2 - Schulbuchzentrum Online

2
Crossing
the line
A The point of no return?
24
Literature Page: Give a Boy a Gun
24
Listening effectively
104
Literary analysis
113
Reading strategies
112
Newspapers
116
Varying sentence structure
136
Cartoons
117
Assuming and speculating
132
Understanding film 122
Working with dictionaries 118
Mediation 124
Writing a text
109
Writing a comment
110
Listening effectively
104
Listening effectively
104
Writing a text
109
B Going too far
C Baby blues
26
29
Production Gym:
How to express yourself concisely
34
Optional: Going to extremes
36
2
Literature Page: The point of no return?
A1 Consider the title of this section: ‘The point of no return?’
What does it suggest to you? Collect ideas and share them in class.
A2 The extracts on these two pages are from Todd Strasser’s novel ‘Give a Boy a Gun’. From the title of the novel and the cover what do you expect to happen?
ou are going to write a characterization of one of the main characters in the novel,
Y
Gary Searle or Brendan Lawlor. Choose either Gary or Brendan and use
the information you are given about your character for your characterization
(Gary: A3, Brendan: A4).
A3 a)Read Gary’s letter to his mother and make notes on Gary considering his feelings and his relationship to his mother.
Dear Mom,
By the time you read this, I’ll be gone. I just want you to know that there’s nothing you could have
done to stop this. I know you always tried your best for me, and if anyone doubts you, just show
them this letter.
I don’t know if I can really explain why I did this. I guess it’s because I know that I’ll never be happy.
I know that every day of my life will hurt and be a lot more bad than good. It’s entirely a matter of,
What’s the point of living?
I could have just gone and offed myself quietly, but that would have been an even bigger waste. If I go
this way, taking the people who made my life miserable with me, then maybe it will send a message.
Maybe something will change, and some other miserable kid like me somewhere will get treated
better and maybe find a reason to live.
Mom, I could never tell you how unhappy I was. I knew there was nothing you could do to help, and life
has been hard enough on you already. I’m truly, truly sorry that I’m going to put you through so much
pain, but I hope that in a year or two you’ll get over it. Maybe you could move away and change your
name and even have a new kid.
You can start over again. I wish I could be there with you, but I’m past the point of no return.
Love forever,
Gary
WB
A1-A3
CD
Skills
Listening effectively p. 104
b)Gary’s mother, his girlfriend and some other friends were interviewed about Gary. Listen to them and note down information on:
• what they say about Gary’s character
• his plans
• what happened to him at school
• his friends
Tip
Look at page 21
for help.
Skills
Literary analysis p. 113
PG
1-3
24
←⎯
advice
c) Use your notes from a) and b) to write a characterization of Gary.
Writing a characterization
• Note down information on the person or character you want to write about. The following questions can help you: – What does he/she look like? – What can you find out about his/her life? – How does he/she behave? – What can you find out about his/her relationship to others?
• Sometimes you have to read between the lines to find out about somebody.
Literature Page: The point of no return?
2
A4 a)Read Brendan’s letter to the people of Middletown and make notes on Brendan considering
his feelings and his attitude to the people of Middletown and to his teachers.
To the good people of Middletown:
I hope this gets printed in big, bold letters on the front page of the newspaper, because it’s something
every single one of you should read. I’m gone now, and you want to know why I took your kids with me?
Here’s why. You made my friggin’ life miserable. How? By the way you raised your kids to all want to be
the same and to hate anyone who dares to be a little different. Oh, no, you’re probably thinking,
you didn’t do that.
You sure did. I’ve seen you in your cars staring at me and my friends. Look at those creeps. Look at their
clothes and the music they listen to. Why can’t they go out for sports or at least root for our team?
Know what? Not everybody has to do what you A-holes want them to do. Maybe your kids did, but me
and my friends chose not to. And you and your kids couldn’t deal with that. And so you had to do what
stupid, ignorant people always do when they don’t understand – you had to attack and torment us.
And you teachers. I thought you taught us that America is supposed to be about freedom.
