Lesson Plan
Cambridge
Starter level Starter/Beginner
A Little Trouble in California Richard MacAndrew
Aims
■ To make students interested in the book.
■ To introduce some of the main characters from
the book.
■ To give students the opportunity to do some
simple creative writing.
NB You may find that many of the activities described
below can be exploited better in your students’ own
language or mother tongue if you speak it. The mother
tongue, if used carefully as a resource, can facilitate
your students’ progress in English and help them to
understand the context of the story, thus preparing them
to understand it better when they read it.
Pre-reading Activities
1 Tell students that the title of the book is A Little
Trouble in California and ask them to look at
Illustration 1 (the cover of the book). If possible also
show them a copy of the book so they can see the
colours. Tell students that the people on the cover
are called Andy and Mary, who are teenagers. Elicit
what the cover and the title make students expect.
Possible answers: Andy and Mary are the two main
characters of the story, they will get into trouble, the
story takes place by the sea in a beautiful place.
2 Elicit and/or teach some descriptive vocabulary
to describe the picture on the cover and write
suggestions up on the board. Students may use their
dictionaries if they wish.
Possible answers: sunset, silhouette, beach, calm
sea, buildings, colour of fire, fence.
3 Ask half the class to look at Illustration 2, and the
other half to look at Illustration 3. Now ask students
to make some notes about what they think is
happening in their illustration, what the mood is,
how people are feeling etc.
Possible answers: Illustration 2 – It is Mary and
Andy’s birthdays. They are thirteen. They are
sitting with their mother and father on the sofa and
everyone is happy as the two open gifts. Illustration
3– the family is outside on the beach. Andy and
Mary have done something to make their parents
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Lesson plan Experience
Readers
angry and worried. Their father is angry and
everything is very serious.
Now pair students who have studied Illustration
2 up with students who have studied Illustration
3. Ask each pair member to share their notes and
then to discuss and write down what they think has
happened in the time between Illustration 2 and
Illustration 3. Feedback to the whole class. How
similar are everyone’s ideas?
4 Ask students to write captions for both illustrations
and then ask them to vote for their favourite. They
should not vote for their own caption.
5 Ask students to read Extract 1 and then to talk
about it with a partner and make notes. They
should answer the following questions: What is
happening? What is the man doing? What is going
to happen next? They will be able to get some of the
information from the text, but will also have to use
ideas of their own.
6 Tell students to use their notes from What is going to
happen next? to continue writing the scene.
7 Ask students to read Extract 2 and to make notes
about what the extract tells us about Mary and
Andy.
Possible answers: They don’t tell their parents
everything if they think they will get into trouble.
Mary doesn’t get scared easily. Andy doesn’t tell
his sister what he thinks but her ideas worry him
sometimes.
8 Ask students to read Extract 3 where information
about turtles is included in dialogue between the
characters. Now ask students to choose an animal
and to use their dictionaries and/or books/the
Internet to find out some vocabulary and facts
about it. Next, students write some simple dialogue
between two characters (they can be Andy and
Mary). The dialogue should include some of the
vocabulary and information they have found out
about their animal.
9 Ask students to look at Extract 4, which is a mixed
up scene of A Little Trouble in California. Tell them
to put the scene in the right order.
PHOTOCOPIABLE
 Answer: 9, 7, 10, 4, 3, 5, 12, 2, 8, 1, 11, 6.
Alternatively, you could photocopy this extract
several times and cut it up in pieces (so that there
are enough for each student to have a piece of the
scene). Ask students to walk around the room until
they have found people who have the same extract
as them – NB they are not allowed to show their
pieces of paper to anyone, they must read them out.
The next task is for these groups to circulate together
to try to identify the correct order of the scene. The
groups should then stand in the right order and take
it in turns to read out their extract.
10 Ask students to look at Illustration 4. Now divide the
class into two groups – Group A and Group B. Each
group should now write some thought or speech
bubbles for Andy and Mary; Group A’s should be
humorous and Group B’s dramatic. Share with the
whole class.
Post-reading Activities
1 Tell students to talk to a partner about their
favourite part of the book.
2 Ask students to imagine they are journalists
attending a press conference following the arrest
of Officer McMahon. Andy, Mary, their parents
and Daryl are all there. Students should think of
questions to ask them. Act out the press conference.
3 Ask students to write a short newspaper article with
the title Turtles Saved!
4 Ask students to write a short list of questions about
the events of the book and then get them to try them
out on another student to test what they remember.

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Extract 1 My notes
Mary starts taking some photos. Andy is looking out to
sea and listening to his MP3 player.
Then the man sees Mary.
‘Hey! What are you doing?’ he shouts.
‘Nothing,’ says Mary.
‘You’re taking photos of me,’ he says and starts walking up
the beach.
‘I’m just taking pictures of the beach,’ says Mary.
‘Come here!’ says the man.
‘I don’t like this,’ Mary says to Andy. ‘Come on! Run!’
But Andy doesn’t hear Mary or the man.
‘Andy!’ shouts Mary. ‘Quick! Run!’
Andy looks up and sees the man’s face.
He turns and runs fast after Mary.
Extract 2
They run away from Darryl and back to the house.
‘Don’t say anything to Mum and Dad,’ Mary tells Andy.
‘OK,’ answers Andy.
They go into the house.
‘Hi, Mum! Hi, Dad!’ they say.
‘It’s time for bed,’ says David.
‘But, Dad-’ starts Mary.
‘No “buts”,’ says Ellen.
In their bedroom, Mary says, ‘I want to go back to that
beach tomorrow.’
‘Oh no!’ thinks Andy. But he doesn’t say anything.’
Extract 3
‘I love turtles,’ says Andy. ‘Do you know – they swim over
eleven thousand kilometres to get here?’
‘And some people eat them,’ laughs Mary.
‘Mary!’ says Ellen. ‘Stop it!’
Andy laughs too.

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Extract 4 My notes
1 ‘I’m going to look down here,’ she says and turns right.
Andy waits for her. Then he hears her.
2 They run up the street and turn left. And then they stop.
They can’t see the car.
3 Andy stops running.
4 The car drives away and turns right. Andy and Mary run
after the car. The car turns left.
5 ‘He’s in the car, Mary,’ he says. ‘And we’re not.’
6 Andy runs to his sister. The white car is there – it’s in front
of a grey building.
7 ‘Mary, stop!’ says Andy.
8 They look up and down the street, but there’s no white car.
They start to walk back. Mary looks sad.
9 She starts running.
10 But he starts running too.
11 It’s here,’ shouts Mary.
12 ‘Don’t stop,’ says Mary. ‘Come on!’

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Illustration 1 My notes

Illustration 2

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Illustration 3 My notes

Illustration 4

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