C a p p e l e n s Illustrasjon: Inger Dale nr- t i d s s k r i f t f o r e n g e l s k l æ r e r e
Leder Kjære leser innhold Slough Grammar School by Siri Hunstadbråten I år feirer Cappelen sitt 5-års jubileum! J.W. Cappelens Forlag ble grunnlagt i 29 og er Norges eldste forlag. I mer enn 0 år har vi hatt engasjerte og velrenommerte forfattere som har gitt ut lærebøker i fremmedspråk, blant annet engelsk. Visste du at Jacob Løkke (som for noen av oss tilårskomne filologer er synonym med Lille Løkke og pugging av tysk grammatikk) i samarbeid med D.F. Knudsen allerede tidlig på 70-tallet gav ut bl.a. Nogle Stil- og Taleøvelser i Engelsk, Engelsk Elementarbog og The Things They Carried by Karin Hals Engelsk Grammatik? Disse to filologene var banebrytende i sitt arbeid for å fremme undervisning i moderne språk, og begge gav ut lærebøker i både engelsk, tysk og fransk. Deres innsats som språkpedagoger er imponerende, også fordi det faktisk ikke var mulig å ta noe vitenskapelig studium av moderne språk ved Universitetet før Johan Storm ble professor i 73! Løkke og Knudsen la grunnlaget for en lang tradisjon hos Cappelen On the Rainy River by Tim O Brien med anerkjente og dyktige lærebokforfattere i engelsk. Lærere som har vært opptatt av forbedring av pedagogikk, og som har bidratt til utvikling og innføring av nye læringsmetoder. Vi som nå arbeider med læremidler i engelsk, kjenner en forankring i denne tradisjonen. Vi er opptatt av faglig kompetanse og kontinuitet, men også av nytenkning og utvikling. Og vi akter å holde tradisjonen som leverandører av gode, tidsriktige læremidler ved like. Nåvel, det var et lite tilbakeblikk, og det blir et langt hopp i tid fram til dette nummeret av ['mægə'zi:n], men forhåpentligvis kan sammenhengen anes? Vi presenterer vårens nye engelskbøker: Genetically Modified Food: for or against? by Richard Peel Freeways (nytt engelskverk for påbygningskurset), The Things They Carried (ny roman i serien av tilrettelagte skoleutgaver), Troubleshooter (revisjon) og ny Engelsk-norsk/norsk-engelsk ordbok (revisjon). I tillegg til dette vil du forhåpentligvis finne stoff som kan være engasjerende for deg, og kanskje også for elevene dine? Blant annet har Richard Peel skrevet en artikkel om genmanipulert mat og laget mange oppgaver til innholdet, et opplegg som du enkelt kan ta med deg inn i klasserommet. Du vil også finne en interes- FREEways nytt læreverk for engelsk påbygning! av Jorun Grønset Løvoll sant artikkel om Slough Grammar School skrevet av Siri Hunstadbråten, dette er et godt supplement hvis du skal undervise om skolesystemet i UK. Jeg håper du får en hyggelig stund med ['mægə'zi:n] og la den gjerne kulminere med tanken: nei, nå skal jeg jammen sende inn et bidrag til bladet! God lesning! [ mægə zi:n] CAPPELEN UNDERVISNING videregående skole, Postboks 350 Sentrum, Oslo Telefon: 36 51 77/55 E-post: kirsten.aadahl@cappelen.no Ansvarlig redaktør: Kirsten Aadahl Redaksjon: Birger Nicolaysen Produksjon: PrePress as
For the past three years my school, Eiker videregående skole, has been fortunate enough to have Slough Grammar School in the UK as a partner school in a Comenius project. For anyone teaching English (and the British educational system) it is particularly interesting to get acquainted with an English school. Thanks to the funding from the Comenius project, we have been able to visit the school, as well as receive teachers from Slough at our school on several occasions. by Siri Hunstadbråten Eiker videregående skole Slough Grammar School and the community Slough is situated west of London only a minute train journey from Paddington Station in Central London. Since the 60s Slough s employment opportunities and location have encouraged a steady stream of people from other countries and regions to settle in the borough. Many of these people work in industry or at Heathrow Airport, which is close by. Slough has 9,000 inhabitants, and the population is multi-ethnic. Compared to Windsor, its far more prestigious and picturesque neighbour, Slough has, at first sight, very little to offer visitors. If you have seen the BBC sitcom The Office, in which a bleak cityscape with a roundabout signposted to Slough Trading Estate appears at the very beginning, you will know what I mean. John Betjeman s poem entitled Slough, whose famous introductory lines Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough! It isn t fit for humans now, has certainly contributed to the town s rather dowdy reputation, as well. However, despite its evident lack of tourist appeal much can, in fact, be said for Slough. The town in many ways embodies a more vivid and authentic version of st century Britain than the somewhat archaic Windsor. Selection based upon ability On its website the school presents itself in the following manner: Slough Grammar School is an - mixed Foundation school which has traditionally served the towns of Slough and Windsor. We are an academic and caring school.
