III. Post-reading
3.1. Dreams, dreams, dreams...
Modern science can work wonders. If you were a science wizard, what would you try to invent? Think it over and share a learned opinion.
3.2. Poetry corner.
If you live in a detached cottage, the problem described in the poem by Ogden Nash is not of your concern. But if you live in a block of flats, then it's different. Try to understand HOW different it is, and then speak about it.
THE PEOPLE UPSTAIRS
The people upstairs all practice ballet.
Their living room is a bowling alley.
Their bedroom is full of conducted tours.
Their radio is louder than yours.
They celebrate weekends all the week.
When they take a shower, your ceilings leak.
They try to get their parties to mix
By supplying their guests with Pogo sticks,
And when their orgy at last abates,
They go to the bathroom on roller skates.
I might love the people upstairs wondrous
If instead of above us, they just lived under us.
A GAME WITHOUT WORDS
I. Pre-reading
1.1. SHARE your reminiscences of your best loved games played years ago with friends or family. Was it great fun to do that?
1.2. DISCUSS various kinds of games that parents can play with their children. Specify the goals of such games (if any).
1.3. PROVE the idea that a language teacher is supposed to be able to play games — both in class and outside it.
II. Reading
2.1. Understanding the title.
The title of the story written by Lindy Strauss suggests the idea of a very special kind of game. Share your expectations of the events.
2.2. Reading for pleasure and enrichment..
Read the story and answer the question: Was Grandmother a perceptive and intelligent person? The following words will be useful for better understanding of the events.
Curlicue — a decorative twisted pattern
Blotter — soft thick paper used to dry ink on the page
Swivel chair — a chair that turns around
Bolster — a long firm pillow
Mantel — a frame surrounding the fireplace
Cubbyhole — a very small space for hiding and keeping things
Caddy – a small box
Crayon — a stick of colored wax or chalk for drawing or writing
Ledge — a narrow flat shelf
I have two families living in my house. In the upstairs family there are four people: my mother, my father, my older sister and me. I'm David. In the downstairs family there are two people: my grandmother and my grandfather. I call them Nonny and Papa.
Every day after school, I visit my downstairs family. The library is my favorite room downstairs. It's where my grandfather spends most of his time and it's full of all his precious stuff. There are more books on more bookshelves than I can count. There are lots of places to hide in and jump out of. There are pillows and bolsters for building forts. There is a collection of golf trophies as dusty as dinosaur bones, sitting on the mantel.
And right in the middle of everything is Papa's desk, which has at least a hundred cubbyholes and a special drawer filled with emergency chocolate bars. Nonny pretends she doesn't know about chocolate bars.
Papa and I have another secret, too. We have a secret game we play. It is a game without words. I can't remember how it got started, but Papa and I have always played it. The game goes like this. There is a little milk glass owl, as big as my thumb. Papa and I take turns hiding it. We never talk about the game. We just play it. I hide the glass owl for Papa to find, and he hides it for me to find. Thinking up new places to hide that owl gets trickier and trickier.
Once Papa hid thg.owl in my crayon box. I put the owl inside one of his golf trophies. Then I found it hiding in the window curtains. Next I rolled it in a Tootsie Roll wrapper and put it in the chocolate drawer. After that, Papa hid the owl in the caddy with his poker chips. I didn't find it for a week.
Then it was my turn to hide the owl. I thought and thought. Finally, I thought of the perfect place. There is a lamp hanging over Papa's desk. It has lots of curlicues and turrets. That little owlwould fit right into one of those curlicues. I waited until Papa left the library. Then, very carefully, I climbed up on his desk and hid the owl in the lamp.
I was right. It was the perfect hiding place. I saw Papa searching for the owl the next afternoon when he didn't know I was watching him. But he couldn't find it that day. And he didn't find the owl the next day or even the day after that. It made me smile to see Papa searching so hard for that owl.
A week has gone by now, and something terrible has happened.
'David,' said Nonny, hugging me close. 'Your grandfather died. Papa died in his sleep last night.'
I looked hard at Nonny. I didn't want to believe her. 'Why did Papa die?' I asked.
'Papa was very old, David. His body just wasn't strong enough to live anymore.'
I felt bad inside. Crying and Nonny's hugs didn't help that much, either. The next day there was a memorial service for Papa. Lots of people came to our house and brought food. Everyone was there: my. mother and father and sister and Nonny and all my aunts and uncles and cousins. Papa's friends came also. Everyone was there but Papa. It was awful. Then I remembered the glass owl and felt even worse. I went downstairs to the library. I took the glass owl out of its hiding place in the lamp over Papa's desk. I left the owl in the middle of the desk blotter, right where anyone could see it. It didn't matter, keeping the secret anymore. Without Papa the game was over.
The day after that I had to go back to school. I was quiet in school. I just didn't feel like talking to my friends. When I got home from school, I went downstairs to visit as usual. Nonny wasn't in the library, but I went in and sat in Papa's big swivel chair. I looked around at all of Papa's things. I took a chocolate bar out of the emergency drawer. I ate the whole bar all by myself, square by square. Then I decided to build a fort under Papa's desk.
I got out the pillows and the
bolsters and the afghan and the small footstool and made my fort.
When it was all finished, it was the best fort I ever built. I
crawled inside. It was dark in my fort, and I felt very safe in there
with all that stuff piled around me. I sat curled upfor
a while. Then I noticed a speck of light shining on something set on
a narrow ledge under the desk. I looked at it more closely. It was a
small thing, the size of my thumb. It was the milk glass owl!
How did that get there, I wondered.
I scrambled out of my fort. Nonny was standing in the doorway smiling, a small smile. She raised her eyebrows into a question mark. I had to think for a moment and then I understood. And I smiled, a small smile. Nonny and I would go on playing Papa's game without words. It would be our secret now. Papa would like that.
2.3. True of false?
The library was the most enchanting place in the house.
The boy preferred noisy games.
When Papa and the boy played, the whole family joined in.
One had to be very creative to find a perfect hiding place for the owl.
After Papa's death the game lost all the fun.
Grandmother had always known about the game.
That game without words will be played on and on and on.
2.4. Storing vocabulary.
Fill in the gaps with appropriate words from the list below.
The wood was pitch-dark, there wasn't even ... of light.
The children ... to do chores.
The castle was really huge with a forest of towers and ....
Pack your school... and be off!
People have always been fascinated by ... stones.
The fox cubs... through the bushes and disappeared from view.
Choose from the following: stuff, precious, speck, take turns, turret, scramble.
2.5. Studying grammar.
Some of the structures may look familiar but we still need to practice them from time to time. Recollect some of the episodes of the story using VERB+ADJECTIVE structure.
e.g. The boy felt safe sitting in his fort. , The hiding place looked ... Grandma's voice sounded ... The emergency chocolate bar smelled ...
2.6. Hidden meanings in focus.
The English language is good at hiding meanings; that's why you are to be good at finding them. Find the hidden meaning of the following idioms.
1. To hide one's light under a bush means...
A. to not tell anyone that you are very good at something.
B. to put out the light.
2. To have nothing to hide means...
A. to have no valuable possessions.
B. to be sincere about what you have done.
3. To hide one's head in the sand means...
A. to avoid exposure to sunlight.
B. to pretend not to notice something unpleasant.
4. To hide one's talent in a napkin means...
A. to waste one's talent.
B. to wrap something in a napkin.
5. To go into hiding means...
A. to hide because you've broken the law.
B. to play hide-and-seek.