Kids are supposed to be able to be different without the status quo police smashing us over the head
and ridiculing us. But that’s all you teachers did to me and my friends. Just like everyone else, you tried
to make us conform to your narrow-minded expectations of how we were supposed to dress and act.
Well, screw you. Screw all of you. I hope this letter is like a knife in your hearts. You ruined my life.
All I’ve done is pay you back in kind.
Respectfully yours,
Brendan Lawlor
b)A school counsellor and some of Brendan’s friends were interviewed about him. Listen to them and note down information on:
• his plans
• Brendan’s character
• his friends
• what happened to him at school
WB
A1-A3
CD
Skills
Listening effectively
p. 104
advice
c)Use your notes from a) and b) to write a characterization of Brendan.
Writing a characterization
• Note down information on the person or character you want to write about. The following questions can help you: – What does he/she look like? – What can you find out about his/her life? – How does he/she behave? – What can you find out about his/her relationship to others?
• Sometimes you have to read between the lines to find out about somebody.
Tip
Look at page 21
for help.
Skills
Literary analysis
p. 113
⎯→ PG
1-3
A5 a)Find a partner who has written about the other boy and read his/her characterization.
b)Compile all the information you have about Gary or Brendan and share it with your partner.
Together note down your findings in a graphic organizer.
c)Get together in groups of four and speculate on what happened in Middletown. How far do your conclusions correspond with your ideas from A2?
A6 a)Listen to Allison Findley and Beth Bender to find out what really happened in Middletown.
CD
b)How does the information make you feel? Who are the victims and who are the guilty ones in the novel?
25
2
Going too far
B1 a)Discuss with a partner what the following terms might mean:
tabloid
quality paper
b)From your experience, how do they differ?
A
B2 Look at the following newspaper articles and say what first catches your eye in each of them. Say which article was taken from a quality paper/tabloid.
15 killed in German school shooting
Winnenden: 12 March, 2009
A 17-year-old former pupil killed 15
people yesterday at his old high
school in southern Germany,
leaving many others injured.
The young man walked into the
Albertville technical school at
9.30 am and started shooting, killing
nine pupils – eight of them young
girls – and three teachers. Nearly all
of the victims were shot expertly in
the head. The weapon used was a
pistol which the teenager had taken
from his father’s gun collection.
When the gunman tried to escape,
helicopters were called in to search
the town. Running from police, he
B
WB
B1
26
Albertville technical school
killed three more people, before
finally shooting himself.
Police have not yet found a motive
for the slaughter, although it has
been discovered that the gunman
enjoyed playing violent video
games.
Today, Germany mourns the victims
of the incident, struggling to
understand how a normal teen
became a mass murderer. Hundreds
of candles were left outside the
school.
Like the notorious German
school-shooter of 2002, who killed
17 people, including himself, at a
high school in the city of Erfurt, the
gunman in Winnenden was dressed
in black.
These are not the only school
shootings Germany has experienced
in recent years. In 2006, a masked
18-year-old wounded at least eleven
people, having opened fire at a
school in the town of Emsdetten.
GERMANY IN SHOCK AFTER
BLOODY HIGH SCHOOL RAMPAGE
n Winnenden, Germany,
March 11, 2009: A 17-year-old
shooter, rampaging through a
German school today, killed 15
people before shooting himself
during a gunfight with cops.
The tragic violence began at
9:30 this morning at the Albertville
Realschule in Winnenden near
Stuttgart.
The crazed teen stalked into the
school and began shooting at
random, mowing down nine students,
three teachers and a passer-by
before fleeing. Most of the victims
were female. Many more people
were injured in the attack. Police
searching the scene spoke of
classrooms “running with blood”.
The regional police chief said:
“He went into the school with a
weapon and carried out a
March 11, 2009
bloodbath. I’ve never seen anything
like this in my life.”
The shootings triggered a massive
manhunt. Having run 25 miles from
the school, the shooter was cornered
by cops. In the following gunfight,
two bystanders were killed before the
teen shot himself.