This is all very well, but aren t grammar schools a thing of the past? It is true that since 65 most grammar schools have actually been absorbed into the comprehensive secondary modern schools, clearly a secondclass alternative, or if the parents can afford it, are educated privately. There are also many pupils from other minority groups such as Jews, Sikhs and Hindus. So despite being academically successful the pupils at Slough Grammar School are not privi- school system. There are, however exceptions. A handful of boroughs, Slough being a case in point, still practise the pre-65 system of secondary education based on testing and selection. For anyone used to the comprehensiveness of the Norwegian educational system the selection procedures may come across as unfair. The age of seems a very early age to have one s future set out. This was also the main argument for introducing comprehensive leged in terms of family background. In this respect the school lives up to the meritocratic ideal of the grammar school system. For academically able pupils the state provides a first-class education, irrespective of social background. The other side of the coin, however, In the school s promotional material no secret is made about the selection procedures: Pupils will be admitted to the school at the age of by reference to their ability and aptitude, which will be determined by their performance in entrance examinations consisting of verbal reasoning, non verbal reasoning and mathematics tests set by the National Foundation for Educational Research. This test is not particular to SGS. The same test is used for entrance into any of the grammar schools in Slough. According to the statistics of the school authorities approximately 25 % of the pupils who sit the test will pass. The rest of the pupils attend schools in the 60s. Still, it is important to note that the + is not make or break in terms of securing a place at SGS, or other grammar schools for that matter. Pupils are also admitted directly into the Sixth Form (at the age of ), subject to their results in the GCSE examinations. As a result of these selection procedures SGS is able to cream off the top 25% of the pupils in its intake area, as far as academic ability is concerned. The social and ethnic make up of the town, however, is reflected in the pupil population. The pupils speak some 30 different languages and 50 % of them are Muslims. is that the rest of the pupils will have to make do with secondary modern schools, clearly a second best. Excellence There is absolutely no doubt about the aim of Slough Grammar School. Ever since the forerunner to the present school was founded in, the Latin motto on the school crest has been Ad Astra, or to the stars. Prospective pupils and their parents are told that SGS is a selective school and we expect the highest standards of our pupils in work and behaviour. Pupils will be courteous and considerate at all times. If a pupil is caught
smoking while in school uniform, for example, he or she will be in serious trouble. Pupils are expected to make the most of their abilities and are monitored on an individual basis. There is a course in Critical Thinking Skills for pupils who do so well in tests that they are in the top 5-% of their year. These pupils are designated as gifted and talented and are encouraged to develop further by means of special teaching materials. Coordinators are appointed in each department whose responsibility it is to monitor the achievements of these high flyers. Last but not least, pupils who have done well are personally praised by the principal. All in all, the stars may not be entirely within reach, but there is no doubt that opting to reach them is a duty. Like all British schools, Slough Grammar School is subjected to regular inspections by Ofsted (the Office for Standards in Education). Such an inspection is a qualitative study normally lasting a week and is not exactly looked forward to by the staff. This year SGS had expected an inspection to take place in the spring, only to be told that it was the overwhelming majority of their sixth-formers obtain university places and that some make it to Oxford and Cambridge. Preparing for life personal and social education careers It is worth noticing that excellence by no means applies to academic standards only. Students are expected to leave the school with good practical and social skills as well as with good examination results, so that they are prepared for full participation in society. Comprehensive programmes in personal and social education, as well as careers guidance programmes, are integrated into the teaching programmes. Teaching is not all talk and chalk but includes project work, problem solving, group work and role play, to mention some of the most popular methods. During my visit to the school I got to see the pupils in year 9 (-year-olds) take part in a one-week interdisciplinary project which involved organizing the production and marketing of cookies. Each group had to set up a company, create a company profile and divide the work between the group members. Some pupils carried out the actual production ite. spel it rite. spel it rite. spel it rite. spel it rite. spel it rite. spel it rite. spel it rite. spel it rite. spel it rite. spel it rite. going to take place in February instead. This news was followed by some urgent messages in my mailbox, explaining how this would mean that practically everything (the Comenius project included) would have to be put aside until the inspection was finished. So much depends upon the results in these inspections that no expense is spared to ensure the school does well. whereas others were busy designing packaging and devising marketing strategies. I had the chance to sit in on a presentation of a radio commercial in French for one particular cookie brand, and was struck by the enthusiasm and the dedication reflected in the pupils work. All students are offered a wide range of extracurricular activities sports, arts, outdoor activities and music. So it can safely be said last year, not least when it comes to the publication of results and the focusing upon developing certain basic skills. What I find most impressive about SGS, however, is the teachers evident pride in what they do. At a Comenius meeting involving teachers from four countries the principal invited us all to meet her foreign language teachers, who were all specialists, teaching one language only. The principal said: Here are my language School ratings based upon examination results have been a regular feature in Britain for some time now. Pass rates for the various tests are listed in the material presented to prospective pupils and parents. This applies to GCSE examinations and A-levels as well as national tests in English, Mathematics and Science for younger pupils introduced by the Labour government. For SGS it is naturally important to be able to assure parents that that the school aims at catering to the interests and needs of the students in a truly comprehensive way. Language College British educational authorities have long since recognized the need for young people to learn more foreign languages. Schools that are able to make foreign languages a top priority and meet a certain standard are given the sta- teachers! and then they paraded before us. She was clearly proud of them and they, in turn, were proud professionals. I sincerely doubt whether anything similar could have happened in Norway, which in my opinion is much to be regretted. As I see it, the way teachers look at themselves and their job is a key element in the current debate about quality in education. tus of language college, which entails additional funding as well as other advantages. SGS has been a language college since 99, and all students will learn 2 or 3 languages, which by UK standards is highly commendable. The languages taught range from French, German, Italian and Spanish to Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Russian and various community languages such as Punjabi and Urdu. There is a considerable emphasis on international relations from Comenius projects to school exchanges, and last year pupils put their languages into practice in Paris, Lyon, Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Nuremberg, Barcelona and China! Moreover, foreign language assistants from several countries, who work with the students in a variety of small group activities, play an important role in ensuring a high quality in the teaching of foreign languages. As can be seen, many aspects of SGS are very different from a typical Norwegian secondary school. At the same time, there are some striking similarities between educational policy in Britain and some of the proposals made by the Committee for Quality in Education
by Karin Hals, Kirkeparken videregående skole Tim O'Brien was born in Worthington, Minnesota A short presentation of the book What makes this book a good choice for in 46. He graduated from Macalester College The Things They Carried is a story about a pla- your VK2 students? in 68 with a BA in political science and at the toon of American soldiers and all the burdens The book deals with --year-olds spending same time he received a draft notice for service they carried while they were in Vietnam. Not a crucial period in their lives in the military in Vietnam. He was against the war, but report- only did they carry equipment, weapons and service. Many Norwegian students will have ed for service and was in Vietnam in 69-70 supplies, they also carried their emotional to make a choice whether or not to join the as an infantry foot soldier. burdens. The author wants to tell his readers military. In addition the book gives a very about the difficulties and challenges these good description of the difficulties young peo- After Vietnam he became a graduate student at young Americans faced when serving in a coun- ple encounter when they have to live so close- Harvard, and later he started as a newspaper try so far away from home. It deals with their ly together. It depicts very well the restless- reporter. His career as a reporter inspired him fears, their friendships, their anger and their ness which is typical of this age group. to write about his experiences in Vietnam. His frustration. It tells about the hopelessness of first book from 73 was called If I Die in a war, but at the same time about the importance The theme of war is prominent in much good Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home. of friendships. First and foremost, however, it literature read during the third year. For Another of his books about Vietnam was called Going After Cacciato, and for this he received the National Book Award in 79. He promised to himself that he would write books about why the war was morally wrong, and many of his books deal with this. He has said about his writings on the war, " In Vietnam there was a general aimlessness, not just in the physical sense, but beyond that in the moral and ethical sense. This is something he has confronted in a very detailed way in The Things They Carried, from 90. Not all his books deal exclusively with Vietnam, e.g. In the Lake of the Woods from 94 and Tomcat in Love from 98. In he published the novel July, July. Tim O'Brien is now a visiting professor at Southwest Texas State University where he teaches creative writing. paints a picture of their parents generation and their relationship to the 60s and to the Vietnam War. Some Norwegian students might have parents who took part in the numerous demonstrations in the late 60s against the war in Vietnam. The author has succeeded in capturing the war's pulsating rhythms and its horror. He makes you feel that you are out there with the young American soldiers. You are invited into their private spheres, but more as an understanding guest than an intruder. The book represents a very special genre. It consists of many interrelated stories and vignettes, and the characters and the themes are presented from many different angles. The author is also the narrator, and from time to time he is part of the stories as well. This is a very effective way of making you feel that these are true stories even though O Brien tries to convince you that this is all fiction. example, many students will have read some Hemingway short stories dealing with soldiers and their reactions to war, and First World War poems are often included in students reading lists too. The Things They Carried is a contemporary rendering of this theme. Although our students at this stage will have some understanding of the historical events in this period, we have included in this edition an extensive article about the Vietnam War. The Things They Carried has won a chorus of critical acclaim, and is often mentioned by American high school teachers answering the question What modern fiction would you recommend for my students in Norway? After each text you will find a glossary and some questions. At the back of the book you will find a glossary, questions to the texts, some activities for classroom practice and some test material.
