The Boy at the Back of the Class

OPEN YOUR MIND, CHANGE YOUR LIFE

An ERASMUS+ project 2018-2021 The Boy at the Back of the Class A booklet with worksheets for the whole book co-written by teachers of a Greek, an Irish, an Italian, a Portuguese and aTurkish schools

Biography Onjali Q. Raúf is the founder of both O's Refugee Aid Team (which works to deliver emergency aid to refugees in northern France and other parts of Europe) and Making Herstory (which mobilises men, women and children from all walks of life to tackle the abuse and trafficking of women and girls in the UK and beyond).

Her first novel, The Boy at the Back of the Class, won the Waterstone's Children's Prize and The Blue Peter Book Award. Her second novel, The Star Outside My Window, was published in October 2019. To help celebrate World Book Day 2020, a follow up to The Boy at the Back of the Class was released called The Day We Met the Queen

.

Discussion Questions

Before you start reading fill in some basic information about the book Title _______________________________________

Author______________________________________

Illustrator

_____________________________________________

NOW YOU CAN START READING CHAPTER 1

ENJOY!!!!!!

CHAPTER 1

Do you know who TIN TIN is?Have you ever heard about him?

Have you read any comic on Tin Tin’s adventures? _____________________________________________ Go

to

https://issuu.com/tintinebook/stacks/dfae18aea13b4 49fb9a6d767d749546b And choose one to read

● And to Tin-Tin to find out more

NOW FOLLOW THE LINK AND DESCRIBE YOUR FAVOURITE COMIC OR BOOK

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/17pRPZS94saiaQ3 114u0rvfGhjbIbJPKOnryOeDxMxog/edit?usp=sharing

CHAPTER 2 COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS 1.What does the narrator want to be when he gets older? What would you like to be?

2. What are ‘Blistering Barnacles’?

3. Why is the narrator embarrassed in maths? Is it all right to learn by our mistakes?

4. What do you think about the narrator?

5. What does the narrator think of Tom, Josie and Michael? Create a character portrait of each character using the information shared by the narrator.

6. Discuss the characteristics of a good friend.

7. Why is everyone scared of Mrs Sanders?

8. Why is the chair at the back of the class empty?

9. Why does the narrator make a secret promise to be friends with the new boy?

10. Do you agree that ‘it must be one of the worst things in the world to be new to a place’ (p11)?

Discuss.

11. How do you think Ahmet must be feeling when he walks into the classroom for the first time?

12. How do you think it would feel to move to a new place where you don’t know anyone, or know where anything is?

13. How would you welcome someone new to your class?

14. Why is Chapter 2 called ‘The Boy with the Lion Eyes’?

15. How does the narrator describe Ahmet’s eyes? Find the words used by the author.

16. Is it right to make up stories about people and start rumours? Discuss.

17. What are your first impressions of Ahmet?

18 What’s a taddle-tale? Is ‘taddle-tale’ a real word? What is the narrator trying to say?

19. Why do you think the new boy is in ‘seclusion’?

CHAPTER 3

MAKE A COLLAGE https://jamboard.google.com/d/1QglK5PsyBtxTEL fXbV0o5RzJoEG9P7ViKpwYxr95zB8/viewer

Look at the school subjects children of your age attend in a British school and compare them with the ones you are taught

Key stage 1 and 2 Compulsory national curriculum subjects at primary school are: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

English maths science design and technology history geography art and design music physical education (PE), including swimming computing ancient and modern foreign languages (at key stage 2)

Schools must provide religious education (RE) but parents can ask for their children to be taken out of the whole lesson or part of it.

Schools often also teach: ● ● ●

personal, social and health education (PSHE) citizenship modern foreign languages (at key stage 1)

Tests and assessments Year 1 phonics screening check The check will take place in June when your child will read 40 words out loud to a teacher.

You’ll find out how your child did, and their teacher will assess whether he or she needs extra help with reading. If your child does not do well enough in the check they’ll have to do it again in Year 2.

