Eleanor & Park

Find the scene from High School Musical called “A Night to Remember” on YouTube. Watch the video and then write a brief description of a high school prom.

Rainbow Rowell (1973–) is an American writer of novels for young adults.

fit in tilpasse seg extract utdraget

RAINBOW ROWELL Vurderingseksemplar Eleanor & Park

Eleanor & Park is a novel about two young people who find it hard to fit in. They meet on the school bus and connect through comic books, music tapes and late night conversations. Slowly they fall in love. In the extract below, Park wants Eleanor to go to prom with him.

Park “We should go to prom,” he said. “What?” She lifted up her head. “Prom. You know, prom.” “I know what it is, but why would we go there?” Because he wanted to see Eleanor in a pretty dress. Because he wanted to help his mom do her hair. “Because it’s prom,” he said. “And it’s lame,” she said. “How do you know?” “Because the theme is ‘I Want to Know What Love Is’.” “That’s not such a bad song,” he said. “Are you drunk, it’s Foreigner.” Park shrugged and pulled one of her curls straight. “I know that prom is lame,” he said. “But it’s not something you can go back and do. You only get one chance.” “Actually, you get three chances …” “Okay, will you go to prom with me next year?” She started laughing. “Yes”, she said, “sure. We can go next year. That will give my mouse and bird friends plenty of time to make me a dress. Totally. Yes. Let’s go to prom.” “You think it’s never going to happen,” he said. “You’ll see. I’m not going anywhere.” “Not until you learn how to drive a stick.” She was relentless. Eleanor Prom. Right. That was going to happen. The amount of chicanery it would take to slip prom past her mother … it boggled the mind. Though now that Park had suggested it, Eleanor could almost see it working. She could tell her mom that she was going to prom with Tina. (Good old Tina.) And she could get ready at Park’s house, his mom would love that. The only thing Eleanor would have to figure out was the dress … Did they even make prom dresses in her size? She’d have to shop in the mother-of-the-bride section. And she’d have to rob a bank. Seriously. Even if a hundred-dollar bill fell right out of the sky, Eleanor could never spend it on something as stupid as a prom dress.

She’d spend it on new Vans. Or a decent bra. Or a boom box … Actually, she’d probably just give it to her mom.

Prom. As if. Vurderingseksemplar “My mouse and bird friends” is a reference to the fairy tale “Cinderella”, where the animals and birds make Cinderella a dress so she can go to the ball at the palace.

do her hair ordne håret hennes lame teit Foreigner band fra 1980-tallet shrugged trakk på skuldrene drive a stick kjøre bil med manuelt gir relentless ubøyelig chicanery knep, krumspring boggled the mind det ble overveldende decent anstendig, ordentlig bra behå boom box bærbar stereo as if slang: særlig, skjer ikke

UNDERSTANDING

1 Answer the questions. a What does Park suggest they should do? b Why does Park want to go? c How does Eleanor respond to Park’s suggestion? d What is the theme of this year’s prom? e How many times can they go to prom? f What is the problem with the dress?

VIEWPOINTS

2 Discuss the questions. a Why do you think Eleanor and Park say that prom is lame? b Do you think there are other reasons why Eleanor doesn’t want to go to prom?

What are they? c Do you think they will ever go to prom? Why or why not?

VOCABULARY

3 Each year of American high school has a name. Use the internet and finish the table. 9th grade – freshman year 10th grade – ___ 11th grade – ___ 12th grade – ___ 4 Translation Some words look the same in English and Norwegian, but mean something completely different. First translate the list of words from Norwegian to English. Then translate the list from English to Norwegian. From Norwegian to English From English to Norwegian a bra good b fart c gang d vet e gal f store g fort h fast i hell j gave k hit l her m god n sent o gift p fire a bra behå b fart c gang d vet e gal f store g fort h fast

Vurderingseksemplar i hell j gave k hit l her m god n sent o gift p fire

LANGUAGE LAB

5 Concord Write the verbs in brackets in the simple present tense. a Eleanor and Park fall (fall) in love. b Park ___ (want) to go to prom. c Eleanor ___ (be) unsure about the idea. d She ___ (think) about how much the dress will cost. e The difficulty of finding a dress her size ___ (be) another problem. f Park and Eleanor ___ (talk) about prom. g They ___ (have) different opinions about it. h Eleanor ___ (wonder) what her mum will think. i They ___ (think) prom is lame. In America, a prom is a formal dance which marks the end of the school year in high school. Students may go to prom with a date or a group of friends. To prepare for prom the students dress up in fancy dresses and tuxedos. They pin flowers to their clothes. Some students and their parents spend a lot of money on prom and everything that goes with it: clothes, flowers, photographs, limousines and parties. tuxedos smoking Vurderingseksemplar

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6 Future tense. If Eleanor and Park decide to go to the prom, Eleanor’s timeline on the day of the prom would look like this. Write five sentences about what she is planning to do on the day of the prom.

4:30 pm 5:00 pm 5:30 pm 6:00 pm 6:30 pm 7:00 pm 7:30 pm CREATIVE CORNER 7 Design and draw your own prom dress or tuxedo. Add text that explains details about the outfit.Vurderingseksemplar

WRITING WORKSHOP

8 Make Eleanor’s list of pros and cons about going to prom, or make Park’s list.

9 Replace “said” in three lines of dialogue from the text with an alternative. Example: “We should go to prom,” he said suggested.

10 Imagine that Eleanor is your friend. Write a dialogue where you discuss what she should do about prom.

Eleanor: Prom is so lame! Me: What do you think is so lame about it? Eleanor: …