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FORM 7-8
Scarlett
by Chris Rose
Here’s Scarlett, in the garden of a friend’s house in London on a sunny
summer morning, the kind of mornings that are unusual in England. Scarlett is
twelve years old (“thirteen in November” she tells me), and is trying to understand
the world around her. She asks questions about everything, all the time.
I tell her that I want to ask her a question, and I ask her why she’s called
“Scarlett”, and what the name means, and if it comes from anywhere in particular,
and she says:
“No it’s just a stupid name my parents chose because they liked it. It
doesn’t mean anything.”
I wonder if her parents named her after the heroine of a favourite film,
perhaps, but then again, I know her dad and this sounds unlikely. I think they
probably chose it just because they liked the sound of it.
Scarlett is worried about changing school after the summer, she worries
that she’s too short for her age and that the other children at the school will make
fun of her. She shows me some pictures of the school she is at now, and her
classmates. I look at the picture and it shows children of all heights and shapes and
sizes. Some are tall, some are short, some are fat and some are thin. Some are
black and some are white, and most of them are somewhere in between. Some
have red hair and some have blond hair, some have long hair and some have short
hair.
I tell her not to worry about the new school, tell her that she’ll be OK, and
ask her about the new subjects she’ll be studying. She tells me that she’s worried
about learning French, and I tell her not to worry, that it isn’t a very difficult
language. She tells me that she already knows five languages.
“Five languages!” I shout. “That’s impossible! How do you already know
five languages?”
“Because I’ve got five languages in my body” she says.
I ask her what she means, and she starts to tell me the story of her family.
Some of the story I already know. I’ve already heard stories about her grandfather.
He was from Scotland; he was a sailor, but not a very good sailor, so he only got as
far as Portsmouth, a big navy town on the south coast of England, not very far
from Scotland at all. When he got to Portsmouth, he stopped there, left the navy
and became a boxer. He lost fights and drank a lot. However, he still managed to
see the world by meeting a woman who came from Laos. Nobody really knows
how this woman had ended up in Portsmouth, but she still lives there, and I tell
Scarlett that she should try and find out her grandmother’s story.
“No, she’s too old now” says Scarlett, “and anyway, she’s lived in
Portsmouth nearly all her life.”
Scarlett’s grandparents were only together long enough to produce a son,
probably one of the only Scottish-Laotians in the world. They called him Bill,
which is usually short for “William”, but his name was just “Bill”. Bill inherited
his father’s personality and his mother’s looks, so the only thing he thought he
could do was become a rock star. He never really managed to become a rock star,
though, so now he works as a graphic designer.
I don’t know Scarlett’s mum, so I ask her to tell me about her mum.
“My mum’s Polish” she says, “Well, not really, because she was born in
Brighton, but her mum and dad are from Poland. But they’ve lived there, like, for
always. But I know that her mum was from somewhere that was Germany, and
then became Poland, so she’s really German, I suppose. So that’s another language
that I’ve got in my body.”
I ask Scarlett if she can actually speak all the languages that she says she
has “in her body”, and she looks at me like I’m stupid.
“Of course not” she says. “But I’ve still got them in me!”
We count up her “languages”: Scottish, Laotian, German, Polish.
“That’s only four!” I tell her.
“No, there’s English too!”
“Of course there is” I say. And then I look at Scottish–Laotian–German–
Polish–English Scarlett, with her name that comes from nowhere and I ask her,
“And you Scarlett, where are you from?”
She thinks for a long time, such a long time that I think perhaps she hasn’t
heard my question. But then before I can repeat it she looks up and at me.
“I’m from here”, she says. “I’m from London”.
Task
For each question decide whether it is true (T), false (F) or not stated (NS)
1. Scarlett is a young and inquisitive girl.
2. Scarlett is very different from her classmates.
3. Scarlett can speak five languages.
4. Scarlett's parents are both English.
5. Scarlett has relatives from lots of different countries.
6. Scarlett defines her identity by the language she speaks.
7. Scarlett's family history is quite complicated.
8. Scarlett thinks she comes from a city and not a country.
FORM 8-9
The Dinosaur in Jake’s Garage
by Chris Rose
“Dad” he said, “There’s a dinosaur living in the garage.”
“Is there really, Jake?” said his dad. “That’s interesting. Now go and away and
play. Daddy’s busy at the moment.” Jake’s dad went back to reading his
newspaper.
