exactly like
‘going off the rails’
LESSON 3
Focus:Chapter 5
Building character
Learning outcomes
Students will be able to:
Understand more about non-verbal communication
Empathize with the main character
Skim the text to retrieve information
Make predictions about the text
Engage
Put students into pairs. Taking it in turns, they should try out a variety of basic facial expressions which their partner will need to identify. Allow them to do this for a few minutes before handing each student one of the cards from WS 3a. Students must now act out the expression on their card for their partners, without using any words or moving their lips.
When the exercise is complete, ask students to consider how easy they found it to communicate using only their body language. What non-verbal means did they use? Gestures? Posture? Facial expression?
Explore
Follow on from the work with body language by reminding the class that Ted has problems understanding it in The London Eye Mystery. Ask students to look again at the evidence they gathered about Ted’s character in Lesson 2. Students now know that Ted’s brain works differently to other people’s – do they have any ideas why this might be? Introduce Asperger’s Syndrome, using the fact file on WS 3b.
Read Chapter 5, where Ted talks to Salim about how his brain works and how he feels about it. Then distribute the Reading Guide, and ask students to look at the list of advantages and disadvantages of Ted’s condition on page 8. Again in pairs, ask them to discuss Ted’s syndrome. Do they think the pros outweigh the cons or vice versa? They should add to the list of advantages and disadvantages if necessary, using the evidence in Chapter 5 (for example, one disadvantage is that Ted is teased at school). Remind students that people with Asperger’s may have above-average intelligence and be gifted in some way. How does Ted hope to use his special talents?
Transform
Students will now gather the information they have about Ted’s character and his condition into a homepage for him on a social networking site. They could use the outline on page 9 of the Reading Guide to help them, or they could follow a different format if they prefer. They will need to include the following information:
Ted’s likes and dislikes
his hobbies
his friends.
Students should be creative in completing the profile. They could draw or search for images Ted may have added to his photo albums, add websites or social networking pages Ted may have ‘liked’, messages on his wall from other characters, etc.
Students could also consider what Ted might ‘tweet’ if he used a social networking facility like Twitter. They could write tweets (messages in 140 characters or fewer) from both before and during Gloria and Salim’s visit and keep their ‘feed’ updated as the novel progresses. This will allow them to further empathize with Ted, and attempt to write in the character’s ‘voice’.
Review and reflect
Once they have completed their profiles, invite students to share them with the class. Consider what we as readers already know about Ted, and how this may help him solve Salim’s disappearance later in the novel.
Homework
Challenge students to write a similar social networking profile for either Kat or Salim, using the evidence they have found in the novel so far. They can add to this information as the book progresses.
Worksheet 3a
Non-verbal language
I am very cold.
My tooth hurts.
Where is my book?
I need to go to
the toilet.
Can you scratch
my back?
What time is it?
There’s a spider on your shoulder!
I am feeling
very tired.
I’ve cut my finger.
I need help lifting this chair.
I love you.
Could you lend me some money?
I’m bored.
I’ve forgotten my glasses.
Can I borrow your pencil?
I win!
Worksheet 3b
Fact File: Asperger’s Syndrome
Asperger’s Syndrome is a condition which affects a person’s ability to interact with others.
People with Asperger’s:
usually follow repetitive patterns of behaviour and interests
may seem obsessed with one subject and gather a lot of information on that subject
often struggle to know how to start or end a conversation
may talk at length about a subject that doesn’t appear to interest their listener
may struggle to make friends
tend to use language literally
struggle to understand the feelings of others or to recognize their reactions
can have difficulty with non-verbal communication like eye contact, facial expression, posture and gesture
often seem awkward in social situations.
A person with Asperger’s Syndrome may understand the emotions of others in a theoretical way, but may struggle to act on this understanding in real life. This can make them seem insensitive.
LESSON 4
Focus:Chapters 6–8
Narrative structure/Building suspense
Learning outcomes
Students will be able to:
Skim and scan text to retrieve information
Identify the structure and organization of text
Identify how the narrator develops character, creates suspense and moves the plot forward
Engage
Ask whether any of the students have been on the London Eye. If they have, invite them to share their experiences, and ask the class what they know about the Eye.
Distribute the Reading Guide. On page 10, students will find a fun match-up activity on the London Eye. Working in pairs or small groups, they should try to match up each of the questions with the right answers (if possible, allow them Internet access to research their answers or print out information from the website, although answers can also be found through a process of deduction). Give them a time limit to do this.
Answers: 1d; 2e; 3j; 4h; 5f; 6c; 7b; 8i (this figure may have changed since publication); 9g; 10a.
Explore
Explain to students that the chapters they will be looking at today are those in which Salim’s disappearance takes place on the London Eye. This is a key moment in the novel. How do they think an author might write a scene such as this one? Remind them that authors use writing techniques to retain a reader’s interest, in particular by building up tension and suspense.
As a class, compile a list of the ways that a writer might build up tension and suspense in a scene. These could include: