Teacher Man

c Pearson Education Limited 2007

Teacher Man - Answer keys

of 3

Answer keys

LEVEL 4

PENGUIN READERS

Teacher Support Programme

Book key

1 a 30 years b in a hospital in Ireland c three

d sixty-six

2 a principal, guidance counselor, monitor, lecturer,

substitute (teacher)

b vocational, doctorate, research, degree, (psychology)

c ballpoint pen, spring, handkerchief, hot dog,

shoelace

3 Open answers
4 a F b T c T d F e F f F g T h T

i F j F

5 a Possible answers:

proud – He is proud of surviving 30 years as a

teacher.

surprised – He is surprised when Angela’s Ashes

becomes a best seller.

guilty – He feels guilty because he doesn’t talk

enough about teaching in his second book.

imaginative – He is imaginative in the way he solves

the sandwich situation.

nervous – He is nervous when he is waiting for his

first students.

He is not confident (his terrible childhood has

taken away his confidence), bored, or angry.

5b–7 Open answers
8 a 4 b 6 c 2 d 3 e 7 f 1 g 8 h 5
9 Possible answers

a He blames both his parents for a lot of his unhappy

childhood (his father was a drunk and left home;
his mother told him that she tried to sell him) but
he is probably angrier with his father.

b He is probably grateful to him for warning him

about the problems with teaching.

c He loved her but is probably angry with her for

having other boyfriends.

d He is angry with her for almost ruining his first

Open Day, but he probably also feels sorry for her.

e He is upset by what she says, but he knows in his

heart that she is right.

f He is pleased with him because he is interested in

the grammar of a sentence.

g He doesn’t like him much because he criticizes his

class.

He is pleased with him because he is interested in

the grammar of a sentence.

10 a A girl in his class is talking to Mr. McCourt about

his mother trying to sell him.

b An Italian-American boy’s father is telling his son

that he wants him to do better in life than work on
the docks.

c Harry’s parents are telling Mr. McCourt how their

son behaves differently at home.

d An angry father is talking to his wife; Norma has

criticized the mothers of America.

e Paulie’s mother is advising Mr. McCourt to teach

better.

f McCourt is talking to his class. He is asking them

to add meaning to a boring sentence which he has
used.

11–12 Open answers
13 a 8 b 3 c 5 d 7 e 6 f 2 g 4 h 1
14 Possible answers:

a He asks students to write excuse notes for Adam

and Eve because his students forge excuse notes
from their parents all the time. The lesson is very
successful.

b He asks Kevin Dunne to be classroom manager

and to clean and organize the jars of paint because
Kevin is very difficult to teach. This is very
successful because it makes Kevin feel important.

c He advises Freddie Bell to use clear, simple language

in his writing. This is not successful because Freddie
cannot understand why long words are wrong.

d He wants to show his students how to use the

college library for research. This is not successful
because they don’t understand what research means.

e He wants students to give their opinions. This is

not successful because they don’t think that their
opinions are important.

15 Possible answers: a Thelesson on excuse notes

b He embarrasses Freddie Bell. c Kevin’s death

d teaching students about research

16–17 Open answers
18 a has b lazy c sentence d a student

e speaking f interesting

19 a Because McCourt has no career plans.

b Because Hector refuses to open a magazine.

c The use of a ballpoint pen to explain the grammar

of a sentence.

d His family are ashamed of him. He is ashamed

of his mother. He has no friends. He has sexual
problems.

Teacher Man

c Pearson Education Limited 2007

Teacher Man - Answer keys

2 of 3

Answer keys

LEVEL 4

PENGUIN READERS

Teacher Support Programme

e His wife, Alberta.

f Nancy Chu.

g He understands their fears and confusions.

h They are quiet and thoughtful.

20–21 Open answers
22 a Serena’s sister stole meat from a store.

b Mr. McCourt takes twenty-nine girls to a movie

theater.

c On the subway, Mr. McCourt wants to defend his

students.

d When the movie ends, the girls sit quietly.

e He also takes the girls to see Hamlet.

f After she goes to Georgia, Serena writes Maria a

letter.

g Serena wants to teach littlekids.

h Andrew is a lonely, pale, thin, red-haired boy.

i Andrew’s mother used to be Mr. McCourt’s

girlfriend.

23 Possible answers:

angry – because of Andrew and the tilting chair

grateful – because Maria talks to him on the way to
the movie theater

happy – because Maria says that Serena will write him

surprised – because the students want to see

Hamlet

shocked – because he discovers that Andrew’s mother
is his old girlfriend, June

He is not excited in these chapters.

