Penguin Readers Factsheets

Teacher’s Notes

Cinderella Man

By Marc Cerasini

Level 4 – Intermediate Cinderella Man

Chapters 2–3

Students work in small groups. Give each group a large

piece of paper and ask them to make a list of the problems

that the Braddocks face at the end of Chapter 3. After a

few minutes, the groups should swap their pieces of paper

and try to think of a solution for each of the problems. As a

class discussion, ask students how easy it will be for the

Braddocks to find solutions to their problems. What other

problems might they face in the next part of the book?

Chapters 4–5

When the Braddock’s electricity and heat are turned off,

Mae takes the boys to her father and Rosy to her sister. Ask

students to write a page in Jay’s diary about this day. How

does he feel about being sent away? What did he see on the

trip to his grandfather’s house? How does he feel about his

sick brother and sister? Does he like it at his grandfather’s

house? Jim promised not to send the children away. Does

Jay feel differently about his father now that this promise has

been broken?

Chapters 6–7

Students work in pairs. Ask them to prepare and then act out

the following conversation:

Student A: You are Jim Braddock. Joe Gould has just told

you that you will fight Corn Griffin for $250.

You know it is dangerous but you want to fight

because your family needs the money. Talk to

Mae about it. Tell her it’s only one fight. Explain

that you only get a few dollars for a day’s work at

the docks. You need her support. Will she give

it?

Student B: You are Mae Braddock. Your husband, Jim, will

tell you that he has a fight against Corn Griffin.

You’re not happy about it because you’re scared

for your husband’s safety. What will happen to

your family if he is injured and can’t work. Or if

he dies? Ask him how much money he will get.

Will you support your husband, or not?

Chapters 8–9

Students work individually or in pairs. In Chapter 9, John

Henry Lewis says that Jim is “not the same guy.” Ask

students to make two lists: one about the changes in Jim’s

fighting style and the other about any other changes in

Jim’s character and attitude since 1928. Ask some students

to read their lists to the rest of the class and encourage

classroom discussion. What has made Jim change so much

in just a few years?

Chapters 10–11

Students work in small groups. Ask each group to choose

one of these scenes and prepare it to be acted out in front of

the class. Encourage students to expand the scene from the

book to include more dialogue and action.

• Jim goes home and finds Sara Wilson there with Mae.

She tells him that Mike is missing.

• Jim finds Mike, dying, under a wagon in Central

Park.

• Mike’s funeral.

• Jim, Mae and Joe answer reporters’ questions about

the fight with Max Baer.

• Jim, Mae and Joe go to the boxing club for dinner and

Max Baer comes in.

With the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt as the new

American president, the government began injecting money

into the economy and handing out money to the country’s

poor. Jim and his fellow Americans are ashamed to receive

money from the government – but they know it is their only

chance of survival. When Jim eventually wins some prize

money, he immediately goes to the relief office to pay back

what he has received. Books and movies set during the

Great Depression are popular in America today because

the people are proud of their families’ abilities to survive and

remain proud during this difficult time.

Against the background of the Great Depression,

Cinderella Man tells a story of a loving and courageous

family man. He is determined to keep his family together

and to bring his children up honorably, even in the most

difficult circumstances. When Jay steals some meat to feed

the family, Jim makes him take it back to the butcher. Even

in the good times, at the beginning and end of the story,

Jim Braddock is more interested in spending time with his

wife and children than in a superstar lifestyle. They are “the

reason why he was not only the heavyweight champion of

the world, but the luckiest man in it.”

Communicative activites

The following teacher-led activities cover the same sections

of text as the exercises at the back of the Reader, and

supplement those exercises. For supplementary exercises

covering shorter sections of the book, see the photocopiable

Student’s Activities pages of this Factsheet. These are

primarily for use with class Readers but, with the exception

of discussion and pair/group work questions, can also be

used by students working alone in a self-access center.

Date: 2016-01-14; view: 830