1) In pairs, match the incomplete lines with their endings:

To laugh is to....
To weep is to..... ....risk exposing your true self
To reach out to another is to...... ....risk not being loved in return
To expose feelings is to..... .....risk failure
To place your ideas and dreams before a crowd is .....risk nothing
to...... .....does nothing, has nothing, is nothing
To love is to...... .....risk appearing a fool
To hope is to....... .....risk their loss
To try is to........... .....risk appearing sentimental
But risks must be taken because .....learn, feel, change, grow or live
the greatest hazard in life is to..... .....risk despair
The person who risks nothing....... ......risk involvement
He may avoid suffering and sorrow,
But he cannot.....
Chained by his servitude he is a slave
who has forfeited all freedom.
Only a person who risks is free.

The students have 5-10 minutes to complete the task. Then, the teacher asks each of them to read
one line. The teacher reads William Arthur Wards version as in his poem To risk.

2) Follow up: debate to risk or not to risk?

The teacher chooses two persons who will observe and assess the answers. Then, s/he divides the
classroom into two groups: the BRAVES and the CAUTIOUS. The first group has to find three
arguments for taking risks and the second one has to find three arguments against. Each group has to
name a spokesperson who will present the arguments in front of the classroom. They have 5-10
minutes to find the arguments and 10 minutes to present them in turns (one pro and then one con).

At the end, the observers will say their decision on which group was more convincing supporting their
choice with arguments.

Risk
William Arthur Ward

To laugh is to risk appearing a fool,

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out to another is to risk involvement,
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas and dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss
To love is to risk not being loved in return,
To hope is to risk despair,
To try is to risk failure.

But risks must be taken because

the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing,
does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.
He may avoid suffering and sorrow,
But he cannot learn, feel, change, grow or live.
Chained by his servitude he is a slave
who has forfeited all freedom.
Only a person who risks is free.
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do:
once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or
conversations in it, `and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice `without pictures or conversation?'
So she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very
sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting
up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her. There was
nothing so VERY remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so VERY much out of the way to hear the
Rabbit say to itself, `Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!' (when she thought it over afterwards, it
occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural);
but when the Rabbit actually TOOK A WATCH OUT OF ITS WAISTCOAT- POCKET, and looked at it,
and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before
seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she
ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole
under the hedge.
In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get
out again.
The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so
suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling
down a very deep well.

(Alice in Wonderland Lewis Carroll)

Activity 1: Read the text and answer the following questions:

1) How does Alice feel at the beggining of the text?

2) How does Alice react when she sees the rabbit?
3) Do you think Alice should go down the hole? Why?
4) What do you think Alice will find in the rabbit hole?

- I give them 3 minutes for reading the text and 7 minutes for answering the questions in
writing.
- I ask them randomly to read their answers and I make sure they all understood the text.

Activity 2: Write a short continuation for the text above.

- The students have 10 minutes for coming up with some ideas for continuing the
fragment of Alice in Wonderland. I ask them randomly to read their drafts.
- I give them the possibility to improve their stories by completing them at home.
Warning
By Jenny Joseph

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple

With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat

And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry

And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?

So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

1. For the first activity the students will have to answer a series of questions in writing about
the poem. This will help them to better understand the text and to form a personal opinion.
They will interact with each other by comparing their answers.

a. What is the main idea of the poem?

b. To whom is this poem addressed? Why?
c. What is the mood of the poem?
d. What do you think is the meaning of purple in this poem?
e. How is the title connected to the text? What sort of warning is the author talking
about?
f. How is the poem structured? What are its particularities?
g. What category of words is preponderant in the text? Give examples.
h. To what society is the author referring?

