|. Look at lines 1-4. What one thing does the teacher believe that children should learn? Answer: Facts 2. Remind yourself of the definition of the word “vault” (line 5). What does this word suggest to you about what the classroom was like? Answer: To me, It suggests that the school room might be dark, gloomy and underground It might be dusty and derelict. with a scary atmosphere. 3. Look at lines 19-29, Give three short quotations from the passage that indicate that Sissy Jupe is scared. Answer: ‘in a trembling voice’ Sissy Jupe was alarmed’ ‘she said nothing’4. Write down two words of your own that you think sum up the way that the teacher treats Sissy. In each case, explain why you think this. Answer: 1, Word: rudely Explanation: The teacher speaks to Sissy very bluntly, ordering her about with commands such as ‘Give me your definition of a horse’ This Is a rude and aggressive way to speak ii, Word: patronizingly Explanation: The teacher says that ‘Sissy Is not a name; assuming that he knows more about her own name than she does. He also believes that he knows better than her own father and orders Sissy to tell her father to call her ‘Cecilia: This Is very patronizing behaviour. Also, at the end of the passage he says, I'm sure a boy will be able to give me so facts’ which Is very derogatory and patronising to Sissy, who only didnt answer because she was scared and confused.5. On lines 15-16 it says that: “The teacher seemed like a kind of cannon of Facts, prepared to blow children away from the world of fun and imagination in one explosion.” How does the writer use language here to make his description sound frightening and violent? Explain your answer. Answer: The writer uses a simile to compare the teacher to a ‘cannon; which is a powerful and dangerous weapon, Suggesting that the teacher Is preparing to kill the children with cannonballs of facts. He uses powerful verbs like ‘blow which emphasize the aggressiveness of the teacher's behaviour. He also uses powerful nouns like ‘explosion’ which creates a violent image of the children's happy world being blown apart.6. From lines 5-13, the writer describes the teacher's physical appearance ina way that is both frightening and funny. a) How does the writer make the teacher's physical appearance sound very frightening in this section of the text? Find an example and explain how the language in it makes us frightened. b) How does the writer make the teacher's physical appearance sound furnny in this section of the text? Find an example and explain how the language in it makes us laugh Answer: a) Example: “.his eyes were like two dark caves...” Explanation: This simile is frightening because It _makes the teacher appear threatening. We cannot read his eyes which are dark and gloomy like caves In which you might get lost or trapped b) Example: *.....the speakers hair, which bristled on the Side of his bald head like Christmas trees...” Explanation: This simile exaggerates how much the Speaker's hair sticks out, creating a comical image of a man with a Christmas tree stuck to each side of his head Christmas Is usually a happy time, so ifs also funny because the teacher Is trying to look scary, but his hair Just looks like Christmas trees.7) Do you think that the school inspectors will decide that the teacher is doing a good job? Give at least two reasons for your answer. Answer: | think they will decide he Is doing a bad job. This Is because he has made at least one of his students so scared that they are unable to speak or answer his question, which is counterproductive to successful work as @ teacher. In the whole lesson so far, he also hasn't managed to actually teach the class anything - he has just given a long lecture on his teaching style Then again, at least the children are well behaved because they are so frightened - perhaps the inspectors will be pleased by this. 8) In other books, writers have given cruel teachers names like “Miss Trunchbull”, “Mr McChoke-um-child” and “Professor Umbridge”. Make up a name that you think suits the teacher in this passage, and give a reason for your choice. Answer: @ Mr Machine-Gun GD This name highlights how aggressive the teacher Is, and how he frightens the students with his violent way of speaking. It makes him sound like a cruel dictator ruling by force alone.Writers for children often describe really frightening teachers in their books. Invent the scariest teacher you can think of, and describe them on this page. Clue: focus on what they look like, sound like and act ike. Answer: The strangest thing about Mrs Simper was how sweet she first appeared She was a rotund, portly lady, whose ample body was as round and heavy as a Christmas pudding Her buttery blonde hair always sat In a cloud of ribbons and Sparkly hair pins around her face, the style fixed with so much hair-spray t that It was rock-hard to touch Her clothes were an array of pastelcoloured dresses: lavenders, pinks, and blues; with frills and bows attached to every available hern. It was on closer inspection of her face that you began to worry. Although Mrs Simper was always smiling, her smile was as hard and as fixed as her hair, as if the friendly expression was a mask she had to put on every morning. Her teeth were unusually sharp: tiny white daggers that you could easily imagine sinking down into flesh. Furthermore, her eyes were almost too blue. There was a glassiness about them like a doll's hard gaze, and one Stare left any student feeling chilled to the bone. They felt they could see right through Mrs Simper's eyes to her heart - and that there was nothing but emptiness there.When Mrs Simper gave commands in her saccharine voice, children jumped to obey. All her lessons involved doing pointless, fiddly tasks, like folding dollies and arranging potpourrl. Once, a new child dared to ask why on earth half the day was being spent arranging roses Into bouquets. Mrs Simper simply smiled in her menacing, Icy way, and beckoned him with a purple fingernail into her office She took a bunch of roses with her. When the little boy returned to the classroom, the children could see the raised red scratch marks of thorns zigzagging across his arms and legs. From that day on, he learnt never to challenge the horrendous Mrs Simper. Mr Slime was a tall and bony man, as thin as a skeleton and as white as a ghost. His greasy black hair was always Slicked back against his scalp, so neatly that you could see the regular grooves where his comb must have scraped against his skin. His heavily lidded eyes