Jake had suspected that there was a dinosaur in the garage for some time.
A few weeks ago, behind the old bicycle he used to ride when he was small, the
big bag with the tent in it that they had only used once on a camping holiday before
his dad had said “Forget this! I’m never going camping again! Next year we’re
staying in a hotel like ordinary people!”, a punctured football and a big brown
cardboard box containing pieces of a wardrobe which they had bought from a big
furniture store and which his dad had never been able to put together, Jake had
found an enormous egg.
At first, Jake thought that it was perhaps another punctured football, one
that had gone a strange shape because it hadn’t been used for so long, but he didn’t
recognise it, and when he went to touch it, the thing was all hard, not like a football
at all, punctured or not. It felt more like a kind of egg, but it was all slippy and
shiny, and he couldn’t see a hole in it anywhere. No, Jake – being a clever boy –
immediately realised that it wasn’t a football at all. It was an egg. He didn’t tell
anyone at the time, partly because he thought that his mum and dad would think
that he was lying again (his mum and dad always thought that he was lying.
“Telling tales” they called it. “Jake’s been telling tales again” they always sighed.
“He always does it! He’s such a clever boy. He has such a great
imagination...but...one day his imagination is going to get him into trouble!!!”),
and also because he didn’t want anyone else to know about what he had found.
Because Jake already knew that he had found a dinosaur egg. Right there. Right in
his garage!
They had been studying dinosaurs at school. Their teacher had told them
all about dinosaurs, and how dinosaurs came out of eggs, like birds or lizards do
today, but that a dinosaur egg was as big as a football, or even bigger.
The next day he decided to tell his teacher. “I’ve got a dinosaur living in
my garage!” Jake said proudly to his teacher. But the teacher didn’t listen to him.
He only pushed his glasses up his big nose and said, “Is that right Jake? How
interesting...”
For the next few days Jake decided not to tell anyone about his dinosaur,
but kept his secret to himself. He started to feed the dinosaur at first by giving it
some milk. Then he gave it some of their dog’s food. The dog barked at Jake
angrily
when
Jake
took
his
food
away
from
him.
“Don’t worry!” Jake said to the dog. “It’s just for the dinosaur in the garage. He’s
getting bigger every day! Soon you’ll be able to play with him!” The dog didn’t
look convinced.
But it was true. The dinosaur was growing and growing. It was already as
big as the dog. Jake couldn’t contain his excitement, and the next day he told his
teacher again, as his father still wasn’t interested in the dinosaur.
“The dinosaur in my garage is getting bigger every day!” shouted Jake in the
middle of the lesson. The teacher turned round and looked at Jake with a serious
expression.
“Well Jake, if there really is a dinosaur living in your garage, why don’t you take it
out for a walk? Why don’t you bring it into school tomorrow for us all to have look
at???!!!” The teacher laughed. He was feeling very pleased with himself. He
pushed his glasses back up his big nose, and looked at the rest of the class. “Don’t
you think Jake should bring his pet dinosaur in for everyone to see tomorrow?” he
laughed, and all of the rest of the class laughed too.
The next day, Jake brought the dinosaur into school. It wasn’t easy,
because the dinosaur hadn’t been out of his garage before, and moreover, it was
now really rather big, but Jake very carefully took the lead they had for their dog,
put it around the dinosaur’s neck and pulled him out of the garage. Once out of the
garage, however, the dinosaur sat down and refused to move any further. Jake
pulled and pulled but it was no good, he couldn’t move the dinosaur.
At first the dinosaur didn’t want to move. Jake put some meat from the
fridge on the floor for the dinosaur to eat. Now the dinosaur followed him out of
the house, along the street and to the bus stop. Quite a few people seemed
surprised, and some of them were even scared when Jake got on the bus with his
dinosaur, but the dinosaur seemed quite happy. At one point there was a difficult
moment when the dinosaur put his nose into an old lady’s shopping bag and stole a
chicken out of it. The old lady screamed, and the ticket inspector came.
“Oi!” said the ticket inspector. “Has that thing got a ticket?” Jake showed
the ticket inspector the bus ticket which he had bought for the dinosaur, and then
the ticket inspector went away, but the old lady was still very unhappy, so Jake had
to apologise for the chicken his dinosaur had stolen, and then got off the bus at the
next stop. He had to walk all the rest of the way to his school, and when he got
there he was late.