The shooter is believed to have
been an angry ex-pupil of the school
he attacked.
A terrified mother hugs her son
Armed police leave school
Heavy police presence
investigates the bloodbath
Going too far
B3 a)Skim through the newspaper articles on page 26 and talk to a partner about what
happened. Say if you remember the incident and how you felt about it.
b)Scan the articles for information about the incident. Copy the grid and organize your
findings.
2
Skills
Reading
strategies
p. 112
WB
B2, B3
article A
article B
who
what
where
why
c)Discuss with a partner to what extent the incident is similar to/different from the situation in ‘Give a Boy a Gun’.
B4 a)Compare the way the articles are written. Describe how they deal with the incident by
taking the following aspects into account. Give examples and note down your results.
Layout
• General impression: Does the article look
matter-of-fact or emotive?
• Typeface: Is the typeface big, bold, neutral, …?
• Choice, number and size of photos: What information do they convey? What emotions do they evoke?
• Headlines: How many headlines are used? What do they look like?
Language
• Choice of words: What kinds of words and expressions are used (e.g. simple,
complex, dramatic, serious, provocative,
informative)?
• Quotations: Are quotations used? What is the effect on the reader?
• Headlines: What information is given? What effect does the choice of words create?
• Tone: Is the tone matter-of-fact or emotive?
b)Use your notes from a) to create a checklist for quality papers and tabloids.
WB
B4
Tip
Think about
layout, language,
topics etc.
B5 a)Participles are usually used to
• shorten a relative clause • shorten adverbial clauses of reason/time • combine information
Work with a partner and come up with at least two examples for each bullet point.
LiF
13R-17
⎯→ PG
4, 5
b)Work with your partner. Choose one of the articles on page 26 each and note down all the
sentences that use participle constructions. Rewrite the sentences without using participle
constructions.
c)Compare your sentences from b) with the original sentences from the article. Why do you
think the author used participle constructions? Share your results with your partner.
advice
B6 a)Write a short newspaper article about the shooting in ‘Give a Boy a Gun’.
Writing a newspaper article
• Collect all the facts.
• Decide if you want to write an article for a quality paper or a tabloid, then use your checklist from B4b).
• Quotations make your article more interesting. Also vary the sentence structure (e.g. with participles). Connectives, conjunctions and adverbs can make your text flow better.
• Choose a headline that fits your article.
Skills
Newspapers
p. 116
Skills
Varying sentence
structure
p. 136
Portfolio
b)Swap your article with a partner who has written an article for a different newspaper. Use your checklist from B4b) to check if he/she included all the features and give feedback.
27
2
Going too far
B7 What is a cartoon? Think about its characteristics and come up with a definition in class. These words can help you:
caricature
punch line
symbol
B8 a)Look at the following cartoons and say what they have in common.
A
B
C
D
WB
B5, B6
Skills
b) Choose the cartoon you like best and write an analysis of it.
Portfolio
advice
Cartoons
p. 117
Analysing cartoons
• Study the cartoon closely and identify the topic.
• Describe the situation, e.g. setting, people, parallels to past or present situations/events and quote the punch line.
• If the cartoonist uses symbols, describe them and explain their function.
• Describe what makes the cartoon funny/shocking/…
• Include the cartoonist’s message and your personal opinion of the cartoon.
c)Find a partner who has chosen a different cartoon and exchange your views of the cartoons.
B9 Imagine the following situation:
When you are leaving the classroom, you notice that a classmate has left a message on a desk
that says that the teachers and students at your school should be killed. You recognize the
handwriting.
Discuss how you would react and what you would expect others to do.
28
Baby blues
C1 a)Think – pair – share: What does the phrase “teenage pregnancy” trigger in you? Note down your ideas and discuss them with a partner. Then get together in groups and share your ideas.
b)Use your results from a) to discuss what difficulties and opportunities a teenage pregnancy
might involve for both the boy and the girl.
c)Discuss if this topic should be dealt with in film and what you would expect such a film to be like.