24–25 Open answers
26 a no b no c yes d yes e no f yes g no

h yes

27 a He is homesick and wants to go back to New York.

b He was the Head of the Education Department at

Fashion High School.

c He doesn’t teach the right subjects and his students

are bored.

d He has to grade too much homework.

e He has violent fights with his wife.

f He thinks that students like them for the wrong

reasons.

g He doesn’t realize that Daniel’s father is very ill.

28 Possible answers:

a No. But, he wants to stop teaching and live in the

“real” world.

b No. He grades Janice’s work but doesn’t give her

advice about her problems because it might cause
problems with her mother.

c Yes. He refuses to go away with a student’s mother

for the weekend because he would lose respect.

29 Open answers
30 a Stanley b the Stuyvesant High School parents

c Bob Stein d Ken e Ken’s professor at Stanford

f Mr. McCourt g Guy Lind h Rachel Blaustein

31 a Stanley’s parents are separated and they fight over

him. His father doesn’t want him to study the
guitar.

Bob wants to become a pig farmer, but his father is

unhappy about it.

Ken’s parents are angry because he didn’t want to go

to Harvard.

Guy Lind loses his eye in an accident and has to

learn to walk again.

Rachel Blaustein can’t write poems because she has

no problems.

b–d Open answers

32–41 Open answers

Discussion activities key

1–29 Open answers

Activity worksheets key

1–8 Open answers
9 Openday:

a day when a school or an organization

invites the public to come in and see the work that is
done there.

10–12 Open answers
13 TheVietnamWar: military conflict from 1959 to

April 30, 1975. The conflict was a successful effort by
the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV or North
Vietnam) and the indigenous National Front for the
Liberation of South Vietnam, (also known as the
Viê·t Cô·ng) to unify Vietnam as a communist state,

defeating the South Vietnamese Republic of Vietnam
(RVN). The U.S. and its Western allies supported
the RVN, while the Soviet Union and the People’s
Republic of China supported the DRV. Because of
this, it is therefore often considered part of the Cold
War.

14 Open answer
15 Suggested answers:

a Students wrote excuse notes because they didn’t

want their parents to know they hadn’t been to
school.

b The teacher copied the students’ excuse notes

because they were written in excellent English.

c The inspector liked Mr. McCourt’s idea because it

got the students writing.

Teacher Man

c Pearson Education Limited 2007

Teacher Man - Answer keys

3 of 3

Answer keys

LEVEL 4

PENGUIN READERS

Teacher Support Programme

d Kevin Dunne was a difficult student because his

teachers didn’t understand him.

e Mr. McCourt thought Barbara Sadlar should go to

college because she was really smart.

f Mr. McCourt didn’t like teaching at college because

he couldn’t reach his students.

16–19 Open answers
20 Hamlet: A play by William Shakespeare whose

protagonist, prince Hamlet, must avenge the death
of his father at the hands of Hamlet’s uncle, who has
married his mother and is now King. The play is not
just a revenge story. The prince’s reflections on his
moral dilemmas and the meaning of life (especially in
the famous ‘To be or not to be’ speech) make it one of
the best known pieces in world drama.

21–22 Open answers
23 Dublin: the capital and largest city of the Republic of

Ireland. It is a major European cultural centre and the
origin of many prominent literary figures.

24–30 Open answers
31 Suggested answers:

a Teachers are tired after Open School Day because

all the parents want to talk to them.

b Teachers don’t know much about their students’

private lives because they never ask them.

c Bob didn’t bring pen and paper to school because

he was a difficult student.

d Bob wanted to be a farmer because he loved life on

a farm.

e Bob’s father didn’t want him to be a farmer because

he wanted something better.

32 Gilgamesh:Perhaps the oldest written story on

Earth, the

Epic of Gilgamesh is a series of Sumerian

legends and poems about the mythological hero-
king Gilgamesh, thought to be a ruler in the 3rd
millennium BC. The most complete version extant
today is preserved on eleven clay tablets.

33–46 Open answers

Progress test key

1 a Petey b Mr. McCourt c Joey d The principal
e Teachers
2 a 7 b 7 c 3 d 7 e 3
3 a 2 b 1 c 3 d 1 e 3
4 1 c 2 f 3 a 4 e 5 b 6 d
5 a five classes in all
b enjoyed the movie
c met her grandmother for the first time
d was June’s son
e Mr. McCourt was nice to Andrew
6 a 2 b 5 c 1 d 3 e 4
7 a 7 b 7 c 3 d 3 e 7