READING. A CHRISTMAS CAROL BY CHARLES DICKENS

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

VIDEO. SINKHOLES

READING.THIMBLE SUMMER

Thimble Summer is the story of  Garnet Linden and her brother Jay who live on a remote farm in the American Midwest. After a long period of summer drought,  Garnet's parents are worried  that the farm will be ruined. Then one day Garnert finds a silver thimble in the river bank and their luck immediately begins to change.

  GARNET thought this must be the hottest day that had ever been in the world. Every day for weeks she had thought the same thing, but this was really the worst of all. This morning the thermometer outside the village drug store had pointed a thin red finger to one hundred and ten degrees Fahrenheit. 

  It was like being inside of a drum. The sky like a bright skin was stretched tight above the valley, and the earth too, was tight and hard with heat. Later, when it was dark, there would be a noise of thunder, as though a great hand beat upon the drum; there would be heavy clouds above the hills, and flashes of heat lightning, but no rain. It had been like that for a long time. After supper each night her father came out of the house and looked up at the sky, then down at his fields of com and oats. "No," he would say, shaking his head, "No rain tonight." 

  The oats were turning yellow before their time, and the com leaves were tom and brittle, rustling like newspaper when the dry wind blew upon them. If the rain didn't come soon there would be no corn to harvest, and they would have to cut the oats for hay. Garnet looked up at the smooth sky angrily, and shook her fist. "You!" she cried, "Why in time can’t you let down a little rain!" At each step her bare feet kicked up a small cloud of dust. There was dust in her hair, and up her nose, making it tickle. 

  Slowly Garnet walked to the yellow house under tall maple trees and opened the kitchen door. Her mother was cooking supper on the big black coal stove, and her little brother Donald pat on the floor making a noise like a train. 
  Her mother looked up. Her cheeks were red from the hot stove.   
 "Any mail, darling?" she asked. "Bills," replied Garnet. 
  "Oh," said her mother and turned back to her cooking. 
  Garnet set the table by the open window. Knife, fork, knife, fork, knife, fork, knife, fork but only a spoon for Donald, who managed even that so absent-mindedly that there was usually as much cereal on the outside of him as inside at the end of a meal. In the middle of the table she put a bottle of catsup, salt and pepper, a china sugar bowl With morningglories on it, and a tumbler-full of spoons. Then she went down to the cold room.
   It was still and dim down there. A spigot dripped peacefully into the deep pod of water below, where the milk cans and stone butter crock were sunk. Garnet filled a pitcher with milk and put a square of butter on the plate she had brought. She knelt down and plunged both her arms into the Hater. It was cloudy with spilled milk but icy cold. She could feel coolness spreading through all her veins and a little shiver ran over her.
  Going in the kitchen again was like walking into a red-hot oven.
  Donald had stopped being a train and had become a fire engine. He charged round and round the room hooting and shrieking. How could he be so lively, Garnet wondered. He didn't even notice the awful heat although his hair clung to his head like wet feathers and his cheeks were red as radishes.
  Her mother looked out of the window. "Father's coming in," she said. "Garnet, don't give him the mail now, I want him to eat a good supper. Put it behind the calendar and I’ll tend to it afterwards." Garnet hastily pushed the bills behind the calendar on the shelf over the sink.
 The screen door opened with its own particular squeak and her father came in. He went to the sink and washed his hands. He looked tired and his neck was sunburned. "What a day!" he said. "one more like this -- " and he shook his head.
  It was too hot to eat. Garnet hated her cereal. Donald whined and upset his milk. day was the only one who really ate in a business-like manner, as if he enjoyed it. He could probably eat the shingles off a house if there was nothing else handy, Garnet decided.
  After she had helped with the dishes, Garnet and day put on their bathing suits and went down to the river. They had to go down a road, through a pasture, and across hall a dozen sand bars before they came to a place that was deep enough to swim in. This was a dark, quiet pool by a little island; trees hung over it and roots trailed in it. Three turtles slid from a log as the children approached, making three slowly widening circles on the still surface.
  "It looks like tea," said Garnet, up to her neck in brownish lukewarm water.
  "Feels like it too," said Jay. “I wish it was colder." Still it was water and there was enough of it to swim in. They floated and raced and dove from the old birch tree bent like a bow over the pool. day dove very well, hardly making a splash when he entered the water, but Garnet landed flat on her stomach every time. As usual day cut his toe on a sharp stone and bled a great deal. As usual Garnet got caught in a swift current and had to be rescued, squealing, by day. With great care and trouble they built a raft out of dead branches that sank as soon as they both got on it. But nothing spoiled their fun. When they were finally sufficiently waterlogged to be red-eyed and streaming, they went exploring on the sandy flats that had emerged from the river during the weeks of drought. There were all kinds of things to be found there; gaping clamshells colored inside like pearls; water-soaked branches with long beards of green moss; rusted tobacco tins, stranded fish, bottles, and a broken teapot. They wandered in different directions, bending over, examining and picking things up. The damp flats had a rich, muddy smell. After a while the sun set brilliantly behind trees, but the air seemed no cooler.
  Garnet saw a small object, half-buried in the sand, and glittering. She knelt down and dug it out with her finger. It was a silver thimble! How in the world had that ever found its way into the river? She dropped the old shoe, bits of polished glass, and a half dozen clam- shells she had collected and ran breathlessly to show day. "It's solid silver!" she shouted triumphantly, "and I think it must be magic too!" "Magic!" said day. "Don’t be silly, there isn't any such thing.