2
Skills
Methods
p. 123
Skills
Assuming and
speculating
p. 132
C2 a)What is the function of a film trailer? Note down your ideas, then agree on a list of criteria that make a good film trailer.
b)Listen to the trailer to find out what the film ‘Juno’ is about.
CD
c)Decide if your criteria from a) have been successfully realized in the trailer.
C3 a)Imagine you were the director of ‘Juno’. Get together in groups and decide how you would start the film, then draw a storyboard for the opening sequence. Choose appropriate
camera shots and note down the music, sounds and dialogue underneath.
Skills
Understanding
film
p. 122
b)Present your storyboards in class and discuss them.
C4 a)Read the film review about ‘Juno’ and take notes on the characters and the plot.
To what extent do your results correspond with your findings from C2b)?
WB
www.moremoviereviews.com
C1-C3
Juno is a film about 16-year-old Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page), a clever but
typically bored teenager, who consequently decides to sleep with her
sweet but shy best friend, Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). She discovers
that she is pregnant, and then has to decide what to do. Deciding not to
have an abortion, Juno is determined to give the baby up for adoption.
She finds the future parents of the child in a newspaper advert, and goes
to meet them with her surprisingly supportive father.
Mark and Vanessa are a normal, successful couple who want to adopt
because they cannot have children of their own. However, as Juno gets to
know them better, she finds out that their marriage is not as perfect as it
appears, and she has to make more difficult decisions. At the same time,
she has to try and sort out her troubled relationship with Paulie Bleeker.
The film is both touching and funny, and offers the perfect role for the
talented young actress Ellen Page. Juno could have been a very annoying character because of her loud
and slightly selfish behaviour. However, Ellen Page succeeds in creating a character who is both strong
and vulnerable when faced with different moral problems, and one who is fundamentally good-hearted.
Cera’s performance as the quiet, geekish Bleeker is also well done, but it is Jennifer Garner’s subtly
desperate Vanessa who almost becomes the heart of the film.
© Rebecca Moore
Skills
b) In the film review a lot of adjectives are used to describe the characters and the film. Note them down in a list.
Working with
dictionaries
p. 118
c) Find synonyms and opposites or give a definition for each adjective from b), then compare your results with a partner’s.
29
2
Baby blues
C5 Read the following review and imagine you want to tell an English-speaking friend about it.
Sum up the content for him/her.
Skills
Mediation
p. 124
www.filmkritikenonline.de/Juno
J
uno (Ellen Page) hat aus Langweile mit
ihrem Freund Paulie Bleeker (Michael
Cera) ge­schlafen und ist prompt schwanger
geworden. Sie beichtet die Schwanger­schaft
ihren Eltern, die wenig schockiert reagieren
(„Ich hätte eher erwartet, dass sie drogen­
abhängig oder von der Schule geflogen ist“),
und hat gleich eine Lösung parat: Sie ist
­durch eine Annonce auf Vanessa (Jennifer
Garner) und Mark (Jason Bateman) gestoßen,
ein per­fektes Paar – wohlhabend, gutaus­
sehend, erfolgreich –, dem nur noch ein Baby
zum Glück fehlt. Doch nach und nach merkt
sie, dass Mr. Wonderful von etwas ganz an­
derem träumt als Mrs. Wonderful.
Jason Reitmans Film war in den USA ein Hit,
der einen Oscar für das beste Drehbuch er­
hielt. Doch während der Film in Bezug auf die
Kameraarbeit und die Musik solide ist, zeigt
gerade das Drehbuch deutliche Schwächen.
Die Charaktere sind von Be­ginn an festgelegt
und entwickeln sich nicht weiter.
Der Schwer­punkt liegt auf der Titelheldin,
während den ­ anderen Figuren zu wenig
Beachtung geschenkt wird. Die Figuren
liefern sich gewollt schlagfertige Dialoge, die
ins­gesamt nicht nur künstlich wirken, sondern
vor allem die Titelheldin in ein negatives Licht
stellen. „Schwanger – na und?“, lautet der
deut­sche Untertitel, und so kann auch die
Gefühlswelt der Titelheldin und ihres Freun­
des prägnant zusam­men­gefasst werden.
