Aim: to remind students' of how the narrator's standpoint is important in a piece of literature and what a first-person narration can help us to understand/feel in general and in this story.
Task 7. What the characters say and do
In order to make a character believable for the reader, the writer has to give enough information about what the character says and does. Aim of the following tasks: to help students see how characters' words and actions contribute to making character believable and to forming our attitude towards them; and how charaters' words reveal their inner state.
Ask students to look at this extract from the opening paragraph of the story:
For some reason it was always Grandfather, never I, who went to the far side. When he reached his station I would hear his `Ready!' across the water. A puff of vapour would rise from his lips like the smoke from a muffled pistol. And I would release the launch … As it moved it seemed that it followed an actual existing line between Grandfather, myself and Mother, as if Grandfather were pulling us towards him on some invisible cord, and that he had to do this to prove we were not beyond his reach. When the boat drew near him he would crouch on his haunches. His hands - which I knew were knotted, veiny and mottled from an accident in one of his chemical experiments - would reach out, grasp it and set it on its return.
In this paragraph, Swift creates an impression of the characters of both the boy and his grandfather, and of the relationship between the three characters.
1. Working in pairs, students are to think about:
a) how the family is presented as a selfcontained unit (the success depended on actions of them both)
b) the physical description of Grandfather's hands (what effect does this have on the reader?) (the description is not complimentary and could be viewed as quite grotesque)
c) words or phrases that suggest Grandfather wants to be the most important person in the family (he was the one to shout `ready', he `was pulling them on some invisible cord').
2. How does what Grandfather says reveal aspects of his feelings and attitudes? The first point has been completed for you as an example (possible answers are given).
Таблица 14 - Чувства дедушки и его отношение к другим членам семьи (возможные ответы)
|
Quotation |
Grandfather's feelings and attitudes |
|
|
`You must accept it - you can't get it back - it's the only way' |
Grandfather is still feeling the loss of his wife and is trying to accept it. he understands that death nust be accepted as being a part of life. |
|
|
`Leave her alone? What do you know about being left alone?' |
He knows a lot about hard moments they've overcome together. He has been affected by his wife's death and hasn't forgotten it. |
|
|
`You don't make curry any more the way you did for Alec, the way Vera taught you.' |
Probably, jealousy because Alec was his son and choosing Ralph the mother is like replacing him, betraying his memory. Also he wants to keep Vera's memory throught the curry, which used to be their family tradition. |
|
|
`I thought you would come.' |
He knows his grandson perfectly. They have a close bond. |
|
|
`Anything can change. Even gold can change.' |
Probably, he wants to explain how life changes when someone dies or he reflects the mother changing and doesn't welcome it. |
|
|
`They change. But the elements don't change.' |
He may mean that certain things will never change like the love he had for his wife. |
Task 8. Aim: to explore how the dialogues show the relationships and attitudes of the characters towards each other.
Swift puts some ideas and attitudes into his characters' mouths that indicate their own attitudes and feelings, for example their attitudes to Grandfather. He does this by allowing the boy to witness these incidents.
With a partner, students are to explain what you think each of the following quotations reveals about the other characters' attitudes towards Grandfather. One quotation has already been completed as an example (possible answers are given).
Таблица 15 - Отношение других членов семьи к дедушке (возможные ответы)
|
Quotation about Grandfather |
What this reveals about the speaker's feelings and attitudes towards him |
|
|
Ralph: `Why don't you leave her alone?!' |
Irritation probably because Ralph feels that the Grandfather is treating the mother like a child, which he does not like. |
|
|
Ralph: `For Christ's sake we're not waiting all night for him to finish! Get the pudding!' |
Anger or even hatred. Ralph wants to assert his authority but this role earlier belonged to Grandfather. |
|
|
Mother: `You're ruining our neal - do you want to take yours out to your shed?!' |
Annoyance or anger towards Grandfather because he wants to assert his authority which poses a threat to Ralph. |
|
|
Mother: `Grandpa was old and ill, he wouldn't have lived much longer anyway.' |
She is showing that she is glad, or at least relieved, that he is dead and treats his death as being of little consequence. |
Task 9. Aim: to explore the purpose of introducing the image of ghost
Swift uses ghosts as a part of the story. The ghosts of the boy's father and grandfather both appear to him.
a) What do you think is important about what his father tells the boy? (The boy has vivid imagination and maybe the appearance of the ghost shows that he has accepted his father's death. It also links the sinking of the boat to the breakdown of the family.)
b) What does this suggest to the reader about how the boy now views his mother? (He views her negatively)
c) Why do you think Swift repeats the image of the pools of water? (Water is one of the symbols of the story. Water is seen as taking things away, but also changing things. The water changes in this section, possibly to reflect the boy's acceptance of death.)
d) Why does what happens when the boy wakes up make the placing of this ghostly visitation important at this point in the story? (This vision is connected to death and when the boy wakes up he hears about another death of a loved one - his Grandfather.)
Task 10. Analysing language
Aim: to explain to students what implications are and help them see to implications in the story and the idea there can be several of possible explanations of one and the same phrase/paragraph.
