CURIOUS PERSPECTIVES 7.3

Reading, analysing, discussing, researching, writing... All centered around Mark Haddon's novel "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" and the 2010 movie "Flipped".

CONTENT

This course focuses on theme, message and style in a novel, in this case Mark Haddon's novel "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time."

We will practise developing and expressing ideas and opinions about the text in different forms, such as conversation, quick question/answer format, short essay questions, and even poetry. 

We also immerse ourselves into the world of this novel by improving our general knowledge of words and concepts mentioned in the text.

We will also look at perspectives in storytelling, specifically as used in the 2010 movie "Flipped", based on the novel by  Wendelin Van Draanen.

TARGET

By the end of the course, you should...

 ...have a good working knowledge of the core text (in order to use it freely and independently in coming tasks).

...recognise a few different types of poetry.

...be able to express a justified opinion on the content, themes, and style of a novel.

...be able to use the target vocabulary from the book correctly.

...be able to summarise, analyse and discuss scenes from the movie and the book.

...be able to identify and relate to today's society the grounds of discrimination addressed in the book.

...be able to express a justified opinion on some of the actions and ideas in the book.

 

ASSESSMENT

The work we do on the book will require you to discuss it in both spoken and written English, and show reading comprehension both on surface and on a deeper level.  

Throughout the course, there will be a number of assignments, tasks and quizzes which serve as learning material in preparation for the final assessment (a written test), but which can also serve as proof of skills and knowledge. The more active you are in class, the greater your chance is of learning and showing that learning.

 

SUCCESS STRATEGIES

• Find your best reading time and place and challenge your reading pace. Read 20-30 minutes at least three times a week. Listen to the audio while you read if you find that it helps.
• Read assignments carefully and make sure you understand the requirements right away.
• Ask questions if you need to. 
• Use the subject chat in Teams to collaborate with your classmates and teacher.
• Participate actively in class.
• Hand in assignments on time.
• Do the homework tasks.
• Use the given complimentary resources (and your own alternatives) if you want to achieve higher results.

 

RESOURCES

Audio of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Full text:

https://elevstockholm-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/claire_mackrory-wrangsjo_edu_stockholm_se/EY43RWoIfC9Pvh2T00BudNABYprwaIFplxQw0AS6bFnZLA?e=JT9P7l

*ADVANCED OPTION (MOTHER TONGUE STUDENTS, STUDENTS WHO HAVE READ THE BOOK ALREADY, OR WHO EXPRESS DESIRE TO SWITCH TEXT)

Uppgifter

AO: Jeanette Winterson: Task 2: Characters

Pick two characters from each book - the main character and one other. Complete the character comparison form. (Two versions - sometimes they don't work to open and write in.)

Character comparison.dotx

Character comparison.docx

AO: Jeanette Winterson: Task 1: Titles & Covers

Titles

• Discuss the two titles. What do they mean - literally and in the context of the stories, as far as you have read them? Look up the words and their etymology and symbolic meanings.
• Write an individual answer summarising your discussion.

Covers

• Look up (online) different covers for these books
• Make a document with 3-4 cover pictures. Write 1) how you understand the choice for each one and 2) which you prefer and why.

Compare Characters (SV)

For Swedish, you are reading Mitt liv som hund. Let's do a cross-over for a moment:

1. Compare the function of the two dogs in your current novels: Laika (from Mitt liv som hund) and Wellington (from The Curious Incident..). Why are they there? In what ways are they important to the main characters?
2. Find and copy a sentence from each book (translate the Swedish) that gives you information about how the characters feel or think about their mothers?
3. Compare the two mothers, based on what you have read so far.

HW: meaning and spelling

Vocabulary:

circular

composition

parallel

flashback

flash forward

chronological

perspectives

sycamore

yard (2 meanings)

synergy

Story Book

You have written a short story or fairy tale, and you are now going to turn it into an illustrated story.

