Contents

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 Contents

Contents and text

overview
Page

Introduction 3

Lesso
Text Details about the text
n

The Happy-Go- Novel published in 1913.

Lucky Morgans 1 Third-person narration 8
Edward Thomas

The Trial Novel in translation, published in 1925.

2 15
Franz Kafka Third-person narration

‘The Story-Teller’ Short story published in 1914.

3 22
Saki Third-person narration

The Great Novel published in 1925.

Gatsby 4 Third-person narration 29
F. Scott Fitzgerald

‘Invisible Mass of Short story published in 2015.

the Back Row’ First-person narration and dialectal
5 37
Claudette Williams forms of English

The Time Novel published in 1895.

Machine 6 First-person narration, science fiction 44
H.G. Wells genre

Brick Lane Novel published in 2003.

7 50
Monica Ali Third-person narration

Wuthering Novel published in 1847.

Heights 8 First-person narration 57
Emily Brontë

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 Contents

Answers 63

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 Introduction

Introduction
This teaching pack includes eight literary fiction texts from the 19th to the 21st
century. The activities are designed for upper KS3 (years 8–9) or higher attaining KS3
students and should provide a helpful transition to the GCSE/IGCSE assessment focus
on unseen literary fiction.
You’ll find extracts from celebrated novels and short stories selected to appeal to
younger students, as well as a range of genres and narrative styles, including first-
and third-person omniscient narration.
The teaching pack is student-facing, for classroom use and designed to provide an
outline of activities for a series of eight one-hour lessons:
Each lesson includes:
 A choice of two pre-reading starter activities (focusing on context,
prediction, vocabulary development, inference skills, oracy skills etc.).
 A set of three lesson activities to build students’ reading and comprehension
skills, including:
 comprehension and inference questions
 skimming, scanning, selecting, summarising and synthesising information
 analysing language, literary devices and structure
 evaluating the text critically
 writing analytically.
 An extension writing task to anticipate some of the fiction and non-fiction
writing tasks students will complete in the GCSE English Language exams, which
could be completed for homework
 A plenary or formative assessment activity.
Each activity includes answers, where appropriate, and there are differentiated
support suggestions and sentence starters. There is also a summative assessment
task, which includes exam-style questions, with suggested answers for self or peer
marking, or to support teachers.
The lessons can be used in sequence or as one-off lessons, for cover activities or for
independent homework tasks.

Building students’ comprehension skills

There is an increasing body of evidence-based research to suggest that there are a
range of practical strategies teachers can use to improve students’ reading
comprehension skills. The following approaches have been included in the teaching
pack activities:

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 Introduction
 ‘Mental models’ — encourage students to visualise the text to see connections
and discern the text’s message and purpose.
 Predicting — encourage students to make predictions before reading, and then
review and make new predictions during and after the reading process.

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 Introduction

 Skimming and scanning — show students how to use scanning techniques to

look at signposting in a text or to answer specific comprehension questions, or
skim read a text to notice patterns and appreciate its overall structure and
layout.
 Rereading — encourage students to use rereading as a problem-solving
strategy for understanding a new text. Rereading can be different from an initial
reading as students may notice new details and unfamiliar words can be less
challenging.
 Asking questions and self-questioning — encourage students to formulate
their own questions about a text and use ‘think-alouds’ such as ‘The first
question I would ask myself is …’ to model how to approach more challenging
texts.

KS3 National Curriculum expectations

Here’s an overview of the current National Curriculum for English requirements for
reading for reference. Pupils should be taught to:
‘understand increasingly challenging texts through:
 learning new vocabulary, relating it explicitly to known vocabulary and
understanding it with the help of context and dictionaries
 making inferences and referring to evidence in the text
 knowing the purpose, audience for and context of the writing, and drawing on
this knowledge to support comprehension
 checking their understanding to make sure that what they have read makes
sense.

read critically through:

 knowing how language, including figurative language, vocabulary choice,
grammar, text structure and organisational features, presents meaning
 studying setting, plot and characterisation, and the effects of these
 making critical comparisons across texts.’

About the writer

Our thanks go to the writer of this pack, Jyothy Menon. She is a former teacher who
now works as a blogger, writer of educational resources and online tutor. She has 18
years of experience as a teacher of English across IGCSE (EAL, EFL, ESL, and
Literature), IBDP (Literature, Language and Literature) and A-levels (Literature and
Language). Jyothy has been an IB examiner since 2016 and has worked in
international schools in India and elsewhere.

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 Introduction

Overview: one-hour lesson plans

Lesson objectives Key skills Lesson notes and timings

Lesson 1: The Happy-Go-Lucky  Vocabulary Pre-reading activities (5−10 minutes)

Morgans by Edward Thomas development Reading comprehension activities (25−30 minutes)
Students will be more confident with  Prediction skills 1. Skimming and scanning (5 minutes)
reading comprehension and inference  Reading 2. Quick comprehension check (5 minutes)
skills. comprehension
These could be individual or pair tasks.
Students will learn how to select and  Understanding explicit
3. Comprehension questions (15−20 minutes)
synthesise information from the text. and implicit meanings
Students can be grouped depending on class size to
 Analytical skills
Students will be able to analyse the complete the questions and tasks.
writer’s use of language and literary  Diary writing skills
Writing activity (10−15 minutes)
devices.
The scaffolded diary writing task could be completed for
homework.
Plenary (5 minutes)

Lesson 2: The Trial by Franz Kafka  Inference skills Pre-reading activities (5−10 minutes)
Students will be able to infer meaning  Reading Reading comprehension activities (35 minutes)
and understand the importance of comprehension Students can be grouped depending on class size to
context.  Understanding explicit complete the questions and tasks.
and implicit meanings 1. Comprehension questions (10 minutes)
Students will be able to select and
synthesise information from the text.  Analytical writing 2. Analysis and paragraph writing (10 minutes)
skills
Students will feel more confident 3. Visualising what you’ve read tableaux (15 minutes)
 Letter writing skills
analysing language and structure, and Writing activity (10 minutes)
evaluating a text critically.
This letter writing task could be completed for homework.

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 Introduction

Plenary (5 minutes)

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 Introduction
Lesson 3: ‘The Story-Teller’ by  Vocabulary skills Pre-reading activities (5−10 minutes)
Saki  Reading and Reading comprehension activities (35 minutes)
Students will learn a range of synthesis skills Students can be grouped depending on class size to
strategies to help them to decode  Comprehension skills complete the questions and tasks.
unfamiliar vocabulary. 1. Skim-reading (5−10 minutes)
 Understanding explicit
Students will be more confident and implicit meanings 2. Summarising and creating ‘mental movies’ (10
summarising information from a text. minutes)
 Analysing a writer’s
Students will understand how to use of language 3. Comprehension questions and analysis (15−20
analyse language and structure, and minutes)
 Non-fiction writing
critically evaluate a text. Writing activity (10 minutes)
skills
This travel writing task could be completed for homework.
Plenary (5 minutes)
Lesson 4: The Great Gatsby by F.  Summary skills Pre-reading activities (5−10 minutes)
Scott Fitzgerald  Vocabulary skills Reading comprehension activities (35 minutes)
Students will understand how to  Question skills Students can be grouped depending on class size to
summarise a paragraph.  Analysing a writer’s complete the tasks.
use of language 1. Summarising (10 minutes)
Students will feel more confident
 Non-fiction writing
formulating questions to develop their 2. Text detectives (10 minutes)
skills
understanding of a text. 3. Comprehension questions and analysis (15
Students will develop their analytical minutes)
writing skills. Writing activity (10 minutes)
This newspaper report task could be completed for
homework.
Plenary (5 minutes)
Lesson 5: ‘Invisible Mass of the  Skimming, scanning Pre-reading activities (5−10 minutes)
Back Row’ by Claudette Williams and note-taking skills Reading comprehension activities (35 minutes)
Students will be able to skim and scan  Reading skills 1. Skimming, scanning and note-taking (5 minutes)
an extract and take notes.  Oracy skills 2. Reciprocal reading (15 minutes)
Students will learn how to ‘unlock’ a  Reading 3. Comprehension questions and analysis (15

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 Introduction
text by working in collaboration with comprehension skills minutes)
others.  Letter writing skills Writing activity (10 minutes)
Students will begin to understand the This letter writing task could be completed for homework.
effects of a writer’s choice of language Plenary (5 minutes)
and narrative style.

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Lesson 6: The Time Machine by  Reading Pre-reading activities (5−10 minutes)

H.G. Wells comprehension skills Reading comprehension activities (30 minutes)
 Analytical writing
Students will be more confident when 1. Quick comprehension check (5 minutes)
skills
planning their ideas and writing 2. Comprehension questions and analysis (15
 Fiction writing skills
analytically. minutes)
Students will understand the effect of 3. Paragraph writing (10 minutes)
first-person narration. Writing activity (10 minutes)
This fiction writing task could be completed for homework.
Plenary (5 minutes)

Lesson 7: Brick Lane by Monica Ali  Prediction skills Pre-reading activities (5−10 minutes)
 Vocabulary skills Reading comprehension activities (30 minutes)
Students will be more confident
 Reading
approaching an unseen text. 1. Quick-fire reading check (5 minutes)
comprehension skills
Students will have vocabulary  Analytical writing 2. Mapping the extract (10 minutes)
strategies to help improve their skills 3. Comprehension questions and analysis (15
reading comprehension.  Fiction writing skills minutes)
Writing activity (10 minutes)
This diary writing task could be completed for homework.
Plenary (5 minutes)

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Lesson 8: Wuthering Heights by  Reading Summative assessment (1 hour: 40 minutes for

Emily Brontë comprehension skills unseen text and 20 minutes for writing task)
 Assessment skills
Students will understand the unseen
 Analytical writing skills
literary fiction assessment
requirements at KS4.
Students will be more confident when
planning their ideas and writing
analytically, in exam-style conditions.

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 Lesson 1

Lesson 1
The Happy-Go-Lucky Morgans
by Edward Thomas

Pre-reading starters
1. Focusing on vocabulary

Here is a list of words you will encounter in a text you will be reading. Working in pairs,
see if you can match each word to its definition:

A tool with a sharp edge for

rustling cutting and shaping wood and
stone.

toil A house or place to live in.

A strong, heavy iron castle gate

chisel
that can be raised or lowered.

The sound that leaves on a tree

portcullis make when they move or rub
together.

swarthy A place where grain is stored.

dwelling To work very hard.

granary To have dark skin.

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 Lesson 1
2. Perfect predictions

Based on these words, can you predict what you think this story might be about?
Share your ideas in groups or with the class.

Setting

Characters

Genre

On the following page is an extract from Edward Thomas’ semi-autobiographical novel

The Happy-Go-Lucky Morgans, published in 1913.
The novel is about Arthur Froxfield's return visit to Abercorran House, where he had
spent his childhood with his friend Philip Morgan. In this extract, the narrator Arthur
retells a mythical and magical tale he heard from Ann, the Morgans’ loyal servant.

As you read the text, circle any new or unfamiliar words you encounter.
Stop a couple of times during your reading to reflect on the predictions you made
about the text. Were you right? How do you think the text will develop next?

