III. Post-reading

3.1. Feelings.

What is your opinion about the boy's situation? Do you con­sider the boy's feelings to be: (a) much exaggerated; (b) ab­solutely groundless; (c) simply neurotic? Or, simply, he was just a bit lonely? Please, explain.

3.2. Test of courage.

Imagine yourself a very young child who is faced with a challenging situation s/he should cope with on his/her own. Describe your ways of conquering your fears.

3.3. Poetry corner.

Read a very fascinating poem written by Karla Kuskin and decide whether it's always possible to follow the author's advice — especially right in the middle of the night.

3.4. Teachers' club.

Share your ideas on ways of making classroom learning less stressful and more fear-free, and how to make school feel like home. Use personal experi­ences — light-heartedly.

THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT

This is the song to be sung at night

When nothing is left of you and the light

When the cats don't bark

And the mice don't moo

And the nightmares come and nuzzle you

When there's blackness in the cupboards

And the closet and the hall

And a tipping, tapping, rapping

In the middle of the wall

When the lights have one by one gone out

All over everywhere

And a shadow by the curtains

Bumps a shadow by the chair

Then you hide beneath your pillow

With your eyes shut very tight

And you sing

'"There's nothing sweeter than

The middle of the night.

I'm extremely fond of shadows

And I really must confess

That cats and bats don't scare me.

Well, they couldn't scare me less

And most of all I like the things

That slide and slip and creep."

It is really surprising

How fast you fall asleep.

THE CHAMELEON CLOTH

I. PRE-READING

1.1. SHARE your recollections of a most favorite game you used to play indoors when you were very young (or somewhat older).

1.2. ARGUE if it is commonly easy to describe the character of a person after you have seen the interior of his/her bedroom. Do you think that the colour of wall paper speaks volumes to an attentive observer?

1.3. SHARE your hardly-ever-to-be-fulfilled dream about furnishing or decorating a room of your own.

II. READING

2.1. Understanding the title.

The title of the story written by Annette L. Couch-Jareb sounds quite mysterious, does it not? Which clue does the word "chame­leon" give?

2.2. Reading for pleasure and enrichment.

Read the story to the end and answer the question: Was it only the cloth that saved Mrs Freeman the scientist? The following words will be useful for better understanding of the events.

Tickle — to rub someone's body with your fingers in order to make them laugh

Topple — to make something fall

Furnace — a large container in which a very hot fire is made

Slither — to slide smoothly across the surface, moving snake-like

Clamber — to climb slowly, using your hands and feet

Beaker — a glass cup with straight sides used for measuring and heating liquids

Wrench — to twist and pull

"Ready or not, here I come," called Morgan Faye Freeman, Xvstomping down the basement stairs. It wouldn't take long to find her friend. Alicia couldn't keep quiet while playing hide-and-seek.

"Tee-hee-hee."

Morgan whirled around. "I heard you."

Another giggle came from across the basement. "Aha!" Morgan dove onto a pile of unwashed laundry, smashing Alicia beneath. Alicia squealed while Morgan tickled her relentlessly. That was the penalty for being caught.

"Girls, what are you doing?" Morgan's mother called from the top of the stairs. "You're not playing in my laboratory, are you?"

Mrs. Freeman, a chemist, had taken a break from her work. The lab door, usually locked, was wide open.

"Just playing hide-and-seek," Morgan answered. Upstairs, the doorbell rang.

"Last one to the door is a rotten school lunch," Morgan shouted, leap­ing to her feet. But Alicia pulled her back down and began tickling her.

"No fair!" Morgan protested, giggling.

Something thumped on the floor upstairs, and Morgan felt Alicia hadn't heard the noise and kept tickling.

"Hey, wait a minute," Morgan said. "I heard something."

Alicia paused long enough to hear silence, then resumed giggling. After another thump on the floor, both girls fell silent.

"Mom?" Morgan called and waited for her mother to answer, but no answer came. Morgan crawled out of the laundry and edged closer to the stairs. "Mom? Is that you?"

No answer. Without waiting to call again, Morgan sprinted the stairs. Alicia followed her.

"Tie her up," a voice barked. Alicia and Morgan stopped on top landing. "Mrs. Freeman, we know what you've been doing on and we will have it. Now, tell us where the fabric sample is."