Choose between

1. A PowerPoint slideshow with audio
2. A film (if you know how to).

Flipped questions

• Write answers to three of the questions (choose which ones).
• Discuss the rest with your group.
• Discuss the pictures and how these scenes are symbolic.

HW: Flipped - test prep

There are four parts to your work before the test.

• Reading the text on the pdf (below) HOMEWORK
• Learning the words we have worked with (list below) HOMEWORK
• Thinking about scenes from the movie (below) CAPTIONS (1) HOMEWORK, THE REST (2-6) IN-CLASS WEDNESDAY

WORDS

SCENES

1. Write a caption for each photo. (If you can't remember what a caption is, check your work on news articles.)
2. Then pick one of the photos and write a comment about the importance of that scene.

3. What is the main technique the filmmakers used to tell this story (=what is special about the way in which it is told)? How does this technique help us understand the characters and the message?

4. What is circular composition? Give an example.

5. What does symbolic mean? Give an example of symbols from the book Wonder.

6. What are the worst mistakes Bryce makes?

Extra (if you want to do more): "The whole is more than the sum of its parts." This phrase comes up several times in the movie. It means that there is such a connection among the individual items that it is better than what each one would be individually. This is known as synergy. What do you understand this to mean in the context of the movie? (In what way can you connect the phrase to what happens in the movie?)

READING

1583434710549_flippedexcerpt (2).pdf

https://www.theodysseyonline.com/the-beauty-of-flipped

Flipped tasks

1.    Bryce's grandfather says about Juli, "Some of us get dipped in flat, some in satin, some in gloss.... But every once in a while you find someone who's iridescent, and when you do, nothing will ever compare." What makes Juli iridescent?

2.    Why do Bryce and Juli's feelings for each other flip? Has your opinion about someone ever flipped?

3.    Would you prefer to live in Bryce's family or Juli's family? Why?

4.    4.When Juli and her dad talk about Bryce, her dad tells her to "start looking at the whole landscape." What do you think he means? Does Juli see the whole landscape?

5.    Bryce keeps throwing out Juli's eggs because he doesn't want to tell her the Loskis don't want them. Do you think this was the right thing to do? What would you have done?

6.    Juli tries hard to save the old sycamore tree because she loves it so much. Is there anything you would fight to save like Juli does?

7.    Why has Juli not visited her Uncle David before?

8.    Juli's brothers Matt and Mike say that they don't like "the whole robotron attitude of education. Confine, confute, conform." What do they mean? Is your school like theirs?

9.    Did you like it better when Bryce or Juli told the story? How did hearing from both points of view make you understand what was happening?

10. If the book continued, what do you think would happen to Bryce and Juli?

Flipped test prep

Answer the questions and learn the vocabulary.

Study questions:

1. What is the main technique the filmmakers used to tell this story (=what is special about the way in which it is told)? How does this technique help us understand the characters and the message?
2. What is circular composition? Give an example.
3. What does symbolic mean? Give an example of symbols from the book Wonder.
4. What are the worst mistakes Bryce makes?

• Extra (if you want to do more):"The whole is more than the sum of its parts." This phrase comes up several times in the movie. It means that there is such a connection among the individual items that it is better than what each one would be individually. This is known as synergy. What do you understand this to mean in the context of the movie? (In what way can you connect the phrase to what happens in the movie?) 

Vocabulary:

circular

composition

parallel

flashback

flash forward

chronological

perspectives

sycamore

yard (2 meanings)

synergy

TEST: Winterson

https://sway.office.com/CP5FfbK2XE6DNupn?ref=Link

TEST: Flipped - group discussion option

Submit your film here.

Flipped excerpt and questions

READING TASK

Read the excerpt from the book FLIPPED by Wendelin Van Draanen

• Julie says that she doesn't know what her father meant. Do you?

• And what does he mean by this?

WRITING TASK

Which of the covers below do you prefer and why?

1651223919524_1621588103061_1583434710549_flippedexcerpt(2) (1).pdf

Essay: Flipped

Using your answers from DigiExam Flipped parts 1, 2 & 3, create an essay.

Your essay should include:

Flipped

READING TASK

Read the excerpt from the book FLIPPED by Wendelin Van Draanen

• Julie says that she doesn't know what her father meant. Do you?

• And what does he mean by this?

1621588103061_1583434710549_flippedexcerpt(2).pdf

WRITING TASK

Which of the covers below do you prefer and why?

Poem

Create a word list poem, based on "The Curious Incident.." and showing an understanding of at least one of the important themes or scenes in the text.

Reminder:

https://claireatrodaberg.wixsite.com/english/list-poetry

HW: Peer-editing

For this task, there are three things to do:

1.

Read all stories from your group.

2.

Read your focus text* more carefully and prepare:

• 1 praise point (something they did very well)
• 1 question (clarification of something that could be more clear)
• 1 suggestion (something to improve and an idea how)

3.

Fill in this Forms: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=6SZn45RNd0q-YdRZf0rNAkTZSjr1sCFAjARYx8NdrzpUOVg5UTBWUlVIRTZUMjgxVU1UVTJKRFJVUy4u

*Focus text=You are extra responsible for the text written by the person after you in the group name list. The last person on the list takes the first person. (See illustration below.) If someone (or their story) is absent, focus on the next text.

HW: Reading: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Read to the end of chapter...

• 67 for Thurs 24/2
• 127 for Thurs 10/3
• 167 for Thurs 17/3
• 197 for Thurs 24/3
• 233 (the end) for Thurs 31/3

Here is the book in PDF version.

You can also listen to the book (links below).

Today, read to the end of chapter 5, then answer the questions in Reading Log 1.

PDF full text

curious (1).pdf

Audio versions:

http://esl-bits.net/ESL.English.Learning.Audiobooks/curious.incident.of.the.dog/preview.html

Study questions of a different kind

General knowledge tasks, many of which are practical in nature, matched to points in the book.

Study questions of a different kind

General knowledge tasks, many of which are practical in nature, matched to points in the book.

Do the majority of the questions. Many of them can be done with a friend. Not all of them need to be written down. Keep track of which ones you have done.

Study questions.pdf

HW: Self-assessment - Flipped essay

Rate your essay in the two scoring rubrics.

The Curious Incident: Themes

You have been given this assignment either because you have English as Mother Tongue, or because you need more of a challenge. Use it if/when the other tasks seem too easy.

1) This instruction uses fairly complicated language. Read it carefully. Make a list of what you actually have to do. When you think you know, check the help sheet (CI themes steps) at the bottom of the page. After that, you can start writing.

Discuss as much as you like with your friends while you work, as long as you do so in English, and about the task!

a) VOCABULARY

Before you begin, check that you know the meaning and pronunciation of these words (and the others in bold). If you are unsure, check the file at the below.

concept alien narration antipathy indispensable

c i vocabulary help.docx

b) THEME: TRUTH & LIES

Think about what Christopher says about metaphors and lies and their relationship to novels [pp. 19-25].

Before answering each question, re-write it using simpler language, then answer clearly, using examples from the text as evidence. Use quotation marks and page referencing.

• Why is lying such an alien concept to him? Why is the idea of truth so central to Christopher's narration?
• In his antipathy to lies, Christopher decides not to write a novel, but a book in which "everything I have written . . . is true" [p. 25]. Why do "normal" human beings in the novel, like Christopher's parents, find lies so indispensable?

CI themes steps.pdf

HW: The Monty Hall Problem

Task:

In chapter 101, Christopher's explanation of the Monty Hall problem gives the reader some insight into why he likes math.

Re-read the chapter or watch the video until you fully understand the Monty Hall problem, then open "Kamera" on your computer, and record yourself explaining it to me, without looking at the book, or using any kind of visual support.

Don't worry if you hesitate, have to start over or anything like that. Don't stop the video and start over, just use the very first version. I'm looking for how you manage to get around problems and hesitations, not for a perfect "speech".

Upload the video to Stream and don't forget to give me permission to view and click publish! Then copy and paste the link here.

C.I. Reading Log 1

1. Name two things about the form of this book, that are a bit different from most other books.
2. Why do you think these two things are used? (There are clues in the text.)
3. WHAT have you learned about the main character? Refer to the text.

C.I. Reading Log 2

After chapter 53

1. What number does your name make up if you use Christopher's value number strategy?
2. What is Mark's and Spencer's?
3. What do you know about Christopher's mother?

Audio version here:

C.I. Reading Log 4

1. What do you think about chapter 233, and why?

2. Which part of the book do you think was most [...] and why?

a) funny?

b) sad?

c) scary?

d) interesting?

3. How do the two boys you have read about, Christopher and Ingemar (Mitt liv som hund), compare? How do they change through the course of the novels?

C.I. Reading Log 3

1. Watch this video:

2. Now name a colour you love or hate and write down some things you associate with that colour.

3. Do the page 59 question from "Study questions of a different kind" (write your list here).

4. Do two more questions from the study questions list.

1542464022524_study_questions.pdf

C.I. Reading Log 5

1. Explain what happens regarding Christopher, the letters, his mother and his father. You can either film yourself explaining it, or write an explanation.
2. In your table group, discuss the cow joke Christopher mentions in chapter 188 and how you understand it and what Christopher thinks about it.

C.I. Reading Log 6

1. Re-read chapter 163. Discuss this chapter with your table group. Think about why the chapter is here and what we can learn from it. Compare it to chapter 181 (the cows). How are they similar? What is Christopher really saying about people and about himself. Write down bullet points to help you remember the discussion.
2. On the first page of chapter 193 there is a list. Make you own list for a regular day OR for the most fabulous day ever.

C.I. Reading Log 7

1. Make a list of themes and messages from this book. Work with your table group.
2. Pick your favourite sentence(s) from the book and copy and make a decorative poster using images, backgrounds etc. Save as a pdf and submit here.

Movie reviews

Task 1:

Read the two reviews and compare them.

A https://www.movies4kids.co.uk/reviews/wonder-review/

B https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/nov/12/wonder-review-owen-wilson-julia-roberts

Answer these questions:

1. Which similarities (content, opinions) can you see?
2. Which differences (content, opinions) are there?
3. Which review is more positive? Copy 1-2 postive sentence(s).
4. What negative aspects are mentioned in each one?

Task 2:

If you have time:

• check out this review:

https://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/wonder-julia-roberts-owen-wilson-1202612863/

• See if you can find reviews for Forrest Gump.
• What do you think about watching these movies at school? Write a review on the educational value of film (particularly these two).

TEST: Literary Themes

Homework:

Review your notes and re-read the relevant parts of your book.

• ch. 29
• ch.73
• ch.139
• ch.149
• ch.157
• ch. 227 (from where he finds his mother)

In class:

The tasks below will be prepared.

VOCABULARY

Before you begin, check that you know the meaning and pronunciation of these words (and the others in bold). We discussed most of them in class, but if you are still unsure, look them up.

concept alien narration antipathy indispensable

THEME: TRUTH & LIES

Think about what Christopher says about metaphors and lies and their relationship to novels [pp. 19-25].

Before answering each question, re-write it using simpler language, then answer clearly, using examples from the text as evidence. Use quotation marks and page referencing.

• In his antipathy to lies, Christopher decides not to write a novel, but a book in which "everything I have written . . . is true" [p. 25]. Why is lying such an alien concept to him? Why is the idea of truth so central to Christopher's narration?
• Why do "normal" human beings in the novel, like Christopher's parents, find lies so indispensable?

ci strategies for reading and analysis.pdf

ci strategies for reading and analysis.pdf