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‘But one day there was a white ship in the harbour of Abercorran. A man
named Ivor ap Cadogan had come back who had been away in Arabia, Cathay, and
India, in Ophir and all the East, since he was a boy. No man knew his family. He was
a tall man with yellow hair and a long beard of gold, and he was always singing to
himself, and he was like a king who has thrown away his crown, nor had he soldiers 5
with him, but only the dark foreign men who followed him from the ships. All day
long, day after day, they were unlading and carrying up beautiful white stone from
the ship to build a great shining castle above the sea. In a little while came another
ship out of the east, and another, and another, like swans, coming in silent to the
harbour. All were heavy laden with the white stone, and with precious woods, which 10
men carried up into the hills above the shore. The sea forgot everything but calm all
through that summer while they were unlading the ships and building.
The finished castle was as huge and white, but not as terrible, as a mountain
peak when the snow has been chiselled by the north wind for many midnights, and
the wood of it smelt round about as sweet as a flower, summer and winter. And Ivor 15
ap Cadogan dwelt in the castle, which was at that time called the Castle of Ophir. It
had no gates, no moat or portcullis, for no one was refused or sent away. Its fires
never went out. Day and night in winter the sky over the castle was bright with the
many fires and many lights. Round the walls grew trees bearing golden fruit, and
among them fountains of rustling crystal stood up glittering forever like another sort 20
of trees.
People dreamed about the shining, white castle, and its gold, its music, its
everlasting festivals of youths and maidens.
Upon the roads now there were no more incomplete or withered men, or if they
were they were making for the Castle of Ophir among the hills. It was better, said all 25
men, to be a foreigner, or a monkey, or any one of the wondrous beasts that
wandered in the castle, or any of the birds that flew round the towers, or any of the
fish in the ponds under the fountains, than to be a man upon the roads or in the
villages. No man now walked up and down until he had to sit, or sat until he had to
lie, or lay until he could rise no more and so died. They went up to the Castle of 30
Ophir and were healed, and dwelt there happily for ever after. Those that came
back said that in the castle they were just as happy whether they were working
hard or doing nothing: stiff, labouring men whose chief pleasure used to be in
resting from toil, could be idle and happy in the castle long after their toil had been
forgotten. The charcoal-burners slept until they were clean, and the millers until 35
they were swarthy, and it seemed to them that the lives of their fathers had been a
huddle of wretchedness between birth and death. Even the young men ceased
going to the wars, but went instead to the castle and the music and the feasting. All
men praised Ivor ap Cadogan. Once a lord from beyond the mountains sent men
against the castle to carry off gold, but they remained with Ivor and threw their 40
weapons into the ponds.
From time to time the white ships put out again from Abercorran, and again
returned. When their sails appeared in the bay, it was known that calm had settled
upon the sea as in the first year, and men and women went down to welcome them.
Those summers were good both for man and beast. The earth brought forth tall, 45
heavy corn which no winds beat down. Granaries were full: at the castle a granary,
as large as a cathedral, was so full that the rats and mice had no room and so threw
themselves into the sea. And Ivor ap Cadogan grew old. His beard was as white as
the sails of his ships. A great beard it was, not like those of our day, and you could
see it blowing over his shoulder a mile away as he walked the hills. So some men
50
began to wonder whether one day he would die, and who would be master then,
and whether it would still be calm when the ships sailed. But Summer came, and
with it the ships, and Autumn and the cramming of granaries and the songs of
harvest, and men forgot.

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 Lesson 1

The next Summer was more glorious than any before. Only, the ships never
came. The sea was quiet as the earth, as blue as the sky. The white clouds rose up
out of the sea, but never one sail. Ivor went to the high places to watch, and lifted a
child upon his shoulders to watch for him. No ship came. Ivor went no more to the
cliffs, but stayed always on the topmost towers of the castle, walking to and fro,
watching, while down below men were bringing in the harvest and the songs had
begun.’

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 Lesson 1
Working in pairs, compare the words you circled.
 Can you help each other to work out the meaning of these words by looking at
the words next to them?
 Do they look or sound like any other words you do know? Are there any parts of
the word you understand?

Reading comprehension activities

1. Taking notes and scanning for information

Read the extract again and complete the table, scanning the text for the information
you need. You do not have to write in full sentences, so you can just make notes.

What’s the name of the castle?

Who is the Morgans’ maid?

Select three words to show the

magical quality of the castle.

Find a simile used in the text to

show the size of the granary.

Describe the tone and

atmosphere of the text in a
couple of words.

2. Quick reading comprehension check

Fill in the blanks with words from the boxes:

healed Castle wood stranger poverty

The extract describes how a ......................... called Ivor ap Cadogan reached

Abercorran

harbour. He and his men carried white stone and precious .................... from their
ships

to build a .......................... . Those who went inside were .......................... and came
out

as healthy and happy men. Wars ended, and so did the misery, suffering and ..............

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 Lesson 1
of the people.

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 Lesson 1
3. Comprehension questions and analysis

Answer the following questions:

a. Reread lines 3−5: ‘He was a tall man … nor had he soldiers with him’. In your own
words, summarise how Ivor ap Cadogan is introduced in the first paragraph of the
extract.

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

b. Pick out one sentence from the first paragraph to show how the writer creates a
sense of mystery around Ivor ap Cadogan.

.........................................................................................................................................

c. What do you think the narrator means when he says ‘Upon the roads now there
were no more incomplete or withered men’(line 22)?

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

d. In the middle section of the extract (lines 23−26), the writer uses the technique of
listing. What is the effect?

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

e. Reread lines 42−43:

‘… at the castle a granary, as large as a cathedral, was so full that the rats and
mice had no room and so threw themselves into the sea.’ Explain in your own
words what you think the writer means by this description.

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

f. Reread lines 47−48. (‘But Summer came … men forgot.’) Find another phrase in
the text which suggests the abundant harvest.

.........................................................................................................................................

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 Lesson 1

g. Reread this extract from paragraph 2 (lines 12−19):

‘The finished castle was as huge and white, but not as terrible, as a mountain
peak when the snow has been chiselled by the north wind for many midnights, and
the wood of it smelt round about as sweet as a flower, summer and winter. And Ivor
ap Cadogan dwelt in the castle, which was at that time called the Castle of Ophir. It
had no gates, no moat or portcullis, for no one was refused or sent away. Its fires
never went out. Day and night in winter the sky over the castle was bright with the
many fires and many lights. Round the walls grew trees bearing golden fruit, and
among them fountains of rustling crystal stood up glittering forever like another
sort of trees.’

In the extract, the writer creates a mythical and magical atmosphere with his
description of the castle. Choose three examples from the extract to illustrate how the
writer creates a magical atmosphere, and write three sentences commenting on the
language and literary techniques he uses.
Here is an example sentence:
The writer uses a simile, describing the castle as being as huge and white ‘as a
mountain peak when the snow has been chiselled by north wind’. This adds a
magical and imposing quality to the castle, by using natural imagery.

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

Writing activity
Diary writing

Imagine you are one of the men the Lord has sent to Ivor’s castle to carry off the gold.
Write a diary entry for the day you decide not to steal from Ivor. Include the following
in your diary:
 a description of the castle
 your impressions of Ivor
 why you decided to throw down your weapons and stay with Ivor.

Write between 250 and 350 words.

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 Lesson 1

Plenary
3-2-1 reflections

Three things I learnt from the text today:

Two interesting things about the writer’s use of language:

One question that I still have:

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 Lesson 2

Lesson 2
The Trial
by Franz Kafka

Pre-reading starters
1. Considering context

Look at this famous painting from 1882 called ‘The Prisoner’ by the Russian artist
Vladimir Makovsky:

 What is the overall mood of the painting?

 What kind of impression is created by the artist’s choice of colours?

 Look at the hands of the prisoner. What do they tell us about his emotions?

 Look at the facial expression of the prisoner. Does it tell you anything more about
the prisoner’s feelings?

Discuss your responses in a group.

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 Lesson 2

2. Inferring

Here are some of the words the writer uses in the first eight lines of the novel. Can you
infer what the story might be about from these words? (Infer means to form an opinion
or guess that something is true because of the information you have.) Are there any
clues to help you?

Nouns

Verbs / verb phrases

morning

breakfast telling lies

arrested
landlady
waited
bell watching
hungry
disconcerted

Adjectives

black

close-fitting

Make a note below of any ideas you already have about the text:

The Trial by Franz Kafka is a novel, published in 1925 (originally in German), which
focuses on the character Josef K., who is suddenly arrested by an unnamed authority.
The nature of his crime is not disclosed either to him or to the reader.

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 Lesson 2
This extract is the beginning of the novel, which opens abruptly with the arrest of Josef
K. The story is told from a third-person narrative perspective.

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 Lesson 2

‘Someone must have been telling lies about Josef K., he knew he had done nothing
wrong but, one morning, he was arrested. Every day at eight in the morning he was
brought his breakfast by Mrs. Grubach's cook − Mrs. Grubach was his landlady −
but today she didn't come. That had never happened before. K. waited a little while,
looked from his pillow at the old woman who lived opposite and who was watching 5
him with an inquisitiveness quite unusual for her, and finally, both hungry and
disconcerted, rang the bell. There was immediately a knock at the door and a man
entered. He had never seen the man in this house before. He was slim but firmly
built, his clothes were black and close-fitting, with many folds and pockets, buckles
and buttons and a belt, all of which gave the impression of being very practical but 10
without making it very clear what they were actually for. "Who are you?" asked K.,
sitting half upright in his bed. The man, however, ignored the question as if his
arrival simply had to be accepted, and merely replied, "You rang?" "Anna should
have brought me my breakfast," said K. He tried to work out who the man actually
was, first in silence, just through observation and by thinking about it, but the man 15
didn't stay still to be looked at for very long. Instead he went over to the door,
opened it slightly, and said to someone who was clearly standing immediately
behind it, "He wants Anna to bring him his breakfast." There was a little laughter in
the neighbouring room, it was not clear from the sound of it whether there were
several people laughing. The strange man could not have learned anything from it 20
that he hadn't known already, but now he said to K., as if making his report "It is not
possible." "It would be the first time that's happened," said K., as he jumped out of
bed and quickly pulled on his trousers. "I want to see who that is in the next room,
and why it is that Mrs. Grubach has let me be disturbed in this way." It immediately
occurred to him that he needn't have said this out loud, and that he must to some 25
extent have acknowledged their authority by doing so, but that didn't seem
important to him at the time. That, at least, is how the stranger took it, as he said,
"Don't you think you'd better stay where you are?" "I want neither to stay here nor
to be spoken to by you until you've introduced yourself." "I meant it for your own
good," said the stranger and opened the door, this time without being asked. The 30
next room, which K. entered more slowly than he had intended, looked at first
glance exactly the same as it had the previous evening. It was Mrs. Grubach's living
room, over-filled with furniture, tablecloths, porcelain and photographs. Perhaps
there was a little more space in there than usual today, but if so it was not
immediately obvious, especially as the main difference was the presence of a man 35
sitting by the open window with a book from which he now looked up. "You should
have stayed in your room! Didn't Franz tell you?" "And what is it you want, then?"
said K., looking back and forth between this new acquaintance and the one named
Franz, who had remained in the doorway. Through the open window he noticed the
old woman again, who had come close to the window opposite so that she could 40
continue to see everything. She was showing an inquisitiveness that really made it
seem like she was going senile. "I want to see Mrs. Grubach …," said K., making a
movement as if tearing himself away from the two men − even though they were
standing well away from him − and wanted to go. "No," said the man at the
window, who threw his book down on a coffee table and stood up. "You can't go 45
away when you're under arrest." "That's how it seems," said K. "And why am I under
arrest?" he then asked. "That's something we're not allowed to tell you. Go into your
room and wait there. Proceedings are underway and you'll learn about everything
all in good time. It's not really part of my job to be friendly towards you like this, but
I hope no-one, apart from Franz, will hear about it, and he's been more friendly 50
towards you than he should have been, under the rules, himself. If you carry on
having as much good luck as you have been with your arresting officers then you
can reckon on things going well with you." K. wanted to sit down, but then he saw
that, apart from the chair by the window, there was nowhere anywhere in the room
where he could sit. "You'll get the chance to see for yourself how true all this is," 55
said Franz and both men then walked up to K. They were significantly bigger than
him, especially the second man, who frequently slapped him on the shoulder. The
two of them felt K.'s nightshirt, and said he would now have to wear one that was of

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 Lesson 2

much lower quality, but that they would keep the nightshirt along with his other
underclothes and return them to him if his case turned out well. "It's better for you
if you give us the things than if you leave them in the storeroom," they said. "Things
have a tendency to go missing in the storeroom, and after a certain amount of time
they sell things off, whether the case involved has come to an end or not. And cases
like this can last a long time, especially the ones that have been coming up lately.’

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 Lesson 2

Reading comprehension activities

1. Comprehension questions

a. Look at the first sentence, ‘Someone must have been … but, one morning, he was
arrested.’ What is the effect of this opening on the reader?

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

b. Why do you think the old woman is watching him with ‘inquisitiveness’?

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

c. Reread lines 11−12: ‘The man, however, ignored the question as if his arrival
simply had to be accepted, and merely replied “You rang?”.’ What effect does the
adverb ‘merely’ suggest about the man’s attitude towards Josef K.?

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

d. Reread lines 21−23: ‘I want to see who that is in the next room … he needn't have
said this out loud.’ Why does he think that he should not have said what he has
said?

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

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 Lesson 2

e. Reread lines 37−39: ‘I want to see Mrs. Grubach …," said K., making a movement
as if tearing himself away from the two men − even though they were standing
well away from him − and wanted to go.’ Pick out a phrase which clearly suggests
his uneasiness in the presence of the other two men.

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

f. Which of the following words describe the overall atmosphere of the extract most
accurately, in your opinion?

thought provoking menacing hopeful

g. You may have noticed the structure of the extract, which is written in one long
paragraph. What effect is created by including so much detail in one paragraph?

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

h. How does Kafka use dialogue in the extract and what effect is achieved?

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

2. Analysis and paragraph-writing

Reread lines 47−55:

‘K. wanted to sit down, but then he saw that, apart from the chair by the window,
there was nowhere anywhere in the room where he could sit. "You'll get the chance
to see for yourself how true all this is," said Franz and both men then walked up to
K. They were significantly bigger than him, especially the second man, who
frequently slapped him on the shoulder. The two of them felt K.'s nightshirt, and
said he would now have to wear one that was of much lower quality, but that they
would keep the nightshirt along with his other underclothes and return them to him
if his case turned out well. "It's better for you if you give us the things than if you

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 Lesson 2

leave them in the storeroom," they said.’