Morgan's eyes widened. She pushed the door open a crack and peered into the living room. Mrs. Freeman was seated in an arm­chair, her hands tied in front of her. A woman wearing a trench coat paced the floor in front of Mrs. Freeman, and a man stood near the chair.

"Who are you people?" Mrs. Freeman demanded. "I will ask the questions," the woman snapped. "Where is the fabric sample?"

Morgan stepped backward, bumping into Alicia and nearly toppling them both. Silently, they turned around and crept back downstairs. In the basement, Alicia started crying. "Morgan, what're we going to do?"

Taking Alicia's hand, Morgan pulled her behind the furnace. High on the basement wall was a small window spattered with dried mud.

"Look," Morgan whispered. "If we can get this window open, I'll give you a boost to get out. You run to your house and call the police."

"What about you, Morgan?" Morgan was already fumbling with the latch. "I'm better at hiding than you are. I'll stay hidden down here until the police arrive."

The latch gave, and the rusty window creaked open, but only wide enough for someone of Alicia's size to slip through. Morgan braced her shoulder against the wall and clasped her hands over her knee. Alicia put one foot in Morgan's palms and one hand on the window ledge.

"Ready? One, two, three." Alicia jumped, pulled her waist up to the ledge, and slithered out on her stomach. "Alicia, crawl under the shrubs until you're closer to the fence; then run for home." Alicia looked worriedly over her shoulder and crawled away. Morgan stood on tiptoe, grabbed the window, and pulled it shut. ' Then she looked around for a good hiding place. She remembered that the lab door was open. Surely there would be someplace to hide in there.

Morgan walked into the pitch-dark lab. The lights were off, and there were no windows. She felt around, then found the switch. Light flooded the room. But there was nowhere to hide.

The lab contained three black worktables, and shelves full of supplies lined the walls. A clothesline was strung across the room, and a single piece of charcoal gray fabric hung from it.

"The fabric sample," Morgan whispered. Ordinarily, she wouldn't touch anything in the lab. She wasn't even allowed inside it without her mother, but today, she decided, was an exception. She climbed onto one of the tables, trying not to bump any of the glass beakers on the tabletop, and carefully lifted the fabric off the clothesline.

The cloth was about the size of a small bed sheet, but it was surprisingly heavy. In fact, it was all Morgan could do to carry' it over her shoulder. The oddest thing about the fabric, though, was that it seemed to be changing color. The center had turned the color of her shirt, and the corners, which dragged across the tabletop, were black.

Morgan was about to jump to the floor when she saw her mother's notebook on the opposite table. Her mother never went anywhere without that notebook. Certainly, Morgan reasoned, that wasn't something she would like those people upstairs to find. Morgan de­cided to take the notebook to her hiding place, too. She clambered off the table, knocking two glass beakers onto the floor.

She froze, praying that no one upstairs had heard the crash.

"You go down and check on that noise. I'll stay up here with Mrs. Freeman," instructed a muffled voice at the top of the stairs. The basement door opened. Morgan snatched the notebook, slammed it shut, ran out the lab, and ducked behind the furnace. She barely made it before the man rounded the corner at the bottom of the steps.

"Who's there?" he called.

Morgan smashed herself into the corner and threw the fabric over her head. If the man looked behind the furnace, she hoped he wouldthink she was just a pile of old rags. The cloth was so heavy, it was nearly suffocating her. Morgan hardly breathed as she clutched her mother's notebook to her chest. Morgan could hear footsteps approaching the furnace. She tried to make herself small, but she thought she must look exactly like a person hiding under a dirty sheet. The footsteps stopped in front of the furnace, and Morgan held her breath.

"Aha!" the man shouted, jumping to the back of the furnace.

She didn't move. She couldn't move. She was frozen to the floor. Morgan waited for the man to wrench the sheet front her head, but he only grunted, then turned and walked away. She let out a long, low sigh of relief. Morgan listened as the man discovered her mother's lab.

"Hey, there's a whole setup down here," the man called upstairs to his accomplice, "but no fabric."

Morgan heard him rummaging through her mother's supplies. The woman in the trench coat came downstairs, pulling Mrs. Free­man by the elbow.

"Very well, Mrs. Freeman, I'm sure you can easily produce a duplicate sample."

