Topical lesson: 12 th June 2010 Review of reviews: Books. 1. Do you know anything about the writers below? Have you read any of their books?

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Beatrix Osborne
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Do you know anything about the political/public figures below? Henry Kissinger Mother Teresa Bill Clinton Peta-de-Aztlan http://www.flickr.com/photos/peta-de-aztlan/3476636111/ 3.

1 Before you read Task A: Cultural content 1. Do you know anything about the writers below? Have you read any of their books? George Orwell Martin Amis Salman Rushdie Ian McEwan Arthur Koestler Karl Marx Samuel Beckett Primo Levi MarkCampbellCreative.com 2. Do you know anything about the political/public figures below? Henry Kissinger Mother Teresa Bill Clinton Peta-de-Aztlan 3. Work in three groups. Take three or four of the people above per group. Choose ones that you don t know about. Use the internet to find out: whether they are alive or dead what type of books they write/wrote, or what political party they belong(ed) to what they are famous for Page 1 of 5

2 Reading Task B: Scanning Now read the articles quickly. Which article do the people from task A appear in? Task C: Reading for detail Read the articles again, in more detail. Which book(s) does each statement refer to? One has been done for you. Hitch-22 Road of Bones Beatrice and Virgil It is a mixture of fact and fiction. The author has won a book prize. The author is also a journalist. It is about the Second World War. It is highly recommended. It is an unusual, but not very good, book. It contains complicated language. It contains extended metaphor and symbolism with a moral message. After you read Task D Multi-word verbs 1. Look at this extract from the review of Hitch-22: He also goes on and on about his pals 1. Who is he? 2. What does go on mean here? (NB Pals is an informal word meaning friends.) Page 2 of 5

3 2. Find the multi-word verbs below in the text and match them to their meanings. The first one has been done for you. 1. he was packed off to boarding school a. to spend a lot of time somewhere or with somebody 2. hanging out with the gilded Brideshead set* b. to happen in the end 3. Hitchens mother ran away with a former priest c. to manage to get past something in your way 4. they held on to 20 April d. to cause (bad feelings or arguments) 5. a relief column broke through e. to send someone to another place 6. has already stirred up bad reviews f. to continue doing what you usually do 7. it turns out to be an allegory g. to continue doing something difficult 8. Readers who enjoy fables about donkeys will stick to Winnie the Pooh h. to go somewhere secretly with a lover 1.e Now put the multi-word verbs above into the sentences below. You may need to change the form. 1. I don t like diet food so I ll stick to normal milk. 2. We all used to near the shops on Saturday afternoons. 3. I wanted to go there but it to be too expensive. 4. Every August we were to summer camp. 5. Manchester City were tired but they to win 2:1. 6. The newspaper story a lot of controversy. 7. It took us a week to the thick jungle. 8. Susan her boyfriend and they got married without telling anyone. *The Brideshead set refers to rich, decadent students at Oxford University, like those in the novel Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh Page 3 of 5

4 Task E Speaking 1. You are going to role-play an interview with an author. One person will be a journalist. The other will be the author. Journalist card You are going to interview an author about his/her recent book. You need to ask about: the title of the book the content of the book the style of the book the target readers why he/she wrote it the author s next plans the author s life etc. Author card You have written a book. A journalist is going to ask you questions about it. You need to prepare answers to the following questions: What is the title of your book? What is it about? (plot, characters, setting, etc.) Why did you write it? Who would enjoy your book? Are there plans for a sequel or film version? How do you write books? Where do you live? What do you do when you are not writing? When you have finished, swap roles. Task F Extension activities Read one of the books reviewed or one of the books in exercise A. Write your own review of the book. Find ten new words in the reviews and make a vocabulary exercise with them for other people in the class to do. Design a book cover for Hitch-22 or Beatrice and Virgil. Compare your version to the original (look on the internet) Page 4 of 5

5 Teacher s notes and key Level: upper-intermediate advanced. Aims: to practise reading for gist and for detail to work on multi-word verbs from the text to role-play an interview between a journalist and an author. Timing: approximately 2 hours, excluding extension activities. B. Answers: 1. 1c, 2a, 3b 2. a3, b1, c2. C. Answers: Hitch-22 Road of Bones Beatrice and Virgil It is a mixture of fact and fiction. The author has won a book prize. The author is also a journalist. It is about the Second World War. It is highly recommended. It is an unusual, but not very good, book. It contains complicated language. It contains extended metaphor and symbolism with a moral message. D. Answers: he = Hitchens 2. go on = talk too much 2. 1e, 2a, 3h, 4g, 5c, 6d, 7b, 8f hang around 3. turned out 4. packed off 5. held on 6. stirred up 7. break through 8. ran away with. E. This works best if the authors imagine they have written a book that they have read. They can, of course, invent the details about their life and how they write Page 5 of 5

Topical lesson: 29 May 2010 Novel of the week The Last Weekend. Lead-in

Topical lesson: 29 May 2010 Novel of the week The Last Weekend. Lead-in Lead-in Today we are going to look at a book review. 1. There are many different types or genres of books. See if you can complete the spider diagram below with some different genres. romance book genres