2. The second activity is more interactive. All the students are grouped in pairs. Each pair will
have to give a performance, meaning that one of the students will read the poem out loud in a
style of his own choice, while his/her partner will be imitating the actions described in the text
and lip-syncing at the same time. This sort of activity will show how the students perceive the
poem by allowing them to interpret it however they like. At the same time, it will also provide
fun and entertainment, two aspects that are known to be attractive for students.
 Charles Dickens-Great Expectations, Mr Wemmicks Castle

Wemmicks house was a little wooden cottage in the middle of a large garden. The top of the house
had been built and painted like a battery loaded with guns. I said I really liked it. I think Wemmicks
house was the tiniest I had ever seen. It had very few windows, and the door was almost too small to
get in.

Look, said Wemmick, after I have crossed this bridge, I raise it so that nobody can enter the Castle.
The bridge was a plank, and it crossed a gap about four feet wide and two deep. But I enjoyed
seeing the smile on Wemmicks face and the pride with which he hoisted his bridge. The gun on the
roof of the house, he told me, was fired every night at nine oclock. I later heard it. Admittedly, it made
an impressive sound.

At the back, he said, there are fowls and rabbits. Ive also got my own little vegetable garden, and I
grow cucumbers. Wait until supper and youll see for yourself what kind of salad I can make. If the
Castle is ever attacked, I will be able to hold out for quite a while, he said with a smile, but at the
same time seriously.

He led me to a little leafy shelter which was only a few metres away, but the path that led to it was so
winding that it took us quite a while to get there. It was here that our glasses were set out. Our drink of
punch was cooling in an ornamental pond, on whose bank the shelter was built. The pond had a small
island in the middle, where Wemmick had built a fountain.

I am my own engineer, my own carpenter, my own plumber and my own gardener. I am my own Jack
of all Trades, said Wemmick, acknowledging my compliments. Well, its a good thing, you know. It
pleases the Aged Parent. You wouldnt mind being introduced to him, would you? It wouldnt bother
you? I felt that I could only agree.

----------------------------------------------------------

1. Read the text and underline the words/phrases the author uses to describe
Wemmicks house. Use the words/phrases to talk about Wemmicks house. T-Ss, Ss-T

2. In pairs, discuss the following. What do you think is the moral of Great Expectations? Why
has Dickens given his novel this title? Role-play an interview with the author: one student plays the
author and the other students ask questions. What makes you feel proud of your home? Describe your
ideal home. S-S, S-Ss, T-Ss, Ss-T
 The Guy in the Glass

When you get what you want in your struggle for pelf,
And the world makes you King for a day,
Then go to the mirror and look at yourself,
And see what that guy has to say.

For it isn't your Father, or Mother, or Wife,

Who judgement upon you must pass.
The feller whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the guy staring back from the glass.

He's the feller to please, never mind all the rest,

For he's with you clear up to the end,
And you've passed your most dangerous, difficult test
If the guy in the glass is your friend.

You may be like Jack Horner* and "chisel" a plum,

And think you're a wonderful guy,
But the man in the glass says you're only a bum
If you can't look him straight in the eye.

You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years,
And get pats on the back as you pass,
But your final reward will be heartaches and tears
If you've cheated the guy in the glass.

Dale Wimbrow 1895-1954

1. should be done before reading the poem: The mirror - the teacher asks for a volunteer from the
class, he tells the students that in a box he has a photo of one of the students. The volunteer has to
describe using as many detailes as posible about the person that he sees. (In the box there is a
mirror and not a photo). The characterization should contain not only physical details, but
information like this person would like to become a doctor, or he/she is brave, funny, hardworking ...
After some characteristics, another student is called to help and this one has to describe himself
already and another student and so one. (the teacher should be careful that the students didt laugh or
say the truth). This game will make the pupils to analyse themselves at the third person and to be
able to describe what other should see in them.

2. Writing marathon - to develope pupils writing skills the teacher gives a task and the pupils start
to write following the instructions. The writing will start with the task imagine yourself in 20 years
from now; describe your appearance, clothing style, describe what job you would have, the family,
your achievements, your regrets, hoe is the world outside, what problems do you have. This exercise
will work their imagination too.
There was a young lady of Lynn,
Who was so uncommonly thin
That when she essayed
To drink lemonade,
She slipped through the straw and fell in.

Activity 1:

Read the limerick in the handout/written on the board. In pairs,

determine the rhyming pattern and the type of poetry a limerick is.
(interaction Ss Ss)
- The students should determine the rhyming pattern ABBAA. T. will
explain to the Ss that limericks are short funny poems (5 lines) usually
containing a pun (word play).

Activity 2:

In groups of 4-5, create your own limericks using one of the rhyming sets
below (you can change the order or even use other words if you wish):
(interaction Ss Ss)
- taste, waste, paste, bin, tin
- Crete, Pete, cute, acute, feet
- tonsils, pencils, scarf, dwarf,
- skull, seagull, sea, flea, flee
- wrinkle, twinkle, Brinkle (a name), Liverpool, wool
- clock, rock, dock, sail, pale
- vowel, towel, fret, debt, alphabet.

After you have finished it, shuffle the lines of your limerick and ask your
classmates to find the original order.
 It is the Spanish Civil War. In the forests of the Spanish Sierra, a guerrilla band prepares to
blow up a vital bridge. Robert Jordan, a young American volunteer, has joined the small group of
rebels on this mission. It is night in the rebel camp, and Pablo one of the Spanish guerrillas has
insulted the American.
Pablo is drunk Primitivo said. Pay him no heed, Ingls.
I do not think he is so drunk, Robert Jordan said.
Maria was standing behind him and Robert Jordan saw Pablo watching her over his shoulder.
The small eyes, like a boars, were watching her out of the round, stubble-covered head and Robert
Jordan thought: I have known many killers in this war and some before and they were all different;
there is no common trait nor feature; nor any such thing as the criminal type; but Pablo is certainly not
handsome.
I dont believe you can drink, he said to Pablo. Nor that youre drunk.
I am drunk, Pablo said with dignity. To drink is nothing. It is to be drunk that is important.
Estoy muy borracho.
I doubt it, Robert Jordan told him. Cowardly, yes.
It was so quiet in the cave, suddenly, that he could hear the hissing noise the wood made
burning on the hearth where Pilar cooked. He heard the sheepskin crackle as he rested his weight on
his feet. He thought he could almost hear the snow falling outside. He could not, but he could hear the
silence where it fell.
Id like to kill him and have it over with, Robert Jordan was thinking. I dont know what he is
going to do, but it is nothing good. Day after tomorrow is the bridge and this man is bad and he
constitutes a danger to the success of the whole enterprise. Come on. Let us get it over with.
Pablo grinned at him and put one finger up and wiped it across his throat. He shook his head
that turned only a little each way on his thick short neck.
Nay, Ingles, he said. Do not provoke me.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY and FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
-----------------------------------------------------------------

VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT( work in pairs)

1. What kind of animal is a boar?
2. Pablo has a stubble-covered head. Does he have a lot of hair or only a little?
3. What is a hearth?
4. Look at the last sentence about Pablo. Can you mime the actions he does?
5. There are two examples of very old English expressions in the text. Pay him no
heed and Nay. What do you think they mean?

WRITING (Individually)
What do you think will happen next? Write a conclusion to this extract
Free! Body and soul free!" she kept whispering.

Josephine was kneeling before the closed door with her lips to the keyhole, imploring for admission.
"Louise, open the door! I beg; open the door--you will make yourself ill. What are you doing, Louise?
For heaven's sake open the door."

Go away. I am not making myself ill." No; she was drinking in a very elixir of life through that open
window.

Her fancy was running riot along those days ahead of her. Spring days, and summer days, and all
sorts of days that would be her own. She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long. It was only
yesterday she had thought with a shudder that life might be long.

She arose at length and opened the door to her sister's importunities. There was a feverish triumph in
her eyes, and she carried herself unwittingly like a goddess of Victory. She clasped her sister's waist,
and together they descended the stairs. Richards stood waiting for them at the bottom.

Some one was opening the front door with a latchkey. It was Brently Mallard who entered, a little
travel-stained, composedly carrying his grip-sack and umbrella. He had been far from the scene of the
accident, and did not even know there had been one. He stood amazed at Josephine's piercing cry; at
Richards' quick motion to screen him from the view of his wife.

When the doctors came they said she had died of heart disease--of the joy that kills. (last lines)

Choose the correct answer: (pair work)

1. Josephine and Louise are:

A. Sisters B. friends C. cousins
2. The main character of the story is:
A. Josephine B. Louise C. Richards
3. Who whispers the words: Free ! Body and soul free!
A. Louise B. Josephine
4. Louises husband is :
A. Richards B .Brently Mallard
5. Who dies at the end of the story?
A. Josephine B.Louise

Discuss: (group work)

1. Why was Brently mallards appearance so unexpected and shocking. (possible reasons)
2. Think about Louise life. What might her life looked like? Did she live happily? Prove your
ideas.
3. Do you agree with the doctors decision that Louise died of the joy? Why? Why not?

Consider the following text

Jack: well, yes, I must admit I smoke.

Lady Bracknell: (slowly) I am glad to hear it. () A man should always have an occupation of some
kind. There are far too many idle men in London as it is. How old are you?

Jack: Twenty-nine.

Lady Bracknell: A very good age to be married at. I have always been of the opinion that a man who
desires to get married () should know () either everything or nothing. Which do you know?

Jack: (after some hesitation) I know nothing, Lady Bracknell. ()

Lady Bracknell: () I am pleased to hear it. I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural
ignorance. () Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone.() The whole
theory of modern education is radically unsound.() Fortunately in England, at any rate, education
produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and
probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square. What is your income?

(from The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde)

------------------------------------------------------

Timing, stress and pitch are important in all forms of drama, and in comedy they are
absolutely essential.
Working in pairs, try to perform the lines following the indications:

_______ Underlined words should be stressed or emphasized because they are important for
conveying meaning.

An arrow pointing to the right indicates gathering speed, suggesting that the actors should
increase the pace.

An arrow pointing backwards suggests that the actor should slow down.

Two vertical lines indicate a pause.

A rising arrow suggests excitement, emotion.

A falling arrow suggests calm.

A is pun a play on words, usually for a comic reception.

ex: He became a math teacher due to some prime factors.

There was once a cross-eyed teacher who couldn't control his pupils.

Wordplay in the form of puns is one of the features of the play. Work in pairs. Explain the
play on words in the following statement which Lady Bracknell makes:

"To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like
carelessness".

I hesitated to intrude on her sorrow, but I could not leave her in such a state. I approached her slowly.
She heard my footsteps and raised her head.
Please, dont go. I put my hands over her shoulders. I want to talk to you.
About what? she asked dully.
A lot. About you and about myself.
We sat opposite each other on either side of the grave, motionless and silent.
Are you - are you the same as I? She paused and waited for my answer.
You mean was I given to a man by my family and he passed away like
I looked down at the grave. It was not quite the same, but something like that.
We sinners. It was her soul speaking. Her face darkened and then cleared, becoming younger and
comelier. A struggle was going on within her: her duty to mortify the flesh, as she had been taught was
the right thing to do, and the urgent, instinctive will to live and love.
The man was my parents friend, I began. I was not inventing this story.
There had been a bachelor, a friend of the family. One day when my aunt asked him why he did not
get married, he dodged the question by turning to
me and saying that he was waiting for me to grow up and be his bride. My uncle said that he would not
object to having him as a son-in-law. It was only half a joke.
Did he give you any presents?
Yes, he gave me many presents, at the New Year, on my birthday
Birthday? she asked.
The day I was born. It was a happy day for me, so he gave me nice presents.