GRAMMAR. COMPARATIVES

READING. THE KINGDOM BY THE SEA

This novel was published in 1990 but is set in the North of England in the 1940s at the time of Second World War.

He was an old hand at air raids now.

As the yell of the siren climbed the sky, he came smoothly out of his dreams. Not scared. Only his stomach clamped down tight for action, as his hands found his clothes laid ready in the dark. Hauled one jumper, then another, over his pyjamas. Thrust both stockinged feet together through his trousers and into his shoes. Then bent to tie his laces thoroughly. A loose lace had tripped him once, in the race to the shelter. He remembered the smashing blow as the ground hit his chin; the painful week after, not able to eat with a bitten tongue.

He grabbed his school raincoat off the door, pulling the door wide at the same time. All done by feel; no need to put the light on. Lights were dangerous.

He passed Dulcie's door, heard Mam and Dulcie muttering to each other, Dulcie sleepy and cross, Mam sharp and urgent. Then he thundered downstairs; the crack of light from the kitchen door lighting up the edge of each stair-tread. Dad was sitting in his warden's uniform, hauling on his big black boots, his grey hair standing up vertically in a bunch, like a cock's comb. Without looking up, Dad said, 'Bloody Hitler! Four bloody nights in a row!'

There was a strong smell of Dad's sweaty feet, and the fag he had burning in the ashtray. That was all Harry had time to notice, he had his own job, the two objects laid ready in the chair by the door. The big roll of blankets, wrapped in a groundsheet because the shelter was damp, done up with a big leather strap of Dad's. And Mam's precious attaché case with the flask of hot coffee and insurance policies and other important things, and the little bottle of brandy for emergencies. He heaved the blankets on to his back, picked up the case with one hand and reached to unlock the back door with the other.

'Mind that light,' said Dad automatically. But Harry's hand was already reaching for the switch. He'd done it all a hundred times before.

He slammed the door behind him, held his breath and listened. A single aircraft's engines, far out to sea. Vroomah, vroomah, vroomah. A Jerry. But nothing to be sorry about yet. Two guns fired, one after another. Two brilliant points of white, lighting up a black landscape of greenhouse, sweet-pea trellises and cucumber-frames. A rolling carpet of echoes. Still out at sea. Safe then.

He ran down the long black garden, with his neck tickling and the blankets bouncing against his back comfortingly. As he passed the greenhouse the rabbits jumped their heels in alarm. There was a nice cold smell of dew and cabbages. Then he was in through the shelter door, shoving the damp mould-stinking curtain aside.

He tossed the things on to Mam's bunk, found the tiny oil-lamp on the back girder, and lit it and watched the flame grow. Then he lit the candle under the pottery milk-cooler that kept the shelter warm. Then he undid the bundle and laid out the blankets on the right bunks and turned back to the shelter door, ready to take Dulcie from Mam. He should be hearing their footsteps any seconds now, the patter of Mam's shoes and the crunch of Dad's hobnailed boots. Dad always saw them safe in the shelter, before he went on duty. Mam would be nagging Dad - had he locked the back door against burglars? They always teased Mam about that; she must think burglars were bloody brave, burgling in the middle of air raids.

God, Mam and Dad were taking their time tonight. What was keeping them? That Jerry was getting closer. More guns were firing now. The garden, every detail of it, the bird-bath and the concrete rabbit, flased black, white, black, white, black. There was a whispering in the air. Gun-shrapnel falling like rain ... they shouldn't be out in that. Where were they? Where were they? Why weren't they tumbling through the shelter door, panting and laughing to be safe?

That Jerry was right overhead. Vroomah. Vroomah. Vroomah.And then the other whistling. Rising to a scream. Bombs. Harry began to count. If you were still counting at ten, the bombs had missed you.

The last thing he rememberd was saying 'seven'.

