Professional Documents
Culture Documents
PENGUIN READERS
Teacher Support Programme
LEVEL 3
Is He Living or Is He Dead?
This story is about a group of struggling artists in France
who trick the public into paying high prices for their
artwork. In an unjust world they find that it is the only
way to make a living.
Passport to Russia
A True Story
A True Story tells of the dreadful life of Twains own family
servant, Aunt Rachel. Despite always seeming jolly and
content, Rachel, we learn, was beaten, sold and separated
from her family. Peoples appearances can often hide great
hardships.
Murder in Connecticut
This is a clever story in which a writers conscience appears
as a monster in his own home. After trying unsuccessfully
to reason with it, the writer decides to trick the monster
and eventually he kills his own conscience. As a result he
becomes a monster himself, living cruelly and selfishly for
the rest of his life.
Summary
This book contains eight short stories written by Mark
Twain. All but two of the stories are set in North America
during the second half of the nineteenth century and they
c Pearson Education Limited 2008
Jim Smiley and his Jumping Frog and Other Stories - Teachers notes of 3
Teachers notes
PENGUIN READERS
Teacher Support Programme
LEVEL 3
A Dogs Life
Discussion activities
After reading
2 Discuss: Talk about the characters.
Have students work in pairs. Have each pair choose
and talk about one of the following characters: Jim
Smiley and Simon Wheeler. Give students the
following questions:
What do you think of him?
Do you like him? Why/why not?
Do you know anyone like him?
After reading
4 Role play: Perform in groups.
Have students work in groups of four or five. They
should look at the picture on page 9 and imagine the
conversation between the young soldiers. Some of the
soldiers want to attack the house and some of the
soldiers dont want to. What do they do? Have
students prepare and act out their own story.
After reading
6 Discuss: Talk about paintings and painters.
Have students discuss in groups.
Paintings are more expensive if the painter is not alive.
Why do you think this is so?
Jim Smiley and his Jumping Frog and Other Stories - Teachers notes of 3
Teachers notes
PENGUIN READERS
Teacher Support Programme
LEVEL 3
Mr. Smith says, Why dont we help them when they are
alive? What do you think?
After reading
8 Write: Write about a coincidence.
Alfred Parrish is saved by a coincidencethe secretary
of the consulate lived in Alfreds family home before
he did. Pre-teach the word coincidence to the class
and ask them to work in pairs to talk about a strange
coincidence in their own lives. Then have them work
individually to write about it. This can be done in
class or as a homework assignment. Finally, ask some
students to read their stories to the rest of the class.
After reading
14 Discuss: Talk about Cornelius Vanderbilt.
Do you think he knew that the letter was a joke?
After reading
After reading
10 Role play: Perform in groups.
Have students work in small groups. They should
imagine that they are different members of Aunt
Rachels family (including Rachel and her husband)
and they have been reunited after the war. They
should ask and answer questions about their different
experiences since they were separated. Encourage
students to use their imagination to make a different
story for each family member.
After reading
Extra activities
17 Research: Find out about famous writers.
Tell students that Mark Twain is one of North
Americas most famous and best-loved writers. Ask
students to tell the rest of the class about a famous
writer from their own country. They should explain
why the writer is famous and give some background
about the types of books he/she wrote and the period
in which the books were written.
18 Pair work: Talk about the pictures in the book.
Put students in pairs. Have each pair choose a picture
from the book and look at it carefully for three
minutes. After three minutes, student A takes the
book and asks student B questions about the picture.
Student B should answer as many questions as
possible without looking at the book.
19 Discuss: Talk about the titles.
Ask students to look at the Contents page. Have them
work in groups to think of a new title for each of the
eight stories. Ask each group to read out their titles
and write them on the board. Then students can
decide which ones are the best.
Vocabulary activities
For the Word List and vocabulary activities, go to
www.penguinreaders.com.
Jim Smiley and his Jumping Frog and Other Stories - Teachers notes of 3