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 Lesson 2

Towards the end of the extract, Kafka makes the atmosphere more threatening. Pick
out some of the techniques he uses to achieve this effect. Support your choice with
evidence from whole extract and write a paragraph.

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

3. Visualising what you’ve read

Working in groups, create a series of tableaux or freeze-frames to represent what

happens in this text. A tableau is when you create still images using your bodies to
represent a scene.
 Think about how you could use your bodies and facial expressions to
represent the events in the extract.
 Each of you should choose a sentence or two from the text to read aloud as you
perform your tableaux. Try to read expressively.

Writing activity
Letter writing

Imagine you are the inquisitive ‘old woman’ who lives opposite Josef’s room. Write a
letter to your daughter about the day’s unusual incident. Include the following details
in your letter:
 a brief introduction to Josef K.
 what you could see and hear through the window
 what you think might happen to Josef K. next.

Aim to write between 250 and 350 words.

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 Lesson 2

Plenary
Five features

Summarise the text in five sentences, five literary techniques, or five images or
symbols.

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 Lesson 2

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 Lesson 3

Lesson 3
‘The Story-Teller’
by Saki

Pre-reading starters
1. What makes a great storyteller?

We’ve all listened to other people reading or narrating stories. What makes a great
storyteller? What are some of the techniques a storyteller must know to keep an
audience engaged or entertained?

2. Vocabulary check

Here are some words you will be reading in today’s text. Colour-code or shape-code
them:

Use green or the shape  for words you know or could confidently put into a
sentence.

Use orange or the shape  for words you recognise but don’t really know the
meaning of.

Use red or the shape  for words you have never seen before or don’t understand.

emphatically scowl reluctantly deplorable

conviction estimation sultry resolute bristle

persistent fatuously petulant unenterprising

Working in small groups, see if you can help each other to understand the meanings of
the words you have coloured orange  or red .
 Do they sound like any other words you know?
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 Lesson 3
 Are there any prefixes or suffixes you understand (-tion, -ly, un-, de-, con-) so you
can understand some parts of the word?

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 Lesson 3

‘The Story-Teller’ by Saki is a short story which was first published in 1914, about a
man who grabs the attention of three bored children in his train carriage through his
storytelling.

As a class, you are going to take it in turns to read aloud a sentence or two from the
story.
If you spot any of the words you’ve just coded orange  or red  in the text, underline
them, along with any other words you don’t know in the story.

‘It was a hot afternoon, and the railway carriage was correspondingly sultry,
and the next stop was at Templecombe, nearly an hour ahead. The occupants
of the carriage were a small girl, and a smaller girl, and a small boy. An aunt
belonging to the children occupied one corner seat, and the further corner seat
on the opposite side was occupied by a bachelor who was a stranger to their 5
party, but the small girls and the small boy emphatically occupied the
compartment. Both the aunt and the children were conversational in a limited,
persistent way, reminding one of the attentions of a housefly that refuses to be
discouraged. Most of the aunt’s remarks seemed to begin with “Don’t,” and
nearly all of the children’s remarks began with “Why?” The bachelor said 10
nothing out loud. “Don’t, Cyril, don’t,” exclaimed the aunt, as the small boy
began smacking the cushions of the seat, producing a cloud of dust at each
blow.
“Come and look out of the window,” she added.
The child moved reluctantly to the window. “Why are those sheep being driven
15
out of that field?” he asked.
“I expect they are being driven to another field where there is more grass,” said
the aunt weakly.
“But there is lots of grass in that field,” protested the boy; “there’s nothing else
but grass there. Aunt, there’s lots of grass in that field.”
20
“Perhaps the grass in the other field is better,” suggested the aunt fatuously.
“Why is it better?” came the swift, inevitable question.
“Oh, look at those cows!” exclaimed the aunt. Nearly every field along the line
had contained cows or bullocks, but she spoke as though she were drawing
attention to a rarity.
25
“Why is the grass in the other field better?” persisted Cyril.
The frown on the bachelor’s face was deepening to a scowl. He was a hard,
unsympathetic man, the aunt decided in her mind. She was utterly unable to
come to any satisfactory decision about the grass in the other field.
The smaller girl created a diversion by beginning to recite “On the Road to 30
Mandalay.” She only knew the first line, but she put her limited knowledge to
the fullest possible use. She repeated the line over and over again in a dreamy
but resolute and very audible voice; it seemed to the bachelor as though some
one had had a bet with her that she could not repeat the line aloud two
thousand times without stopping. Whoever it was who had made the wager was

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 Lesson 3

likely to lose his bet. 35

“Come over here and listen to a story,” said the aunt, when the bachelor had
looked twice at her and once at the communication cord.
The children moved listlessly towards the aunt’s end of the carriage. Evidently
her

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 Lesson 3

reputation as a story-teller did not rank high in their estimation.

In a low, confidential voice, interrupted at frequent intervals by loud, petulant
questionings from her listeners, she began an unenterprising and deplorably
uninteresting story about a little girl who was good, and made friends with 40
every one on account of her goodness, and was finally saved from a mad bull
by a number of rescuers who admired her moral character.
“Wouldn’t they have saved her if she hadn’t been good?” demanded the bigger
of the small girls. It was exactly the question that the bachelor had wanted to
ask.
45
“Well, yes,” admitted the aunt lamely, “but I don’t think they would have run
quite so fast to her help if they had not liked her so much.”
“It’s the stupidest story I’ve ever heard,” said the bigger of the small girls, with
immense conviction.
“I didn’t listen after the first bit, it was so stupid,” said Cyril.
50
The smaller girl made no actual comment on the story, but she had long ago
recommenced a murmured repetition of her favourite line.
“You don’t seem to be a success as a story-teller,” said the bachelor suddenly
from his corner.
The aunt bristled in instant defence at this unexpected attack.
55
“It’s a very difficult thing to tell stories that children can both understand and
appreciate,” she said stiffly.
“I don’t agree with you,” said the bachelor.
“Perhaps you would like to tell them a story,” was the aunt’s retort.
“Tell us a story,” demanded the bigger of the small girls.
60
“Once upon a time,” began the bachelor, “there was a little girl called Bertha,
who was extraordinarily good.”
The children’s momentarily-aroused interest began at once to flicker; all stories
seemed dreadfully alike, no matter who told them.
“She did all that she was told, she was always truthful, she kept her clothes 65
clean, ate milk puddings as though they were jam tarts, learned her lessons
perfectly, and was polite in her manners.”
“Was she pretty?” asked the bigger of the small girls.
“Not as pretty as any of you,” said the bachelor, “but she was horribly good.”
There was a wave of reaction in favour of the story; the word horrible in 70
connection with goodness was a novelty that commended itself. It seemed to
introduce a ring of truth that was absent from the aunt’s tales of infant life.’

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 Lesson 3

Reading comprehension activities

1. Skim reading

Look again at the text and the words you’ve underlined. Are the meanings of these
words clearer now? Can you use any clues from other words in the sentences to help
you?
Support:
If there are any words that you really need to understand, you can check the
definitions on page 66 of the answers.

2. Summarising and creating ‘mental movies’ of the text

Using this storyboard template, summarise what happens in the story using drawings
and words. The first has already been done to get you started.

Don’t! Why?

Lines 1−11 Lines 12−33

In 1914, three young, bored children are
on a hot train with their grumpy aunt.

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 Lesson 3

Lines 34−51 Lines 52−71

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 Lesson 3
3. Comprehension questions and analysis

a. What does the writer mean by saying ‘the small girls and the small boy
emphatically occupied the compartment’(lines 5−6)?

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

b. How does the author Saki describe the conversation between the aunt and the
children?

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

c. Reread lines 21−23: ‘Nearly every field along the line had contained cows or
bullocks, but she spoke as though she were drawing attention to a rarity.’ What is
the tone of the narrator? What is the effect?

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

d. Why does the aunt think that the bachelor was ‘a hard, unsympathetic man’? Use
your own words.

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

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 Lesson 3

e. Reread lines 36−37: ‘Evidently her reputation as a story-teller did not rank high in
their estimation.’ Explain what you think the writer means here.

.........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................

f. What was the reaction of each of the children to the aunt’s story of ‘the little girl
who was good and made friends with everyone’?

.........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................

g. Reread lines 28−42:

‘The smaller girl created a diversion by beginning to recite “On the Road to
Mandalay.” She only knew the first line, but she put her limited knowledge to the
fullest possible use. She repeated the line over and over again in a dreamy but
resolute and very audible voice; it seemed to the bachelor as though some one had
had a bet with her that she could not repeat the line aloud two thousand times
without stopping. Whoever it was who had made the wager was likely to lose his
bet.
“Come over here and listen to a story,” said the aunt, when the bachelor had
looked twice at her and once at the communication cord.
The children moved listlessly towards the aunt’s end of the carriage. Evidently her
reputation as a story-teller did not rank high in their estimation.
In a low, confidential voice, interrupted at frequent intervals by loud, petulant
questionings from her listeners, she began an unenterprising and deplorably
uninteresting story about a little girl who was good, and made friends with every
one on account of her goodness, and was finally saved from a mad bull by a
number of rescuers who admired her moral character.’

In the above paragraph the writer creates a humorous tone through his use of
language and literary techniques. Choose two examples from the extract to show how
these techniques create an entertaining tone.
Support:
Here are some examples of techniques the writer uses to help you:
 use of contrast
 use of repetition
 use of expressive adverbs (‘listlessly’, ‘deplorably’) and adjectives (‘petulant’,
‘uninteresting’)
 nouns (girl, aunt, bachelor, story-teller)

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 Lesson 3

Example 1. .......................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
Example 2. .......................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
Writing activity
Using a train journey as the starting point for a description, piece of travel writing or a
short story of your own, write the opening paragraph (250–350 words).
Plenary
Memory game
As a class or in groups, work together to write down all the new words you have learnt
from your lesson on the board.
You now have two minutes to remember them all before they will be removed from
the board. How many words can you remember?

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 Lesson 4

Lesson 4
The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Pre-reading starters
1. Predicting: style and atmosphere

Look at the following images to help you to predict some things about the text you will
be reading. For each picture, choose a word that suggests the style or atmosphere,
rather than describing what it is.

............................................ ..............................................

............................... ........................................ ..................................

© istolethetv, dancing on air, 2008, flic.kr/p/5mznHu, © R'lyeh Imaging, Jazz Age (3 of 23), 2017, flic.kr/p/XcFruj
© Kate Millet, Classy Barbie 2, 2011, flic.kr/p/aBPzGD, © Kate Millet, bartender, 2011, flic.kr/p/aBSi2s

Discuss your descriptive words in groups.

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 Lesson 4
2. Vocabulary cloze

In the extract you will be reading today, you will encounter the following words:

lurch prodigality
glistening
erroneous ravage bewitch

vicinity innuendo

Working in pairs, see if you can match the words with their definitions:

1. ................................. means the area surrounding a particular place.

2. A remark that is indirectly unpleasant or sexual is called an ......................... .

3. ................................. means spending large amounts of money, time or energy in a

way that isn’t wise.

4. ................................. is a verb which means to cause great damage to someone or

something.

5. ................................. means wrong or false.

6. ................................. means to put a magic spell on someone or attract or

fascinate someone so that you have power over them.

7. If something is ................................. , it is shining with reflected light.

8. If you make sudden, uncontrolled movements, you ......................... .

Now skim read the extract on the following page to identify any words you don’t
confidently understand. Make a list of them:

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 Lesson 4
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a 1925 novel about the mysterious
millionaire Jay Gatsby and his obsessive love for Daisy Buchanan who is married to
another man. Told through the first-person narration of another character, Nick
Carraway, Fitzgerald describes wealthy American society during the Jazz Age. Here in
this extract, the writer gives us a slice of Gatsby’s extravagant lifestyle as he seeks to
impress society and earn Daisy’s love.

P1 ‘There was music from my neighbour’s house through the summer

nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among
the whisperings and the champagne and the stars. At high tide in the
afternoon I watched his guests diving from the tower of his raft, or taking
the sun on the hot sand of his beach while his two motorboats slit the 5
waters of the Sound, drawing aquaplanes over cataracts of foam. On
weekends his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus, bearing parties to and from
the city between nine in the morning and long past midnight, while his
station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains. And on
Mondays eight servants, including an extra gardener, toiled all day with 10
mops and scrubbing-brushes and hammers and garden-shears, repairing
P2
the ravages of the night before.
Every Friday five crates of oranges and lemons arrived from a fruiterer
in New York—every Monday these same oranges and lemons left his back
door in a pyramid of pulpless halves. There was a machine in the kitchen 15
which could extract the juice of two hundred oranges in half an hour if a
P3
little button was pressed two hundred times by a butler’s thumb.
At least once a fortnight a corps of caterers came down with several
hundred feet of canvas and enough coloured lights to make a Christmas
tree of Gatsby’s enormous garden. On buffet tables, garnished with 20
glistening hors-d’oeuvre1, spiced baked hams crowded against salads of
harlequin2 designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold. In
P4 the main hall a bar with a real brass rail was set up, and stocked with gins
and liquors and with cordials so long forgotten that most of his female
guests were too young to know one from another.
25
By seven o’clock the orchestra has arrived, no thin five-piece affair, but
a whole pitful of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and
cornets and piccolos, and low and high drums. The last swimmers have
come in from the beach now and are dressing upstairs; the cars from New
York are parked five deep in the drive, and already the halls and salons and 30
verandas are gaudy with primary colours, and hair bobbed in strange new
ways, and shawls beyond the dreams of Castile. The bar is in full swing, and
P5 floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside, until the air is
alive with chatter and laughter, and casual innuendo and introductions
forgotten on the spot, and enthusiastic meetings between women who
35
never knew each other’s names.
The lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun, and
now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music, and the opera of voices
pitches a key higher. Laughter is easier minute by minute, spilled with
prodigality, tipped out at a cheerful word. The groups change more swiftly,

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 Lesson 4

swell with new arrivals, dissolve and form in the same breath; already there 40
are wanderers, confident girls who weave here and there among the
stouter and more stable, become for a sharp, joyous moment the centre of
a group, and then, excited with triumph, glide on through the sea-change of
faces and voices and colour under the constantly changing light.

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 Lesson 4

P6 Suddenly one of these gypsies, in trembling opal, seizes a cocktail out

of the air, dumps it down for courage and, moving her hands like Frisco,
dances out alone on the canvas platform. A momentary hush; the
orchestra leader varies his rhythm obligingly for her, and there is a burst
of chatter as the erroneous news goes around that she is Gilda Gray’s 45
understudy3 from the Follies. The party has begun.
P7
I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby’s house I was one of
the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not invited—
they went there. They got into automobiles which bore them out to Long
Island, and somehow they ended up at Gatsby’s door. Once there they 50
were introduced by somebody who knew Gatsby, and after that they
conducted themselves according to the rules of behaviour associated with
an amusement park. Sometimes they came and went without having met
Gatsby at all, came for the party with a simplicity of heart that was its own
P8
ticket of admission.
55
I had been actually invited. A chauffeur in a uniform of robin’s-egg blue
crossed my lawn early that Saturday morning with a surprisingly formal
note from his employer: the honour would be entirely Gatsby’s, it said, if I
would attend his “little party” that night. He had seen me several times,
and had intended to call on me long before, but a peculiar combination of
P9 60
circumstances had prevented it—signed Jay Gatsby, in a majestic hand.
Dressed up in white flannels I went over to his lawn a little after seven,
and wandered around rather ill at ease among swirls and eddies of people
I didn’t know—though here and there was a face I had noticed on the
commuting train. I was immediately struck by the number of young 65
Englishmen dotted about; all well dressed, all looking a little hungry, and
all talking in low, earnest voices to solid and prosperous Americans. I was
sure that they were selling something: bonds or insurance or automobiles.
P1
They were at least agonizingly aware of the easy money in the vicinity and
0
convinced that it was theirs for a few words in the right key.
70
As soon as I arrived I made an attempt to find my host, but the two or
three people of whom I asked his whereabouts stared at me in such an
amazed way, and denied so vehemently any knowledge of his movements,
that I slunk off in the direction of the cocktail table—the only place in the
garden where a single man could linger without looking purposeless and
alone.’

Glossary

1
hors-d’oeuvre — a small savoury dish, usually served as an appetiser
2
harlequin — brightly coloured clothes with a diamond pattern
3
understudy — a person who learns another's role in order to be able to act at short
notice in their absence

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 Lesson 4

Reading comprehension activities

1. Summarising

This extract contains 10 paragraphs (P1, P2 etc.). Working in group, each group will
take two paragraphs. Summarise what happens in each paragraph in 5−10 words, a
sentence and/or an image if you prefer.
Share your findings with the class.

Paragraph 1 ...............................................................................................

Paragraph 2 ..................................................................................................................

Paragraph 3 ..................................................................................................................

Paragraph 4 ..................................................................................................................

Paragraph 5 ..................................................................................................................

Paragraph 6 ..................................................................................................................

Paragraph 7 ..................................................................................................................

Paragraph 8 ..................................................................................................................

Paragraph 9 ..................................................................................................................

Paragraph 10 ................................................................................................................

2. Text detectives

Looking at your two paragraphs again, write a quick question about each of them for
students in other groups to answer in note form.
Support:
Here are some example questions to help you. You will also need to make a note of
the answers to your questions!

Understanding
 What is happening in this part of the  What is the writer’s viewpoint?
text?  What does this word mean?
 Why has the writer used that technique?
Analysing
 How does the writer create the  Can you find evidence to support
atmosphere? your ideas?
 How does the writer introduce the  Can you see any patterns in the
character/s? language choices?

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 Lesson 4
When you have written your questions, challenge another group to answer them.

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 Lesson 4
3. Comprehension questions and analysis

Answer the following questions.

a. How does the writer show the extravagance in Gatsby’s parties in the extract? Pick
out any three examples from the extract and comment on how the writer achieves
the effects.

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

b. There are two similes in the first paragraph. Choose one and comment on its effect.

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

c. Reread lines 28−32: ‘The bar is in full swing, and floating rounds of cocktails
permeate the garden outside, until the air is alive with chatter and laughter, and
casual innuendo and introductions forgotten on the spot, and enthusiastic meetings
between women who never knew each other’s names.’

What is the effect of the writer’s use of the present tense?

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

d. Reread lines 33−40 (paragraph 5):

‘The lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun, and now the
orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music, and the opera of voices pitches a key
higher. Laughter is easier minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out at a
cheerful word. The groups change more swiftly, swell with new arrivals, dissolve
and form in the same breath; already there are wanderers, confident girls who
weave here and there among the stouter and more stable, become for a sharp,
joyous moment the centre of a group, and then, excited with triumph, glide on

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 Lesson 4

through the sea-change of faces and voices and colour under the constantly
changing light.’

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 Lesson 4
Pick out any three techniques that the writer uses to describe the atmosphere and the
guests’ behaviour and movement at Gatsby’s party.
Support:
Here are some ideas to help you get started:
 the writer’s use of verbs
 the writer’s use of light and colour
 the length of sentences.

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

e. Reread lines 46−53 (paragraph 7):

I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby’s house I was one of the few guests
who had actually been invited. People were not invited—they went there. They got
into automobiles which bore them out to Long Island, and somehow they ended up
at Gatsby’s door. Once there they were introduced by somebody who knew Gatsby,
and after that they conducted themselves according to the rules of behaviour
associated with an amusement park. Sometimes they came and went without
having met Gatsby at all, came for the party with a simplicity of heart that was its
own ticket of admission.

What does the narrator convey about the party and the guests in this paragraph?

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

Writing activity
Imagine you are a reporter who attended Gatsby’s party. Write a newspaper report
about the party. In your report include:
 The details of the party
 The wealth and splendour of the host
 How the guests were enjoying the party.

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 Lesson 4
Aim to write between 250 and 350 words, and consider your purpose and audience.

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 Lesson 4

Plenary
Write it, draw it

Vocabulary you can remember Draw a picture connected to

from today’s lesson: your learning today:

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 Lesson 5

Lesson 5
‘Invisible Mass of the Back Row’
by Claudette Williams

Pre-reading starters
1. Entry ticket

Entry ticket

Name:

1. What is the effect of a writer choosing to use a first-person

narrator?

2. Why might a writer choose to use a dialect or non-standard form

of English in their writing?

2. School memories

In pairs, share a memory from school about a time that you had a disagreement or
misunderstanding with a teacher, or you got into trouble for standing up for your
ideas.

In this extract from the short story ‘Invisible Mass of the Back Row’ published in 2015,
the writer Claudette Williams introduces her readers to a classroom in Jamaica where
students were not given the freedom to think and speak freely.

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 Lesson 5
In this extract we see the first-person narrator, Hortense, sharing her ideas in Miss
Henderson’s class when a school inspector is visiting. The extract reveals the social
and racial inequality prevalent during the time that the story is set.

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 Lesson 5

‘I stand in the middle of the room, surrounded by anxious faces. It is my turn to

recite the day's lesson. The Inspector's ruler points to me.
"Stand up. Recite the adventures of Columbus. What was the date of Columbus'
landing in Jamaica? What were the names of his ships? Why was he in the
Caribbean?" 5
My heart pounds. The heat of the morning sun, soaking through the galvanised roof,
is magnified inside the schoolroom. The stench of fear is in everyone's nostrils.
Something tells me that my days of being hidden, disposed of, dispatched to the
invisibility of the back row, are numbered.
I stand up, my limbs shaking uncontrollably, sweat dripping from my armpits, my 10
eyes inflamed. My belly aches. I am petrified. Words fail to come out. They are
formed in my head, but my lips do not speak them. The Inspector's eyes pierce me
through. They demand a response, demand to be respected and obeyed.
"What was Columbus doing here anyway?" The trapped words inside my head
tumble out. The rebel inside me is alive. The schoolroom becomes even quieter, if
15
that is possible.
"You in for it," Patricia, sitting next to where I stand shaking, mutters without
moving her lips. I know she is speaking the truth.
The Inspector's face is frozen. Miss Henderson, form six teacher, pounces with the
ruler. Her face says she is sure she could not have heard what she thought she
heard. 20
"What did you say, Hortense?"
From I don't know where, a power surges through me. My fists clench. My teeth lock
into each other. Miss Henderson reads challenge in my face. I stand still, not daring
to say any more.
"What did you say?" she commands, challenging me to repeat my facetiness. And 25
again, it happens. Words gush out of my mouth. "Is what Columbus did want? Who
invite him here?"
Before the last word has left my lips, the sharp sting of the ruler cracks my
knuckles. Stupidly, I had left my clenched fist on the desk in front of me. The blow
brings me back to the steam bath. Sweat now drips from my face, floods my 30
armpits, drips from between my legs.
I could kill this woman with her sharp pointed nose, mean eyes and frightened face.
We cross eyes, and for an instant I see the fear which has trapped us in this rank,
smelly room. Miss Henderson is afraid. She is as much afraid of the Inspector as I
am. 35
My brains, what brains I have left, are bouncing around in my skull, goading me on.
I will get more of the ruler. It is written across Miss Henderson's wrinkled forehead.
My life is at an end! At least in this school. If Miss Henderson does not kill me with
this ruler, my aunt is sure to finish me off when she hears how I back-chat the
Inspector and Teacher Henderson. 40
My parents are in England and living with my aunt is like walking a tight-rope. One
little slip and I am in big trouble. Dis look and smell like big trouble to me.
The lunch bell echoes throughout the school. My salvation? For now, anyway.
Hungry bellies rumble in the steam bath, but we are still transfixed by the Inspector,
paralysed by Miss Henderson's stare. Feet shuffle, fingers scratch prickly skin. From 45
outside there is the freedom of released bodies bouncing against the partition and
liberated voices rising. They magnify our imprisonment. But the walls have been

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 Lesson 5

breached. The jailers are quick to realise that this battle is lost. For now.
"Class dismissed," the Inspector grudgingly commands. Miss Henderson lowers her
eyes.
"Good afternoon, Inspector. Good afternoon, Miss Henderson," we recite. Miss
Henderson steps aside, stiffly. Fifty tense bodies scurry past, politely, straining to
taste the fresh, if hot air of the noonday world and feed themselves from the lunch
women under the cotton tree. But first there is Lorna Phillips to take care of.
Somebody has to pay for this.

"Yo red pickney always sit a de front of de class. Unno t'ink is because yu pretty. Is
only 'cause teacher frighten fi yu pupa," I curse Lorna, as we bundle down the
steps, out of earshot of Miss Henderson and the Inspector. 50
"Is 'cause yu black and stupid why teacher meek yu sit a de back all de time,"
Lorna chirps in. "Is who you calling stupid? Yo want yu bloody nose right here?"
This is always the outcome of a tense morning in school. A fight often follows the
Inspector's visits.
Lorna pushes past me and tries to make a break for the school gate. But I give 55
chase, followed by Samuel, Tim, Patricia, Maud and Yvonne. Today she will pay for
being teacher's favourite, for being "red", for being rich, for having everything I
don't have.
"Look how fast she moving on dem marga foot," taunts Yvonne.
"Come, let we beat her up," I shout, and we surge forward, pursuing Lorna out of 60
school.
I might not know the answers, but I can fight. Just then, from behind the school
gate, Teacher Edwards comes into view. He is big, sturdy and beautifully dark, with
a baby moustache. He is handsomely dressed in his Dashiki suit. There is a
kindness about this man that is not usually found among teachers. He would 65
always listen to you, and not just take the teacher's side. He only beat you if he
really feel you was out of order, rude, or you get catch with something you thief.
We respected and even liked him.’

