From ‘The Innocence of Father Brown’ by GK Chesterton

Drew, an attractive girl of eighteen, was driving home along a country road in her new, dark-blue convertible. She had just delivered some legal papers for her father.

“It was sweet of Dad to give me this car for my birthday,” she thought. “And it’s fun to help him in his work.”father, Carson Drew, a well-known lawyer in their home town of River Heights, frequently discussed puzzling aspects of cases with his blond, blue-eyed daughter., Nancy said to herself, “Dad depends on my intuition.”instant later she gasped in horror.

From ‘The Secret of the Old Clock’ by Carolyn Keene

glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which presented more singular features than that which was associated with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. The events in question occurred in the early days of my association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even more terrible than the truth.

From ‘The Adventure of the Speckled Band’ by Arthur Conan Doyle1breading plan: Lesson 1intentionconsolidate inference and deduction.stimulate questioning as a strategy to increase engagement.support the students in making predictions.students that they are only working with the information given in Chapter 1 of The London Eye Mystery. They will be acting as literary detectives, inferring and deducing information, and drawing up a list of questions raised by the opening chapter.checkthat students understand the terms ‘infer’ and ‘deduce’.that students understand both parts of the task. First, they should write down five things they have deduced from the text. For example: Ted has ridden the London Eye before; Ted has researched information about the London Eye; Ted is precise about numbers; Salim’s disappearance is the mystery referred to in the title; Ted is the one who solves the mystery.second part of the task requires students to come up with three questions they have after reading the first chapter. For example: Who are Kat, Salim and Ted? How does someone vanish from a sealed pod? What does Ted mean when he says his mind ‘runs on a different operating system’? How does Ted figure out the mystery?that students know how to phrase effective questions. They could use ‘5Ws +1H’: who, where, when, why, what + how.readingstudents to silently read Chapter 1 of The London Eye Mystery.to the textwork in pairs to come up with their list of deductions and evidence as well as their questions. They should share these with the group when complete, and a master list of evidence and questions should be drawn up.the group how confident they feel about their role as literary detectives, making inferences and designing questions as they continue to read. Do they think this strategy will be useful? Ask them to make predictions about how they believe the rest of the plot will develop.2:Chapters 2–4viewpoint/Languageoutcomeswill be able to:the language used by the author to interest and entertain the readerthe text to retrieve informationthe first person narratorstudents into groups and hand out the card matching activity in WS 2a, where they will match up idioms with their meanings. Students should be able to complete these fairly quickly, and feed back to the class.students of the definitions of literal and figurative language, and introduce the term ‘idiom’ if they are not already familiar with it. Explain that figurative language adds richness and depth to a fiction text, while literal language is what is most often used in a non-fiction text. We all use both types of language regularly in our interactions with other people, and most of the time we are able to distinguish what kind of language is being used. Then go back to the expressions on WS 2aand ask students to imagine they were only able to understand these expressions literally. What would they believe each expression actually meant? They can create very amusing mental pictures!Chapters 2–4.students whether they noticed anything about figurative and literal language in these chapters (they should have picked up that Ted is unable to understand figurative language so finds common idioms puzzling). Ask students to work in pairs and go back through the text, identifying examples of figurative language. They should use these to complete WS 2b, which also asks them to provide the figurative meaning of each expression as well as what Ted thinks it means. Some of the examples have been started for them.everyone feed back to the class.students back to their role (from Lesson 1) as literary detectives. Explain that in these first chapters of the book, they have been given some clues as to Ted’s personality. He says that he ‘runs on a different operating system’. But what does this mean? In groups, ask students to find evidence in the first four chapters for the following statements:is unusually intelligent for his age.thinks clearly and notices small details.loves facts and knowledge.looks at things differently from other people.doesn’t like physical contact.finds it hard to read body language.and reflectgroups to feed back with the evidence they have found about Ted’s personality (they should keep this work for the next lesson). Then ask them to consider why Siobhan Dowd may have chosen to tell the story from Ted’s perspective. What does it add to the story to have him looking at things in such a logical way? Do they think it might help him solve the mystery of Salim’s disappearance? They should consider the humorous aspect to seeing things through Ted’s eyes, since his misunderstandings add richness to the story.ask the class to consider Ted’s unique way of describing things. On page 20, Ted describes Salim: ‘he looked like his thoughts were not in the same place as his body’. This may not be an idiom, but is a kind of simile, and adds colour to our understanding of Salim’s character.students to think about idioms and figurative language in their everyday lives, and to listen for idiomatic expressions in conversation. They should each try to find three examples of this speech outside the classroom before the next lesson.2acost an arm and a legwas very expensive’s in some hot water’s in trouble’s raining cats and dogs’s raining hard’s under the weather’s not feeling well’s buried her head in the sandrefuses to face the truthlet the cat out of the bagtold the secret’m over the moon’m very happy’s get the ball rolling’s get things started2blanguageLondon Eye Mystery, Ted has trouble understanding common idioms and figurative language. He takes everything literally, which can lead to some confusion. Look through Chapters 2–4 and write down all the examples you can find of figurative language, then complete the table with their meanings and what Ted thinks they might mean. Some of the examples have been started for you.of figurative languageit meansTed thinks it means

‘she was just a handful’

‘larger than life’