I dette utdraget fra The Things They Carried forteller Tim O Brien om sommeren 68, og om hvordan han som ung mann reagerte da han fikk innkallingen til militærtjeneste i Vietnam. Innledningen til kapitlet gir oss en klar forestilling av at dette langt fra er noen enkel historie å fortelle: THIS IS ONE STORY I ve never told before. Not to anyone. Not to my parents, not to my brother or sister, not even to my wife. To go into it, I ve always thought, would only cause embarrassment for all of us, a sudden need to be elsewhere, which is the natural response to a confession. Even now, I ll admit, the story makes me squirm. For more than twenty years I ve had to live with it, feeling the shame, trying to push it away, and so by this act of remembrance, by putting the facts down on paper, I m hoping to relieve at least some of the pressure on my dreams. Still, it s a hard story to tell. ON THE RAINY RIVER By Tim O Brien nieces and baby grandson? There should be a law, I thought. If you support a war, if you think it s worth the price, that s fine, but you kind of water gun. The machine was heavy, maybe eighty pounds, and was suspended from the ceiling by a heavy rubber cord. There was The draft notice arrived on June, 68. It have to put your own life on the line. You have some bounce to it, an elastic up-and-down was a humid afternoon, I remember, cloudy to head for the front and hook up with an give, and the trick was to maneuver the gun and very quiet, and I d just come in from a infantry unit and help spill the blood. And you with your whole body, not lifting with the round of golf. My mother and father were hav- have to bring along your wife, or your kids, or arms, just letting the rubber cord do the work ing lunch out in the kitchen. I remember opening up the letter, scanning the first few lines, feeling the blood go thick behind my eyes. I remember a sound in my head. It wasn t thinking, it was just a silent howl. A million things all at once I was too good for this war. Too smart, too compassionate, too everything. It couldn t happen. I was above it. I had the world dicked Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude and president of the student body and a full-ride scholarship for grad studies at Harvard. A mistake, maybe a foul-up in the paperwork. I was no soldier. I hated Boy Scouts. I hated camping out. I hated dirt and tents and mosquitoes. The sight of blood made me queasy, and I couldn t tolerate authority, and I didn t know a rifle from a slingshot. I was a liberal, for Christ sake: if they needed fresh bodies, why not draft some back-to-the-stone-age hawk? Or some dumb jingo in his hard hat and Bomb Hanoi button? Or one of LBJ s pretty daughters? Or Westmoreland s whole family nephews and your lover. A law, I thought. I remember the rage in my stomach. Later it burned down to a smoldering self-pity, then to numbness. At dinner that night my father asked what my plans were. Nothing, I said. Wait. I spent the summer of 68 working in an Armour meatpacking plant in my hometown of Worthington, Minnesota. The plant specialized in pork products, and for eight hours a day I stood on a quarter-mile assembly line more properly, a disassembly line removing blood clots from the necks of dead pigs. My job title, I believe, was Declotter. After slaughter, the hogs were decapitated, split down the length of the belly, pried open, eviscerated, and strung up by the hind hocks on a high conveyer belt. Then gravity took over. By the time a carcass reached my spot on the line, the fluids had mostly drained out, everything except for thick clots of blood in the neck and upper chest cavity. To remove the stuff, I used a for you. At one end was a trigger; at the muzzle end was a small nozzle and a steel roller brush. As a carcass passed by, you d lean forward and swing the gun up against the clots and squeeze the trigger, all in one motion, and the brush would whirl and water would come shooting out and you d hear a quick splattering sound as the clots dissolved into a fine red mist. It was not pleasant work. Goggles were a necessity, and a rubber apron, but even so it was like standing for eight hours a day under a lukewarm blood-shower. At night I d go home smelling of pig. I couldn t wash it out. Even after a hot bath, scrubbing hard, the stink was always there like old bacon, or sausage, a dense greasy pig-stink that soaked deep into my skin and hair. Among other things, I remember, it was tough getting dates that summer. I felt isolated; I spent a lot of time alone. And there was also that draft notice tucked away in my wallet. In the evenings I d sometimes borrow my father s car and drive aimlessly around town,
feeling sorry for myself, thinking about the of walking away from my own life, my friends it was a physical rupture a cracking-leaking- war and the pig factory and how my life and my family, my whole history, everything popping feeling. I remember dropping my water seemed to be collapsing toward slaughter. that mattered to me. I feared losing the gun. Quickly, almost without thought, I took off I felt paralyzed. All around me the options respect of my parents. I feared the law. I my apron and walked out of the plant and drove seemed to be narrowing, as if I were hurtling feared ridicule and censure. My hometown home. It was midmorning, I remember, and the down a huge black funnel, the whole world was a conservative little spot on the prairie, house was empty. Down in my chest there was squeezing in tight. There was no happy way a place where tradition counted, and it was still that leaking sensation, something very out. The government had ended most graduate easy to imagine people sitting around a table warm and precious spilling out, and I was cov- school deferments; the waiting lists for the down at the old Gobbler Café on Main Street, ered with blood and hog-stink, and for a long National Guard and Reserves were impossibly coffee cups poised, the conversation slowly while I just concentrated on holding myself long; my health was solid; I didn t qualify for zeroing in on the young O Brien kid, how the together. I remember taking a hot shower. I CO status no religious grounds, no history damned sissy had taken off for Canada. At remember packing a suitcase and carrying it as a pacifist. Moreover, I could not claim to night, when I couldn t sleep, I d sometimes out to the kitchen, standing very still for a few be opposed to war as a matter of general carry on fierce arguments with those people. minutes, looking carefully at the familiar principle. There were occasions, I believed, I d be screaming at them, telling them