Reading comprehension activities

1. Skimming, scanning and note-making

Read the extract again and complete the table. Write your responses as one word or a
phrase.

The name of the narrator:

The three things the 1.

Inspector wanted the girl to
2.
answer:
3.

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 Lesson 5

The place where the story

takes place:

Three things about Miss 1.

Henderson’s physical
2.
appearance:
3.

An example of Hortense’s
own speech:

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 Lesson 5

2. Reciprocal reading

An effective way of increasing your reading comprehension skills is to work with others
to work out the meaning of a new text together.
Working in a group of four, each person will take on different role and then share their
ideas with the rest of the group.

 The most important ideas in this extract

are … Use these
Summaris  This part was mostly about … prompts to
er help you to
 The story takes place …
prompts summarise
 The main characters are …
what happens
 A problem occurs when … in this extract.
 In the beginning/middle/end …

 What? Who? When? Where? Use these

 Why? How? prompts to help
you to ask
Questione  Why do I think the writer …?
questions about
r prompts  How effectively do I think …?
the extract to
 How did the writer use language? help others to
 What does the reader learn about …? understand it.

 I wasn’t sure about … but then I read it

again and thought …
Use these
 I didn’t get the part about … so I …
prompts to help
 Some words were more difficult to
Clarifier you to clarify
understand so I …
prompts the sections of
 To make the extract easier to understand the extract you
I ….
found more
 Looking at each paragraph helped me to difficult to
… understand.
 Explaining the extract to someone else
helped me …

 I think that … because …

Use these
 I wonder if …
prompts to
Predictor  I predict we will learn about …
make
prompts  The detail about … makes me think that predictions
…
about what
 Having read more, I now think … you think will
 I think the writer wants the reader to feel happen next
…

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 Lesson 5
3. Comprehension questions and analysis

Answer the following questions:

a. Why do you think that the narrator is scared of answering the Inspector’s
questions?

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

b. Reread lines 9−12:

‘I stand up, my limbs shaking uncontrollably, sweat dripping from my armpits, my

eyes inflamed. My belly aches. I am petrified. Words fail to come out. They are
formed in my head, but my lips do not speak them. The Inspector's eyes pierce me
through. They demand a response, demand to be respected and obeyed.’

Pick out two techniques the writer uses to depict the narrator’s fear.

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

c. Why do you think that the classroom has become ‘even quieter’?

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

d. ‘Dis look and smell like big trouble to me.’ What does the narrator mean and why
are the words chosen here important?

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

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 Lesson 5

e. Reread lines 37−42:

‘The lunch bell echoes throughout the school. My salvation? For now, anyway.
Hungry bellies rumble in the steam bath, but we are still transfixed by the
Inspector, paralysed by Miss Henderson's stare. Feet shuffle, fingers scratch prickly
skin. From outside there is the freedom of released bodies bouncing against the
partition and liberated voices rising. They magnify our imprisonment. But the walls
have been breached. The jailers are quick to realise that this battle is lost. For now.’

What extended metaphor does the writer use and what is the effect? (An extended
metaphor is a metaphor that continues over several lines or paragraphs.)
.........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................

f. Reread the beginning and the end of the extract. Comment on the tone of the
narrator in the beginning of the extract and at the end, and consider the writer’s
use of language.

.........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................

g. Reread lines 7−8: ‘… my days of being hidden, disposed of, dispatched to the
invisibility of the back row, are numbered.’ What is being suggested here about
‘the back row’? What do you think is the significance of the title of the story?

.........................................................................................................................................
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.........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................
.........................................................................................................................................

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 Lesson 5

Writing activity
Letter writing
Imagine you are Hortense. Write a letter to your mother in England explaining what
happened in the lesson and trying to convince her to take you to England by adopting
a persuasive tone.
Include the following points in your letter:
 The Inspector’s and teacher’s actions
 Your feelings when you were punished unreasonably
 How you want to leave your school and be with your parents.

Write between 250 and 350 words.

Plenary
How have your ideas changed from having read this extract?

Exit ticket

Name:

1. What is the effect of a writer choosing to use a first-person

narrator?

2. Why might a writer choose to use a dialect or non-standard

form of English in their writing?

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 Lesson 6

Lesson 6
The Time Machine
by H.G. Wells

Pre-reading starters
1. Time machine

If you had a chance to visit a different era or time period, which would you choose and
why?
Share your ideas in groups.

2. An epic adventure?

From all the films, TV shows and books you might have read about time travel, can
you predict what you think might happen in the extract? Compare your ideas in pairs.

The next extract is taken from The Time Machine, a science fiction novel published in
1895. It’s a first-person narration of a time traveller’s journey into the future. In this
extract, the writer H.G. Wells presents the narrator’s experiences when he takes a trip
into the future with the pull of a lever.

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 Lesson 6
As you read together, stop at line 18 and again at line 35 to think about the
predictions you made about the text.

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 Lesson 6

P1 ‘It was at ten o’clock today that the first of all Time Machines began its career. I
gave it a last tap, tried all the screws again, put one more drop of oil on the quartz
rod, and sat myself in the saddle …
P2 … I took the starting lever in one hand and the stopping one in the other,
pressed the first, and almost immediately the second. I seemed to reel; I felt a 5
nightmare sensation of falling; and, looking round, I saw the laboratory exactly as
before. Had anything happened? For a moment I suspected that my intellect had
tricked me. Then I noted the clock. A moment before, as it seemed, it had stood at
a minute or so past ten; now it was nearly half-past three!
P3 I drew a breath, set my teeth, gripped the starting lever with both hands, and 1
went off with a thud. The laboratory got hazy and went dark. Mrs. Watchett came 0
in and walked, apparently without seeing me, towards the garden door. I suppose
it took her a minute or so to traverse the place, but to me she seemed to shoot
across the room like a rocket. I pressed the lever over to its extreme position. The
night came like the turning out of a lamp, and in another moment came tomorrow.
The laboratory grew faint and hazy, then fainter and ever fainter. Tomorrow night 1
came black, then day again, night again, day again, faster and faster still. An 5
eddying murmur filled my ears, and a strange, dumb confusedness descended on
P4 my mind.
I am afraid I cannot convey the peculiar sensations of time travelling. They are
excessively unpleasant. There is a feeling exactly like that one has upon a
switchback—of a helpless headlong motion! I felt the same horrible anticipation, 2
too, of an imminent smash. As I put on pace, night followed day like the flapping 0
of a black wing. The dim suggestion of the laboratory seemed presently to fall
away from me, and I saw the sun hopping swiftly across the sky, leaping it every
minute, and every minute marking a day. I supposed the laboratory had been
destroyed and I had come into the open air. I had a dim impression of scaffolding,
but I was already going too fast to be conscious of any moving things. The slowest 2
snail that ever crawled dashed by too fast for me. The twinkling succession of 5
darkness and light was excessively painful to the eye. Then, in the intermittent
darknesses, I saw the moon spinning swiftly through her quarters from new to full,
and had a faint glimpse of the circling stars. Presently, as I went on, still gaining
velocity, the palpitation of night and day merged into one continuous greyness;
the sky took on a wonderful deepness of blue, a splendid luminous colour like that 3
P5 of early twilight; the jerking sun became a streak of fire, a brilliant arch, in space; 0
the moon a fainter fluctuating band; and I could see nothing of the stars, save now
and then a brighter circle flickering in the blue.
The landscape was misty and vague. I was still on the hillside upon which this
house now stands, and the shoulder rose above me grey and dim. I saw trees
growing and changing like puffs of vapour, now brown, now green; they grew, 3
spread, shivered, and passed away. I saw huge buildings rise up faint and fair, and 5
pass like dreams. The whole surface of the earth seemed changed—melting and
flowing under my eyes. The little hands upon the dials that registered my speed
P6 raced round faster and faster. Presently I noted that the sun belt swayed up and
down, from solstice to solstice, in a minute or less, and that consequently my pace
was over a year a minute; and minute by minute the white snow flashed across 4
the world, and vanished, and was followed by the bright, brief green of spring. 0
The unpleasant sensations of the start were less poignant now. They merged at
last into a kind of hysterical exhilaration. I remarked, indeed, a clumsy swaying of
the machine, for which I was unable to account. But my mind was too confused to
attend to it, so with a kind of madness growing upon me, I flung myself into
futurity. At first I scarce thought of stopping, scarce thought of anything but these 4
new sensations. But presently a fresh series of impressions grew up in my mind— 5
a certain curiosity and therewith a certain dread—until at last they took complete
possession of me. What strange developments of humanity, what wonderful

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 Lesson 6

advances upon our rudimentary civilisation, I thought, might not appear when I
came to look nearly into the dim elusive world that raced and fluctuated before
my eyes! I saw great and splendid architecture rising about me, more massive 5
than any buildings of our own time, and yet, as it seemed, built of glimmer and 0
mist. I saw a richer green flow up the hillside, and remain there, without any
wintry intermission. Even through the veil of my confusion the earth seemed very
fair. And so my mind came round to the business of stopping.’

5
5

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 Lesson 6

Reading comprehension activities

1. Quick comprehension check

Read the following statements and circle whether the statements are true (T) or false
(F). If false, justify your answer with the textual quote:

a. In the extract, the narrator travels in the time machine for the first time.

T/F

b. The narrator is clear about the experience he would have at the start of the travel.

T/F

c. The experience of light and darkness was something he could adjust to without
difficulty.

T/F

d. The narrator doesn’t enjoy the sensation of time travelling.

T/F

2. Comprehension questions and analysis

Answer the following questions:

a. Reread the first paragraph. How does the writer create the narrator’s feeling of
bewilderment through the use of language? Comment on any one technique and
the effect it has on the reader.

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

b. Reread lines 15−17: ‘The laboratory grew faint and hazy, then fainter and ever
fainter. Tomorrow night came black, then day again, night again, day again, faster
and faster still.’ Comment on the technique the writer has used in these lines. What
is the effect created?

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

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 Lesson 6
.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

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 Lesson 6
c. The narrator describes his experience of time travelling as ‘excessively
unpleasant’. Choose two quotations from the extract which describe this
unpleasantness:

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

d. Reread the extract from paragraph 5 (P5):

‘The landscape was misty and vague. I was still on the hillside upon which this
house now stands, and the shoulder rose above me grey and dim. I saw trees
growing and changing like puffs of vapour, now brown, now green; they grew,
spread, shivered, and passed away. I saw huge buildings rise up faint and fair, and
pass like dreams. The whole surface of the earth seemed changed—melting and
flowing under my eyes. The little hands upon the dials that registered my speed
raced round faster and faster. Presently I noted that the sun belt swayed up and
down, from solstice to solstice, in a minute or less, and that consequently my pace
was over a year a minute; and minute by minute the white snow flashed across the
world, and vanished, and was followed by the bright, brief green of spring.’

In the extract the writer describes a panoramic view of the changing landscape
through certain techniques. Choose three examples to show how the writer uses
language to convey meaning and to create effect.

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

e. How does the narrator describe his feelings at the start of time travelling and later
when he is flung into ‘futurity’?

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

f. What are the narrator’s first sights after he has landed in the future?

.........................................................................................................................................
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 Lesson 6
.........................................................................................................................................

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 Lesson 6
3. Paragraph writing

Thinking about the use of a first-person narrative in ‘Invisible Mass of the Back Row’
by Claudette Williams in the previous lesson, write a paragraph about how H.G. Wells
uses a first-person narrative in The Time Machine. Choose three quotes from the
extract to comment on.

Support:

Here are some of the effects of using a first-person narrative:

 Adds realism and immediacy.
 Creates rapport or intimacy with the reader.
 Allows the writer to share the narrator’s thoughts and feelings with the reader.
 Allows the writer to relate events as they are happening.
 Allows the writer to have an unreliable narrator (useful for plot twists etc.).

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

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 Lesson 6

Writing activity
Fiction writing

Imagine you are the traveller in the extract who has already reached the future.
Continue writing the H.G. Wells story, including details of the sights you see and your
feelings.
Try to adopt the style of the writer by using the first person (‘I’), and use some
examples of imagery, long and short sentences, and listing.
Aim to write between 250 and 350 words.

