Y8: Week 9 | Of Mice and Men: The Bunkhouse

Hello Year 8,

 

So, it’s back-to-school this week, but we’ve been asked to provide work for year groups that are starting on Wednesday. So, I’ve provided three lessons of work below for you to use if you are missing an English lesson this week. If you're missing an English lesson on Monday or Tuesday, you can do it remotely at your usual time. If not, you'll do the same work in school with your teacher.

 

Last week, you looked into the context of Of Mice and Men and read the first chapter. This week, I’ll get you started on Chapter 2, where we meet the rest of the novella’s characters and learn about the working environment of the ranch.

 

PLEASE NOTE: This book was written in the 1930s and contains racist and sexist attitudes, including the use of n-word. This kind of language might well shock and upset us today, but even the nice, kind characters in this book display these attitudes. We will discuss these attitudes and this language carefully and sensitively when we get back into school and will agree about how we handle it. We'll learn more about this aspect of the novel's context later.

ALSO NOTE: The attitudes of the characters are not necessarily the attitudes of the author. He’s showing us what it was like to live on a ranch in the 1930s. We’ll be looking for the subtle signs that Steinbeck doesn’t agree with the racist and misogynistic attitudes in his story – and we’ll consider to what extent he was actually trying to shine a light on prejudice and injustice.

 

Here are your lessons for this week. I’ve kept them short (about 45 minutes each) to allow plenty of time for discussion and settling back in for those of you who will be doing these lessons in school:

 

 

 

Lesson 1:

 

1) Re-take last week’s quiz as a recap.

  

2) Read Chapter 2 of Of Mice and Men. 

• Here’s the audiobook link for you to listen along to as you read. 
• Chapter 2 begins on page 18 of this document. 
• Alternative version here (go to p.36).

The audiobook reading takes around 45 minutes, so that's enough for today.

 

Lesson 2:

Title: Of Mice and Men: Chapter 2 

 

Have a go at the ‘summarise’, ‘create’ and 'test yourself' tasks on this powerpoint:

Lesson 3:

 

 

Create a more in-depth character profile of the characters we meet in Chapter 2.

 

You could use a double page in your book and copy the table below, or you could fill in a copy of this document.

You’ll find that when each character is introduced, there’s an initial physical description. Use this for the first column.

 

Then:

 

Behaviour = how they act and what they do.

Personality = inferences we can make about what they are like.

Any questions? Ask!

 

 

 

That's it! With any luck, that’s the last time you’ll have to use this blog! Thanks for all your hard work throughout this difficult time.


Don't forget to leave a comment or email myself or your teacher if you have any problems or questions.

 

Enjoy your first week back!

 

Mr M