The Twits

Draw two speech bubbles. Write some ugly thoughts in one and good thoughts in the other. Share your thoughts with a partner.

Roald Dahl (1916–1990) was a British writer of books for children. His parents were Norwegian.

ROALD DAHL

The Twits If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until it gets so ugly you can hardly bear to look at it. A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always Vurderingseksemplar look lovely.

twit dust hardly nesten ikke bear orke wonky skjevt crooked krokete double chin dobbelthake sunbeams solstråler

UNDERSTANDING

1 Make a voice recording of the text. Use your voice to show your understanding of the text.

VIEWPOINTS

2 Discuss the questions. a Do you think your mindset, the way you think, can affect the way you look? How? b What makes you smile?

EXPLORE MORE

3 Search the internet for quotes on positive thinking. Choose a quote that you like and make a poster. Share your quote with the class. 4 The Twits is a funny book about the smelliest, nastiest, ugliest couple in the world. They are horrible to each other and horrible to everyone else. Read the book yourself or listen to the audiobook. I’ve never seen a smiling face that was not beautiful. Unknown Vurderingseksemplar

A

. s mil e is the best beauty ha c k

What makes you laugh? Laughter is the Best

Medicine

laughter latter hearty hjertelig releases slipper ut contagious smittsom

Hah! Hah! Hah! Has something got you down? Sometimes a good, hearty laugh is all you need to feel better. Laughter relaxes you and releases endorphins into your body. Those are feel-good hormones. Laughter is also contagious. If you start laughing, others will too. Best of all, laughter is fun, free and easy to use. Vurderingseksemplar

Here are some parrot jokes. Which one do you think is the funniest?

Do NOT Talk to the Parrot Mrs Stafford’s dishwasher was broken, so she called a repairman. They made an appointment for the next day. Since she would be at work, she told him: “I’ll leave the key under the mat. Fix the dishwasher and leave the bill on the counter. By the way, don’t worry about my dog, Brutus. He won’t bother you. But, whatever you do, do NOT talk to the parrot!”

When the repairman arrived to fix the dishwasher, he discovered the biggest and meanest looking dog he had ever seen. But, just like Mrs Stafford had said, the dog just lay there on the floor, watching the repairman fix the machine. However, the whole time he was there, the parrot drove him nuts with its non-stop squawking. The noise just wouldn’t stop. Finally the repairman couldn’t take it any longer. He exploded “Shut up, you stupid bird!”

When the parrot heard that, it squawked: “GET HIM, BRUTUS!”

Ship Magic Once there was a magician who worked on a cruise ship. He was really good at making things appear and disappear. Every night he had a magic show. The magician was actually quite good, but the ship’s parrot would often mess up his show. It would fly around squawking and giving away his secrets, like: “IT’S UP HIS SLEEVE, IT’S UP HIS SLEEVE!” or “IT’S IN HIS POCKET, IT’S IN HIS POCKET!” or “IT’S IN HIS MOUTH, IT’S IN HIS MOUTH!” The magician was getting sick of this. He threatened to sell the parrot if it ruined his performance one more time. That evening right at the end of his show, just as the magician was about to disappear in a puff of smoke, the ship hit an iceberg! It sank in five minutes flat. Miraculously, there were two survivors, the magician and the parrot! The magician was passed out on a piece of driftwood. When he opened his eyes, he could see the parrot staring at him. The parrot sat there for hours just staring at him. Finally it said, “OK, I give up, where did you hide the ship?”

Vurderingseksemplarparrot papegøye dishwasher oppvaskmaskin repairman reparatør appointment avtale bill regning drove him nuts irriterte vettet av ham squawking skravlende squawked skrek magician tryllekunstner appear vise seg disappear forsvinne actually faktisk give away avsløre sleeve ermet pocket lomme ruined ødela performance forestilling iceberg isfjell survivors overlevende passed out bevisstløs driftwood drivved staring stirre

fowl mouth stygg i munnen (ordspill på foul mouth) swore bannet sailor sjømann driving him crazy drev ham fra vettet lock låse, stenge cabinet skap clawed klorte let loose slapp løs blush rødme freezer fryseren tremendous voldsom hullabaloo spetakkel wobbled vinglet calmly rolig Fowl Mouth

Once there was this guy with a parrot. And this parrot swore like a sailor – you’ve never heard such bad language before.

