B1+ UNITS 9 and 10 Literature teacher\'s notes

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Literature teacher’s notes

B1+

Units

The Rock and the Bubble by Louisa M Alcott   Before reading 1 Ask students to raise their hand if they have heard of Louisa M Alcott. Put students into pairs and ask them to discuss the questions about her. (They should be able to make educated guesses about most of the questions.) Students can check answers with another pair, but don’t check answers as a class yet. 2 Students read the About the author box on page 1 of their worksheet and check their answers. Go through them as a class.

Answers 1 She was an author and poet. 2 She lived in the 19th century – 1832 to 1888. 3 She was American. 4 Little Women (and Little Men and Jo’s Boys) 5 She was unmarried and a feminist. 3 Explain that students are going to read a poem she wrote about the sea. Ask them to stay in the same pairs and to brainstorm as many words connected with the sea as they can. Elicit ideas and build up a list on the board.

EXTRA ACTIVITY You could extend this into a pyramid activity. Pairs make their list, then join with another pair to compare and add to their list. Groups join together to create a master list.

  While reading 1 Ask students to read the poem. They can refer to the Vocabulary focus box for words they don’t know. They should see how many of the words on their list in the Before reading section, exercise 3 are in the poem. Ask if they can find any other words for the sea. Go through the answers together and check they understand all the words.

Answers sea, waves, sailing, floats, waters, blue, shore, foam, spray, rippling, sea-birds, ocean

2 Read aloud the main events from the poem and explain these are in a jumbled order. Students should match each event with the correct verse or verses. Point out that each event may match with more than one verse. You could put students into pairs. Ask one student in the pair to do the task for events a, b, d, f and to look at the first half (verses 1–10) only. The other student does the task for events c, e, g, h and looks at the second half (verses 11–20) only.

Answers a verses 7–10  ​b verse 2  ​c verses 12–15  ​d verses 3–6  ​ e  verses 17–20  ​f verse 1  ​g verse 11  ​h verse 16 3 Students now focus on the characters of the rock and the bubble. Explain that there are many adjectives used to describe both – from their own viewpoints and from others’ viewpoints (the sea-birds and the waves). Refer them to the table and ask them to complete it with the relevant adjectives. When you check answers, focus on the meaning of the words. Elicit whether each one is positive or negative and establish that the bubble has many negative personality traits (although it thinks the opposite) and that the rock has many positive personality traits.

Answers how the bubble describes itself

fair (meaning beautiful), airy, bright, queen of the ocean

how others describe the bubble

headstrong, rude, vain, violent

how the rock describes itself

sturdy

how the bubble describes the rock

ugly, rough, cruel

how others describe the rock

steadfast (meaning not changing your opinions or actions), true (meaning loyal), strong, cheerful, kind, firm against wrong

4 Now focus on the mood of the poem. Put students into pairs to discuss the questions about the mood at the beginning and end, and where it changes and how. Discuss answers as a class.

Answers 1 The mood is cheerful and happy – words that describe this include: dancing merrily, gayly cry, Ho! (a happy and informal way to greet someone), said pleasantly. 2 The mood is more serious and sombre. 3 The mood changes around verse 12 when the bubble becomes angry: Who angrily cried, You SHALL move, You ugly, rough rock, Be silent, Stop laughing.

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Literature teacher’s notes   After reading 1 Ask a confident student to summarise the main events of the poem for the class (or, if you feel your class needs extra support, you could do this): A bubble meets a rock and asks the rock to move. When the rock says it can’t, the bubble becomes aggressive and tries to get past. In doing so, it bursts. Remind students that at the end, the birds tell their babies to learn a lesson from this. Tell students that when there is a lesson to be learned from a story, this is known as a moral. Ask them to tell you what the moral of the story is (it doesn’t pay to be stubborn/being stubborn can have negative consequences). 2 Refer students to the first two verses. Ask a volunteer to read them out. Elicit whether they rhyme and ask students to underline the words that rhyme. Elicit which lines in each verse rhyme. Students could read the information in the About the poem box at this stage if they haven’t already. Point out that this is a traditional format for poems.

Answers sea/merrily; by/cry The second and fourth lines rhyme.

  CULTURAL INFORMATION This poem follows a traditional rhyme scheme called abcb. This means that the second and fourth lines rhyme. It also contains end rhyming – that is, the end words in those lines are the ones that rhyme. It contains examples of true rhymes and light rhymes: true rhymes are where the final vowel and consonant sounds of rhyming words match exactly (e.g. cried–pride), whereas in words that are light rhymes, one of the words involves rhyming a stressed syllable with secondary stress (e.g. sea–merrily; sea–pleasantly – the rhyme is on the secondary stress ly in both of the longer words).

B1+

Units

3 Students are now going to write two verses of their own about two unusual objects meeting. First, look at the list of words they could use together. Ask students to try and think of one or more words that rhyme with each one. Students can do this in pairs if you prefer. Discuss their ideas together and share ideas on the board.

Possible answers meet – eat, greet, seat see/sea/tree – be, he, me, knee, pea, tea, key walk – talk, fork, hawk (a type of bird) say – bay, day, way, away, ray lake – make, take, fake, cake land – hand, understand, sand, band wood – could, should, good place/space – face, chase moon – spoon, tune, dune, noon 4 Students work individually now to note some ideas for their poem. Remind them that it should be about two unusual objects meeting. Ask them to make notes in the relevant sections. 5 Students now write their verses. Monitor and help with language as needed. Point out they can use the rhyming words in exercise 3, any rhyming words from the poem, or their own ideas. When they have finished, they can either post them on the wall for everyone to read, or volunteers can take turns reading their verses out to the rest of the class.

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