‘the spit of’ (the spitting image of)like

‘going off the rails’3:Chapter 5characteroutcomeswill be able to:more about non-verbal communicationwith the main characterthe text to retrieve informationpredictions about the textstudents into pairs. Taking it in turns, they should try out a variety of basic facial expressions which their partner will need to identify. Allow them to do this for a few minutes before handing each student one of the cards from WS 3a. Students must now act out the expression on their card for their partners, without using any words or moving their lips.the exercise is complete, ask students to consider how easy they found it to communicate using only their body language. What non-verbal means did they use? Gestures? Posture? Facial expression?on from the work with body language by reminding the class that Ted has problems understanding it in The London Eye Mystery. Ask students to look again at the evidence they gathered about Ted’s character in Lesson 2. Students now know that Ted’s brain works differently to other people’s – do they have any ideas why this might be? Introduce Asperger’s Syndrome, using the fact file on WS 3b.Chapter 5, where Ted talks to Salim about how his brain works and how he feels about it. Then distribute the Reading Guide, and ask students to look at the list of advantages and disadvantages of Ted’s condition on page 8. Again in pairs, ask them to discuss Ted’s syndrome. Do they think the pros outweigh the cons or vice versa? They should add to the list of advantages and disadvantages if necessary, using the evidence in Chapter 5 (for example, one disadvantage is that Ted is teased at school). Remind students that people with Asperger’s may have above-average intelligence and be gifted in some way. How does Ted hope to use his special talents?will now gather the information they have about Ted’s character and his condition into a homepage for him on a social networking site. They could use the outline on page 9 of the Reading Guide to help them, or they could follow a different format if they prefer. They will need to include the following information:’s likes and dislikeshobbiesfriends.should be creative in completing the profile. They could draw or search for images Ted may have added to his photo albums, add websites or social networking pages Ted may have ‘liked’, messages on his wall from other characters, etc.could also consider what Ted might ‘tweet’ if he used a social networking facility like Twitter. They could write tweets (messages in 140 characters or fewer) from both before and during Gloria and Salim’s visit and keep their ‘feed’ updated as the novel progresses. This will allow them to further empathize with Ted, and attempt to write in the character’s ‘voice’.and reflectthey have completed their profiles, invite students to share them with the class. Consider what we as readers already know about Ted, and how this may help him solve Salim’s disappearance later in the novel.students to write a similar social networking profile for either Kat or Salim, using the evidence they have found in the novel so far. They can add to this information as the book progresses.3averbal languageam very cold.tooth hurts.is my book?need to go totoilet.you scratchback?time is it?’s a spider on your shoulder!am feelingtired.’ve cut my finger.need help lifting this chair.love you.you lend me some money?’m bored.’ve forgotten my glasses.I borrow your pencil?win!3bFile: Asperger’s Syndrome’s Syndrome is a condition which affects a person’s ability to interact with others.with Asperger’s:follow repetitive patterns of behaviour and interestsseem obsessed with one subject and gather a lot of information on that subjectstruggle to know how to start or end a conversationtalk at length about a subject that doesn’t appear to interest their listenerstruggle to make friendsto use language literallyto understand the feelings of others or to recognize their reactionshave difficulty with non-verbal communication like eye contact, facial expression, posture and gestureseem awkward in social situations.person with Asperger’s Syndrome may understand the emotions of others in a theoretical way, but may struggle to act on this understanding in real life. This can make them seem insensitive.4:Chapters 6–8structure/Building suspenseoutcomeswill be able to:and scan text to retrieve informationthe structure and organization of texthow the narrator develops character, creates suspense and moves the plot forwardwhether any of the students have been on the London Eye. If they have, invite them to share their experiences, and ask the class what they know about the Eye.the Reading Guide. On page 10, students will find a fun match-up activity on the London Eye. Working in pairs or small groups, they should try to match up each of the questions with the right answers (if possible, allow them Internet access to research their answers or print out information from the website, although answers can also be found through a process of deduction). Give them a time limit to do this.: 1d; 2e; 3j; 4h; 5f; 6c; 7b; 8i (this figure may have changed since publication); 9g; 10a.to students that the chapters they will be looking at today are those in which Salim’s disappearance takes place on the London Eye. This is a key moment in the novel. How do they think an author might write a scene such as this one? Remind them that authors use writing techniques to retain a reader’s interest, in particular by building up tension and suspense.a class, compile a list of the ways that a writer might build up tension and suspense in a scene. These could include:descriptive or emotive words and images to bring the image to life for the readervariation to create fast or slow pacethat helps speed up or slow down the readingback information from the reader.ask students to consider how having Ted as a narrator may have presented a problem for Siobhan Dowd in creating an atmosphere of suspense in these chapters. For example, Ted does not use much figurative language, so his descriptions are quite straightforward. He also says what he sees, and does not seem to hold back information from the reader.Chapters 6–8.students have read the chapters, ask them whether they felt that Siobhan Dowd was able to create a tense atmosphere in the scenes, despite having Ted as the narrator. What key device does she use? Elicit that the author has chosen to begin the novel in Chapter 1 at the moment of crisis. Before reading Chapters 6–8, we already know that Salim has disappeared without explanation, so we are already curious and eager for clues to the mystery as we read Ted’s description, and we know more than the characters do at this point. This means that the tension level is high before the chapters even begin.students to track tension in the three chapters on the graph on WS 4. As they do so, they should consider whether the writer uses any other devices to build and maintain tension (for example, the times the children almost turn back from boarding the Eye, the mysterious stranger, the bad feeling Ted gets).and reflectthe graph in WS 4as an OHT. Take feedback from the class and add moments of tension and tension levels to it as you go. Do students think the choices made by Siobhan Dowd work effectively to build suspense?could make their own attempt at writing a story which opens with the moment of crisis. For example, a short ghost story which opens:was thirteen years and thirteen days old when the haunting began.It started as a normal day…4trackerkeep a reader’s interest and create an atmosphere of suspense, a writer will use a range of techniques to build tension in their writing. Choose five (or more) key moments in Chapters 6–8 of The London Eye Mystery, and track the level of tension at each of these moments. Remember to track the tension level at the start of the chapter as well.

Date: 2014-12-29; view: 955