Students have the following text in their Workbooks. When you analyse a story, you should look closely at different parts of the story to see how they are connected. These may form a pattern. Often, close study of the language may reveal details of the author's meanings and purposes that on a first reading you may not have noticed. These details are usually called implications.
What someone says can be taken as a fact or as a sign of something more - a feeling, an attitude or a personality trait. Implied meaning can be different from what is apparently being said.
Writers choose their words to convey a range of things - usually ideas, feelings and attitudes. Sometimes even a short and simple sentence can show how a writer has chosen words carefully.
1. Mother says to Grandfather: You're ruining our meal - do you want to take yours out to your shed?! Ask students to rank the following statements according to how close they think they are close to what the mother means in this sentence, giving reasons for your decisions:
a) She does not want to wait for her pudding.
b) She wants to get rid of Grandfather so she can enjoy the meal with Ralph.
c) She does not want the crumble to go cold.
d) She wants to tell Grandfather that she now values Ralph more than him.
e) She thinks she should do what Ralph wants her to do.
2. Discuss the following quotations from the story about the weather and the natural world. Make notes to help you answer the following question: How might the weather and the natural world be related to what different characters are feeling?
- When the wind blew, little waves travelled across it and slapped the paved edges.
- All that autumn was exceptionally cold. Rain was dashing against the window as if the house were plunging under water.
- The heavy rain and the tossing branches of a rowan tree obscured my view.
- It was a brilliant, crisp late November day and the leaves on the rowan tree were all gold.
- They tidied the overgrown parts of the garden and clipped back the trees.
- The air was very cold.
Means of expressiveness
Aim: to pay attention to the means of expression used by the author and to how they contribute to creating of images or mood.
1. Swift uses alliteration in this story. For example: "For about a year we lived quietly, calmly, even contentedly within the scope of this sad symmetry." Try to find other examples of alliteration and explain what effect it causes (Examples: little waves were running across the water; dead willow leaves floated on it; as we ate supper Ralph suddenly barked, etc.)
2. Try to find examples of metaphors like “invisible cord”. (Examples: sad symmetry (about them standing at the funeral); her face had a look of being about to spill over; impregnable domain (about their relationship); a sealed-off world (about his Grandfather's shed, etc.))
Task 11. Symbolism
Sometimes a writer uses words or actions in a way that gives them a wider meaning. In this story, we can find symbolism in the study and practice of chemistry. Aim of the task: to let students suppose and discuss what the symbols in the story mean.
1. Discuss and make notes about the following questions.
a) Grandfather says: `You don't make things in chemistry - you change them. Anything can change.' Do you think he is speaking about chemistry or relationships? (He may mean the changing nature of relationships due to death or the introduction of a new person.)
b) Why does Grandfather say, `Then we'd take something that wasn't gold at all and cover it with this changed gold so it looked as if it was all gold - but it wasn't.'? (Not all the changes happen for the best and they can be false, misleading.)
c) Why doesn't Grandfather put the watch chain into the beaker? (Probably, he does not want to change the watch as it reminds him of his wife.)
d) What does the boy mean when he thinks `how suicide can be murder and how things don't end'? (He feels that his Grandfather was actually forced to commit suicide but he is sure, his Grandfather will live on in his dreams.)
e) In the final paragraph, the boy thinks `But though things change they aren't destroyed'. What do you think is the signifcance of this? (Memories are precious and memories of people we loved will always be with us.)
Task 12. Aim: to explore a key moment in the story
The moment when the ambulance arrives to take away the dead grandfather is an important point in the story. The boy watches from a bedroom window as Ralph appears outside the house and seems to be supervising the paramedics.
1. Re-read the paragraph beginning `And then it was almost light …' and then make notes on:
a) how the weather contributes to the drama of what is happening
b) how the boy's view is obscured so he does not understand what is happening
c) how Ralph appears to be an almost comic figure
d) how Ralph also appears to have some authority
e) the boy's reaction when he realises what is happening
f) the mother's promise of an explanation.
Task 13. Analysing structure
1. Ask students: The story begins and ends at the pond. Why do you think Swift does this? Aim: to analyse how such text organization contributes to creating the image.
2. Working in a small group, rank the following statements according to how well you think they answer this question. Explain your decisions.
The story begins and ends at the pond to:
a) suggest that the boy is lonely
b) remind the reader of the bottle of acid and the boy's dislike of Ralph
c) show that Graham Swift likes to include water in his stories
d) remind the reader of the lost boat and the changes that have happened in the family
e) show that the boy wishes to return to somewhere where he felt loved
f) show that things don't change, even after death.
2. Re-read the last paragraph of the story. Then answer these questions.
a) What details can you find that create a sad atmosphere?
b) In what ways does the description of the grandfather link to the opening of the story?
Aim of the questions: to attract students' attention to how the author created the image at the end of the short story.
Task 14.
Which of the following best describes how you feel about the ending of the story?
- sad
- hopeful
- celebratory
- uplifting
- curious
- sentimental
Why is the story called Chemistry? Aim of the questions: to let students express their general impression of the story and give their ideas and comments after reading and discussing it.
At the end of discussion the teacher may also ask students the following question:
What relationships will the boy have with his mother after his grandfather's death? Try to predict and explain why you think so.
Focus on language
As the language of the story is (as it's been already mentioned) quite demanding, so only one extract has been chosen for the language work.
Read the description of Grandfather's shed and do the tasks below
Extract:
I don't think Grandfather practised chemistry for any particular reason. He studied it from curiosity and for solace, as some people study the structure of cells under a microscope or watch the changing formation of clouds. In those weeks after Mother drove him out I learnt from Grandfather the fundamentals of chemistry.
I felt safe in his shed. The house where Ralph now lorded it, tucking into bigger and bigger meals, was a menacing place. The shed was another, a sealed-off world. It had a salty, mineral, unhuman smell. Grandfather's flasks, tubes and retort stands would be spread over his work-bench. His chemicals were acquired through connections in the metal-plating trade. The stove would be lit in the corner. Beside it would be his meal tray - for, to shame Mother, Grandfather had taken to eating his meals regularly in the shed. A single electric light bulb hung from a beam in the roof. A gas cylinder fed his Bunsen. On one wall was a glass fronted cupboard in which he grew alum and copper sulphate crystals.
I would watch Grandfather's experiments. I would ask him to explain what he was doing and to name the contents of his various bottles.
And Granfather wasn't the same person in his shed as he was in the house - sour and cantankerous. He was a weary, ailing man who winced now and then because of his rheumatism and spoke with quiet self-absorption.
Task 1. In this extract you come across the word `would'. What is it used here for? What's the difference between `would' and `used to'? Aim: to revise important grammatical rule.
Task 2. Many things that Grandfather had in the shed are enumerated in the extract. Match their names with the pictures. Aim of tasks 2, 3, 4: to enlarge students' passive vocabulary
Keys: 1. work-bench 2. shed 3. light bulb 4. flask 5. glass fronted cupboard 6. retort stand
Task 3. Match the words from the extract with their synonims
1. solace
2. ailing
3. menacing
4. sealed-off
5. self-absorption
6. sour
7. weary
8. cantankerous
a. tired, exhausted
b. gloomy
c. threatening
d. sick, unhealthy
h. consolation, comfort
f. isolated
g. quarrelsome
e. state when you are into your thoughts, into yourself
Keys: 1.h 2.d 3.c 4.f 5.e 6.b 7.a 8.g
Task 4. Match the words with their definitions
1. Drive out
2. Lord it (over)
3. Tuck into
4. Wince
a. Make a slight involuntary grimace or shrinking movement of the body out of pain or distress
b. Eat food heartily
d. Act in a superior and domineering manner towards someone
c. Make somebody leave the house
Keys: 1.c 2.d 3.b 4.a
Question: Grandfather wasn't the same person in his shed as he was in the house. Are there places where you are a different person than at your house? Why do you behave differently there?
ПРИЛОЖЕНИЕ 7
(обязательное)
Задание для работы в группах над названиями реалий, встретившихся в прочитанном отрывке “Случайной вакансии” Джоан Роулинг
Worksheet 1
1. “A group of sixth-formers carrying folders had arrived in the library”.
Note: the Sixth form in American or British schools does not mean the 6th grade in Russian schools. So who are they?
Sixth-formers are students who study at Sixth Form Colleges. It means that these students have passed the obligatory school exams and want to enter a university. Sixth Form Colleges are places that in two years prepare students to pass the exams which allow them to go to a university. These students are 16-18 years old.
The scheme of British school education looks approximately like that:
Таблица 16 - Схема школьного образования в Англии
|
age |
Type of school |
||
|
5 |
11 years compulsory education |
PRIMARY SCHOOL (at least 6 years of primary education) |
|
|
6 |
|||
|
7 |
|||
|
8 |
|||
|
9 |
|||
|
10 |
|||
|
11 |
|||
|
12 |
SECONDARY SCHOOL (at least 5 years of secondary education) Exam |
||
|
13 |
|||
|
14 |
|||
|
15 |
|||
|
16 |
|||
|
17 |
SIXTH FORM COLLEGE Exams (`A' level) if pass - university |
||
|
18 |
2. “The room set aside for the guidance department at Winterdown Comprehensive opened off the school library”.
As you know, there are no классные руководители in British schools. But they have a `guidance department' where guidance counselors or school counselors work. They help students with difficulties in interpersonal relationship, with family problems that affect the school life, with improving child's self-esteem1 and with any other issues connected to the studies or psychological things. In most countries the main focus of their work is on students' career development.
1 self-esteem - самооценка
3. “An' he's still gave me … detention!'“
Detention1 is a kind of punishment which almost isn't used in Russian schools, but is very common in Britain. If you are given detention, it means you have to go to a certain part of school during a specific time and remain there for a specific period of time. Usually schoolchildren are told to do it during long breaks or after classes. However, if the fault is really big, they may be told to go to school on a non-school day, for example, on Saturday.
1 detention - (букв.) задержание