Everyone screamed when he walked into his classroom. Jake couldn’t
understand why. His teacher was staring at him in horror. Actually, no, his teacher
wasn’t staring at Jake in horror, he was staring at the dinosaur in horror. Jake
couldn’t
understand
what
the
problem
was.
“But, sir” he said to his teacher, “You told me to bring the dinosaur to school!!!”
Less than one hour later Jake was sitting on his own in the school, only
Jake and his dinosaur. There was a lot of noise outside. There was lots and lots of
noise outside. Jake could hear the sirens of police cars, people shouting, and the
sound of helicopters flying overhead. He looked out of the window of his
classroom and waved at all the men with television cameras filming him and his
dinosaur.
His teacher had shouted “Out!! OUT!!! Everybody out!!!” when Jake had
come in with his dinosaur, and sure enough, the teacher and all the other children
had run out of the classroom, leaving Jake on his own with his dinosaur. Jake
couldn’t understand why everybody was so afraid of his dinosaur. He thought his
dinosaur
was
pretty
friendly.
“Jake!” shouted one of the police officers outside, “Can you hear me? Let us know
if you’re ok!” Jake smiled and waved at the police officers.
“I’m fine!” he shouted. The dinosaur sat in the classroom and started to eat some
of the children’s schoolbooks. Jake could see that it was getting bored. He took the
dog’s lead and put it on the dinosaur again, and took the dinosaur out of the
classroom into the schoolyard, where all the people were.
As soon as they went outside, there were screams and cries and the flashes
from hundreds of cameras. A policeman grabbed Jake and a huge net fell down on
the dinosaur. A group of scientists grabbed the dinosaur in the net, put him in a big
truck
and
drove
off.
“Wait!” shouted Jake. “Where are they going with my dinosaur?”
“They’re taking him to the zoo” said a policeman. “He’ll be safe there.”
Jake felt pretty sad when he got home. He didn’t even care that he was on
the television news, and his picture was on the front page of newspapers all across
the world. He missed his dinosaur. When everyone had gone to bed that night, he
went out to the garage again, and found another egg...
Task
Decide who did the different things in the story.
For each question, choose Jake (A), Jake's dad (B), Jake's teacher (C) or
Another person (D)
1. Who found a strange egg in the garage?
2. Who reads the newspaper and doesn't listen to his son?
3. Who didn't want to go camping again?
4. Who told Jake all about dinosaurs?
5. Who doesn't believe Jake?
6. Who tells Jake to prove he has a dinosaur?
7. Who made sure Jake had a ticket?
8. Who was angry about the dinosaur on the bus?
9. Who wants to know if Jake is ok?
10. Who finds another egg in the garage?
FORM 10-11
The Fix
by Chris Rose
The four judges have been sitting in a small room in the Milton Hotel in
London for three hours now. The judges must agree on who will win the four
awards in the important Global Music Awards: best album, best song, best new
band and lifetime achievement award. Outside the small room where the judges
are, five hundred people are sitting waiting. They are all very excited, and they are
all very nervous. They want to know who is going to win the important awards.
The television show goes live in 30 minutes. Excitement is growing; tension is
rising.
But there is a problem. A big problem. The judges have not yet agreed on
one single thing.
The judges must all agree on each winner. If they can’t all agree, then the
award will not be given – nobody will win.
The four judges are David Froth, the music critic for an important
newspaper, Betty Weill, the head of a big record company, Jake Dangerous, a
singer who won the award for best song last year and Dan Snaith. Dan Snaith isn’t
an important person. Dan Snaith is a reader of New Music Weekly, a music
magazine. He won a competition in the magazine to be one of the judges of the
Global Music Awards.
“OK guys, come on...we have to decide now,” says David Froth. “We
can’t wait any more. Best Album - I vote for the Polar Gorillas’ first album, their
punk-influenced sound and intelligent lyrics make them the best band around.”
“I agree,” says Betty Weill. “But they’re all very young – we can give
them the Best New Band award, then we can give the Best Album award to Janie
Waller. Her album, Smooth as Chocolate, is a great jazz-pop crossover."
“It’s
already
sold
a
million
copies”
says
Jake
Dangerous.
“Exactly!”
says
Betty.
“No!” says Jake. “It’s already sold a million copies, so she doesn’t need an award!
The Best Album should go to Missy Queen. Her album Girlz Can Rap is the best
hip-hop
record
in
years.”
“Hmmmm...it’s certainly an impressive record,” says David Froth, “but I think
there’s only one really great track on it – the song ‘Hey! You! Listen Up!’”
“We
can
give
her
Best
Song
then!”
says
Jake.
“Ok, now we’re getting somewhere. We’re finally making progress,” says David
Froth. “What about Lifetime Achievement? Remember, this is a really important
award. It’s recognition for a singer who has changed the course of popular music!”
“I think Jake Dangerous should win,” says Jake Dangerous. Nobody listens to him.
“Dan – what do you think?” asks David Froth.
Dan says nothing. He was very excited about being a judge for the Global
Music Awards, but now he is disappointed. Dan knows that David Froth wants the
Polar Gorillas to win because he was the first person to write about them – he
“discovered” them, and so when they become very famous, Froth will take the
credit. Betty Weill wants Janie Waller to win because Janie Waller releases records
for her record company. If Janie Waller wins, her record will sell even more
copies, and Betty Weill will become even richer. Jake Dangerous wants Missy
Queen to win because Missy Queen is his girlfriend. Dan is disappointed because
now he knows that the Global Music Awards are, in fact, a fix.
“Look, our time is up!” says Froth. “Can we agree on this: Best Album,
Janie Waller. Best Song, Missy Queen. Best New Band, Polar Gorillas. Lifetime
Achievement...ok Dan, we’ll leave this up to you. But remember – Dylan Roberts
is in the audience tonight, so is Jack Michaelson, and Nobbo from X5. I don’t have
to tell you that Dylan Roberts is the voice of a generation, Jack Michaelson is very,
very rich, and Nobbo from X5 is bringing peace to the world. He’s also a friend of
the Secretary General of the United Nations. The choice is yours!”
The judges walk out onto the stage in the Milton Hotel. Five hundred
excited, nervous people are watching them. Five hundred cameras flash when they
go on stage. Dan feels very scared. He also knows that millions of people around
the world are watching on TV.
The judges all stand up on the stage and pretend to open envelopes.
“And the winner is...” they all say. There is a moment of silence then lots
and lots of really loud applause as the judges read out the names of their friends.
Then it is Dan’s turn.
“Ok everyone,” says David Froth, “Are we having a good time?!”
Everyone shouts and claps. “Finally, we arrive at perhaps the most important
award this evening: the Lifetime Achievement Award. Who will win this year?
Will it be Dylan Roberts, voice of a generation? Or Jack Michaelson? Erm...dancer
of a generation. Or Nobbo, bringer of world peace? To present the award, here is
Dan Snaith, winner of the New Music Weekly competition.” Five hundred people
applaud and shout. Five hundred cameras flash again in Dan’s face. Millions of
people are watching him on TV.
Dan gets up nervously and stands in front of the microphone.
“Good evening!” he says. He opens an envelope which has a piece of
paper in it. Nothing is written on the piece of paper. He says the words, “...and the
winner is...” He stops and pauses. There is total silence in the room.
“The winner is....you!”
There is more total silence in the room. A few people say “What???”
“That’s right!” continues Dan, feeling more confident now. “You!” He
looks directly into the TV cameras. “All the people around the world who listen to
music and play music and love music! You are the most important people!”
There is the sound of surprise in the big room. Dan sees Dylan Roberts,
Jack Michaelson and Nobbo leave the room.
“These awards,” Dan continues, “are a fix! The music business is a fix! If
nobody listened to or bought the music, there would be no winners here tonight.
That is why YOU are the winners!”
Some people cheer and applaud, some people say “boooo!”.
But tonight, Dan Snaith knows that he has won, too.
Task
Choose the best answer for each question
A David Froth
B Betty Weil C Jake Dangerous
D Dan Snaith
1. Who is a music critic?
2. Who thinks Jake Dangerous should win the Lifetime Achievement
award?
3. Who thinks Dylan Roberts is the voice of a generation?
4. Who is a prizewinner?
5. Who is disappointed?
6. Who is a record company boss?
7. Who likes the Polar Gorillas?
8. Who is a singer?
9. Who thinks Janie Waller is great?
10.Who must choose the Lifetime Achievement award winner?
11.Who likes Missy Queen?
12.Who thinks Dylan Roberts is the voice of a generation?
13.Who surprises everybody?
14.Who is Missy Queen's boyfriend?