|
Statement |
Evidence |
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|
They relied on each other. |
The whole process of launching a boat where the actions of both grandson and grandfather were important |
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|
Grandfather dominated them. |
As if Grandfather were pulling us towards him on some invisible cord |
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|
They enjoyed each other's company. |
The repeated would meaning, it was a habitual action, something they used to do often so perhaps they liked it. |
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|
They did not want other people to disturb them. |
We would go even in the winter - especially in the winter, because then we would have the pond to ourselves |
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They had become a self-contained unit. |
There was this invisible cord between them |
Task 2. This task helps students to understand the character better.
The character of Ralph is introduced soon after this point in the story.
a) Ask students to read three paragraphs that begin It was some months … up to And all this was because Grandfather had said to Mother. What impression of Ralph do they you have from this paragraph?
b) What do we learn about his relationships with the other characters? Ask students to complete a table to show what evidence they you can find in the story to support these statements about Ralph. Aim: to explore the character of Ralph. Possible answers are given below:
Таблица 13 - Информация о Ральфе (возможные ответы)
|
Ralph |
||
|
Statement |
Evidence |
|
|
He wants the boy to like him. |
He offers the boy to buy him a new boat |
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|
He is short-tempered. |
“Ralph suddenly barked…” |
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|
He is used to getting his own way. |
He shouted at grandfather as is he ordered and other had to obey |
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He is greedy. |
“his hands clenched on his knife and fork” |
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He is determined to be the alpha male in the house . |
“Why don't you leave her alone?” |
As stated above this and similar table-work can be done in small groups or in pairs.
Additional task. If someone is particularly interested or wants to do this task for an extra mark, it can be offered to him/her. Create a similar table for the character of the mother. Think of five statements about her, and find evidence to support each one. This task may be especially useful for students who are going to take literature as their final exam as it helps their deeper understanding of the literary text. Aim: to explore the character of the mother further.
Task 3. Where does the story happen? The writer's choice of a setting is important in any story.
Ask students to read this extract from the last paragraph in the story. What impression do they get of the pond in the park?
I had nowhere to go. I went down to the park and stood by the pond. Dead willow leaves floated on it. Beneath its surface was a bottle of acid and the wreck of my launch.
Now ask them to look at the description of the pond at the start of the story and to write notes about (possible answers are given in brackets):
a) the layout (the pond was circular)
b) the season (winter)
c) the effect of the wind (the wind causes the water to move and is compared to the sea)
d) the privacy it allows (“we would have the pond to ourselves”).
Do they think it is a pleasant place? Ask the students to give reasons for their answer.
Aim of the task: to explore how setting contributes to creating the mood of the story.
Task 4. Ask students to working with a partner and discuss the following questions (possible answers are given in brackets).
1. When the boat sinks, Grandfather says: You must accept it - you can't get it back - it's the only way
a) What do you think he is really talking about? (death of a close person)
b) When she hears this, the mother's face is described as `very still and very white, as if she had seen something appalling'. Why do you think she reacts like this? (She still couldn't accept her husband's death? She was the one to damage the boat in order to make it sink? She felt it was a sign of their happy life as “self-contained unit” to come to an end? She realises her husband will not return and she has to move on with her life?)
c) The narrator describes the family as living `within the scope of this sad symmetry'. What do you think he means by this?
2) In the paragraph beginning `My father's death was a far less remote event than my grandmother's …', the narrator makes a distinction between adult and childish grief. What do you think are the distinctions?
After group-work it may be interesting to ask several members of different groups to see if the groups' ideas differ.
Aim of the task: to explore and discuss the key moments of the story
Task 5. How can you prove the following interpretations of the boy's personality?
a) He is lonely (he still misses his father a lot, there are no friends around, his mother is absorbed with her boyfriend, after his Grandfather's death the boy goes alone to the pond)
b) He is imaginative (visitations of ghosts)
c) He feels his world is threatened (he describes the house after Ralph's moving in as a menacing place)
d) He loves his mother and wishes to protect her (he describes his mother as trapped and helpless when Ralph was hugging her)
e) He loves his grandfather and feels sorry for him (he went to speak with him in the evening, he was afraid Ralph would hit him, his death was very sorrowful for the boy)
f) He is cruel (he thought about throwing the acid in Ralph's face to make him ugly and unattractive to his Mother)
g) He feels he can explain his grandfather's suicide (he understands that `a suicide can be a murder' as he realises that his Grandfather was almost forced to commit a suicide)
Aim: to explore the character of the boy further.
Task 6. The narrator's standpoint
It's important to draw students' attention to the fact that it (as many Swift's books) is a first-person narration. Ask students: Is this story a third-person narration or a first-person narration? Why do you think the author has decided to use this type of narration? What can it help us to understand?
It seems significant to notice that on the one hand any first-person narration enables us to feel the emotions of the character closely and to participate in the events. On the other hand, we always should keep in mind that other characters might have a different viewpoint and a completely different way of thinking about what happened.
Question: By whom is the story told in your opinion: by an adult who recalls his childhood or from the point of view of a boy? Why do you think so?