III. Post-reading
3.1. Feelings.
A. There is a phrase in the story, "I felt bad inside." It's obvious that this adjective may mean a million things in this context. Comment upon some of the meanings. How did the boy feel about Papa's death?
B. There is another phrase, "And I smiled, a small smile." How can a smile be 'small'? Something not small at all is hidden in this sentence. Can you find it?
C. The final sentence of the story goes like this, "Papa would like that." It is not by chance that this phrase happens at the very end, is it? Please, explain what the author wants us readers understand?
3.2. Dreams, dreams, dreams...
Let us imagine the boy's future. Do you think those games without words will help him become a better man — and parent — and grandparent in his time?
3.3. Project work: games with words.
Do you know any word games? Read the descriptions of some, and practice playing them in your spare time. Explore the possibilities of other word games in English. Report the results of your research in class — in the form of a game, of course!
LAST LETTERS
You can have any number of players for this simple game. One person calls out the name of something. It could be a town, a river, a country, an animal or a flower. For example, she could call 'daffodil'. The person on the left of the first player calls out another flower beginning with the last letter of the previous word, for example, 'lilac'. The game continues in this way and anyone who cannot give a word is out. The winner is the last person out.
LONG WORDS
Think of a long word such as 'nightingale'. Players have live minutes to write down all the words that they can make out of nightingale, such as night, tin, gale, nail, gate and so on. They must not be proper names. At the end of the time, count the words you have made and see who has the most.
ANIMAL WORD PUZZLE
Any number can play this game. One person thinks of the name of an animal. He tells the others how many letters the name has. They have to guess what it is with some help from the name-chooser. This is how it's done.
The players put a dash on their paper for each letter of the word. They number the dashes. The name-chooser then gives them clues to the letters. The first person to guess the word is the winner. She chooses the word in the next round. Here is an example to show you how the game goes: the word is 'hippopotamus'. Players put twelve numbered dashes on their paper like this: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 The name-chooser could give the players clues like these:
Letters 4, 5 and 6 make a word which means the noise a bubble makes when it bursts (pop).
Letters 6, 7 and 8 make a word which means a thing that you put a plant in (pot).
Letters 1, 5 and 6 make a word which means jumping on one foot (hop). The game continues until someone guesses the word. If someone makes the wrong guess, he is out of the game until the next word is chosen.
THE BLACK THING ON THE LANDING
I. Pre-reading
1.1. SHARE your family history. Do you have elder brothers or sisters? Did they help you when you were young and inexperienced?
1.2. DISCUSS a controversial problem. Some say it's better to have four or five children in the family, others disagree strongly. What is your enlightened opinion on the subject?
1.3. PROVE that the so-called generation gap exists and will exist as long as human civilization continues. Do you have a different opinion?