That bird could swear for five minutes straight without repeating itself. The trouble was, the guy who owned it did not like swearing at all. The bird’s foul mouth was driving him crazy. One day, it got to be too much, so the guy grabbed the bird by the throat, shook it really hard, and yelled, “QUIT IT!”

But this just made the bird swear more than ever. Then the guy said, “OK, you asked for it!” and he locked the bird in a kitchen cabinet. This really made the bird go wild. It kicked and clawed and squawked and screamed something terrible. When the guy finally let it out, the bird said “You low-down, no good ...” and then let loose a string of swear words that would make a sailor blush. At that point, the guy was so mad that he threw the bird into the freezer. For the first few seconds there was a tremendous hullabaloo. The bird kicked and clawed and squawked and screamed even worse. The freezer wobbled from side to side. Then suddenly it got very quiet. At first the guy just waited, but then he started to worry. Maybe the bird was hurt? After a couple of minutes, he was so worried that he opened the freezer door. To his surprise the bird climbed calmly onto his out-stretched arm. Then the parrot said politely, “I apologize for any trouble I might have caused. I shall do my best to behave from now on.” The man was amazed. What was going on? The parrot pointed back to the freezer and the frozen chicken that lay there. Then it said, “Pardon me for asking, sir, but what did the chicken do?” Vurderingseksemplar

SPEAKING SPOT

1 Choose one of the parrot jokes. Write down keywords and phrases from the joke. Then retell it to a partner using the keywords.

2 Role-play the telephone call where Mrs Stafford makes the appointment with the repairman.

How can I help you? I need to make an appointment. What is wrong? My dishwasher is broken. I can come tomorrow morning at 10 o’clock. Thank you very much.

CREATIVE CORNER

3 How to draw a parrot Work with a partner. You will need paper and coloured pencils. One of you should close your book and draw the parrot, while the other one explains how to do it using the diagram below. The person who is drawing should not look at the diagram! Language prompts first draw ... then make ... head/beak/body/tail/feet circle/oval/rectangle/line

Vurderingseksemplar at the top of the page at the bottom of the page on the right/left next to/under/over

WRITING WORKSHOP

4 Think about a time when you had a good, long laugh. Write about what happened.

DIGITAL DIVE

5 Go online and find a joke which you find funny. Write it down. Tell the jokes to each other in small groups. Make a small poster with your joke and a picture and hang it in your classroom.

The punchline is the last part of the joke that makes it funny. 6 Find and watch a funny video clip on the internet. What makes it funny? Write down your thoughts. LANGUAGE LAB 7 Vocabulary Which is the odd one out? a parrot dog chicken turkey b carrot banana grape apple c freezer refrigerator bathtub dishwasher d scream kick yell squawk e return come arrive leave f get him be quiet shut up pipe down g sunset night evening sunrise h laughter worry joke smileVurderingseksemplar i pleased bothered angry annoyed The odd one out means the one that is different from the others.

8 Phrasal verbs Find the missing preposition in the phrasal verbs from the parrot jokes. a Shut up, you stupid bird. b He was really good ___ making things appear. c The parrot would mess ___ his show. d It would give ___ his secrets. e The magician was getting sick ___ this. f The magician was passed ___. g I give ___. h You asked ___ it! i What was going ___? 9 Which phrasal verb above means ... a deserve ask for b tell c happen d unconscious e ruin 10 Spelling a Find the missing vowels in these words from the jokes. 1 magic _ _ n 2 disapp _ _ r 3 furi _ _ s 4 rep _ _ rman 5 app _ _ ntment 6 m _ _ nest 7 sw _ _ r 8 s _ _ lor 9 fr _ _ zer 10 scr _ _ m b Use each word in a sentence. c Translate the words to Norwegian.

Can you translate them into any other languages?

VurderingseksemplarA phrasal verb is a combination of a verb + a preposition that creates meaning. Carry on!