© Pearson Education Polska 2007

teacher’s notes & key

Lead-in activities

This should be a fun opportunity for the students to share opinions and ideas. You could start with a demonstration, talking
about your favourite books and films, before putting them in groups to discuss. Each groups could then choose one book or
film to recommend to the class. If any groups have problems getting going, you could allow them to discuss the worst books or
films they can think of - this is easier for most people to talk about.
Note - The phase ‘whodunnit’ comes from ‘who has done it’ and is the name of a kind of literature - the best known examples
would be by Agatha Christie, for example, or Joanna Chmielewska.

Before you read

As an extra activity, you could put the headlines on the board with gaps instead of the words “Harry Potter’ and ask the
students what they think the text will be about. Then, having told them the topic, direct them to the prediction task, which can
be done in groups.

First reading

Remember this is a scanning task: the students should read quickly, searching only for the information they need.

After you read

Again, this can be done in groups if the students prefer.
1. F (They did not care)
2. F (Only the first six)

3. F (They sold them by mistake)
4. T

5. F (The trucks were tracked)
6. F (Costumes, midnight sales)

Second Reading

This time the students should have as much time as they need to read the text.

Language style - colourful language

The students could use a dictionary to check their answers before you do feedback. The definitions here are from
the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.
PARAGRAPH ONE
a

long-awaited

copy -

something that you have been waiting a long time for

PARAGRAPH THREE
excitement reached

fever pitch

-

a high level of excitement

PARAGRAPH FOUR
midnight was

drawing near

-

become closer in time or space

ready to meet

the rush

-

a situation in which a lot of people suddenly try to do or get something

PARAGRAPH SIX

let the cat out of the bag

-

tell someone a secret, especially without intending to

Lexis - collocations

Again, this can be done in groups if the students prefer. After the students complete the matching task, you might
go over the form with them - specifically, where the object should go and whether the phrasal verb is separable.
1. write

STH

up

2. write

STH

off

3. write off for

STH

4. write

STH

down

5. write back to

SB

6. read

STH

out

7. read

STH

through

8. read

STH

back

9. read up on

STH

Lexis - practice

1. read it back
2. write it down
3. reading through

4. wrote it (the project) off
5. read out
6. write off for

7. write it (the report) up
8. write back to
9. read up on

© Pearson Education Polska 2007

teacher’s notes & key

Grammar 1

This should be revision for them, but it is still a good idea to give them time to work out the answers together.
1. Past
2. Unfinished
3. Various possibilities but look for events which interrupt the actions. Some possible ending for the sentences

...and the children’s excitement was higher than ever
...ready for when the doors opened at midnight
...waiting for the moment when the shops opened

4.

BE

+

VERB

ing

Grammar 2

This is likely to be more difficult for the students and they may well need more time and assistance from you. You may want to
add a restricted practice task here to practise the past perfect; alternatively, you can do an extended correction stage
following the speaking activity.

1. Two
2. ‘had received’
3. Linked. The second action is not caused by the first, but the first action is important in explaining how the second is

possible. The use of the past perfect is analogous to the present perfect: it has a relevance then, just as the present
perfect has a relevance now. The use of the past perfect implies that there was a past result of some kind, just as the
present perfect implies a present result.

4.

HAD

+

VERB

3;

VERB

2

Practice - What’s Your Alibi?

This game should get the students using the various past and past perfect forms in a communicative way. Remember to give
them plenty of time to prepare: the police need to have quite a few questions and the suspects will need to agree on a lot of
details for the game to work well. Just before they start, demonstrate the kind of questions and answers that will be best,
eliciting a question from a student and providing the answer; your answer can include one of the forms dealt with above and
you could then focus on pronunciation by drilling the sentence.

While the students are interviewing each other, monitor for use of the verb forms worked on above. Write down good and bad
examples and use them for a follow-up, putting the examples on the board and asking the students to identify which sentences
have errors (after asking about who was guilty and so on, of course). This would be an ideal time to focus on the form in
particular.

Extension

The students could produce a newspaper article about the theft of the story, using ideas from the Alibi game and some of the
tense highlighted in the lesson.

Contact

The author can be contacted at the address below. All comments, suggestions and requests welcome.

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