Plenary
Visualising

Create a visual summary of the lesson − a mind map, flowchart, Venn A

diagram, timeline, infographic, storyboard, doodle or calligram.

B C

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 Lesson 6

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 Lesson 7

Lesson 7
Brick Lane
by Monica Ali

Pre-reading starters
1. Book tasting

Look at the words below, taken from the first paragraph of an extract from a novel you
will be reading. What do you think the extract will be about? Discuss your ideas in a
small group.

2. Peer-teaching challenging words

Here are some of the more challenging words you will read in the extract. Circle any
that you find tricky.

Working in pairs, choose two words you and your partner want to understand the
meaning of. Each of you will find a definition for the word to explain it to your partner,
using dictionaries.

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 Lesson 7
You can create a calligram or use images to help you to
explain the meaning of the word to your partner. For example,
here’s a calligram for ‘ululating’, which means a howl or wail
to express grief or joy:

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 Lesson 7
This text is an extract taken from the novel Brick Lane by Monica Ali published in
2003. It is about Nazneen, a young woman from Bangladesh who has recently moved
to the UK. In this extract, you see Nazneen trying to explore the streets of London for
the first time.

‘Outside, small patches of mist bearded the lamp-posts and a gang of pigeons
turned weary circles on the grass like prisoners in an exercise yard. A woman
hurried past with a small child in her arms. The child screamed and kicked its
legs against the kidnapper. The woman produced a plastic rattle with which to
gag her victim. Nazneen pulled the end of her sari over her hair. At the main 5
road she looked both ways, and then went left. Two men were dragging
furniture out of a junk shop to display on the pavement. One of them went inside
and came out again with a wheelchair. He tied a chain around it and padlocked
it to an armchair as if arranging a three-legged furniture race. Nazneen changed
her mind and turned around. She walked until she reached the big crossroads 1
and waited at the kerb while the traffic roared from one direction and then the 0
next. Twice she stepped into the road and drew back again. To get to the other
side of the street without being hit by a car was like walking out in the monsoon
and hoping to dodge the raindrops. A space opened up before her. God is great,
said Nazneen under her breath. She ran.
A horn blared like an ancient muezzin1, ululating painfully, stretching his vocal 1
cords to the limit. She stopped and the car swerved. Another car skidded to a 5
halt in front of her and the driver got out and began to shout. She ran again and
turned into a side street, then off again to the right onto Brick Lane. She had
been here a few times with Chanu, later in the day when the restaurants
smelled of fresh boiled rice and old fried fat and the waiters with their tight black
trousers stood in doorways holding out menus and smiles. But now the waiters 2
were at home asleep, or awake being waited on themselves by wives who only 0
served and were not served in return except with board and lodging and the
provision of children whom they also, naturally, waited upon. And the streets
were stacked with rubbish, entire kingdoms of rubbish piled high as fortresses
with only the border skirmishes of plastic bottles and grease-stained cardboard
to separate them. A man looked up at some scaffolding with an intent, almost 2
ardent, expression as if his love might be at the top, cowering on the high planks 5
or the dark slate roof. A pair of schoolchildren, pale as rice and loud as
peacocks, cut over the road and hurtled down a side street, galloping with joy or
else with terror. Otherwise, Brick Lane was deserted. Nazneen stopped by some
film posters pasted in waves over a metal siding. The hero and heroine peered
at each other with epic hunger. The scarlet of her lips matched the bandanna 3
tied around his forehead. A sprinkling of sweat highlighted the contour of his 0
biceps. The kohl around her eyes made them smoke with passion. Some
invisible force was keeping them (only inches) apart. The type at the foot of the
poster said: The world could not stop their love.
Nazneen walked. She walked to the end of Brick Lane and turned right. Four
blocks down she crossed the road (she waited next to a woman and stepped out 3
with her, like a calf with its mother) and took a side street. She turned down the 5
first right, and then went left. From there she took every second right and every
second left until she realized she was leaving herself a trail. Then she turned off

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 Lesson 7

at random, began to run, limped for a while to save her ankle, and thought she
had come in a circle. The buildings seemed familiar. She sensed rather than
saw, because she had taken care not to notice. But now she slowed down and 4
looked around her. She looked up at a building as she passed. It was constructed 0
almost entirely of glass, with a few thin rivets of steel holding it together.

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 Lesson 7

The entrance was like a glass fan, rotating slowly, sucking people in, wafting 4
others out. Inside, on a raised dais, a woman behind a glass desk crossed and 5
uncrossed her thin legs. She wedged a telephone receiver between her ear and
shoulder and chewed on a fingernail. Nazneen craned her head back and saw
that the glass above became dark as a night pond. The building was without
end. Above, somewhere, it crushed the clouds. The next building and the one
opposite were white stone palaces. There were steps up to the entrances and 5
colonnades across the front. Men in dark suits trotted briskly up and down the 0
steps, in pairs or in threes. They barked to each other and nodded sombrely.
Sometimes one clapped a hand on his companion's shoulder and Nazneen saw
that this was not for reassurance, but for emphasis. Every person who brushed
past her on the pavement, every back she saw, was on a private, urgent
mission to execute a precise and demanding plan: to get a promotion today, to 5
be exactly on time for an appointment, to buy a newspaper with the right coins 5
so that the exchange was swift and seamless, to walk without wasting a second
and to reach the roadside just as the lights turned red. Nazneen, hobbling and
halting, began to be aware of herself. Without a coat, without a suit, without a
white face, without a destination. A leafshake of fear — or was it excitement? —
passed through her legs.’ 6
0

1
muezzin — someone who calls Muslims to prayer

From Brick Lane by Monica Ali. Copyright © Monica Ali, 2003, published in Great Britain by Doubleday, an
imprint of Transworld Publishers 2003, Black Swan 2004, 2022. Reprinted by permission of The Random
House Group Limited.

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 Lesson 7

Reading comprehension activities

1. Quick-fire reading check

Circle the correct answer.

a. In the extract, the weather is … b. The streets are described as full of …

 raining  traffic
 misty  rubbish
 overcast.  pigeons.

c. A toddler is being … d. Nazneen is limping because …

 kidnapped  she’s been walking for a long
time
 carried by a woman
 she has a sore ankle
 taken to nursery.
 she fell over.

e. True or false: Nazneen is comfortable crossing the busy road.

 True
 False

2. Mapping the extract

Create a quick map, diagram or picture of Nazneen’s route and all the things she sees,
using words, quotations or drawings to illustrate it.

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 Lesson 7

3. Comprehension questions and analysis

Answer the following questions:

a. Read lines 3−4: ‘The woman produced a plastic rattle with which to gag her
victim.’ Who is the victim here, and what technique is the writer using?

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b. ‘God is great, said Nazneen under her breath.’ What makes her say this?

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c. The writer comments that the wives of the waiters ‘only served and were not
served in return’. What does she mean by this?

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d. The second time she crosses the road, Nazneen waits for a woman to step out with
her? Why?

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e. Reread the first paragraph, in which the writer describes a crowded street.
Comment on three techniques the writer has used.

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 Lesson 7

f. Reread lines 36−41:

‘Nazneen walked. She walked to the end of Brick Lane and turned right. Four blocks
down she crossed the road (she waited next to a woman and stepped out with her,
like a calf with its mother) and took a side street. She turned down the first right,
and then went left. From there she took every second right and every second left
until she realized she was leaving herself a trail. Then she turned off at random,
began to run, limped for a while to save her ankle, and thought she had come in a
circle.’

How does the writer create movement through the words she chooses? Comment on
the effect.

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g. By the end of the extract, the writer says, Nazneen ‘began to be aware of herself’.
What do you think is the reason for this newly found self-awareness?

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Writing activity
Diary writing

Imagine you are Nazneen. After exploring Brick Lane by yourself, you come back home
and write your diary. Write about:

 A description of Brick Lane and the area

 Your feelings about being alone on the street
 Your decision to do something different

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 Lesson 7
Aim to write around 250 to 350 words.

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 Lesson 7

Plenary
You’re the expert

How would you explain what you learned today to someone who knows nothing about
the text you have read?

Dual code this point (add an image,

Most important points:
symbol or diagram):

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 Lesson 8: Assessment

Lesson 8: Assessment
You have one hour to complete this assessment.

Source A
This extract is from the beginning of the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, set
in Yorkshire in the late 18th century. The extract gives us a description of the house,
and the narrator is Mr. Lockwood who is a new tenant at Thrushcross Grange, a
property managed by Mr. Heathcliff.

‘Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr. Heathcliff’s dwelling. “Wuthering” being a

significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station
is exposed in stormy weather. Pure, bracing ventilation they must have up there at all
times, indeed: one may guess the power of the north wind, blowing over the edge, by the
excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the end of the house; and by a range of gaunt 5
thorns all stretching their limbs one way, as if craving alms of the sun. Happily, the
architect had foresight to build it strong: the narrow windows are deeply set in the wall,
and the corners defended with large jutting stones.
Before passing the threshold, I paused to admire a quantity of grotesque carving
lavished over the front, and especially about the principal door; above which, among a 10
wilderness of crumbling griffins and shameless little boys, I detected the date “1500”, and
the name “Hareton Earnshaw”. I would have made a few comments, and requested a
short history of the place from the surly owner; but his attitude at the door appeared to
demand my speedy entrance, or complete departure, and I had no desire to aggravate his
impatience previous to inspecting the penetralium.
15
One step brought us into the family sitting-room, without any introductory lobby or
passage: they call it here “the house” pre-eminently. It includes kitchen and parlour,
generally; but I believe at Wuthering Heights the kitchen is forced to retreat altogether
into another quarter: at least I distinguished a chatter of tongues, and a clatter of culinary
utensils, deep within; and I observed no signs of roasting, boiling, or baking, about the 20
huge fireplace; nor any glitter of copper saucepans and tin cullenders on the walls. One
end, indeed, reflected splendidly both light and heat from ranks of immense pewter
dishes, interspersed with silver jugs and tankards, towering row after row, on a vast oak
dresser, to the very roof. The latter had never been under-drawn: its entire anatomy lay
bare to an inquiring eye, except where a frame of wood laden with oatcakes and clusters 25
of legs of beef, mutton, and ham, concealed it. Above the chimney were sundry villainous
old guns, and a couple of horse-pistols: and, by way of ornament, three gaudily painted
canisters disposed along its ledge. The floor was of smooth, white stone; the chairs, high-
backed, primitive structures, painted green: one or two heavy black ones lurking in the
shade. In an arch under the dresser reposed a huge, liver-coloured bitch pointer,
30
surrounded by a swarm of squealing puppies; and other dogs haunted other recesses.
The apartment and furniture would have been nothing extraordinary as belonging to a
homely, northern farmer, with a stubborn countenance, and stalwart limbs set out to
advantage in knee-breeches and gaiters. Such an individual seated in his arm-chair, his
mug of ale frothing on the round table before him, is to be seen in any circuit of five or six 35
miles among these hills, if you go at the right time after dinner. But Mr. Heathcliff forms a
singular contrast to his abode and style of living. He is a dark-skinned gipsy in aspect, in
dress and manners a gentleman: that is, as much a gentleman as many a country squire:
rather slovenly, perhaps, yet not looking amiss with his negligence, because he has an
erect and handsome figure; and rather morose. Possibly, some people might suspect him 40
of a degree of under-bred pride; I have a sympathetic chord within that tells me it is
nothing of the sort: I know, by instinct, his reserve springs from an aversion to showy

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displays of feeling—to manifestations of mutual kindliness. He’ll love and hate equally
under cover, and esteem it a species of impertinence to be loved or hated again. No, I’m
running on too fast: I bestow my own attributes over-liberally on him.’

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 Lesson 8: Assessment
Section A: Reading

Answer all questions in this section. You are advised to spend 40 minutes.

1. Read again the first part of the source, from lines 1 to 7.

Identify two things you notice about the description of the house and
surroundings.
[2 marks]

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2. Look in detail at this extract, from lines 15−21 of the source:

‘It includes kitchen and parlour, generally; but I believe at Wuthering Heights the
kitchen is forced to retreat altogether into another quarter: at least I distinguished a
chatter of tongues, and a clatter of culinary utensils, deep within; and I observed no
signs of roasting, boiling, or baking, about the huge fireplace; nor any glitter of
copper saucepans and tin cullenders on the walls. One end, indeed, reflected
splendidly both light and heat from ranks of immense pewter dishes, interspersed
with silver jugs and tankards, towering row after row, on a vast oak dresser, to the
very roof.’

How does the writer use language and structure here to describe the kitchen and
parlour of Wuthering Heights?
You could include the writer’s choice of:
 words and phrases
 language features and techniques
 sentence forms. [8
marks]

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3. You now need to think about the whole extract.

This extract is from the beginning of a novel. How has the writer structured the text to
interest you as a reader?
You could write about:
 what the writer focuses your attention on at the beginning of the source
 how and why the writer changes this focus as the source develops
 the writer’s use of language and structure
 the effect on the reader. [10
marks]

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 Lesson 8: Assessment

Section B: Writing

You are advised to spend 20 minutes on this section. Write in full sentences.

Write a description of a forbidden place, as suggested by this picture.

or
Write a story about an escape.
[12 marks]
(8 marks for content and organisation
4 marks for technical accuracy)

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 Lesson 8: Assessment

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 Answers

Answers
Lesson 1
Pre-reading starters

1. Focusing on vocabulary

Chisel A tool with a sharp edge for cutting and shaping wood and stone.

Dwelling A house or place to live in.

Portcullis A strong, heavy iron castle gate that can be raised or lowered.

The sound that leaves on a tree make when they move or rub
Rustling
together.

Granary A place where grain is stored.

Toil To work very hard.

Swarthy To have dark skin.

Reading comprehension activities

1. Taking notes and scanning for information

What’s the name of the castle? Castle of Ophir

Who is the Morgans’ maid? Ann

Select three words to show the magical Various responses including:

quality of the castle. shining/everlasting/bright/glittering

Find a simile used in the text to show

‘as large as a cathedral’
the size of the granary.

Describe the tone and atmosphere of

mythical/magical
the text in a couple of words.

2. Quick reading comprehension check

The extract describes how a stranger called Ivor ap Cadogan reached Abercorran
harbour. He and his men carried white stone and precious wood from their ships to

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 Answers
build a castle. Those who went inside were healed and came out as healthy and
happy men. Wars ended, and so did the misery, suffering and poverty of the people.

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3. Comprehension questions
a. Ivor ap Cadogan is introduced as a character with some mystery and secrecy
around him when the writer says ‘no man knew his family’ and he was followed by
‘the dark foreign men’ from ‘the ships’. His physical description catches the
attention of those around him, especially his ‘yellow hair’ and ‘long beard of gold’.
He is introduced as a jovial (‘always singing to himself’) and confident character
with the simile ‘he was like a king who has thrown away his crown’.
b. ‘No man knew his family’.
c. Anyone with any disease or disability was cured and healed by Ivor ap Cadogan.
d. The effect of the writer’s use of listing is that it adds to the impression of the castle
having a magical, transformative effect, and also suggests the movement of people
to the castle.
e. The description and use of the simile show the abundance of crops stored in the
castle.
f. ‘cramming of granaries’.
g. Example sentences:
The simile of how the woods smelt ‘as sweet as a flower’ adds to the sense of
beauty.
The long sentence loaded with images of trees bearing ‘golden fruit’ and the
‘fountains of rustling crystal … glittering’ creates a magical quality.
The description of the sky over the castle as ‘bright’ and illuminated during day
and night in winter with ‘many fires and many lights’ again creates a magical
effect. The writer’s use of repetition adds to this impression.

Writing activity
Students’ work might include some of the following:

Description of Why you decided to

Impression of Ivor
the castle stay with Ivor
 Its size and colour /  Affectionate/kind/  Ivor’s charisma
the sweet-smelling confident/cheerful,  his way of treating you in
woods surrounding always with a song on his spite of knowing that you
it lips have come to steal his
 the bright  his long beard and yellow gold
illumination and hair  it would be better to stay
fires which made it  how hospitable he might happy in the castle than go
glitter day and have been to the writer of back and serve your
night the diary master
 the calm sea with  how the castle  how everyone in the castle
the castle on its transformed everyone is equal and considered
shores important

Lesson 2
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 Answers
Pre-reading starters
1. Considering context
Mood Grim/dark/threatening/helpless/miserable

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Choice of colours The use of dark shades and the black background create a sense of
misery/helplessness and convey the trapped feeling of the
prisoner.
Hands His clasped hands show his tension/fear/anxiety/insecurity.
Facial expressionHis facial expression suggests fear and tension.

2. Inferring

Students might infer from the selected words that the story takes place in the morning
and someone is being watched. There is a knock at the door or a bell rings, and
someone is arrested who feels anxious and hungry.

Reading comprehension activities

1. Comprehension questions
a. The opening lines are dramatic and engage the reader, creating a sense of anxiety
for the protagonist.
b. The impression the reader has is that the old woman knows or can see something
that Josef K. isn’t aware of.
c. The adverb ‘merely’ suggests that the man considers Josef K.’s questions
unimportant, and establishes his power and authority over him.
d. He regrets speaking because it makes him appear vulnerable in front of them. It
would also make them more authoritative towards him.
e. The phrase ‘tearing himself away’ suggests his discomfort.
f. ‘Menacing’ is the most accurate word to describe this passage, although ‘thought
provoking’ is also relevant.
g. The effect of the passage being written as one long paragraph is that it mimics the
sense of confusion that the character feels about his arrest. It also contributes to
the pace of the story and creates a sense of anxiety on the part of the reader as we
empathise with the disordered emotions of the protagonist. It almost mirrors the
emotional state of Josef K., who cannot control what is happening.
h. The dialogue seems one-sided. Many of Josef’s questions are not answered. The
dialogue of the ‘men’ gets longer throughout the passage and their speech
becomes increasingly threatening or authoritative in tone.

2. Analysis and paragraph writing

Students might have commented on the following:
Towards the end of the extract, Kafka makes the atmosphere more threatening
through the use of implied threats and physical intimidation. The ‘men’ are described
as ‘significantly bigger’ than Josef K. and the second man ‘frequently slapped’ Josef on
the shoulder. Here the onomatopoeia adds to the threatening actions of the man. They
also start to speak more and their tone becomes more menacing and hostile, as they
tell the protagonist ‘It’s better for you if you give us the things …’ as they steal his
intimate possessions, including his nightshirt and underclothes. This is deliberately
humbling and humiliating, and the repeated use of the pronoun ‘you’ also conveys

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their control over Josef K. The threatening atmosphere is also conveyed by the men’s
control of the room and furniture, leaving Josef without anywhere to sit.

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Writing activity

Letter writing

Effective responses will describe how Josef K. is intimidated and threatened by the
men and might anticipate an awful ending for him. Responses may vary and students
can be given credit when they include in their letter details related to all three bullet
points.

Lesson 3
Pre-reading starters

2.Vocabulary check

Definitions:
emphatically — to say something it in a forceful way
scowl — an angry facial expression
reluctantly — not willing to do something
deplorable — very bad
conviction — a strong belief or opinion
estimation — your opinion of someone or something
sultry — uncomfortably warm, humid weather
resolute — to be determined
bristle — to react angrily
persistent — to continue to have an opinion or act in a way which is unreasonable
fatuously — silly, pointless or stupid
petulant — someone who is bad-tempered, easily annoyed, rude or childishly sulky
unenterprising — not good at thinking of and doing new things

Reading comprehension activities

2. Summarising and creating ‘mental movies’ of the text

Lines 1−11 Lines 12−33

In 1914, three young, bored children are The aunt and Cyril argue about sheep
on a hot train with their grumpy aunt. and cows eating grass in the fields. One
of the girls sings the first line of a song
again and again, annoying everyone.

Lines 34−51 Lines 52−71

The aunt tells the children a really The bachelor in their carriage starts to
boring story that they all dislike! tell the children a story they prefer.

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3. Comprehension questions and analysis

a. This phrase suggests that they didn’t consider the other passengers and dominated
the carriage.
b. Their conversation is described as ‘reminding one of the attentions of a housefly
that refuses to be discouraged’.
c. The narrator creates a humorous tone when describing the way the aunt tries to
distract the children.
d. The bachelor expresses his disapproval by frowning at the aunt and children.
e. The children do not consider their aunt to be a good storyteller.
f. The children don’t like their aunt’s story.
g. Accept any sentence which includes the writer’s use of a technique that creates
humour. Here are some example sentences:
 The phrase ‘very audible voice’ and repetition of ‘over and over again’ creates
humour. It shows how the girl does not give any consideration to her fellow
passengers.
 Saki uses a long sentence ‘She repeated the line … without stopping’ and the
repetition of the word ‘repeat’ as techniques to convey the irritation the
bachelor feels.
 The writer creates a humorous tone with his use of contrast, as the girl’s
‘limited’ knowledge of the song is used to the ‘fullest’, and her voice is
described using the opposites or antonyms ‘dreamy’ and ‘resolute’.
 The writer also uses expressive adverbs such as ‘listlessly’ and ‘deplorably’ to
describe the actions of the children and the aunt, which are funny because
they are so extreme.
 By choosing to identify the characters only by using nouns such as ‘girl’,
‘aunt’, ‘bachelor’ and ‘story-teller’, rather than their names, Saki deliberately
draws on stereotypical ideas about them, which makes them humorous
caricatures.

Lesson 4
Pre-reading starters

2. Vocabulary cloze
1. Vicinity means the area surrounding a particular place.
2. A remark that is indirectly unpleasant or sexual is called an innuendo.
3. Prodigality means spending large amounts of money, time or energy in a way
that isn’t wise.
4. Ravage is a verb which means to cause great damage to someone or something.
5. Erroneous means wrong or false.

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6. Bewitch means to put a magic spell on someone or attract or fascinate someone
so that you have power over them.
7. If something is glistening, it is shining with reflected light.
8. If you make sudden, uncontrolled movements, you lurch.

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Reading comprehension activities

1. Summarising

Paragraph 1: Guests arrive for lively parties. Servants clear up.

Paragraph 2: Huge crates of hundreds of citrus fruit arrive to be juiced.
Paragraph 3: Caterers arrive with tents, lights and amazing food and drink.
Paragraph 4: The orchestra sets up. Guests arrive. The bar opens.
Paragraph 5: Guests laugh and move between groups as they drink more cocktails.
Paragraph 6: Someone begins to dance.
Paragraph 7: The guests don’t seem to know Gatsby.
Paragraph 8: The narrator received an invitation from Gatsby.
Paragraph 9: The narrator feels uncomfortable and see salesmen trying to make a
deal.
Paragraph 10: The narrator tries to find Gatsby.

3. Comprehension questions and analysis

a. How does the writer show the extravagance of Gatsby’s parties in the extract? Pick
out any three examples from the extract and comment on how the writer achieves
the effects.
There are so many examples in this extract that students could choose. Here are a
few:
 Metaphor and simile of ‘Rolls-Royce became an omnibus’ and station wagon
‘like a brisk yellow bug’ suggest the excessive activity and endless
movement.
 Listing of ‘whispering … champagne … stars’ adds to the hyperbolic
description.
 ‘Repairing the ravages’ — alliteration adds to the sense of extravagance and
excessive behaviour.
 five crates of oranges / pyramid of pulpless oranges / two hundred oranges in
half an hour — the writer includes lots of detail to add to the feeling of excess.
b. The two insect similes are ‘men and girls came and went like moths’ and ‘his
station wagon scampered like a brisk yellow bug to meet all trains’. Both are used
to convey a sense of frantic movement.
The simile ‘like moths’ conveys the impression that the guests are ephemeral night
creatures. The simile ‘like a brisk yellow bug’ makes his car seem almost comic as
it is described as ‘brisk’ and ‘scampering’.
c. The use of the present tense helps the reader to feel a sense of immediacy, as if
they are there with the narrator, experiencing the same sights and sounds.
d. Students’ answers might include some of the following points:
 Long sentences and listing add to the sense of constant movement and
change.
 Contrasting verbs like ‘spilled’, ‘swell’ and ‘dissolve’ create a sense of water
and waves of movement.

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 Sibilance (swiftly, swell, dissolve) conveys the sound and fluid movement of
the guests.
 References to light from being bright to ‘constantly changing’ also give the
effect of movement.
e. The lines suggest the shallowness of the people in this society. They are coming
only to enjoy the food and splendour; they do not care even to meet the host. Their
behaviour is also inappropriate, the narrator suggests.

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Lesson 5
Reading comprehension activities

1. Skimming, scanning and note-making

The name of the narrator: Hortense

The three things the 1. The date of Columbus’ landing in Jamaica
Inspector wanted the girl to 2. The names of his ships
answer:
3. The reason for his arrival in the Caribbean
The place where the story
Jamaica
takes place:
Three things the girl 1. Sharp pointed nose
noticed about Miss
2. Mean eyes
Henderson’s physical
appearance: 3. Frightened face

An example of Hortense’s
Multiple examples from the text
own speech:

3. Comprehension questions and analysis

a. Answers might include fear of the Inspector / the unfriendly atmosphere of the
classroom / the authoritative attitude of the teacher / embarrassment speaking in
front of others etc.
b. Hortense’s fear is shown through the use of references to heat (sweat dripping,
eyes inflamed), her physical symptoms (shaking, belly aches) and words associated
with pain, like ‘pierce’. The writer’s use of short sentences also suggests her fear
and helplessness.
c. The absence of sound contributes to the impression that the class is shocked to
hear Hortense’s response to the Inspector’s question.
d. The writer’s use of Hortense’s own voice here, her dialect, tells us she is aware of
the consequences of standing up to or challenging the Inspector.
e. The extended metaphor is a prison, which is used to describe the classroom and
school environment. Its effect is to characterise the school as a hostile and
frightening place of imprisonment.
f. At the beginning of the extract, there is a tense tone with the narrator ‘standing in
the middle of the room’ surrounded by ‘anxious faces’ and the Inspector ‘pointing’
his ruler towards her. The writer uses sensory references to smells, heat and
sensations (‘pounding’), which adds to the realism of the description and conveys
Hortense’s sense of fear. At the end of the extract, the narrator seems more
liberated, confident and even confrontational, expressing her opinions and ideas
freely.