Key stage 1 ● ● ●

English reading English grammar, punctuation and spelling maths

Your child will take the tests in May. You can ask the school for the test results.

You’ll be sent the results of your child’s teacher assessments automatically.

Key stage 2 Your child will take national tests in May when they reach the end of key stage 2. These test your child’s skills in: ● ● ●

English reading English grammar, punctuation and spelling maths

The tests last less than 4 hours. You’ll get the results in July.

The school will send you the results of your child’s tests and teacher assessments.

Age Year Key stage Assessment 3 to 4 Early years 4 to 5 Reception Early years Teacher assessments (there’s also an optional assessment at the start of the year) 5 to 6 Year 1 KS1 Phonics screening check 6 to 7 Year 2 KS1 National tests and teacher assessments in English, maths and science 7 to 8 Year 3 KS2 8 to 9 Year 4 KS2 9 to 10 Year 5 KS2 10 to 11 Year 6 KS2 National tests and teacher assessments in English and maths, and teacher assessments in science Look the following chart and compare our educational system with the British : All children in England between the ages of 5 and 16 are entitled to a free place at a state school.

State schools receive funding through their local authority or directly from the government.

The most common ones are: ●

●

●

●

community schools, which are sometimes called local authority maintained schools they are not influenced by business or religious groups and follow the national curriculum foundation schools and voluntary schools, which are funded by the local authority but have more freedom to change the way they do things - sometimes they are supported by representatives from religious groups academies and free schools, which are run by not-for-profit academy trusts, are independent from the local authority - they have more freedom to change how they run things and can follow a different curriculum grammar schools, which can be run by the local authority, a foundation body or an academy trust - they select their pupils based on academic ability and there is a test to get in

WRITE DOWN similarities and differences between the Grrek and the British educational system

CHAPTER 4

LEARN HOW TO USE google maps application Find Syria and the UK in the European map

Spot Syria in Google map and write down how can somebody gets from one place to another Which countries does s/he have to go through? Count the distance in Km/miles

1. How much do you know about Syria?What is happening there? Find out more here:

https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/Syria/345796 2. How far is it from Greece?

3.

4.

5.

6.

How can you get from Syria to the UK? What difficulties did they have to deal with on their way?

What is going on in Syria? War conflict Watch the video to find out more:

https://youtu.be/2iz2tNiRpeY

CHAPTER 5

Answer the following questions: 1) What happened to his father?

2) What did they use to do on Sundays with his father?

3) Record player. Do you know what it looks like? See the picture above and describe it 4) What kind of things did his father use to make and be proud of it?

5) Does he have any other relatives?

6) How does he feel about his mother? Why does he admire her so much?

CHAPTER 6

THE POPPY STORY Imagine you are a refugee leaving home to escape from war.

You can only get a rucksack with you.

What would you get?

PUT PICTURES OF THE THINGS YOU WOULD CHOOSE TO TAKE WITH YOU IN ONE SLIDE EACH

https://jamboard.google.com/d/12nx3NwZ6uw1WIu_4690YFp-r kF1pMadbSpDl40bBZbU/edit?usp=sharing EXTRA The woman in the silver scarf 1. What happened at the bus stop?

2. Who are the Refugee Kids?

3. What did they learn about the war in school?

4. Who was sitting in Clarissa’s seat?

5.Who’s Ms. Hemsi?

CHAPTER 7

1) Did Ahmet know how to play football?

2) Are the sports a mean to make someone feel welcome? Have you ever used it like this?

3) “Bully”: can you explain what we mean by that word?

4) Have you ever been bullied?

Tag is a playground game involving two or more players' chasing other players in an attempt to "tag" and mark them out of play, usually by touching with a hand. There are many variations; most forms have no teams, scores, or equipment.Players (two or more) decide who is going to be "it", often using a counting-out game such as eeny, meeny, miny, moe.

The player selected to be "it" then chases the others, attempting to get close enough to "tag" one of them (touching them with a hand) while the others try to escape 5) DO YOU PLAY THIS GAME? DOES IT HAVE THE SAME RULES IN GREECE? 6) Why did Mr Iron take the ball? Do your teachers do that ? Why? 7)”Some people just can’t see past the end of their nose” do you understand what it means?

Do we have a similar idiom? Does it have the same meaning? Did the protagonist understand the idiomatic phrase?

8) GESTURES:

Mr. Iron’s nose 1. Why would the new boy be afraid of being in the playground?

2. On whose team would the new boy be in?

3. Why was Josie mad at Liam?

4. Who did Mr. Irons send to detention?

5. What happened when they got to Mr. Irons’ office?

CHAPTER 8

päm-ˌgra-nət

1) Do you own an Atlas Book?What kind of information can you find in it?

2) Look Syria on the map. The boy describes it as “A woman yawning and wearing a tiara and whose hair was being blown in the wind”. How would you describe the shape of the country? Use your imagination to do so.

3) If you say that someone or something keeps you on your toes, you mean that they cause you to remain alert and ready for anything that might happen. Do you agree that parents try to keep you on your toes? How?

4) In 2012, Kurdish-language lessons became an elective subject in public schools.

Previously, Kurdish education had only been possible in private institutions.In 2010 an estimated 20-30 million people spoke Kurdish. (Kurdish (Kurdî / ‫)کوردی‬ 5) FLOOR MANAGER: Have you heard of it before? Where? Do you know what is their job?

Look at the following job advertisement and find out

6) Mum says “You should never be horrible to somebody who’s being horrible to you because otherwise they win by making you as bad as them”. Do you agree? How would you behave in a similar situation?

7) Open air market with stalls

Have you ever been in one? What can you buy in a market like that?

1. Instead of buying the Sunday newspaper, what does the writer’s Mum do?

2. According to the book, what does Syria look like?

3. What did Aunty Selma use to cook/make?

4. Are pomegranates Ahmet’s favourite food?

5. What were the best gifts?

CHAPTER 9

The big fight 1. Answer the following questions in a word document

2.

3. 1) What was the UNEXCPECTED ADVENTURE? 4. 2) Have the children seen a pomegranate before? Have you?

5. 3) Have you ever been in a cave? Can you think of a story with jewels in a cave?

6.

7. 4) "Old snake skin" Have you heard about it? Do you know what is happening to a snake's skin?

8.

9. 5) How does Ahmet feel when he sees the pomegranate? What does it remind him?

10.

What did the bully do?

11.

How did Ahmet react?

12.

What did the teachers do?

13.

Why will Ahmet be a "popular" student now?

14.

How does the write describe the inside of a pomegranate?

15.

How did Ahmet defend himself from Brendan-the-Bully?

16.

Who cried out “FIIIIIIGHT”?

17.

Who broke up the fight?

18.

What was the punishment assigned by Mrs Sanders?

CHAPTER 10 War and missing pieces 1. What was Ahmet’s new nickname?

2. What happened just two days after the fight?

3. Where does Dean sit?

4. What is the Great Baked Beans Bag Trap?

5. What did Mrs. Khan explain to Josie, Michael and Tom?

19. STUDENTS WORKING IN GROUPS PRESENT THE FIRST TEN CHAPTERS OF THE BOOK

20.

21. https://www.flipsnack.com/7DAFB666AED/the-boy-at-the-back-of-the-class-chapt ers-7-8.html

CHAPTER 11 THE GAME OF SCRABBLE

Read the questions and choose the correct answer ​: 1)What is a “Grey Day Week?”

It’s.... ◻ when all the days of a week are cold, grey and wet ◻ when only one day in a week is long and grey ◻ when you can’t find anyone to play with and get bored 2)Who is Baby Jacob? ◻ Uncle Lenny’s son ◻ Aunt Cristina’s husband ◻ Mum’s brother 3)Why does the narrator love Uncle Lenny? ◻ Because he is good at playing Scrabble ◻ Because he always brings a large bag of food shopping ◻ Because he smells like warm bread most of the time 4)What does Uncle Lenny do?

