III. Post-reading

3.1. Discussion.

Meredith thought leadership to be a burden. What do you think about leadership? Try to give your own definition.

LEADERSHIP

is a joyful experience because ...

a quality one should be born with because ...

a terrible responsibility so that...

(and a lot more…)

3.2. Dreams: a challenge for a princess.

Now it's time for dreams. In your wildest dreams you might have seen yourself as a young princess. What do you think you'd be busy with, if you were one? Speak about it. If were a young tsarina, Says a college student gaily, I would..

3.3. Project work: princess Diana.

A more information about life and activities of one of the most famous princesses of all time, and continue the report. The beginning liven in the box below.

Diana (1961-1997),

Princess of Wales.

From 1979 until 1981 Diana worked as a kindergarten teacher in London.

On February 24,1981, her engagement to Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, was announced. They married and had two sons: Prince William Arthur Philip Louis (born June 21, 1982) and Prince Henry Charles Albert David (born September 15,1984). By the late 1980s the strains in the marriage had been widely publicized, and…

THE GREAT WHITE MAN-EATING SHARK

by Margaret Mahy

1. PRE-READING

1.1. SHARE your most memorable reminiscence of a joke you played on someone, or a joke they played on you.

1.2 DISCUSS the importance of being playful. When do you think a person should stop being playful and start being serious?

1.3. ANALYZE one human faculty, the sense of humor. What do you think of the essence of this quality? Try to be outrageously serious about it.

II. READING

2.1. Anticipating something sharkish.

Read the first passage from the story written by Margaret Mahy and say if the narrator's tone is (1) ironical, (2) humorous, or (3) satirical. What sort of story do you think this one is going to be?

There was once a boy called Norvin who was a good actor but rather plain. In fact, he looked very like a shark. He had small sharkish eyes, a pointed sharkish head, and sharp sharkish teeth. Unfortunately, there are not many plays written with good parts for sharks, so Norvin took up swimming instead. He soon became a good swimmer and learned to shoot through the water like a silver arrow.

2.2. Reading for pleasure and enrichment.

Read the story and answer the question: Do you think it is sometimes dangerous to be carried away by your own little trick? The following words will be helpful to understand the events

better.

Resentful — angry and upset about something

Dorsal fin — a thin body part on the back of a swimming creature

Headland — an area of land sticking into the sea

Inflatable — filled with air to make it float

Cruise — sail along slowly

Plumber — a man who fixes water pipes, etc.

Nuzzle up to — gently rub or press your nose against someone

To and fro — backward and forward

Norvin lived near a wonderful beach called Caramel Cove, but he had to share it with lots of other swimmers. When Norvin tried shooting through the water like a silver arrow, the other swimmers got in his way. This made him cross and

resentful.

What's the use of being able to shoot through the water like a silver arrow if everyone gets in my way? he thought. So he came up with a wicked plan.

Out of plastic he made himself the dorsal fin of a great white man-eating shark. Then he strolled around the headland, thought a few sharkish thoughts, strapped on the fin, and slid into the clear blue water.

Mrs. Scorpio was bobbing harmlessly up and down in the waves, when suddenly she saw the dorsal fin of a great white man-eating shark heading straight for her.

If you are swimming and see a great white man-eating shark heading straight for you, the thing to do is to leave the water in a quiet and dignified way. But Mrs. Scorpio did not know this. "Shark! Shark!" she yelled and flung herself onto the san screaming and kicking with terror.

What a panic there was! Up and down Caramel Cove peopi I grabbed up their children, their dogs, and inflatable canoes. Wit^j moments the sand was crowded with dripping bodies, and the sea] was completely empty. Everyone stared despairingly at the cruising dorsal fin. Many people thought they could just make out the shape I of a great white man-eating shark cutting through the water] beneath it. Norvin wore the expression a great white man-eating shark always wears when it is hungry, and his acting was so good I that even when he came up to breathe, people were convinced he I was actually looking for prey.

It was a very hot day, but nobody dared to go swimming again.

Norvin had the whole of Caramel Cove to himself. He spent all afternoon shooting backward and forward like a silver arrow. At last he swam out around the headland and vanished from sight. Norvin had the entire beach to himself for three whole days.

However, a few brave people, tired of seeing Norvin shooting to and fro, started swimming again. Others joined them, and soon everyone was splashing around happily once more, enjoying the swimming and the summer.

But Norvin had grown used to having the beach to himself. He strolled around the headland, put on his dorsal fin, and swam back into Caramel Cove.

Mr. Dorsey, the plumber, was showing his little boy, Courtney, how to stand on his head in the water —something a plumber sometimes has to do. Suddenly, he found himself nose to nose with Norvin. He did not recognize Norvin, of course. He thought he was nose to nose with a great white man-eating shark.

"Shark! Shark!" he yelled. Grabbing up Courtney, he flung himself onto the sand, kicking and screaming in terror.

Within minutes Norvin had the beach all to himself once more. He shot to and fro like a silver arrow, while others watched longingly from the beach. Soon they could stand it no longer. In a week Caramel Cove was once more splashing and bubbling with happy swimmers.

Norvin, however, was becoming greedy. He wanted Caramel Cove all to himself, all the time. So he strolled around the headland and put on his dorsal fin once more. Then he swam back to Caramel Cove, laughing to himself as he thought of all the terror he would cause. But suddenly, he felt he was not alone. Someone was swimming beside him. Who could it be? He looked out of the corner of his eye. There nuzzling up to him, was a great white man-eating shark — a female – Norvin was such a good actor that she did not realize he was merely pretending to be a shark. She gave him a very loving glance.

"You are the shark of my dreams," she said. "Marry me at once, r i shall lose my temper and bite you!"

Norvin shot like a silver arrow, dorsal fin and all, toward the beach and flung himself onto the sand where he lay, kicking and screaming with terror. Everyone could see at a glance just what he had been up to.

The people of Caramel Cove put up a shark net across the mouth of the bay, but for the rest of the summer, Norvin sat on the beach, watching other swimmers shoot backward and forward like silver arrows. He had had such a terrible shock that — shark net or not — he was too frightened to go swimming for a long, long time. Though he was a plain boy, he had made rather a good-looking shark, and I think he was very wise not to take any dangerous chances.

2.3. True or false?

1. Norvin was a sharkishly good swimmer.

2. He was plain-looking but a crocodile at heart.

3. Norvin scared everyone out of their wits and out of the water.

4. The beach population used silver arrows against the shark.

5. When summer comes, even plumbers are fond of sea waters.

6. Sharks normally waste little time on courting, and marry at once.

7. It's risky to pose as a good-looking shark when you are in the sea.

8. Norvin will forget to be a trickster in the future.

2.4. Understanding the author's intonations.

Pay special attention to the following phrases from the story. Explain the secret of their humorous impact. How does the author's humour actually work? Unfortunately, there are not many plays written with good parts for sharks, so Norvin took up swimming instead.

Then he strolled around the headland, thought a few sharkish thoughts, strapped on the fin, and slid into the clear blue water.

If you are swimming and see a great white man-eating shark heading straight for you, the thing to do is to leave the water in a quiet and dignified way.

Mr. Dorsey, the plumber, was showing his little boy, Courtney, how to stand on his head in the water — something a plumber sometimes has to do

She (the female shark) gave him a very loving glance.

think he was very wise not to take any dangerous chances.

2.5. Sharkish behavior in focus.

Norvin thought a few sharkish thoughts. Try to imagine what his thoughts could be. Act ravishingly sharkish now!

1. I am a hungry shark looking for prey. I could swallow anything!

2.1 am a swimmer who shoots through the sea like a silver arrow! I could...

3 .I am ... ! I could ...!

4. I...! I...!

5. !!!!!!!!!

6. (any other?)

2.6. Storing vocabulary.

Paraphrase the following using the expressions from the story.

1. The students were nervous, walking backward and forward in the hall.

2. It was so dark that we could hardly see the forest path.

3. If you are tired of basketball, why not try some other sport?

4. Make-up and fancy clothes couldn't save her from looking unattractive.

5. Why are you smiling that foxy smile of yours? What's on your mind, huh?

6. You are directing your steps to the museum, aren't you? But it's closed.

7. Sharks are always hungry and on the lookout for something to kill.

8. You're always interfering when I do the rooms. Find something else to do!

Choose from the following: plain, to take up to, to get in one's way, to head for, to make out, to be up to something, prey, to and fro.

2.7. Grammar.

Darkish woods (see p. 12) and sharkish thoughts in the above story appeared due to the suffix -ish. It looks like one can make good use of the suffix. Before doing that, make sure you understand the following sentences.

When expected at 5-ish, you don't have to come at five sharp.

If you meet a darkish creature in the wood, you'll know what to do, right?

If your sweater is greenish, it is not bright green.

If someone is fortyish, well, it means this person is still young!

Obviously, he had a sort of snobbish streak in his character.

Produce examples of your own, both longish and shortish. e.g. When I was a smallish schoolchild, I used to...