(Yuan-Tsung Chen- The Dragon's Village: An Autobiographical Novel of Revolutionary China)

Activities:

1.Ss work in pairs . (S-S) They discuss and make free-associations around a word or phrase that
might have particular connotations or even figurative meanings for a native speaker of the language.
How do these connotations compare from one country to another and from one individual to another?
Do these words take on any particular symbolic meaning in the text? For example: was I given to a
man by my family, birthday

2.Ss work in groups of four(SS-SS) and write in two columns, the advantages and disadvantages of
arranged marriages.
 "You told a LIE?"
"You confess it--you actually confess it--you told a lie!"
The family consisted of four persons: Margaret Lester, widow, aged thirty six; Helen Lester,
her daughter, aged sixteen; Mrs. Lester's maiden aunts, Hannah and Hester Gray, twins, aged sixty-
seven. Waking and sleeping, the three women spent their days and night in adoring the young girl; in
watching the movements of her sweet spirit in the mirror of her face; in refreshing their souls with the
vision of her bloom and beauty; in listening to the music of her voice; in gratefully recognizing how rich
and fair for them was the world with this presence in it; in shuddering to think how desolate it would be
with this light gone out of it. [...]
In it a lie had no place. In it a lie was unthinkable. In it speech was restricted to absolute
truth, iron-bound truth, implacable and uncompromising truth, let the resulting consequences be what
they might. At last, one day, under stress of circumstances, the darling of the house sullied her lips
with a lie--and confessed it, with tears and self-upbraiding. There are not any words that can paint the
consternation of the aunts. It was as if the sky had crumpled up and collapsed and the earth had
tumbled to ruin with a crash. They sat side by side, white and stern, gazing speechless upon the
culprit, who was on her knees before them with her face buried first in one lap and then the other,
moaning and sobbing, and appealing for sympathy and forgiveness and getting no response, humbly
kissing the hand of the one, then of the other, only to see it withdrawn as suffering defilement by those
soiled lips.
(Was it heaven? Or hell? - Mark Twain)

Activities

1. Make a story starting with the sentence The family consists of four persons in which
somebody has told a lie (that being the plot). Every student (pupil) has to add a different
sentence with the condition that the story will still make sense (to fit in narrative of the story).

2. Here are some words: lie, walk, sleep, spirit, bloom, shudder, unthinkable, truth, tears,
consternation, collapse, side by side, gaze, speechless, forgiveness, confess. Split up in two
groups. Taking turns each group will have to guess as many as possible of these words, while
one team member will mime, draw or orally explain it (it is up to him/her). The teacher will
show to the team member, who is going to mime, draw or explain, the new word and the team,
to which they belong, have 20 seconds to guess it. Wins the team that has guessed more
words.
They entered the wood where trees grew close to the roadside. The snow, which had stopped began
to fall again in lazy, aimless flakes.

Theres something moving th thicket there, cried Jankin, pointing unsteadily. With fast-beating hearts
they looked, then Hawise said, a) ...... and kicked their horse again. They were near out of the wood
when they heard noises behind them. The pound of galloping hooves. Turning they saw four helmeted
men b) , shouting and waving their arms.

What now! cried Hawise. Do they mean c) Jankin yanked their horse off the road, and
Katherine swerved Doucette so hard that the little mere pranced angrily. But the men d) . A cold
stillness descended on Katherine: on each of them she saw the Lancaster badge.

Ho! men-at-arms, what would you of us? cried Jankin in a high dauntless voice, while Hawise cried,
Saint Mary! e) and new fear smote her. Katherine sat her horse stiff and straight as though f)
, and whatever these new-comers had in mind, twas plain Jankin g) .

(Katherine Anya Seton, Hodder, 2006)

I. The following phrases have been removed from the text. Read the text and try to place them. (S-S)

1. pulled up in a flurry of flying clods and jingling harness

2. could avail nothing against spears and swords and armoured men.
3. That first one is th outlandish squire came for my lady yesterday!
4. Naught but a stray hound!
5. to run us down?
6. bearing down on them full-tilt
7. shed been carved from the oak behind her

a) 4, b) 6, c) 5, d) 1, e) 3, f) 7, g) 2.

II. Write what you think it will happen next in the story. (T-Ss)(After the students complete their
assignment, the teacher will ask some students to read aloud their compositions). (S-Ss)