Practising FCE writing part 2 short story

Write up or show the following questions:  How many books do you read a year?. Individually, students read the extract from the novel, ignoring the gaps, to check their ideas.. Student

A TEACHER’S NOTES 2

A1 Lesson Plan 2

A2 Classroom Handout 1 6

A3 Classroom Handout 2 7

A5 Answer keys 8

A6 Suggested homework/self-study activities 10

B GUIDANCE FOR FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES 12

A TEACHER’S NOTES

Description

Time required: 60 minutes

Materials

required:

 Copy of the cover of “No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” by Alexander

McCall Smith - you can find this on the internet

 Classroom Handout 1 (one copy per student)

 Classroom Handout 2 (one copy per student)

Aims:  To review narrative tenses in preparation for writing a story

 To review the use of modifiers with gradable and non-gradable

adjectives

1 Introduce the topic of reading Write up or show the following questions:

 How many books do you read a year?

 Do you enjoy reading? Or do you just read for work or study?

 Are you reading a book at the moment? Would you recommend it? Why/why not?

 Do you prefer to buy a book or to borrow it?

 Have you ever read the book and seen the film of the same story? Which was better, the book or the film?

 Have you read any books which are set in a different country or an interesting place? Give details

Students walk around the class and interview their classmates about their reading habits They should try to find the person whose reading habits are the most similar to theirs Feed back briefly

Timing: 5 minutes

2 Show a copy of the cover of the novel on an OHT or IWB Dictate or write the following

questions on the board:

a) What does this book cover show?

b) Where do you think the story takes place?

c) What do you think the main character does?

Learners discuss the questions in pairs Monitor, then feed back briefly with the whole

class Do not accept or reject any ideas yet (See A5 Answer keys.)

Timing: 3 minutes

3 Give out A3 Classroom Handout 2

Individually, students read the extract from the novel, ignoring the gaps, to check their ideas Remind them to read quickly to find the answers to questions a) and b) and not to worry about unknown vocabulary at this stage

Check answers in pairs before feeding back with the whole class

Timing: 5 minutes

4 Ask students to focus on the gaps Elicit what kind of word is needed to complete all of

the gaps (they are all verbs) Check students comprehension of the verbs given in

brackets (do not discuss the meaning of any other words at this stage) Elicit when the

story takes place (the past) Brainstorm quickly the different ways of talking about the past that students know, with an example of each different form (past simple, past

continuous, past perfect, present perfect simple, present perfect continuous)

Students work individually or in pairs to complete each of the spaces with the

appropriate past form of the verb given Monitor, helping them with guiding questions as required Students compare their answers in pairs or in small groups, discussing how they came to their decisions

Go through the answers with the whole class (See A5 Answer keys.)

Timing: 10 minutes

5 Focus students’ attention on gaps (0), (4), (9), (10), (11), (12) and (16) Elicit the tense of

the verbs in these gaps, and its form Ask:

When did these events take place?

a) before the beginning of the story

b) before the other events described in this extract

Focus students’ attention on the verbs in the rest of the extract Ask: Do these describe events in the same order they happened, or a different order?

Discuss why the writer uses these different ways of talking about the past in the same

extract (See A5 Answer keys.)

Timing: 5 minutes

6 Focus students on the highlighted vocabulary Working with the whole class, ask

students look at the words in context and guess their meaning before giving the

definition Give or elicit alternative examples of the words in sentences Model

pronunciation Check for any other vocabulary that students have problems with (See

A5 Answer keys.)

Timing: 5 minutes

7 Write or show the following questions on the board or IWB:

 What’s your impression of Mma Ramotswe?

 What’s your impression of the lawyer?

 Do you think Mma Ramotswe’s business is likely to do well? Why/ Why not? Students discuss the questions in groups of 3 or 4 and then get brief feedback about their ideas

Timing: 3–5 minutes

8 Discuss briefly the use of dialogue in the extract How can dialogue make a story more

interesting? E.g., it is more involving; it changes the pace and so makes the story more interesting to read; it adds a voice to the characters

Ask students to turn over their handouts Dictate or write the following sentence on the board with no punctuation If dictating, try not to indicate where the punctuation is with your voice

i have got a lot of money for you he said your fathers herd had grown and grown

Individually or in pairs, students write out the sentence with the correct punctuation

They should check together before asking a student to write it on the board (See A5

Answer keys.)

Highlight that inverted commas go outside any other punctuation, e.g full stops,

commas, question marks, etc Inverted commas can be single i.e ‘ ’ or double “ _”

Timing: 5 minutes

9 Ask students to look back at the last line of the extract, and the lawyer’s question In

pairs, they write a short continuation of the dialogue using the correct punctuation Encourage them to be creative and to make the dialogue come alive For example,

instead of using he/she said, they can use she replied angrily, she answered, whispered,

etc Monitor and help as necessary

When the dialogues are finished, invite pairs to perform their dialogues to the rest of the class

Give out A4 Classroom Handout 3 Students read the second extract to see how Mma

Ramotswe responded to the lawyer

Timing: 10–15 minutes

10 Tell students that they are going to write a story ending with the sentence: It was the best decision of my life Elicit the key words in the question, i.e the best decision In

groups, students make a list of decisions they have taken and the story behind each one, or ideas for apparently risky decisions (like Mma Ramotswe’s) which could turn out right Students can then choose the most interesting one to use as the basis for their

story Alternatively, they can write about Mma Ramotswe’s story, imagining how her detective agency turns out

Explain that in their stories they must:

 Use a range of past tenses, especially trying to use past perfect to good effect

 Have some effective dialogue

Allow a few minutes for each student to work individually to make some notes about the content of the story they have chosen and how they are going to include a range of tenses and dialogue Monitor, feeding in ideas as necessary

Students will write their stories for homework (instructions on A4 Classroom Handout

3)

Timing: 5–10 minutes

A2 Classroom Handout 1

Read the extract and check your ideas Ignore the gaps

Mma Ramotswe (0) had thought it would not be easy to open a detective agency People always (1) (make) the mistake of thinking that starting a business (2) (be) simple and then (3) (find) that there were all sorts of hidden problems and

unforeseen demands She (4) (hear) of people opening businesses that lasted four

or five weeks before they (5) (run out of) money or stock, or both It (6) (be) always more difficult than you (7) (think) it would be

She (8) (go) to the lawyer in Pilane, who (9) (arrange) for her to get her father’s money He (10) (organise) the sale of the cattle, and (11) (get) a

good price for them

‘I have got a lot of money for you,’ he said ‘Your father’s herd (12) (grow) and

grown.’

She (13) (take) the cheque and the sheet of paper that he (14) (hand) her It was more than she (15) (imagine) possible But there it (16) (be)- all that money, (17) (make) payable to Precious Ramotswe, on presentation to Barclay’s

Bank of Botswana

‘You can buy a house with that,’ said the lawyer ‘And a business.’

‘I am going to buy both of those.’

The lawyer (18) (look) interested ‘What sort of business? A store? I can give you

advice, you know.’

‘A detective agency.’

The lawyer (19) (look) blank

‘There are none for sale There are none of those.’

Mma Romatswe (20) (nod) ‘I know that I am going to have to start from scratch.’ The lawyer (21) (wince) as she spoke ‘It’s easy to lose money in business,’ he said ‘Especially when you don’t know anything about what you are doing.’ He (22) (stare) at her hard ‘Especially then And anyway, can women be detectives? Do you think

they can?’

The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith, © Birlinn Limited

A3 Classroom Handout 2

Read the second extract to check your predictions

‘Why not?’ said Mma Ramotswe She had heard that people did not like lawyers, and now she thought she could see why This man was so certain of himself, so utterly convinced What had it to do with him what she did? It was her money, her future

Homework

You have been asked to write a story for your student magazine The story must end with the following words

It was the best decision of my life

Write your story

Write your answer in 120–180 words in an appropriate style

A5 Answer keys

A2 Classroom Handout 1

a) Students’ own description

b) The story is set in Botswana, Africa

c) The main character, Precious Ramotswe, wants to set up her own business – a detective agency

A3 Classroom Handout 2

Answers underlined Alternative acceptable answers given in brackets

Mma Ramotswe (0) had thought that it would not be easy to open a detective agency People always (1) made the mistake of thinking that starting a business (2) was (would be) simple and then (3) found that there were all sorts of hidden problems and unforeseen demands She (4) had heard of people opening businesses that lasted four or five weeks before they (5) ran out of money or stock, or both It (6) was always more difficult than you (7) thought it would be

She (8) went (had gone) to the lawyer at Pilane, who (9) had arranged for her to get her father’s money He (10) had organised the sale of the cattle, and (11) had got a good price for them

‘I have got a lot of money for you,’ he said ‘Your father’s herd (12) had grown (has grown) and grown.’