◻ He is a taxi driver ◻ He is a bus driver ◻ He is a storyteller 5) What do Fake Smilers want to do? ◻ They want to show their teeth ◻ They try to hide something from you ◻ They want to get you as far as possible 16)Where is the town of Salzburg? ◻ In England ◻ In Austria ◻ In Syria 7)What did Grandma Jo look like? ◻ She had long, brown hair ◻ She had long, grey hair ◻ She had short, grey hair 8)What did Grandma Jo have in her back garden? ◻ A large, green, wooden caravan ◻ An old red car ◻ A new bike 9)Grandma Jo helped lots of refugee run away from a war started in ◻ Syria ◻ England

◻ Germany 10)Who won the first Scrabble game? ◻ Uncle Lenny ◻ Mum ◻ Aunt Cristina

CHAPTER 12

SYRAH AND THE SEA

Read the sentences and write T (true), F (false) or NG (not given).

1. Messengers are the oldest Kids in a class.

2. Victor is the most annoying messenger in school.

3. Victor has a gold earring in his ear.

4. Victor works for all the school bullies.

5. Tintin is Ahmet’s favourite superhero.

6. Syrah is Ahmet’s sister.

7. Ahmet’s cat died in the sea.

8. Ahmet’s father read adventure books.

9. Ahmet’s father didn’t have a beard.

10. Ahmet was crying as he talked about his mother.

CHAPTER 13 THE SOMETHING THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING Complete the text with the missing words given in the box: parents - were – without- something- took – borders- famous - seats got on – enter – was everything – about - month

One morning the narrator................ the bus to go to school.

There................. silence inside the bus and everyone seemed to be sleepy but, at the third stop, a man and a woman got on; they............ a newspaper that had been left for free on their ................... and began to argue aloud about what they................. reading. At first they started talking................. the rich who didn’t pay taxes, then about a famous singer who had been arrested. At one point their speeches referred to refugees; they said that the.................... would be closed by the end of the................. and that therefore many children who had been rescued from the sea were in danger of being left.................. a family.

These speeches had an important meaning: Ahmet’s..................... would not have the opportunity to..................... England and therefore Ahmet would never be able to hug them again. Therefore........................ had to be done that could have changed ​................... ​: it was an emergency.

CHAPTER 16 THE ROYAL LETTER

PRE-READING QUESTIONS Have you ever written a letter?

Where does the queen live?

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS -What’s the greatest idea?

-Do you think that it is a good idea to write a royal letter?

CHAPTER 17 THE EMERGENCY PLAN

*Study and research more about Buckingham Palace. *Write a tourist brochure for London.

Answer the Questions.

-What’s their emergency plan?

Why did they need an emergency plan?

-Do you think they have devised a good plan? Discuss the positives and negatives.

-How do they afford and get the tickets to the Buckingham Palace?

-Who do they decide to go to the Palace?

CHAPTER 18 STAN THE TAXI MAN

-

How was the narrator feeling on the morning of the

adventure?

-What did they take with them to give the Queen?

-What reason did they tell Mrs. Khan to ditch school?

-What did they tell the taxi man about why they were on their own?

-What do you think about the taxi driver? Was he kind to the children?

Should the children go all by themselves to Buckingham Palace? Discuss.

CHAPTER 19 THE QUEEN’S PALACE

Order the following events from the chapter 19 -The guards began to march through the Gates.(………..)

-The children pushed through the crowds to the railings.(………)

-The narrator climbed over the barriers.(………)

-In the distance, a bell chimed eleven times.(………)

Shots were fired inside the tower.(……..)

-Everything went funny.(……..)

Answer the following question -Using the authors description at the end of Chapter 19, describe what has happened to the narrator as they enter the palace.

How must they have been feeling at this moment in time?

