Teacher’s Book
Upside Down Alastair Henry
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Contents
This is Upside Down ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 4 The Short Stories ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 4 Zelda . ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 The Ravine . ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5 Ta Tatau ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Driving Her Wild ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6 The Star ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Right up to the Limits ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 8 Charlie Rabbit ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 8 Bad Language ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 9 Shoes ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9 My Best Friend’s Dad ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 10 Fly Away Home ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 11 The Great Satan . ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 11 The Purse is Mine ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 12 Am I Blue? ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 13 Blue Diamond . ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 13 Emerald City . .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 14 Herbie . ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 15 The Activities ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 16 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 16 Acting out – Right up to the Limits .............................................................................................................................................................. 19 Acting out – Charlie Rabbit ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 20 Acting out – The Great Satan ................................................................................................................................................................................ 21 Acting out – The Purse is Mine ........................................................................................................................................................................... 23 Key – Workbook ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 28 Tests .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 45 Introduction . ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 45 Listening comprehension 1–3 ...................................................................................................................................................................... 46 Reading comprehension ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 49 Vocabulary tests ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 52 Gap tests ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 66 Key – Tests ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 88
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This is Upside Down
Upside Down is a collection of short stories from various parts of the English-speaking world that have an appeal to young people. Many of these stories have been written by award-winning authors of youth literature and have appeared in anthologies produced by internationally renowned publishers such as Penguin and Harper Collins. Even though the settings vary greatly – thus giving students insights into and cultural knowledge about a range of different societies – the stories all deal with issues that are immediately recognisable and above all relevant to young people. In the Workbook, the central themes in the stories are developed in a series of extension activities. Like the stories, the topics that form the focus of the activities have been designed from a youth perspective and deal with issues that have an impact on young people’s lives. In this way, the willingness to communicate of the students using Upside Down is enhanced. Quite simply, they are more likely to want to communicate if they feel that the topics they are presented with feel worthwhile, meaningful and relevant. In the sections of the Teacher’s Book that follow, a synopsis of each of the seventeen stories is provided, together with information about the setting, the central themes in the story, the author and suggestions for collaborative projects with other subjects. Thereafter, the different types of extension activities in the workbook are described together with a brief rationale for this way of working.
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The Short Stories Zelda Author: Emily Rodda, Australia Setting The story, which has a contemporary setting, takes place in a small town in New South Wales. Themes and topics Bullying, prejudice, integrity, respect for other people, responsibility Synopsis Jessica has just started upper secondary school and doesn’t know many of the other girls in her class. So, like almost everyone else who is new at the school, she spends the first few weeks making friends. Jessica, or Jessie as she is known, sees that different groups begin to be formed, the coolest being the group centred on the rather intimidating figures of Berwyn and Michelle. She also notices that one of the girls in the class, Zelda, doesn’t seem to be interested in making friends with anybody – in fact, most of the time, she sits in the classroom oblivious of the others, staring into space or out of the window. The story’s focus is on one day during the term when Berwyn and Michelle’s gang start to make fun of Zelda, who, as always, seems to be oblivious to
THIS IS UPSIDE DOWN
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what is going on around her. When at lunchtime the gang start going through Zelda’s desk and start to read out loud – to choruses of laughter – an essay that Zelda has written about herself, Jessie, for reasons that she cannot fully understand or explain, intervenes and puts a stop to it. Jessie realises that Berwyn and the others will forever write her off as being un-cool and a do-gooder, but she doesn’t care because she realises that she has learnt important lessons – about herself and about life. About the author Emily Rodda, whose real name is Jennifer Rowe, was born and brought up in Sydney. After leaving school, she studied English Literature at The University of Sydney, where she gained a Master’s degree. Her studies enabled her to get a job in publishing and, finally, to start writing herself. Her first book, Something Special, was published in 1984 and today Rodda is a full-time writer. To date she has written or co-authored well over fifty books for children, as well as popular mystery novels for adults that she has published under her real name. Although a very versatile writer, Emily Rodda’s most successful stories have been those, such as the Deltora Quest series, that have a fantasy flavour. She has won the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Book of the Year (Younger Readers) Award a record five times, and is currently one of the best known writers of youth fiction in Australia. When asked about her approach to writing and her instinctive knack of finding topics that young people find engaging, Rodda explains that “none of the characters in my books are exactly like anyone I know, but all of them have things in common with people I know. Everyone writes from his or her own experience. I look at people I know and listen to them and when I am trying to think of a new character, these things come back to me.” Author’s website www.emilyrodda.com Opportunities for collaborative projects with other subjects The story would work well as part of an antibullying project.
The Ravine Author: Graham Salisbury, USA Setting Hawaii Themes and topics Choices, options, peer-group pressure, parent/child relationships Synopsis Vinny’s mum has forbidden him to go to the ravine to dive in the lake. Just a few weeks previously a boy his age dived into the murky waters and drowned. His body has never been recovered and local legend has it that the lake is enchanted. Vinny is scared and doesn’t want to jump into the water. He’d do anything to turn back home. But his friends, Joe-Boy, Mo and Starlene, all jump from the highest cliff, and shout to him that he must do the same. Vinny hesitates at the last moment. Then, seemingly from nowhere, a peace envelops him and he moves back from the edge of the rock ledge. The others all think he’s a coward but Vinny feels calm and strong. About the author Graham Salisbury, who is a full-time writer, is the prize-winning author of numerous novels (which include Eyes of the Emperor, Blue Skin of the Sea, Under the Blood-Red Sun, Shark Bait, Jungle Dogs, Lord of the Deep, Island Boyz) and short stories for young people, many set on the island of Hawaii where he was born and brought up. In his late teens he enrolled at California State University, Northridge, and later received an MFA degree from Vermont College of Norwich University. Salisbury says that he is very aware of the responsibilities he has as a writer for young people and spends as much time as he can going to schools and talking about his books and how he gets the inspiration to write, as well as giving tips to the budding young writers he meets. In particular, Salisbury stresses that, as a writer of youth fiction, it is important to allow young readers to make their own choices, interpretations and decisions. “I don’t write to teach, preach, lecture, or criticize, but to explore”, he says, “and if my stories show characters
THE SHORT STORIES
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The Activities
In this section of the Teacher’s Book, each of the activities that appear in the Workbook is described together with the underpinning rationale. What happened? – reading comprehension The aim of these introductory information-based questions is to provide students with an orientation of the content of the story they have read. These questions can be handled quickly by students working in pairs or possibly in small groups. The ‘What Happened?’ questions also provide good practice for the reading comprehension parts of the National Test. A key for each set of questions is also provided. What do they mean? – vocabulary training The aim of this set of activities is to work with vocabulary. Vocabulary work is the cornerstone of language learning; without a sufficient vocabulary communication can never be effective. Whilst vocabulary work is the activity that students devote most time to, the long-term results are, relative to the effort expended, often very poor. Learning vocabulary, like other aspects of language learning, is a creative process. Research has shown words that are ‘learnt’ in lists and that have been physically removed from a context do not find their way into students’ long-term memories. Thus the aim of the approach to working with vocabulary in Upside Down is to provide students with lists of words that are encountered in a context; the context
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of the text that they have just read. Students are invited to work in pairs with the task of identifying the different words using a number of different strategies. By working in this way students are given a better opportunity i) to use strategies systematically when encountering unknown words in their reading in and out of school and ii) to retain new words in their long-term memories. This way of working does not of course exclude testing students on the words that they have learnt. A key for each list of vocabulary is provided in the Teacher’s Book. Reading between the lines – a deeper understanding of the story The aim of these questions is to direct students to some of the central themes of the stories and into the deeper parts of the text. The questions invite students to speculate about possible interpretations and, thus, there are no right or wrong answers to these questions. Instead they function as platforms for discussion and an opportunity to exchange views, opinions and ideas. Many of these questions have a focus on the text’s cultural content and, in particular, invite students to reflect on any of the intercultural / values aspects in the text. Listening – panel discussions about topics of relevance The listening exercises all involve listening to a panel discussion about a topic that is of central
THE ACTIVITIES
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importance to the text and which is also of importance in the lives of many young people. The panel members, who are all from the UK and aged between 19 and 21, discuss different topics under the supervision of the panel host, an older person. The panel discussions are unscripted and the panel members express their own views and opinions in a language which is authentic, both in terms of content and pronunciation etc. Since the young people on the panel have not adapted their language to foreign listeners, many students will not understand everything that the panel members say. This does not matter. Indeed it can be seen as an advantage since – over the course of the fourteen panel discussions in the Workbook – students develop skills of strategy use and understanding so that their focus switches from what they don’t understand to what they do understand. The panel discussions function very effectively as ‘warm-ups’ prior to reading the different stories as a means of introducing the topic and creating motivation to read. Opinions – opportunities for students to say what they think In these activities students are invited to express their opinions about a series of, often controversial, issues that are covered in or stem from the story that they have read. Again, the topics for discussion that have been chosen concern issues of relevance to young people’s lives with the aim that students will be prepared to invest in the discussions. These activities provide good training for the ‘speaking’ section of the National Test. Case – the discussion of moral and ethical dilemmas The case method is based around the presentation of an authentic scenario that involves some form of moral or ethical dilemma. Students are invited to put themselves in a series of these situations and to discuss the course(s) of action that would be appropriate in each. Once again, the scenarios are constructed around everyday issues that students could encounter. The dilemma functions as a starting point for negotiation and the result is that students’ willingness to communicate increases since the discussion has relevance and is
meaningful. Additionally, since the cases centre on moral/ethical dilemmas, students are also given the opportunity to work with intercultural skills. 50 Minutes – a mini-project that can be accomplished within a single lesson ‘Fifty Minutes’ is the name given to a mini-project that, in theory, can be accomplished within the confines of a single lesson. Many of the suggested projects could be extended over a longer period of time, depending on the level of students’ motivation and the time that is available. The mini-projects are collaborative and often involve some degree of information-searching. Whilst some of the projects have a focus on finding out and reporting back on the cultural context in which the story takes place, others relate more to the everyday lives of the students. One important factor to bear in mind when working with the ‘Fifty Minutes’ projects is that the process is more important than the product. The primary aim is thus to offer students a collaborative environment within which to work. Writing In this section students are asked to create their own texts. Each different text that is suggested is related in some way to the story that they have read. The text types suggested include witness reports, e-mails, blogs, letters and diary entries, more formal pieces of writing such as essays and reviews and also opportunities for creative writing. Face the Facts – fact-based texts similar to the National Test Each of the first fourteen stories in Upside Down is accompanied by a factual text in the Workbook. The factual texts, all of which relate to one of the central themes in the story, and the accompanying questions have been designed to replicate the types of text often used in the National Test. Grammar – a three stage approach to common problems Research has shown that whilst many students can successfully complete grammar exercises and textbook drills, not all are able to incorporate the forms in focus into their own written production.
THE ACTIVITIES
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The approach to working with grammar in Upside Down is thus an attempt to provide students with a deeper understanding of some of the grammar that commonly causes problems by – in addition to drilling – requiring both the analysis and use of the grammatical form in focus in a piece of creative writing. The grammar sections of the workbook all follow the same structure. First, the student’s attention is drawn to a particular rule or grammatical form as it is encountered in the story that has just been read. This we call ‘Noticing’. Students are first invited to consider each piece of grammar in the context of the narrative and then asked to problematise it in the sense of asking whether they can come up with any explanatory rule. Next, in the section we call ‘Practising’, students are given opportunities to do a number of exercises to train their knowledge of the use of the form. Finally, in the Writing section, students are given a writing task which requires them to produce the grammatical form in their own written production. This of course is the acid test.
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Acting out. Suggestions for drama For a number of the stories, suggestions for drama activities have been included here in the Teacher’s Book. The aim of the drama activities is to provide an opportunity to train oral and interactive skills. Even students who otherwise find it difficult to express themselves in English can, in the unique opportunities for genuine interaction that drama provides in acting something out, become so engaged in the activity that problems with vocabulary or self-confidence can fade into the background. Most of the activities described in the Teacher’s Book have their base in a crucial scene or event in the short story that the students have read. Then, using the text as a starting point, the drama activities provide opportunities to explore tensions in relationships and moral/ethical dilemmas. There is thus a strong values element in all of the drama activities, which means that it is important for teachers to take time, after the drama activity comes to an end, to discuss the values issues at stake.
THE ACTIVITIES
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Tests
Yoy will find four different types of tests on pp 45–87 of this Teacher’s Book: Listening comprehension, Reading comprehension, Vocabulary tests and Gap tests. Listening comprehension
There are three listening tests. As with the listening activities in the Workbook, once again The Panel discuss a number of topical issues. These are: domestic violence, animal rights and terrorism. Reading comprehension
There is also one additional Face the Facts comprehension test. This text is about graffiti enthusiasts who, when visiting New York, the Mecca of street art, will go to any lengths to get their own designs on building walls or subway trains. Vocabulary tests
The vocabulary tests are all based on What do they mean? questions. For each set of Vocabulary tests there is a list of Swedish translations. These can
either be used in the classroom with students, or as an effective ‘key’ to vocabulary tests. Gap tests
For each section of the Workbook, there are also additional ‘gap-type’ vocabulary tests based on extracts from the Face the Facts text. The Gap tests are similar in format to the part of the National Test where students have to fill in gaps in a longer text with a word that is grammatically correct. Here, in the Teacher’s Book, are photocopyable tests, parts of the Face the Facts texts in the Workbook, together with the sections from the original texts where the words that have been removed have been highlighted and that can be used by teachers when correcting students’ answers. In many cases, there are of course other words that would work equally as well as the word originally used. It is suggested that teachers could usefully go through the answers to these tests in class, discussing the possible alternatives that students have written down in their answers.
TESTS
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Upside Down Upside Down är ett läromedel i engelska fÜr gymnasiets A- och B-kurs (steg 5 och 6). I den här lärarhandledningen (Teacher’s Book) till Upside Down A finns dramaÜvningar (Acting out), facit till Üvningsboken samt flerdelade prov med facit. Här kan man ocksü läsa om fÜrfattarna till novellerna i pocketantologin. Med lärarhandledningen fÜljer tvü cd med Üvningsbokens hÜrÜvningar samt inspelningar till tre hÜrfÜrstüelseprov.
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