Behind the furnace, Morgan tugged the fabric off her head, and then gasped as she looked down at her legs. The fabric still covered them, and they seemed invisible. The cloth now matched the pattern on the linoleum floor. And where it touched the wall behind her, the fabric was a pale, cinder-block gray. Morgan hastily opened her mother's notebook. In bold letters at the top of the first page were printed the words "Chameleon Cloth."

Silently, Morgan crept out from behind the furnace. She draped the cloth over her head and shoulders so that only her face peered out. The two strangers ransacked the lab while Mrs. Freeman stood helplessly at the door, her hands still tied.

Morgan tiptoed to her mother's side, and then silently slipped half of the chameleon cloth around her mother's shoulders. Morgan was so well camouflaged that Mrs. Freeman was momentarily startled.

"It's me," Morgan whispered.

Mrs. Freeman smiled and nodded, then quietly wrapped herself in the cloth. The two had sneaked to the basement steps before the strangers noticed Mrs. Freeman's disappearance.

"Hey, where'd she go?" the woman shouted. Morgan and Mrs. Freeman pressed their backs against the wall. The chameleon cloth faded, and both strangers ran past them.

Morgan could hear police sirens approaching the house. The front door opened and then slammed shut as the strangers ran out.

Morgan and Mrs. Freeman pulled the chameleon cloth from their faces and smiled at one another. Morgan knew she would never lose a game of hide-and-seek again.

2.3. True of false?

1. Morgan knew her Mother's lab like the back of her hand.

2. The strangers were far from being friendly.

3. Morgan turned out to be a resourceful teenager.

4. Both Morgan and her friend ran for help.

5. Morgan's Mom was willing to share her scientific achievement.

6. Morgan had known the properties of the chameleon cloth before.

7. The cloth saved both the mother and the daughter.

2.4. Points of view.

What did they mean by saying so?

1. "Hey, there's a whole setup down here."

2. "Last one to the door is a rotten school lunch."

3. "I will ask the questions."

4. "I'm better at hiding than you are."

5. "Hey, where did she go?"

2.5. Verbs in focus.

The story resembles an action movie, doesn't it? If so, it must be full of action verbs that denote quick motion. Find as many of them as you can in the text of the story. Comment on the situations. The first one has been found for you.

e.g. The girls were playing hide-and-seek in the basement, so Morgan stomped downstairs because she wanted to catch her friend unprepared.

2.6. Storing vocabulary.

Fill in the gaps using the words given below.

1. The classroom ... was far from traditional: no desks and lots of potted plants.

2. The boy listened to the teacher scolding them...

3. What a mess! Somebody has been ... in my room!

4. I'd like to see some ... of your work.

5. She is ... the desk drawers for old family photos.

6. "Shut up, you fool", the boss ... angrily.

7. Jack ... for his keys in the darkness with no chance for success.

Choose from: relentlessly, sample, snap, fumble, rummage, ransack, set-up.

2.7. Studying grammar.

When Morgan found the chameleon cloth it was very heavy. All that Morgan could do was to carry it over her shoulder. It means the girl only succeeded in carrying the cloth. The structure can come in handy when describing really stressful moments or great efforts. Describe some episodes of the story.

e.g. When the man was looking for her all Morgan could do was...

2.8. Ing-forms in focus.

Literary English demands attention to sentence structure. With­out using diverse constructions, your style will remain quite ordinary. Let's enrich it now. Use the gerundial construction to describe the events of the story.

E.g. Without waiting to call again, Morgan sprinted the stairs. Without getting into the lab,...

2.9. Games in, games out.

Big houses are fit for games on a rainy afternoon. Big lawns in front are very good too, when the sun is shining brightly. Do you happen to know the names of games loved by Anglo-American children? Do a bit of matching.

1	Hopscotch	A	Казаки-разбойники
2	Rounders	B	Холодно-тепло
3	Battleships	C	Собачка
4	Foxes and Hounds	D	Крестики-нолики
5	Last Letters	E	Лапта
6	Hot and Cool	F	Классы
7	Hide-and-Seek	G	Жмурки
8	Piggy in the Middle	H	Морской бой
9	Naughts and Crosses	I	Слова
10	Cherry Drop	J	Прятки