GRAMMAR. TENSES REVIEW

READING.KING ARTHUR

KING ARTHUR AND THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE

GRAMMAR. REPORTED SPEECH

GRAMMAR. CONDITIONALS

THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY. CHAPTERS 8 AND 9

VOCABULARY

1. Write ten words that you learned from each of these chapters.
2. Write the sentences where they appear.
3. Look them up in a dictionary, translate them and write their definitions.

GRAMMAR. PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY. CHAPTER 7

VOCABULARY

• Write the sentences from the book where these words appear, then write their definitions  and translate them according to the context:  mosher, dishrag, goggles, backdrop, fluffy, burly, slithered, flapped, chopped off.
• Explain these expressions with your own words: "drives him bananas ", "Round the bend", "Off  your trolley"

GRAMMAR. THE PASSIVE VOICE

THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY. CHAPTER 6

1. Find these expressions in the chapter and explain them with your own words:
"It's like lawnmowing", "bits of blood-drenched toilet paper stuck on his skin", "talking non-stop" "it would be flattened", "a Drop in the Eternal Ocean of Time" "Ted's useless at stuff like that" "I'd pass out being stuck in one of those perspex pods" "facial hair is a sign that we have evolved from apes"
2. What is a topological map?
3. Name the London landmarks appearing in chapter 6.
4. Why was Ted's hand shaking itself?
5. How did Salim get a free ticket?
6. Read Charles Darwin's biography.

GRAMMAR. THE PASSIVE VOICE

DAVID COPPERFIELD BY CHARLES DICKENS

THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY. CHAPTER 5

1. What do Salim and Ted have in common? 

2. Explain the meaning of these expressions:

“ a cool dude” "a small talk"  " a big talk" "shipping forecast" "syndrome" "nerd and geek"

THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY. CHAPTER 4

1. How does Ted describe his Aunt Glory and his cousin Salim? - 

2. On page 31, Ted describes himself. What does he call himself? Copy the quotation from the book and say why he compares himself to Andy Warhol. Find a picture of Andy Warhol on Internet, glue it here. Who was he?

WORKING WITH WORDS 

Sometimes the way characters say things is not the same every single time. So the narrator uses verbs such as mutter, shriek, mumble or giggle to emphasize the emotions of the characters and the tone of their words. Some other expressions would refer to body language, such as nod or blink at. 

Look them up in a dictionary and write the definition: hiss - giggle - whisper - squeak - mutter - screech - mumble - grunt - moan - gasp - scream - sigh - reply - groan - chuckle - shrug - blink at - nod - stroke

THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY. CHAPTER 3

1. Compare the two versions of the letter about their Aunt Gloria.

2. VOCABULARY. Write the definition of these words and the sentence from the book.
quote, hectic, groaned, lump, flapping, gleeful, spilling.

3. Explain these expressions:
It has been eating away at my soul...
So it's the Big Apple for us...
Salim is dead keen to meet his cousins again...

VALENTIN'ES DAY

WORKSHEET

GRAMMAR. FUTURE

THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY CHAPTERS 1-2

CHAPTER 1

1. On what date and at what time did Salim board The London Eye? 

2. What two London landmarks does Ted mention?

3. Do you believe that Salim ran away and was kidnapped or was he just lost? What in the text makes you think this?

CHAPTER 2

1. This chapter starts with a flashback (going back in time). Explain it 
 2. What does A.W.O.L. stand for? What does it refer to? 
 3. What is “Barrington Heights”? Remember this name because it is going very important for the denouement of the story 
4. Can you find any paragraph in this chapter in which Ted literally understands things said by other members of his family?

HURRICANE KATRINA

• Katrina was a category 4 storm.
• Storm surges reached over 6 metres in height.
• New Orleans was one of the worst affected areas because it lies below sea level and is protected by levees. These protect it from the Mississippi River and Lake Ponchartrain. The levee defences were unable to cope with the strength of Katrina, and water flooded into the city.
• Despite an evacuation order, many of the poorest people remained in the city.
• People sought refuge in the Superdome stadium. Conditions were unhygienic, and there was a shortage of food and water. Looting was commonplace throughout the city. Tension was high and many felt vulnerable and unsafe.
• 1 million people were made homeless and about 1,200 people drowned in the floods.
• Oil facilities were damaged and as a result petrol prices rose in the UK and USA.

Responses

Flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans 2005

There was much criticism of the authorities for their handling of the disaster. Although many people were evacuated, it was a slow process and the poorest and most vulnerable were left behind.

$50 billion in aid was given by the government.

The UK government sent food aid during the early stages of the recovery process.

The National Guard was mobilised to restore and maintain law and order in what became a hostile and unsafe living environment.

DRAMA

THE FRANKLIN'S TALE 
BY 
GEOFFREY CHAUCER

MALORIE BLACKMAN

READING

ISBN: 9780141376554