Juno ist trotz ihrer spröden sympathischen
Züge eine emotions­lose, zum Teil zynische
Schwangere, die mit dem „Problem“ weit­
gehend emotionsfrei umgeht. Erst zum
Schluss wird eine andere Gefühlswelt aufge­
zeigt. Insgesamt vertritt der Film jedoch eine
sehr reaktionäre Haltung – er zeigt, dass
Teenager keinen Sex haben sollten, nicht in
der Lage sind, gute Eltern zu werden und
dass eine Adoption von ­ reichen Ehepaaren
eine gute Lösung für ein ungewolltes Kind ist.
Ute Ruhm
C6 Read the two reviews in C4 and C5 again. How many stars, from one to five, do you think each
reviewer gave the film? Explain your choice to a partner by referring to the reviews.
WB
C4
C7 Consider the German review in C5 and write a comment on one of the following statements:
Skills
Writing a text
p. 109
Writing a
comment
p. 110
1.“ ‘Juno’ shows a conservative view on the topic of teenage pregnancy.”
2.“Films like ‘Juno’ oversimplify the problems of teenage pregnancy.”
3.“Films like ‘Juno’ help to understand the problem of teenage pregnancy.”
advice
Writing a comment
• Start your comment with a sentence that introduces the topic.
• Express your point of view clearly.
• Give evidence to support your opinion or find your own examples.
• Sum up your opinion at the end.
C8 a)Study the film stills on page 31 and identify the characters from ‘Juno’, then compare your ideas in class.
b)From what you have learned about the film, put the stills in the correct order. Compare your results with a partner and use details like gestures, facial expressions and settings to support your view.
30
Baby blues
1
2
3
4
5
6
2
7
WB
C5
C9 Get together in groups of four and choose one of the film stills.
1.Study the situation closely.
• One of you thinks about what could have happened the day before the situation takes place.
• The second group member thinks about what could have happened five minutes ago.
• The third thinks about what might happen five minutes later.
• The fourth thinks about what might happen the day after.
2.Note down your ideas and discuss them with your group members.
3.Together write an outline of the sequence and include a dialogue between the characters
shown in your still. Present your results to your classmates.
Project
31
2
Baby blues
C10 a) Listen to the extract from Nick Hornby’s novel ‘Slam’. Take notes on the plot (who, what, where, why).
CD
Skills
b)Use your notes to find out what the novel has in common
with ‘Juno’ and what is different.
Listening
effectively
p. 104
c) Sam, the narrator, uses a drastic image to illustrate his feelings.
Explain if you can understand him.
C11 a)Read the following extract from the novel ‘Slam’ and sum up
the situation in five sentences.
1
5
10
15
20
25
30
(…)
I got the first text from Alicia straight after breakfast – it just
said, ‘I NEED 2 C U URGENT Axx’. (…)
Part of me was panicking. It wasn’t my head so much as my
guts – I think my guts knew what it was about, even if my head didn’t. Or pretended it
didn’t. I’d never forgotten that time when something half-happened when I hadn’t put
anything on. The part of me that was panicking because of the text had never really stopped
panicking since the half-happening day.
I went and locked myself in the bathroom and texted her back. I said, ‘NOT 2DAY MY
BIRTHDAY Sxx’. If I got something back from that, then I knew I was in trouble. I flushed
the loo and washed my hands, just to make Mum think I’d actually been doing something,
and even before I’d opened the door my phone beeped again. The text just said, ‘URGENT,
OUR STARBUCKS 11am’. And then all of me knew – guts, head, heart, fingernails.
I texted back ‘OK’. I didn’t see how I could do anything else, even though I wanted to do
anything else.
When I went back into the kitchen, I wanted to sit on my mum’s lap. I know that sounds
stupid and babyish, but I couldn’t help it. On my sixteenth birthday, I didn’t want to be
sixteen, or fifteen, or anyteen. I wanted to be three or four, and too young to make any kind
of mess, apart from the mess you make when you scribble on walls or tip your food bowl
upside down.
‘I love you, Mum,’ I said when I sat down at the table.
She looked at me as if I’d gone mad. I mean, she was pleased, but she was pretty surprised.
‘I love you too, sweetheart,’ she said. I tried not to get choked up. If Alicia was going to
tell me what I thought she was going to tell me, I reckoned it would be a long time before
Mum said that again. It might be a long time before she even felt it.
All the way there, I was doing all kinds of deals, or trying to. You know the sort of thing:
‘If it’s OK, I’ll never skate again.’ As if it had anything to do with skating. I offered never to
watch TV again, and never to go out again, and never to eat McDonald’s again. Sex never
came up, because I already knew I was never going to have sex again, so that didn’t seem like
a deal God would be interested in. I might as well have promised Him that I wouldn’t fly to
the moon, or run down Essex Road naked. Sex was over for me, for ever, no doubt.
b) Imagine you were in Alicia’s or Sam’s position. How would you feel? Note down your ideas
and explain them to your partner by referring to the extract.
Skills
Assuming and
speculating
p. 132
32
C12 From what you have learned from the extract and your results from C1, speculate about what
Sam and Alicia are going to do, then read the next extract to see if you were right.
Baby blues
2
5
10
15
20
25
30
2
(…) Andrea (…) said, ‘Where are you going to live when the baby’s born?’
And we looked at each other. We’d already decided. We just hadn’t told them.
‘Here,’ said Alicia.
‘Here.’
‘Yeah.’
‘Both of you?’ said Robert.
‘Which both?’ said Alicia. ‘Me and Sam? Or me and the baby?’
‘All three of you, then.’
‘Yeah.’
‘Wow,’ said Andrea. ‘Right OK.’
‘What did you think was going to happen?’ said Alicia.
‘I thought you’d be living here with us, and Sam would come and visit,’ said Andrea.
‘We’re together,’ said Alicia. ‘So if we don’t live here, we’ll have to live somewhere else.’
‘No, no, darling, of course Sam’s welcome here.’
‘Sounds like it.’
‘He is. Really. But you’re very young to be living as man and wife under your parents’
roof.’
When she put it like that, Alicia’s idea sounded completely insane. Man and wife? Man?
Wife? I was going to be a man? And Alicia was going to be my wife? I don’t know if you ever
play word association games, like where someone says ‘fish’ and you say ‘chips’, or ‘sea’, or
‘finger’. But if someone said to me ‘man’, I would have said things like ‘beer’, or ‘suit’, or
‘shave’. I didn’t wear a suit or shave, although I had drunk beer. And now I was going to
have a wife.
‘Don’t be melodramatic, Andrea,’ said Robert. ‘She means that she’ll be sharing a room
with Sam and the baby. At least for the time being.’
That didn’t sound much better, really. I had never shared a room with anyone since I was
nine, when I used to go on sleepovers. I stopped because I could never get to sleep with
someone else fidgeting in the next bed. This was all beginning to sound real. Real and
terrible.
‘Maybe you should see how it goes with Sam living up the road,’ said Andrea. ‘If you want
me to be unhappy we could do that,’ said Alicia. ‘Oh, for God’s sake,’ said Robert. ‘Not
everything we say or do is calculated to destroy your life, you know. Sometimes, just very
occasionally, we try and think about what’s best for you.’
WB
C6, C7
C13 Tell the story from either Alicia’s, Alicia’s parents’ or Sam’s mother’s point of view and write it
down, then swap it with a partner’s. Read your stories and give each other feedback on the content and language.
C14 Check a dictionary or an online dictionary to find definitions for the word “slam”. Discuss why Hornby chose it as the title of his book.
C15 Get together in groups to create a TV spot that deals with teenage pregnancy.
1. Decide on how you want to deal with the topic – you could use your spot to draw attention
to teenage pregnancy, you could offer help to teenage parents etc. – and collect ideas for a
plot.
2. Develop a storyboard with detailed sketches of the shots, including camera work, music and other sound effects. Note down the dialogue (if there is any) as well.
3. Exhibit the storyboards in class and have each group present their work. Compare the different spots and choose the spot you like best.
Skills
Working with dictionaries
p. 118
Understanding
film
p. 120
Project
33
2
Production Gym
PG1 In some situations it makes sense to express yourself as concisely as possible.
Look at the following cartoon and suggest a short answer.
Emergency services.
Can I help you?
Well, it is really most
considerate of you to ask and
actually I would be extremely
delighted if you could possibly
spare the time to help me get
out of this rather unfortunate
situation, for as you can
imagine it’s not an easy
situation for anybody to find
themselves in ...
It actually started when I
bought this toaster, it was a
special offer, and obviously
poor quality as far as
safety is concerned …
PG2 Your choice of words can help you to express yourself more concisely. Rephrase the following statements by using a verb from the box and, if necessary, a noun.
criticize • complain • defend • neglect • disobey • hesitate • take revenge
1. He said he didn’t like the way the hairdresser had cut his hair. (haircut)
‘ He complained about his haircut.
2. Her boyfriend said she had acted in an impossibly rude way. (behaviour)
3. His mother had never taken care of him.
4. He couldn’t decide if he should carry out his plan right away or wait a while.
5. He made his classmates suffer for the way they had treated him.
6. She tried to find an excuse for his anti-social behaviour.
7. He never did what he was told to do.
PG3 You can also shorten sentences by using adverbial phrases and a noun. Rephrase the following
sentences by using the phrases in the box and the noun in the brackets.
during • on • in spite of • despite • due to • as a result of
1. He had been extremely popular with his classmates so that he was elected form captain.
(popularity) ‘ Due to his popularity with his classmates, he was elected form captain.
2. Although he had had a serious accident, he was able to take part in the sports competition.
(accident)
3. When he went back to school after the holidays, he learned that his girlfriend was pregnant.
(return)
4. While the family was travelling in Spain, they visited many famous sights. (journey)
5. He had an illness, and therefore he could not go to school. (illness)
6. Laura’s parents were strictly against her friendship with an older man, but she still went out
with him. (parents’ protest)
34
How to express yourself concisely
2
PG4 Another way of shortening or rephrasing a sentence is to use participle constructions.
Look at the examples, then change the following sentences accordingly.
1. He received a new computer game in the post. He started playing it immediately.
‘ Immediately after receiving a new computer game, he started playing it./Having received
the new computer game, he immediately started playing it.
2. When Alicia learned from the doctor that she was pregnant, she was shocked.
3. As soon as Barry had been identified as the Internet bully, he had to leave the school.
4. That summer Alex had to move to Birmingham with his parents. Far from his old friends, he felt rather lonely.
5. After the shooting, the school set up an emergency plan. They were well prepared when they learned about a possible attack.
LiF
13R-18
PG5 Of course, you can combine different methods to shorten your text (e.g. if there is a word limit
or when writing a summary). Look at the following example, then shorten the text.
Example 1: H
e turned the steering wheel sharply to the left and avoided hitting the other car.
‘ By turning left he avoided the accident.
The colour coding will give you some help:
changing grammatical structure
omitting unnecessary words
alternative phrasing
Example 2:
In Phil Lamarche‘s stark and unforgiving novel, ‘American Youth’, the protagonist is the young
Teddy LeClare. He lives with his mother on the edge of an estate. The estate is slowly
transforming as the influx of new money slowly pushes out the working class. Donna is a
teacher at the local high school and supports the family. Teddy’s father, Pete, an insurance
salesman, has been forced to find work in far off Pennsylvania. In the novel ‘American Youth’ Teddy LeClare lives with his mother on a former working-class estate.
As a teacher, Donna supports the family, Teddy’s father having been forced to work in Pennsylvania.