how objects all around me. The old chrome toaster, when a nation was justified in using military much I detested their blind, thoughtless, the telephone, the pink and white Formica on force to achieve its ends, to stop a Hitler or automatic acquiescence to it all, their sim- the kitchen counters. The room was full of some comparable evil, and I told myself that ple-minded patriotism, their prideful igno- bright sunshine. Everything sparkled. My in such circumstance I would ve willingly rance, their love-it-or-leave-it platitudes, how house, I thought. My life. I m not sure how long marched off to the battle. The problem, they were sending me off to fight a war they I stood there, but later I scribbled out a short though, was that a draft board did not let you didn t understand and didn t want to under- note to my parents. choose your war. stand. I held them responsible. By God, yes, I What it said, exactly, I don t recall now. Beyond all this, or at the very center, was did. All of them I held them personally and Something vague. Taking off, will call, love Tim. the raw fact of terror. I did not want to die. individually responsible the polyestered Not ever. But certainly not then, not there, Kiwanis boys, the merchants and farmers, the I drove north. not in a wrong war. Driving up Main Street, pious churchgoers, the chatty housewives, the It s a blur now, as it was then, and all I past the courthouse and the Ben Franklin PTA and the Lions club and the Veterans of remember is a sense of high velocity and the store, I sometimes felt the fear spreading Foreign Wars and the fine upstanding gentry feel of the steering wheel in my hands. I was inside me like weeds. I imagined myself dead. I imagined myself doing things I could not do charging an enemy position, taking aim at another human being. At some point in mid-july I began thinking seriously about Canada. The border lay a few hundred miles north, an eight-hour drive. Both my conscience and my instincts were telling me to make a break for it, just take off and run like hell and never stop. In the beginning the idea seemed purely abstract, the word Canada printing itself out in my head; but after a time I could see particular shapes and images, the sorry details of my own future a hotel room in Winnipeg, a battered old suitcase, my father s eyes as I tried to explain myself over the telephone. I could almost hear his voice, and my mother s. Run, I d think. Then I d think, Impossible. Then a second later I d think, Run. It was a kind of schizophrenia. A moral split. I couldn t make up my mind. I feared the war, yes, but I also feared exile. I was afraid out at the country club. They didn t know Bao Dai from the man in the moon. They didn t know history. They didn t know the first thing about Diem s tyranny, or the nature of Vietnamese nationalism, or the long colonialism of the French this was all too damned complicated, it required some reading but no matter, it was a war to stop the Communists, plain and simple, which was how they liked things, and you were a treasonous pussy if you had second thoughts about killing or dying for plain and simple reasons. I was bitter, sure. But it was so much more than that. The emotions went from outrage to terror to bewilderment to guilt to sorrow and then back again to outrage. I felt a sickness inside me. Real disease. Most of this I ve told before, or at least hinted at, but what I have never told is the full truth. How I cracked. How at work one morning, standing on the pig line, I felt something break open in my chest. I don t know what it was. I ll never know. But it was real, I know that much, riding on adrenaline. A giddy feeling, in a way, except there was the dreamy edge of impossibility to it like running a dead-end maze no way out it couldn t come to a happy conclusion and yet I was doing it anyway because it was all I could think of to do. It was pure flight, fast and mindless. I had no plan. Just hit the border at high speed and crash through and keep on running. Near dusk I passed through Bemidji, then turned northeast toward International Falls. I spent the night in the car behind a closed-down gas station a half mile from the border. In the morning, after gassing up, I headed straight west along the Rainy River, which separates Minnesota from Canada, and which for me separated one life from another. The land was mostly wilderness. Here and there I passed a motel or bait shop, but otherwise the country unfolded in great sweeps of pine and birch and sumac. Though it was still August, the air already had the smell of October, football season, piles of yellow-red leaves, everything crisp and clean.
I remember a huge blue sky. Off to my right and dropped a key in my hand. I remember That was the sad thing. And so I sat in the was the Rainy River, wide as a lake in places, smiling at him. I also remember wishing I bow of the boat and cried. and beyond the Rainy River was Canada. hadn t. The old man shook his head as if to It was loud now. Loud, hard crying. For a while I just drove, not aiming at tell me it wasn t worth the bother. Elroy Berdahl remained quiet. He kept anything, then in the late morning I began Dinner at five-thirty, he said. You eat fishing. He worked his line with the tips of his looking for a place to lie low for a day or two. fish? fingers, patiently, squinting out at his red and I was exhausted, and scared sick, and around Anything, I said. white bobber on the Rainy River. His eyes noon I pulled into an old fishing resort called Elroy grunted and said, I ll bet. were flat and impassive. He didn t speak. He the Tip Top Lodge. Actually it was not a lodge was simply there, like the river and the late- at all, just eight or nine tiny yellow cabins Tim tilbringer seks dager sammen med Elroy summer sun. And yet by his presence, his clustered on a peninsula that jutted north- Berdahl. De spiser og går lange turer sammen, mute watchfulness, he made it real. He was ward into the Rainy River. The place was in og om kveldene spiller de scrabble, hører på the true audience. He was a witness, like God, sorry shape. There was a dangerous wooden musikk og leser. Hele tiden kjemper Tim med or like the gods, who look on in absolute dock, an old minnow tank, a flimsy tar paper sine indre demoner. Om og om igjen går han silence as we live our lives, as we make our boathouse along the shore. The main building, gjennom alle argumenter for og imot å rømme choices or fail to make them. which stood in a cluster of pines on high til Canada redselen for å dø, sinnet over å Ain t biting, he said. ground, seemed to lean heavily to one side, måtte kjempe en kamp han ikke tror på, skam- Then after a time the old man pulled in his like a cripple, the roof sagging toward men over å stille seg utenfor den verdenen line and turned the boat back toward Minnesota. Canada. Briefly, I thought about turning han kommer fra. Den gamle mannen forholder around, just giving up, but then I got out of seg rolig og stille gjennom det hele. Den I don t remember saying goodbye. That last the car and walked up to the front porch. sjette dagen tar Elroy med seg Tim for å fiske night we had dinner together, and I went to bed The man who opened the door that day is på den kanadiske siden av Rainy River. Her må early, and in the morning Elroy fixed break- the hero of my life. How do I say this without Tim ta et endelig oppgjør med seg selv. fast for me. When I told him I d be leaving, sounding sappy? Blurt it out the man saved * the old man nodded as if he already knew. me. He offered exactly what I needed, without The little aluminum boat rocked softly He looked down at the table and smiled. questions, without any words at all. He took beneath me. There was the wind and the sky. At some point later in the morning it s me in. He was there at the critical time a I tried to will myself overboard. possible that we shook hands I just don t silent, watchful presence. Six days later, I gripped the edge of the boat and leaned remember but I do know that by the time I d when it ended, I was unable to find a proper way to thank him, and I never have, and so, if nothing else, this story represents a small gesture of gratitude twenty years overdue. Even after two decades I can close my eyes and return to that porch at the Tip Top Lodge. I can see the old guy staring at me. Elroy Berdahl: eighty-one years old, skinny and shrunken and mostly bald. He wore a flannel shirt and brown work pants. In one hand, I remember, he carried a green apple, a small paring knife in the other. His eyes had the bluish-gray color of a razor blade, the same polished shine, and as he peered up at me I felt a strange sharpness, almost painful, a cutting sensation, as if his gaze were somehow slicing me open. In part, no doubt, it was my own sense of guilt, but even so I m absolutely certain that the old man took one look that went right to the heart of things a kid in trouble. When I asked for a room, Elroy made a little clicking sound with his tongue. He nodded, led me out to one of the cabins, forward and thought, Now. I did try. It just wasn t possible. All those eyes on me the town, the whole universe and I couldn t risk the embarrassment. It was as if there were an audience to my life, that swirl of faces along the river, and in my head I could hear people screaming at me. Traitor! they yelled. Turncoat! Pussy! I felt myself blush. I couldn t tolerate it. I couldn t endure the mockery, or the disgrace, or the patriotic ridicule. Even in my imagination, the shore just twenty yards away, I couldn t make myself be brave. It had nothing to do with morality. Embarrassment, that s all it was. And right then I submitted. I would go to the war I would kill and maybe die because I was embarrassed not to. finished packing the old man had disappeared. Around noon, when I took my suitcase out to the car, I noticed that his old black pickup truck was no longer parked in front of the house. I went inside and waited for a while, but I felt a bone certainty that he wouldn t be back. In a way, I thought, it was appropriate. I washed up the breakfast dishes, left his two hundred dollars on the kitchen counter, got into the car, and drove south toward home. The day was cloudy. I passed through towns with familiar names, through the pine forests and down to the prairie, and then to Vietnam, where I was a soldier, and then home again. I survived, but it s not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to the war. (utdrag)
Richard Peel, Kjell Richard Andersen, Marcie Madden Austad TROUBLESHOOTER I NY UTGAVE! Richard Peel, Trond Christian Anvik, Theresa Bowles Sørhus FREEWAYS: NYTT ENGELSKVERK FOR YRKESFAGLIGE STUDIE- RETNINGER (MODUL 3) Troubleshooter er en praktisk rettet aktivitetsgrammatikk i engelsk som tar for seg de vanligste problemområdene for norske elever. Hvert kapittel innledes med en forklaring av et problem og hvordan det kan løses. Deretter følger et bredt utvalg oppgaver, både tradisjonelle utfyllings- og oversettelsesoppgaver og aktiviserende og kommunikative par- og gruppeoppgaver. Det er fasit bak i boka. Hva har skjedd med den nye utgaven? >> Forklaringene og øvingene er forbedret etter råd og forslag fra lærere og elever. >> Et nytt kapittel ( Fra ord til tekst ) tar for seg bl.a. avsnittsbygging og teksttyper. >> Nye Troubleshooter har fått glade farger, og morsomme og instruktive illustrasjoner. >> Hvert av de seks hovedkapitlene avrundes med en test-deg-selv - oppgave. >> Det er stigende progresjon i øvingene som følger hver forklaring. Innfyllingsoppgavene kommer først. Hvert tema avsluttes med en eller flere samarbeidsoppgaver. >> Med den nye utgaven av Troubleshooter følger en selvinstruerende øvings-cd med bl.a. oppgaver fra boka som egner seg for PC og ekstraoppgaver. Ekstraoppgavene varierer fra innfyllingsoppgaver til kryssord og multiple choice. Freeways er: >> et helt nytt læreverk for modul 3 (engelsk påbygging); >> en videreføring av serien American Ways / British Ways i engelsk for yrkesfagene; >> like nyttig for elever som har brukt andre læreverk tidligere. KAPITLER >> Åpningskapitlet Switch on har til hensikt å få elevene i gang med engelsken, og å motivere dem til å snakke og skrive engelsk. >> De tre påfølgende kapitlene omhandler USA, den engelskspråklige verden og Storbritannia. Vi har forsøkt å finne tekster som elevene vil synes er interessante, og som samtidig dekker viktige mål i læreplanen. >> Boka rundes av med et kapittel kalt Tools. Her finner elevene Toolbox en alfabetisk oppslagsdel over emner elevene vil ha nytte av en sekvens om brevskriving og forslag til fordypningsoppgaver. OPPGAVER >> Freeways har mange og varierte oppgaver som oppfordrer til aktiv deltakelse fra elevene. >> Det er lagt vekt på å ha med et bredt utvalg skriveoppgaver, da mange elever har stort behov for skrivetrening. >> Hvert kapittel tar for seg et språklig problemområde, og hver tekst i kapitlet har en eller flere oppgaver som gir elevene øving i å løse dette problemet. KOMPONENTER >> Freeways CDs: Her er bokas lytteøvelser, litteraturen i boka samt et utvalg sakprosatekster lest inn. >> Freeways Teacher s Resources er et hefte med bl.a. lyttemanus, løsningsforslag, kopieringsmateriale og ekstrastoff.
Richard Peel: born 44. Senior teacher. Education: MA in history (Oxford), Certificate in Education (Bristol), Masters degree in English (Oslo). Has taught in Tromsø, Oppegård and for the last 27 years at Bjørkelangen upper secondary school (chiefly English and History). Enjoys working as a teacher and feels the students have lots to gain from good teaching; is a little sceptical if too much time is spent on organizing and administrating various forms of group work and projects. Has co-authored more than books for Cappelen. Also works as a free-lancer, doing voice-overs for films, TV programmes and so on, in addition to some translation work. Is an amateur photographer and likes to listen to music, read poetry and write poems. In common with most Norwegians, he likes to walk and jog in the woods where he invariably reflects on life, the universe and everything. Does not like people who rush through doors without considering those behind them, and people who prattle during a film. by Richard Peel Customer: Waiter, there s a fly in my soup! it did not bruise easily, and it lasted longer sick gene removed or treated, and maybe What s it doing there? in the supermarket or in your kitchen before replaced by a healthy gene. It is quite like- Waiter: It looks like the breast-stroke, madam. going bad. How was it done? The tomato came ly that this sort of gene therapy will soon be from seeds that had been genetically modi- technically possible, maybe on a child before That s the old joke. Here s the new, modified fied: they had been given a gene from some it is born. Terrible diseases like Rett s syn- one: other organism that stays fresh longer. drome may become things of the past. Customer: Waiter, there s a fly in my soup! Waiter: Yes, madam, but at least it s not a Turning to a completely different field, crime Genetic engineering can, in theory, be car- genetically modified one. detection, we see that genetics is already ried out on any organism: that is, on any ani- making astonishing new advances, as anyone mal, any plant or any micro-organism. Why is there so much fuss (serious fuss, very who follows real-life or fictitious crime sto- Interesting research in genetics is going on few jokes) about genetically modified food? ries knows. DNA evidence can identify a crimi- in several fields; medicine and crime detec- What is the debate about? Who s winning? nal even more precisely than finger-print tion are just two of them. In this article we Should they be winning? This article looks, evidence, a development which would have concentrate on agriculture more particu- without too much scientific language, at been impossible without genetics technology. larly on genetically modified food. these questions. This is just a modest start to a wonderfully Genetically modified food Genetic technology can do astonishing exciting range of applications of genetic mod- The first thing to be clear about is that things. In 94 a new flavor saver tomato ification, or so the GM lobby argues, saying genetic modification is revolutionary. It is appeared on the shelves of US supermarkets. that people will be able to be saved from different from traditional genetic selection. This tomato had spectacular advantages inherited diseases by having the guilty or The oldest form of genetic selection is, of
biotechnology the genetic manipulation of micro-organisms, especially when an industrial product is being made. characteristic characteristics are traits like long toes, lovely green eyes, foul tempers. Our at-birth characteristics are delivered to us in the genes we get from our parents. The heredity content of each gene is determined by its DNA make-up. DNA deoxyribonucleic acid, a material which can make exact copies of itself. gene the genetic code defines the particular characteristics of an organism (this is sometimes called the genetic blueprint). This genetic code is the information carried by DNA. genetic engineering the modification by scientists of the characteristics of an organism by manipulating its genetic material, for example by transferring genes from one organism to another. These two organisms can belong to completely different species (for example a species of fish and a species of fruit). genetic manipulation another term for genetic modification. genetically modified food any food that contains parts of genetically modified plants, animals or micro-organisms (usually called GM food, or GM foods, and sometimes GMF). modify change, alter LANGUAGE BOX In addition, claims the pro-gm food lobby, genetic engineering can make food better-tasting, longer-lasting and more nourishing. It can even make it better-looking FACT BOX and better-smelling! The scientific principles of genetic selection were only discovered in the th century (first by Gregor Mendel) and the exact way in which genetic information is carried in living organisms was only discovered in the th century (primarily by Francis Crick and James Watson). course, carried out by nature itself and is called evolution, which began with the first living organisms on the planet Earth, and which has been going on for millions of years. For a much shorter time, some thousands of years, humans have themselves carried out selective breeding and cross-breeding of animals and plants. An example of selective breeding is the Viking farmer who selected his best cow and his best bull and put them together to mate; an example of cross-breeding is the mating or hybridizing of two different varieties of a species of animal or plant look at the dogs and apples around us today. It is important to note that, in these traditional forms of breeding, single genes are not isolated and transferred. Moreover, the animals or plants are of the same species or of closely related species. It is, moreover, a slow process, since it uses the species s own reproductive system (even if the implantation is carried out artificially). We live with the results and accept them unfussily: cows that give far more milk than cows a few hundred years ago, apples that are larger and tastier than wild apples, and so on. The new science of genetic modification does something else. It isolates a single gene in an organism and transfers it to another organism: often to a completely different species. The great debate about food the first round There is a great debate going on. The biotechnology companies that produce GM seeds have argued clearly and strongly that this is the way to increase the world s food supply, and that it would be unethical not to travel down this road. If we don t do this, they say, famine will strike more and more often. They see no real environmental or health dangers. They point out that traditional non-gm agriculture is itself harmful to the environment. It has, they say, damaged the environment in one way or another right from the beginning when the first farmers starting cutting down trees with their stone axes, up to today, when most farmers use pesticides that damage the land and pollute rivers. What s more, they go on, some GM food developments should help the environment rather than damage it. If the biotech companies can sell us seed that gives us crops that are resistant to weeds and insects, then all the spraying that farmers do now, which is extremely environmentally unfriendly, can stop. The land and the rivers will be cleaner. In addition, claims the pro-gm food lobby, genetic engineering can make food better-tasting, longer-lasting and more nourishing. It can even make it better-looking and better-smelling! Well, you can find plenty of GM food in US foodstores. It often has fanciful names like flavor saver and Endless Summer tomatoes. They are fresh even though they have slept on the shelf in the store for a month. They taste great, too! said one store manager I talked to. What have you got against them? Consumers love them, and I guess this is the way to give everyone in the world enough to eat! And no one here wants special labels for this sort of food. As late as in 90 there were hardly any GM crops being commercially grown in the western world, but then things moved fast. In the USA, farmers have been particularly quick to change their ways: in the four years after 96, 55% of the USA s soybeans, 50 % of its cotton, and 40 % of its maize were grown from genetically modified seeds. It is not surprising that so many American farmers jumped on the bandwagon. GM soybeans are, as a result of genetic engineering, resistant to weed-killers. Farmers say this means they can eliminate weeds without eliminating any beans. They grow more beans and contribute in greater measure to the world s food supply. Of course, they also make more money.
By the mid-90s the huge US biotechnology do with genetic modification, nonetheless cre- need pesticide treatment this is the oppo- companies, Monsanto and DuPont, had already ated a climate of scepticism towards any sort site of what the GM lobby has said, and, if conquered America. They had lobbied hard, per- of risk-taking in farming. People are worried correct, would remove one of the GM lobby s suading science journalists, farmers, politi- about the long-term effects of GM foods. What strongest arguments. cians and the public that there could come no about pollen from these crops that gets blown harm from GM food. The complaints of serious all over the landscape? What will the impact In the first few years of the st century con- ecological groups, like Greenpeace and Friends be on birds and insects, and on biological siderable attention has been paid to geneti- of the Earth, seemed hopelessly weak and diversity? Critics of GM food also say that cally modified rice. A new rice has been engi- almost cranky. The respected US Food and Drug the companies that carry out the research and neered using a gene from a flower, the daf- Administration (FDA) had given its approval to development of GM food have been given a fodil, to produce a nutrient called beta- the marketing of GM crops, while US environ- free hand by governments, and are only really carotene, that the body can convert into vita- mental groups had to admit that they could not interested in one thing: their own profits. The min A. This vitamin is essential for healthy prove that genetically engineered food was at whole programme, they say, is a get-rich- eyes. So advertisements for this new rice, all harmful. In 96, the European Union quick and don t-ask-questions gamble. The alluringly called Golden Rice, imply that it approved the import of GM foods, and there market for this food is enormous, they point can save thousands of children in rice-eating were no rules for mandatory labelling. It out, and huge profits can certainly be made. regions of the world, such as Asia, from blind- looked as if scepticism against the new tech- ness. In 00 President Clinton put his pres- nology was a non-starter. The first round of the So while the years from 90 to 95 were full tige behind a huge research programme, aimed great debate had been won by the GM lobby. of progress for GM food, the years between at persuading Asia s farmers to grow, and its 96 and saw the sceptics fighting back. vast populations to eat, this rice. In China, GM The second round Supermarkets began their own policy of strict rice also has an enhanced iron content. Then things began to change. The attack on the labelling of GM foods, and of offering plenty Opponents are made to look as if they disre- biotech industry was strongest in Europe and of shelf space to organic food. The big ques- gard health gains. Until, that is, these same came from three main quarters: science jour- tion in Europe was: would politicians respond opponents point out that conventional brown nalists, environmental groups, and the public. to the new mood of scepticism? In June 00 rice contains as much Vitamin A as the new there was a meeting of European Union envi- GM Golden Rice, and that a ten-year-old child In America many science correspondents had ronment ministers in Brussels. Intensive lob- would have to eat nearly 7 kilos of Golden been persuaded to take a soft line by biotech bying went on, both from the biotech industry, Rice a day to meet the daily Vitamin A lobbyists, but in Europe science journalists have been far less respectful towards the big boys in the industry. The European press coverage of the development of GM food varied from cautious questioning to downright panic over what were seen as Frankenstein Foods. Secondly, environmental groups in Europe have been more successful than their American counterparts in convincing the public that they have a case. Here, of course, they are helped by favourable news coverage. When some radical environmental groups used direct action to damage research projects on GM foods actually in the fields, they received a far more tolerant press coverage than environmental activists in America had done. Thirdly, and most important, European consumers have been much more sceptical about GM foods than American consumers, especially after a series of food scares in Europe which, although they had nothing directly to and from environmental groups. At the meeting it was decided that no new import licences for GM food would be given until new and stricter regulations were in place, and labelling of all GM food was made mandatory. Similar restrictions followed in other parts of the world. In America, confidence in genetically modified food began to crack. We want labels! became a popular slogan Many farming experts have also begun to question the claim that GM food is the only way to increase food production. Some recent studies in the USA and in China suggest that fairly small farms growing a wide variety of crops without using genetic engineering can greatly increase productivity, and that monoculture, where a single crop is grown on huge areas of land the type of farming preferred by the same big companies that produce GM seeds is a barrier to bigger harvests. Some recent research, published in early, also suggests that GM crops do, after a few years, requirement. Even the Rockefeller Foundation, which is funding much of the research, has admitted that the advertisements had gone overboard in their implication that this new rice could dramatically reduce the number of people suffering from blindness. Many people asked if it was not more sensible to encourage people to eat brown rice. Why not advertise to encourage people to eat a normal mixed diet, which would include enough Vitamin A? The answer, says the anti-gm lobby, is that no money is to be made that way. The sceptics, then, seem to have won round two of the great debate. So, what sort of food do we want on our menus, at home and at the local restaurant or burger bar? Have we any real cause to be more frightened of a genetically modified filler in a sandwich than your favourite brand of ice-cream? Do you, when it comes down to it, really know what s in that ice-cream? The debate goes on.
1 Focus on the text Write brief answers to the following questions: a) Why did GM food become so popular with farmers and producers in the USA in the mid-90s? b) What arguments do critics of GM food use? c) Why is the role of journalists important? E: every insurance company with whom the tested child (or adult after the age of ) is insured F: any employer of the tested child/adult iii) Who should not be told the results of a gene test? A: the tested child with this disorder usually have no symptoms of the syndrome when born, but develop symptoms after they are 6 months old. They lose the ability to move their limbs properly and to speak. Research indicates that a gene test can reveal that the disorder will develop, and that gene therapy has a good chance 2 Going deeper into the text The following topics or items have a place in the article. Why has the author brought them into the article? Discuss in pairs. a) Traditional forms of breeding b) Tomatoes c) Rice d) World population growth e Profits f) The environment B: the parents C: the child s school D: insurance companies E: employers F: anyone else? iv) What about gene therapy? A: it is wrong to interfere with the genes any person inherits B: everything possible should be done to use gene therapy to give people a life of repairing the defective gene.) 4 Playing it out In groups of four, prepare a role-play. One of you is a farmer who is not quite sure whether to sow genetically modified seed or not. One of you is a salesman for GM seed. One of you is a member of a group determined to stop the sowing of GM seed, and one of you has spent five years in parts of the world where people die of hunger. Spend some time preparing the 3 Talking Gene therapy is mentioned in the article. In a few years time it will be possible for every unborn child to be gene tested while in his/her mother s uterus. This gene test will show what handicaps or diseases or future diseases the child will be born with (it will not, of course, show what diseases the child might get as a result of infection from outside). Here are some questions for you to answer. Go through these questions and think about them, selecting the answers you support, and thinking about why you support them. (The answers suggested here do not necessarily exclude each other.) Then have group discussions or a class debate in which each question is discussed. free of inherited diseases or inherited handicaps C: doctors should decide what should be done D: doctors should simply give medical advice; the parents should decide E: the mother should decide (after being given medical advice) v) Which of the following scenarios do you think is acceptable? A: Sports associations sponsor research into genes which determine particular characteristics that are important in sport (for example, balance and suppleness in gymnasts) and ask for parents to volunteer to have the genes of their unborn children manipulated so as to sorts of things you will say, and the questions you will want to ask. Then play out a conversation between these four people. 5 Writing a) Write a letter to a newspaper expressing your views on genetically modified food. b) Write a dialogue in which two people discuss an aspect of genetics technology. Choose the aspect yourself. (You do not have to choose an aspect mentioned in this article.) c) Write a short story in which genetics technology has a place. Begin: It was a Sunday in September. It started like any other day. 6 The Internet The Internet can supply you with thousands of i) Who should have a gene test? A: all unborn children B: no one C: the parents should decide D: the mother should decide alone give them a better chance of winning Olympic gold medals. B: A mother (who is in a good partnership, and wants a child) discovers through gene tests that her unborn child will develop Alzheimer s disease, when he is pages about genetically modified food. The Internet is, of course, a godsend to pressure groups, and both pro- and anti-groups use it enthusiastically. So you should find it interesting to follow up some of them. Try, for example, printing some GM catchphrase (e.g. flavor ii) Which of these persons or groups should be told the results of a gene test of an unborn child? Is there anyone else who should be told? A: the child, at a certain age B: both parents C: just the mother 40 and chooses to have an abortion. C: Gene testing for disorders like Rett s syndrom should be mandatory and free. Any child shown to be genetically destined to have such a disorder should be given the latest form of gene therapy, at no cost to the parents. (Rett s syndrom savers or genetic modification ) on your favourite search engine and see what you find. Possible Internet tasks could include (i) building up a list of up-to-date arguments for and against genetically modified food, (ii) finding relevant statistics and news about GM food, and (iii) trying to see if there are differences in attitudes from coun- D: just the medical authorities, who could is a neurodevelopmental disorder try to country. Present your findings in class or then decide who to tell affecting one in,000 females. Girls make a little project out of it.
nytt læreverk for engelsk påbygning! Av Jorun Grønset Løvoll, Elvebakken vgs. Etter å ha undervist modul 3 på allmennfaglig påbygning i mange år, var det med blanda forventninger jeg åpnet Freeways. Blanda fordi jeg forventet en bok lik de andre vi har prøvd ut i faget og for lengst latt bli hyllefyll. Det har ført til at et lite kurs har blitt en ganske stor jobb å undervise fordi mangel på gode læreverk gjorde det lettere å basere seg på stensiler og internett. Stor er derfor gleden ved å sitte med utkastet til Freeways i hendene og se at verket på en helt annen måte enn tidligere imøtekommer behovene elevene på påbygningskurset har. Erfaring har vist at elevene på påbygningskurset har hatt et stort behov for skrivetrening og hjelp til å luke ut de mest elementære grammatiske feilene. I tillegg kommer nødvendigheten av å friske opp det de har lært på GK og VK1, som for mange av dem kan være to til tre år siden. Det er derfor ikke nok slik det stod i en veiledning da jeg begynte å undervise dette kurset, at man for eksempel kunne lese en roman. Elevene trenger en full gjennomgang av hva de kan forventes å få til eksamen. Tidligere lærebøker har ikke ivaretatt dette godt nok, men derimot tilbudt en tilfeldig samling tekster og oppgaver som ikke har evnet å sette verken tekster eller språkoppgaver inn i en større sammenheng. Det har gjort at elevene ikke har fått den forberedelse de trenger frem mot en eksamen som forutsetter at læreplanens mål skal være dekket. Det som tiltaler meg aller mest ved dette læreverket, er den alt-i-ett tankegangen som vi kjenner fra Passage, som ivaretar behovet både for gode tekster og varierte oppgaver. Boken er delt inn i oversiktlige kapitler som på en ryddig måte samler tekstene tematisk inn i hovedområdene USA, den engelskspråklige verden og Storbritannia. Til slutt er det et Tools kapittel der elevene kan finne instruksjon i å skrive brev, bokrapport og essay, samt slå opp på fagtermer som de vil komme borti. Jeg synes forfatterne har klart å sette sammen tekster som til sammen dekker læreplanmålene på en lettfattelig og god måte. Jeg liker også den måten hvert kapittel tar for seg et språklig problemområde og etter hver tekst har oppgaver knyttet til dette. Elever opplever ofte at språkoppgaver blir tilfeldige og løsrevet fra en større sammenheng. I denne boken er dette ivaretatt ved at de er samlet tematisk. Med den bredden og variasjon vi finner i typen oppgaver knyttet til disse problemområdene, får elevene på en variert måte mulighet til å løse disse. Boken åpner med kapittelet Switch on om engelsk som verdensspråk og om kommunikasjon på tvers av kulturer med artige eksempler på hvor galt det kan gå når man ikke kjenner den kulturen man skal operere i. Novellen Johanna, diktene Bloody Men og The Road Not Taken er tekster som fungerer i oppstarten av et skoleår. Uten å være for vanskelig tilgjengelige, tar de opp emner som er greie å snakke om, enten det handler om å skulle ta valg i livet, eller om dikt og novelle som sjanger. Kapitlene om Storbritannia og USA har begge faktabokser og tidslinjer over amerikansk og britisk historie. Tekstene som omhandler historie gir en grei innføring i viktige begivenheter i landenes historie. I kapittelet om USA stoppes det opp ved. september i form av oppgaver og en lyttetekst og videre Vietnamkrigen i form av Tim O Briens The Ambush. I tillegg er America the Beautiful og Home of the Brave tekster som gir en grei innføring i geografi og kultur. Teksten Questions about Politics in the USA gir en kort og grei oversikt over det viktigste elevene bør ha fått med seg om amerikansk politikk Kapittelet om Storbritannia er bygd opp etter samme lest som det om USA: Fast Facts, sakprosatekster om historie, geografi og kultur sammen med en tidslinje gir en grei innføring i det britiske samfunnet. Novellen The Joker gir et morsomt innblikk i britisk humor og væremåte. Kapittelet Ways of the World inneholder Fast Facts om Australia, Irland, India og Sør Afrika. Her er det med utvalget av tekster mye å gripe fatt i som jeg har erfaring for vil engasjere elevene. Det gjelder både den sterke novellen The Sniper av Liam O Flaherty og Abel Phelps Head Work som på en litt underfundig måte tar for seg raseskilleproblematikken i Sør Afrika, og som sammen med de andre tekstene i dette kapittelet gir en mulighet til å ta små dykk inn i de ulike kulturene. Det er ikke mye man kan rekke på en time i uka. Noen skoler tilbyr riktignok elevene en ekstra time i faget for å slippe å gjøre det helt meningsgløst, men uansett blir det begrensa hva man kan komme gjennom. Det blir sjelden tid til noe særlig prosjektarbeid eller fordypning i emner av interesse. I teksten Search for Information ligger det allikevel forslag til emner man kan velge mellom for å gå litt dypere inn i sider ved kultur eller historie. Dette sammen med språkoppgaver, rollespill, essayoppgaver med mer, gjør at det blir spennende å prøve Freeways ut på egne elever. Jeg må innrømme at jeg har stjålet litt fra Passage tidligere og lurt på hvorfor ingen brydde seg med å lage et tilsvarende læreverk for påbygningselevene. Nå har vi fått det, og jeg ser fram til å bruke det.
? Ja, takk! Jeg vil gjerne stå som mottaker av fagavisen (gratis!) for engelsklærere. Skolens navn:........................................................................................ Skolens adresse:..................................................................................... Faglærerens navn:................................................................................... E-post adresse:...................................................................................... CAPPELEN UNDERVISNING, Videregående skole, Postboks 350 Sentrum, Oslo. Faksnummer: 36 50 46