She (13) took the cheque and the sheet of paper that he (14) handed her It was more than she (15) had imagined possible But there it (16) was - all that money, (17) made payable to Precious Ramotswe, on presentation to Barclay’s Bank of Botswana

‘You can buy a house with that,’ said the lawyer ‘And a business.’

‘I am going to buy both of those.’

The lawyer (18) looked interested ‘What sort of business? A store? I can give you advice, you know.’

‘A detective agency.’

The lawyer (19) looked blank

‘There are none for sale There are none of those.’

Mma Romatswe (20) nodded ‘I know that I am going to have to start from scratch.’

The lawyer (21) winced as she spoke ‘It’s easy to lose money in business,’ he said

‘Especially when you don’t know anything about what you are doing.’ He (22) stared (was staring) at her hard ‘Especially then And anyway, can women be detectives? Do you think they can?’

A1 Lesson Plan Step 5

The verb in gaps (0), (4), (9), (10), (11), (12) and (16) is past perfect simple Its form is had + past participle

b) These events took place before the other events described in this extract

The verbs in the rest of the extract describe events in the same order they happened

The writer uses these different ways of talking about the past in the same extract in order to condense the events and to give information which is relevant at a specific point of the story

It also makes the story more interesting to read, as we don’t always think about events in the past in a linear way

A1 Lesson Plan Step 6

hidden= most people do not know about it or understand it

unforeseen= not expected

cattle= large farm animals kept for their milk or meat; cows and bulls

herd= a large group of animals of the same type that live and feed together; a herd of

cattle/elephants/goats

store= (UK) e.g a department store, a large shop where you can buy many different types of

goods

(US) any type of shop e.g a convenience store

blank= showing no emotion, or no sign of understanding something or recognising someone from scratch= from the beginning, without using anything that already exists

(These definitions are from the Cambridge Dictionary Online http://dictionary.cambridge.org/)

A1 Lesson Plan Step 8

‘I have got a lot of money for you,’ he said ‘Your father’s herd had grown and grown.’

A6 Suggested homework/self-study activities

1 Use the extract to work on vocabulary, especially modifiers/intensifiers

Look at the second extract on A4 Classroom Handout 3 Find the phrase utterly

convinced What does utterly mean here? Adverbs are often used to intensify the

meaning of adjectives In each of the following sentences, two adverbs are possible and one is incorrect Cross out the incorrect adverb

Example: I thought the book was absolutely / very / really brilliant

1 I’ve just read a totally / a terribly / an utterly amazing book

2 The film of The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency was pretty / absolutely / quite good,

but the book was better

3 Mma Ramotswe was fairly / very / completely optimistic about her business

4 It must be incredibly / really / totally hard to write a book

5 It would be terribly / absolutely / quite dangerous to travel on your own in Africa

Answers:

Utterly = completely

Incorrect adverbs

1 terribly

2 absolutely

3 completely

4 totally

5 absolutely

2 Students can find an extract of many writers’ work by searching on the internet They

can type in the author’s name + extract (e.g Alexander McCall Smith extract) Set them some generic questions, e.g.:

 Who are the main characters?

 What’s your impression of them?

 Where is the story taking place?

 What do you think is going to happen?

Students then focus on the use of verbs and dialogue in the extract They can bring their extract to class, or post it to the class blog for others to read

3 Encourage learners to always plan stories as carefully as other types of text

Planning your story:

Decide which are the key words in the question

Think of a general outline for your story

Organise your ideas into paragraphs, using a variety of past tenses, linking words, and wide range of vocabulary including some dialogue to make it more exciting

Remember to write between 120 and 180 words

Remember to check your work when you have finished, it can be difficult to understand a story if the verb tenses are wrong

Opening:

Set the scene

Main Events:

One or two paragraphs on what happened Do not write about too many events

Ending:

The best decision Don’t forget to end with the exact words in the question