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g. The back row is associated with ‘invisible’, voiceless or marginalised students.
Describing the students as a hidden ‘invisible mass’ suggests their lack of
individuality and significance.

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Plenary
Possible answers
1. What is the effect of a writer choosing to use a first-person narrator?
 Adds realism and immediacy.
 Creates a rapport or intimacy with the reader.
 Allows the writer to share the narrator’s thoughts and feelings with the reader.
 Allows the writer to relate events as they are happening.
 Allows for writers to have an unreliable narrator (useful for plot twists which
you might find in crime fiction etc.).
2. Why might a writer choose to use a dialect or non-standard form of English in their
writing?
 To foreground the voices of narrators or characters who don’t usually have a
voice in fiction.
 To celebrate the beauty, rhythms and speech patterns of other cultures.
 To create an intimate relationship between reader and writer/narrator.
 To give the reader insights into their time, place, background, culture or social
class.

Lesson 6
Reading comprehension activities

1. Quick comprehension check

Read the following statements and say whether the statements are true (T) or false
(F). If false, justify your answer with the textual quote:
a. In the extract, the narrator travels in the time machine for the first time.
T/F
b. The narrator is clear about the experience he would have at the start of the travel.
T / F (He seems confused: ‘I seemed to reel; I felt a nightmare sensation of falling;
and,
looking round, I saw the laboratory exactly as before. Had anything
happened?’)
c. The experience of light and darkness was something he could adjust to without
difficulty.
T/F (He describes it as painful: ‘The twinkling succession of darkness and light
was
excessively painful to the eye.’)
d. The narrator doesn’t enjoy the sensation of time travelling.
T/F

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2. Comprehension questions and analysis

a. The use of short sentences, questions, and longer sentence with multiple clauses,
suggest his confusion, almost as if he is thinking his confused feelings aloud to the
reader. The use of the question ‘Had anything happened?’ shows his uncertainty.
Negative diction such as ‘nightmare’ and ‘tricked’ suggests what he is experiencing
is something strange and difficult.

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b. The use of repetition in this example (‘faint/fainter’, ‘night again / day again’ and
‘faster’) adds to the impression of confusion and disorientation that the reader and
narrator experience.
c.
 ‘nightmare sensation of falling’
 ‘a strange, dumb confusedness descended on my mind’
 ‘a helpless headlong motion!’
 ‘horrible anticipation, too, of an imminent smash’
 ‘excessively painful to the eye’.
d.
 Use of colours and descriptions of mist (‘misty’, ‘vague’, ‘grey’, ‘dim’,
‘vapour’) to create the impression of another world
 Simile ‘like dreams’ adds to the impression that the narrator has entered
another world
 Words like ‘flashed’ and ‘vanished’, ‘faint’ and ‘fair’, suggest his changing
awareness
 Listing and long, complex sentence structure suggest dizzying movement of
the time machine
 Dynamic verbs like ‘growing’, ‘rise up’, ‘swaying’, ‘flowing’ add to the sense of
chaotic movement.
e. He describes himself as totally confused and bewildered at the start of the journey.
He describes it as a ‘dumb confusedness’ with a murmur filling his ears and a
strange feeling in his mind. When he was flung into ‘futurity’, he had some new
sensations. The writer describes it as a ‘fresh series of impressions’ with a sort of
‘curiosity’ followed by a ‘dread’.
f. He sees ‘splendid’ buildings ‘built of glimmer and mist’, and green hills.

3. Paragraph writing

Example paragraph:
H.G. Wells adds realism and immediacy to his description of the time machine by
using a first-person narrator. When he describes the narrator’s sensations of
movement − ‘I seemed to reel; I felt a nightmare sensation of falling’ − as readers, we
almost feel that we are experiencing the dizzying movement of time travelling too.
Using a first-person narration also allows him to share the narrator’s frightened
thoughts and feelings with the reader, as when he describes the violent ‘helpless
headlong motion!’ of time travel and his fears of ‘an imminent smash’. Wells’ narrative
style also enables him to relate events as they are happening, which makes the
writing really compelling and exciting to read. Through repetition and long, complex
sentences he conveys the narrator’s sense of confusion as a ‘strange, dumb
confusedness descended on my mind’ as he travels chaotically through time and
space. There is a sense of intimacy between the narrator and reader too, when he
uses the simile ‘like dreams’ and describes in detail the ‘misty’, ‘vague’ and ‘grey’
sensations he experiences.

Writing activity

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Fiction writing
Look for a clear and creative narrative with detailed descriptions of the sights and
feelings the narrator might experience. Give credit if students have used some of the
techniques mentioned in the task to make the style match that of the extract.

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Lesson 7
Reading comprehension activities

1. Quick-fire reading check

a. In the extract, the weather is … b. The streets are described as full of …

 raining  traffic
 misty  rubbish
 overcast.  pigeons.

c. A toddler is being … d. Nazneen is limping because …

 kidnapped  she’s been walking for a long
time
 carried by a woman
 she has a sore ankle
 taken to nursery.
 she fell over.

e. True or false: Nazneen is comfortable crossing the busy roads…

 True
 False

2. Mapping the extract

Students’ ‘maps’ might include the following references from the extract:
A gang of pigeons / a woman and a child / two men dragging the furniture out of a
shop / big crossroads and traffic / waiters with menus waiting for customers / rubbish /
a man looking at scaffolding / noisy schoolchildren / a film poster / a glass building / a
woman crossing the road / a woman on a phone / buildings / men in suits.

3. Comprehension questions and analysis

a. The small child is the victim; the writer uses the metaphor of kidnapping.
b. Nazneen may have said this because there is finally a gap in the traffic, making it
safe for her to cross. She may also have said it to give herself comfort or the
confidence to cross.
c. Monica Ali seems to be commenting on the subservient role of women in some
households, who have to ‘serve’ everyone.
d. She waits to cross with a woman because the first time she crosses alone, she is
nearly hit (a horn sounds, a car swerves, another car skids and a man shouts).
e.
 Using verbs to suggest the movement and danger of the city: ‘hurried’,
‘dragging’, ‘screamed’ and ‘kicked’.

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 Threatening imagery, including the metaphors of a ‘gang’ of pigeons,
‘kidnapper’ and ‘victim’; also the use of the simile ‘like prisoners in an
exercise yard’.

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 Personification and use of onomatopoeia to describe how the traffic ‘roared’

suggests threat and danger.
 The hesitant actions of the character suggest she is fearful.
 Contrast between descriptions of the dangerous city with the natural simile
‘like walking out in the monsoon and hoping to dodge the raindrops’.
 This long paragraph is full of short and compound sentences, reflecting the
many different sights and sounds the character experiences and seeming to
convey her inner thoughts.
f.
 Use of verbs like ‘walked’, ‘turned’, ‘run’ and ‘limp’ convey the character’s
confused movements.
 Use of directional and positional words.
 Sentences create the feeling of continuous movement.
 The simile ‘like a calf’ suggests the vulnerability of her movement.
g. Her experiences in the streets around Brick Lane appear to make her question her
purpose in life. It seems to her that everyone she sees has a destination or purpose
except her, which makes her feel out of place. The implication is that her journey
through the streets of London is transformative and makes her feel bolder, more
confident and excited by life.

Writing activity
Diary writing

Responses may vary and students can be given credit when they include responses to
all three bullet points and are able to put themselves in Nazneen’s shoes.

Lesson 8: Assessment
Summative assessment mark scheme

Section A: Reading
1. Answers might include some of the following points:
 House is described almost as a fortress, ‘defended’ with ‘narrow windows
deeply set in the walls’.
 Words associated with weather, wind and storms (‘stormy’, ‘bracing’, ‘blowing’,
‘north wind’) create a feeling of foreboding.
 Descriptions of nature as ‘stunted’ and ‘gaunt’ and personification of trees
‘stretching their limbs’, suggest something unhealthy or unnatural.
 The writer uses words associated with powerful, elemental forces to describe
the house’s ‘exposed’ position and its vulnerability.

2. Answers might include some of the following points:

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Language features
Words and phrases Sentence forms
and techniques
Choice of word ‘retreat’ Auditory language and Long sentences and
suggests that the kitchen, onomatopoeia (‘chatter of complex sentence
often the heart of the tongues’ and ‘clatter’ of structure draws the
house, is neglected. It culinary vessels) provide a reader into the detailed
gives the house an empty contrast between the descriptions.
feeling. kitchen and parlour.
Descriptions of wealth and Negative statements (‘no Conversational asides
prosperity: ‘immense signs of roasting … / nor from the narrator (‘I
pewter dishes’, ‘silver any glitter’) make the believe’, ‘indeed’ and ‘at
jugs’, ‘vast oak dresser’. reader feel that the room least’) create a
is without a soul. relationship between
narrator and reader.
Words associated with Use of listing with the
size suggest the narrator display of silver and
is impressed or pewter dishes conveys the
intimidated: ‘vast’, wealth of the owner.
‘immense’ etc.
Use of first-person
narrator provides the
reader with precise details
of the house which adds a
feeling of immediacy, as if
the reader is there too.

3. Suggested answer:

At the beginning of the source, the house is described in detail by the narrator Mr.
Lockwood, starting with the physical setting of Wuthering Heights. The writer
describes the ‘stormy weather’, and the personification of the ‘stunted firs’ creates an
eerie, ominous and almost threatening feeling through the descriptions of the setting.
This is reinforced by the narrator’s descriptions of the ‘grotesque’ and ‘crumbling’
carving on the house, creating a sense of decay or neglect. The writer then describes
the parlour, with ‘no signs of roasting, boiling, or baking’ with the kitchen ‘in retreat’.
This lack of warmth reminds the reader of the cold and hostile exterior of Wuthering
Heights.
As the passage continues, the descriptions of the house continue to be threatening.
The parlour contains ‘villainous old guns’ and ‘horse-pistols’, which adds further to the
eeriness of the setting. The descriptions of the furniture as ‘lurking’ and the neglected
dogs like metaphorical ghosts who ‘haunted’ the recesses of the room further creates
a forbidding or frightening atmosphere. The writer also uses colour symbolism to
reinforce the contrasting descriptions in the passage, as when the ‘white stone’ floors
and reflections from the silver and pewter jugs and dishes are contrasted with the
‘black’ furniture and the use of shade.

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Later in the extract, the description of the house is contrasted with the descriptions of
Heathcliff, who ‘forms a singular contrast’ to his house. His is described as ‘handsome’
and ‘in dress and manners a gentleman’, although the writer also includes negative
words like ‘slovenly’, ‘morose’ and ‘under-bred’, suggesting his difference from a
‘homely, northern farmer’. The reader is made to feel that the character of Heathcliff
is, like his house, threatening and forbidding. The writer describes him as a man who
has both ‘reserve’ and strong, elemental feelings. This is suggested by the contrast
and repetition of ‘love’ and ‘hate’. The reader is intrigued to find out more about this
character.

The following rubric can be used for marking questions 2 and 3.

Level/marks Skills descriptors

Level 4 Perceptive and detailed understanding of language:

Well-informed, detailed  Analyses the effects of the writer’s choices of
analysis language with judicious textual detail
7−8 marks (and above)  Sophisticated and accurate use of subject
terminology

Level 3 Clear understanding of language:

Informed, relevant  Clearly explains the effects of the writer’s choices
explanation of language with relevant textual detail
5−6 marks  Clear and accurate use of subject terminology

Level 2 Some understanding of language:

Straightforward  Attempts to comment on the effect of language
understanding and with some appropriate textual detail
comment
 Some use of subject terminology, mainly
3−4 marks appropriately

Level 1 Shows simple awareness of language:

Simple, limited comment  Simple comments on the effect of language with
simple references or textual details
1−2 marks
 Simple use of subject terminology, not always
appropriately

Section B: Writing

Teachers’ judgements regarding appropriacy of written form, structure, language and

awareness of audience and purpose, should be applied to the writing task.

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