CHAPTER 20 THE COLD STREAM GUARDS

-What happened when the narrator shouted to the guard?

-How did he feel?

-What did the Special Guard promise to the narrator?

-Who is a Cold Stream Guard?

-Has your opinion of the narrator changed? Describe in ten words.

CHAPTER 21 ● ●

The Neighbours and the News

●

In this chapter, three neighbours call to talk to the girl and her mum….for different reasons. Two of them are nice and have very kind and positive things to say but the other is not so nice.

●

Match the neighbour with the correct one description from each group to describe them and their habits.

● ●

Chapter 22

World Wide Whispers

● In this chapter, when they go to the principal’s office, the children see the newspaper front page with the photograph and headline saying “Who is Ahmet? And How Can We Help?” ● Choose ONE of these incidents from the story and write a newspaper headline and

draw a picture for a newspaper front page about it. ● 1. When Brendan the Bully took the pomegranate, and then he and the children got into a fight. ● 2. When the children discover that Ahmet is really good at football. ● 3. When her neighbours all called to her door after the incident at the palace. ● 4. The dangerous sea journey Ahmet and his family took.

● Chapter 23 ●

● Brendan the Bully and the Breaking News ● The narrator describes her day as a “Roller-Coaster Day”. This means it had some really good things and some really sad/bad things which made her emotions go up and down like a roller coaster. ● Draw a roller coaster about Ahmet’s time since he came to England and write the good things that have happened to him at the high parts and the bad/sad things that have happened to him at the low parts.

●

Chapter 24

● The Interview ● True or false? ● 1. The class usually had PE every Thursday._____ ● 2. Ahmet was not a very good climber._____ ● 3. There were lots of reporters outside the school and the flat (apartment). _____ ● 4. Mum likes to watch TV during the day AND at night._____ ● 5. The girl had a cheese sandwich and a glass of milk after school. _____

● 6. They pretended the reporters were vampires as they ran to the bus._____ ● 7. Ms Hall and Mr Myers were the journalists who interviewed the children._____ ● 8. Josie’s parents still didn’t want her to be friends with Ahmet. _____ ● 9. Ahmet thinks his new friends are the best on the planet. _____ ● 10. The girl’s grandmother had run away from the Nazis during World War 2.. _____ ●

● Chapter 25

● The Queen’s Message

● 6 Word meanings: ● Read these definitions and select the correct one. ● Petition: ● 1. a formal written request to a government or other authority to do something particular, typically signed by many people. ● 2. A letter written by somebody when they get a new pet to register it. ● 3. An invitation to a formal party, celebrating a change in law. ● Corridor

● 1. A type of door at the entrance to a grand hall. ● 2. A large room in a public building for holding large meetings of people. ● 3. A long hallway in a building from which doors lead into other rooms. ● Perched ● 1. To be lying down on a flat surface ● . To be sleeping comfortably on a chair. ● 3. To be sitting, resting on something like a chair. ● Salute ● 1. a hand movement, by soldiers or police especially, showing respect or polite recognition, especially when arriving or departing. ● 2. The official name of a high five. ● 3. To wave at somebody with both hands so that they will see you from a distance. ● Lieutenant

● 1. The name used for a principal or head teacher in a school in England. ● 2. Rank of officer in the British army, above second lieutenant and below captain. ● 3. The title given to the Queen’s personal chef. ● Plight ● 1. A pleasant, happy and joyful experience. ● 2. A dangerous, difficult, or other type of sad, difficult situation. ● 3. The act of flying across oceans or other water.

● ●

● ●

● Chapter 26 ● The Present ● Many countries are mentioned in this beautiful story. Here are the flags and names of 10 of them.

Write the correct name under each one.

●

WE WISH YOU WILL FIND THIS MATERIAL VALUABLE TO USE IN YOUR CLASS FOR EXTRA MATERIAL YOU CAN VISIT http://school.malea.gr/mod/assign/view.php? id=489 "The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein".