PASSAGE ONE

  Dennis Hatter
PASSAGE TWO
  Alice Beaumont
They can sense your fear.
That was one of the first things he had been taught.
Show no weakness.
He stopped shuffling the papers on his new desk and stood a little
straighter.
You don’t need their respect, or their trust … the only thing you need from
the little animals is their obedience.
The scornful voice of his educational psychology professor echoed round
his head. He had disagreed with his professor on a lot of things – which
was why he had spent his summer interning at a psychiatric counseling
center for troubled teens, getting enough extra credit to graduate. But he
had graduated – barely. And now he was going to prove his professor
wrong. These kids needed a helping hand, not an iron fist.
Right now, though, his hand was shaking: the hallway sounded like it had
been invaded by a thunderous, excitable horde of wild beasts. Hurriedly
erasing his illegible scrawl, he carefully rewrote his name on the large
board at the front of the class. Joined up and loopy, it looked like an
example exercise from an elementary school handwriting book. Mr.
Hatter. His professor hadn’t considered the challenge of filling high-
schoolers with fear when your name sounded like something from Alice in
Wonderland. But, despite his nerves, he was looking forward to the
moment they came through the rabbit hole.
They were his first ever class; what happened in this classroom could
determine their lifelong attitude to literature and set the tone for his whole
career. A small voice at the back of his head told him he was aiming too
high, putting too much pressure on himself, as usual. But Dennis Hatter
had wanted to be a teacher for as long as he could remember and he
wasn’t going to mess it up. As his father, a used car salesman, used to love
saying: you only get one chance to make a first impression.
The bell rang and Dennis’s trembling fingers dropped the board pen. As it
rolled under the desk, he found himself on his hands and knees staring at a
stampede of size 10 designer sneakers, bright high-tops, thick-soled
boots, and sparkly ballet flats. He could just imagine his professor rolling
his eyes.
She forced a bright smile onto her face. She had been up at 5am,
curling her hair, carefully choosing her outfit, going over her cover
story – again and again. She had to be perfect. Hairspray, makeup,
fashion… these tools were her armor. These and the little bottle of
pink pills she hid so well even the servants wouldn’t find them.
Show no weakness.
“Alice! Ali!” A shrill streak of platinum blonde hurled itself at her,
nearly knocking Ali into a locker. Ali hugged Dana with relief: her
best friend was thrilled to see her – which meant she didn’t know.
And if the biggest gossip in school didn’t know… Ali might be safe.
“Thank god you’re back,” Dana sighed, dramatic as ever, “I can’t
believe you had to spend the whole summer with your grandparents
– even if they did take you to Europe. Please tell me you at least
managed to sneak away long enough to get into some trouble?”
Dana wiggled perfectly plucked eyebrows. Ali didn’t even blink.
“Obviously…” the lie sliding off her tongue, “Italian boys are so worth
getting into trouble for. And Greek and Spanish and French…”
Dana’s eyes were wide. “I knew it! I want to know everything.”
Linking her arm with Ali’s, they followed the swarm of chattering
students into the classroom, the river of bodies parting to let their
queen bees through. Ali felt her shoulders relax; this was her
school, these were her subjects, summer was behind her and –
most importantly – nobody knew where she’d really been.
A mop of curly hair popped up from behind the teacher’s desk.
“Who is that?” Dana whispered as Ali froze. The man stood
awkwardly, correcting the wire-rimmed glasses that sat skewed on
his familiar face. No makeup could mask Ali’s panic. She knew
exactly who she was looking at: the one person who could still end
her reign.

Great start.
© Stacey Lloyd 2015   © Stacey Lloyd 2015  
 Passage ONE Dennis Hatter

GIVING YOUR OPINION

LET’S GET THE FACTS STRAIGHT 1. Do you agree that teachers only need their students’ obedience? Explain why or why not.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. Briefly describe the main character of this passage.
_______________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Where did Mr. Hatter spend his summer, and why?
2. Do you agree with the idea that first impressions are so important? Explain.
_______________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Is he an experienced teacher? Explain how you know.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
3. Do you feel sympathy for Mr. Hatter? Explain why or why not.
4. Where is Mr. Hatter when his students enter the classroom? __________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________
If you were to give this passage a title, it would be...
_______________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________
How has Dennis’s professor influenced his first day?
Describe
Hatter looks
what you
think Mr.

like:

MAKING Inferences
GIVE A REASON FOR YOUR OPINION
words In your opinion, 1. Why do you think he ‘stood a little taller’?
which describe Dennis Hatter will be ... ________________________________________________________
his emotions q  a very good teacher.
(tick as many as apply)

© Stacey Lloyd 2015

________________________________________________________
_____________________________     q  a terrible teacher.
q  an irrational teacher. 2. How can you tell that Dennis is nervous?
_____________________________     q  a very caring teacher. (give two reasons)
_____________________________   q  a lazy teacher. ________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Figurative Language

QUOTE TECHNIQUE EXPLAIN THE EFFECT

________________________________________________________
“...not an iron
fist.”
GRAMMAR/LANGUAGE Questions
1. Explain the occasional use of italics.
Verbal Irony _______________________________________________________________________________

?
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________  

Allusion 2. What is the name & function of the three dots on the
6th line? ________________________________________________________________
ANALYZING

“...sounded like it had _______________________________________________________________________________  

been invaded by a 3. A synonym for ‘scornful’: 4. An antonym for ‘illegible’:
thunderous, excitable
horde of wild animals.” ______________________________________   _______________________________________  
 Passage TWO Alice Beaumont

Write her status at the beginning of the school day.

1. Briefly describe the main character of this passage.

Imagine Alice has FACEBOOK.

1. Why might she have a ‘bottle of pink pills’?
_______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________

MAKING Inferences
2. Why was Alice up at 5am? ______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Does she come from a wealthy or poor family.
Explain how you know.
3. Where does Alice say she was all summer?
______________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
4. Why is Alice relieved when Dana hugs her?
3. Where might she have actually been over the
______________________________________________________________________________________ summer?
5. How does Alice react to seeing the teacher? ______________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________
4. Why does she react the way she does when
GIVING YOUR OPINION

1. Is Alice the sort of girl you would be friends with? she sees the teacher?
Explain why or why not. ______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
1 QUESTION
you’d ask Alice Beaumont

© Stacey Lloyd 2015

2. Do you sympathize with Alice? Why or why not? If you met her.

“
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________ Show no _______________________________________
If you were to give this passage a title, it would be...

____________________________________________________________________

weakness. _______________________________________

”
______________________________________________________________________________
3. Do you agree that one should never show weakness?
Explain why or why not. UNPACKING THE Metaphors
COMPARED TO...

EFFECT EFFECT EFFECT

Her makeup,
______________________________________________________________________________
hairspray and
______________________________________________________________________________ clothes
______________________________________________________________________________ Alice and COMPARED TO...
Dana’s status
GRAMMAR/LANGUAGE Questions in class
1. Explain the use of dashes either side of ‘most importantly’. The parting of COMPARED TO...
_____________________________________________________________________________________ the students in
the hall
2. In ‘wire-rimmed’, is this a hyphen or dash? What is its function?
_____________________________________________________________________________________ A quote to show that Alice and Dana hold
Words which describe Alice’s changing emotions

“
positions of high social status:
in this passage:
3.
  Any three compound nouns:  
___________________________  /___________________________  /___________________________  
4. Why is ‘Europe’ capitalized?
_____________________________________________________________________________________