English for Life Reader Grade 9 Home Language. Elaine Ridge
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Название: English for Life Reader Grade 9 Home Language

Автор: Elaine Ridge

Издательство: Ingram

Жанр: Языкознание

Серия: English for Life

isbn: 9781775891079

isbn:

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      obese – very fat

      implacably – determinedly or unchangeably

Post-reading
3.Compare the two creatures in the poem. Which one has the speaker’s sympathy?
4. a)There is a reason why the slow snake could catch the quick little lizard. Can you find it, in the first stanza?
b)Explain what looks like a contradiction between “obese and quick”? In what sense was the snake quick?
5.To what unattractive or even disgusting things is the puff-adder compared? How is it like them? (Are these metaphors or similes?)
6. a)How is the lizard’s experience like Jonah’s? In what way is its fate different?
b)Which two words in the last two lines tell us that this is the end for the lizard?

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Pre-reading
1.We have all seen nightwatchmen whose job it is to stay awake all night to guard property. What are the hardships of doing this job and what dangers does a nightwatchman face?
During reading
2.In this poem we are presented with the idea that things might not always be what they seem to be. The fire looks warm. The watchman seems to be smiling.

      The nightwatchman

      Fhazel Johennesse

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      the fire looks warm from here

      and a red reflection diffuses and

      glows across his face

      he sits quite still a grey overcoat

      drawn taut over his back

      then I see his fingers move agitate

      and briefly a flicker of firelight

      paints a smile on his face and then

      melts it again

      i watch his fingers they slowly

      slip across the scalloped edge

      of the knobkerrie

      and suddenly I know

      i know that he waits for the

      cracking of skulls and the

      breaking of bones.

      agitate – move in a disturbed way

      diffuses – spreads

      knobkerrie – a wooden fighting stick with a heavy knob on the end

      scalloped – carved wavy design on the knob to make the stick more dangerous

      taut – tight as if he is ready for action

Post-reading
3.Write down two things you can tell about the speaker from the way he describes this scene.
4.The scene seems quiet, but two words in the first six lines suggest that the nightwatchman is tense and nervous. What are they? Explain.
5.The watchman is playing with his knobkerrie. What does the poem suggest he is thinking about?
6.Explain the gap between “fingers” and “they” in line 10. How does it affect the way the poem is read and what do you think it suggests about the change in the way the speaker sees the nightwatchman?
7.Do you think that the night watchman looks forward to “the cracking of skulls and the breaking of bones”? What do you think his smile is about?
8.How does the layout and lack of punctuation shape the ways you are able to read and understand this poem?
Pre-reading
1.This poem is about a boy who has been given a magnifying glass. He is intrigued by it and wants to share his discoveries. The monkeys in a cage in a public park look like possible learners.
Can you remember wanting to tell someone about something you had just learnt or found out how to do? Briefly tell what you did.
During reading
2.What mistake does the boy make when he tries to share his knowledge?
3.Why do you think the speaker refers to a “burning-glass” and not a magnifying glass?

      At Woodward’s gardens

      Robert Frost

      A boy, presuming on his intellect,

      Once showed two little monkeys in a cage

      A burning-glass they could not understand

      And never could be made to understand.

      Words are no good: to say it was a lens

      For gathering solar rays would not have helped,

      But let him show them how the weapon worked.

      He made the sun a pinpoint on the nose

      Of first one, then the other, till it brought

      A look of puzzled dimness to their eyes

      That blinking could not seem to blink away.

      They stood arms laced together at the bars,

      And exchanged troubled glances over life.

      One put a thoughtful hand up to his nose

      As if reminded – as if perhaps

      Within a million years of an idea.

      He got his purple little knuckles stung.

      The already known had once more been confirmed

      By psychological experiment,

      And that were all the finding to announce

      Had the boy not presumed too close and long.

      There was a sudden flash of arm, a snatch

      And the glass was the monkeys’ not the boy’s.

      Precipitately they retired back-cage

      And instituted an investigation

      On their part, though without the needed insight.

      They bit the glass and listened for the flavour.

      They broke the handle and the binding off it.

      Then none the wiser, frankly gave it up,

      And having hid it in their bedding straw

      Against СКАЧАТЬ