Now go on:
Recently a recession has hit the small town in which they live and while Pete hopes that the sale
of their house will give them the much-needed financial break they have been looking for,
Donna anxiously hopes for a change in the economy.
Teddy is lonely and vulnerable and also prone to boredom and experimentation. Since he is
unable to connect with his far-off father, he battles with adolescence and spends his days in the
forests of Woodbury Heights with his best friend Terry. He helps him make Molotov cocktails.
But it is through his friendship with Bobby Dennison and his brother Kevin that Teddy’s life
takes on a new meaning for him. Eventually, however, the Dennisons threaten the lives of
Teddy and his parents. One afternoon, when Bobby and Kevin show him how to load a gun, Teddy momentarily
becomes distracted by his mother and goes outside. Suddenly there’s a loud clap like the sound
of thunder that reverberates throughout the house. Teddy returns to the living room and
discovers Bobby on his back with a bullet in his chest. …
PG6 Compare your results with a partner’s and agree on one version.
35
2
Optional: Going to extremes
CD
OP1 Listen to the radio show and speculate why it is called ‘Red Zone’.
CD
OP2 Listen again and note down
• what sports the people talk about
• the reasons for doing it
Skills
Listening
effectively
p. 104
• the dangers
• safety precautions
OP3 Before you read the following article, speculate on the difference between streetboarding and skateboarding. Collect your ideas in class, then scan the text and give a definition of
streetboarding.
“Get outta here you punk”
“YOU’RE DESTROYING the
property! I’ll call the cops if you
don’t leave right now!”
Since I started streetboarding in
downtown Toronto three years
ago, I’ve heard stuff like that a lot.
Most people see streetboarders
as useless punks with no respect
for public areas, but I’m just a
normal 16-year-old kid who likes
to hang out in the city with his
friends.
There are loads of
skateboarding parks that we could
go to, but streetboarding is cool
because you don’t have to build a
ramp or spend any money to do it.
Even though park ramps and
obstacles can be rad, I have more
fun in the city because I like being
surrounded by city noises and big
buildings. There’s nothing better
than the feeling you get from
cruising down the street on your
board. And I really get psyched
when I find good sidewalks, stairs
and rails to try new tricks on.
Toronto is full of them, it’s the
biggest city in Canada. You could
Trevor Peacock: “Streetboarding is
dangerous and can get you arrested,
but so what?”
skateboard your whole life and
there would still be lots of places
you haven’t been to.
The problem is that streetboarding is illegal almost every­
where in town. Cops and security
guards are always getting on my
case. A couple of months ago me
and some buddies got arrested
when we tried some tricks on the
stairs outside a city office building.
Even though it was late and there
was no one around, the cops
charged us with trespassing and
vandalism and we had to pay a
fine.
My folks aren’t too happy
about my hobby either because I
keep hurting myself. Last year I fell
down 14 stairs after I missed a
trick and I broke my collar bone. I
was in a cast for seven months,
and then when I got better and
got back on my board, I broke my
elbow and three bones in my foot
when I tried to skate down a rail.
That one was bad; the doctor had
to put chunks of metal and a
whole bunch of screws in my arm.
So yeah, streetboarding is
dangerous and can get you
arrested, but so what? The feeling
I get when I make up a new trick
or find a new place to skate
makes it all worth it. It gives me a
kind of energy that I don’t get from
any other sport, and I’ve met all
kinds of different cool people from
it. A lot of kids who started out on
the streets ended up becoming
professional skateboarders. I don’t
know if I’ll ever be good enough
to make skating my job, but I don’t
think I’ll ever quit.
OP4 From what you learned in OP2 and based on your findings from OP3, discuss with a partner
whether or not streetboarding is an extreme sport and say if you would recommend it to a
friend.
OP5 The article above is based on an interview. Read the article carefully and formulate the
questions Trevor was probably asked. You can add more questions and make up Trevor’s
answers. Work with a partner and act out the interview.
Skills
Writing a text
p. 109
36
OP6 Write an email to radio DJ Vicki Roberts in which you express your view of extreme sports and whether any of them should be banned.