Year 7, Term 2:
‘Places’
Year 7, Term 2: ‘Place’ Scheme of Work
Content?
Assessment Task?
1. Non fiction writing - transactional
Rightmove website, Estate Agent details
Wuthering Heights quotations and descriptions
Produce a leaflet for an estate agent advertising Wuthering
Heights and/or Thrushcross Grange : transactional writing
2. Concept of home
Dickens quotes
BBC child refugee story animations
Unforgotten Coat opening
Grace Nicholls’ poetry – Island Man, Hurricane Hits England
Sujata Bhatt – from Search for my Tongue
Links to readings of poems and poets’ explanations
Lessons?
5
4
3. Non-Fiction texts
Guardian article child asylum seekers in the U.K. –
Asylum seekers: nowhere boys
Unseen non-fiction comprehension
3
iPads using:
Book Creator App, Explain Everything App, Keynote for creating
PowerPoint type slides, Numbers, iBooks , GarageBand, Showbie,
Nearpod, Red laser, Note Anytime Lite etc the possibilities are
endless!
Create an eBook using sound, film, animation, telling the
imaginary story of the experiences of a refugee from another
country coming to the U.K.
10
5. Laughter Under the Bridge - opening - Ben Okri
Comparative prose essay
3
6.
Paired team debate
2
27
Section 1
Non-Fiction Writing
You are going to write a leaflet for an
Estate Agent describing a property.
Before you begin this task, you need to
understand how language is used to
make a property sound appealing and to
try to sell it.
Look at descriptions of houses for sale,
written by Estate Agents.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/
Have a look at some of the
brochures and leaflets that can
be reached at the end of the
property descriptions.
Also read some of the property
leaflets your teacher has.
How is the information set out to help
the reader?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Titles
Pictures
Sub-headings
Text boxes
Columns
Anything else?
List any words or phrases that you
think are used to make the property
sound interesting and attractive.
Can you highlight different word classes?
Nouns
Adjectives
Verbs
Adverbs
Some people think that estate
Agents exaggerate the positives
and play down the negatives.
e.g.
What an Estate Agents says
Convenient for the station.
What an Estate Agents means
The railway runs along the back garden and it
is almost impossible to sleep at night.
Now you have a go.
Says, ‘Scope for improvement.’
Means, ‘The place is falling apart.’
Says, ‘Compact.’
Means, ‘Tiny.’.
Here are a few more:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Unusual feature.
Thriving part of town
Has a homely feeling
Easily maintained garden
Decorated in a modern style...
On road parking
Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë, written
between October 1845 and June 1846, and published in
1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell. It was her first and
only published novel: she died the following year, at age
30.
Wuthering Heights is the name of the farmhouse on the
North York Moors where the story unfolds. The book's
core theme is the destructive effect that jealousy and
vengefulness have, both on individuals and on their
communities.
Chapter 1
1801. - I have just returned from a visit to my landlord - the solitary neighbour
that I shall be troubled with. This is certainly a beautiful country! In all
England, I do not believe that I could have fixed on a situation so completely
removed from the stir of society. A perfect misanthropist's heaven: and Mr.
Heathcliff and I are such a suitable pair to divide the desolation between us. A
capital fellow! He little imagined how my heart warmed towards him when I
beheld his black eyes withdraw so suspiciously under their brows, as I rode
up, and when his fingers sheltered themselves, with a jealous resolution, still
further in his waistcoat, as I announced my name. 'Mr. Heathcliff?' I said.
A nod was the answer.
'Mr. Lockwood, your new tenant, sir. I do myself the honour of calling as soon
as possible after my arrival, to express the hope that I have not
inconvenienced you by my perseverance in soliciting the occupation of
Thrushcross Grange: I heard yesterday you had had some thoughts - '
'Thrushcross Grange is my own, sir,' he interrupted, wincing. 'I should not
allow any one to inconvenience me, if I could hinder it - walk in!'
Description of Wuthering Heights from
the novel:
Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr Heathcliff’s dwelling. ‘Wuthering’
being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to
which its station is exposed in stormy weather. Pure, bracing ventilation they must
have up there at all times, indeed: one may guess the power of the north wind,
blowing over the edge, by the excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the end of
the house; and by a range of gaunt thorns all stretching their limbs one way, as if
craving alms of the sun. Happily, the architect had foresight to build it strong: the
narrow windows are deeply set in the wall, and the corners defended with large
jutting stones.
Before passing the threshold, I paused to admire a quantity of grotesque
carving lavished over the front, and especially about the principal door, above
which, among a wilderness of crumbling griffins, and shameless little boys, I
detected the date, ‘1500,’ and the name ‘Hareton Earnshaw. ‘
Thrushcross
Grange
Description of Thrushcross Grange
from the novel:
…We crept through a broken hedge, groped our way up the path, and
planted ourselves on a flowerpot under the drawing-room window. The light came
from thence; they had not put up the shutters, and the curtains were only half closed.
Both of us were able to look in by standing on the basement, and clinging to the ledge,
and we saw – ah! It was beautiful – a splendid place carpeted with crimson, and
crimson-covered chairs and tables, and a pure white ceiling bordered by gold, a shower
of glass-drops hanging in silver chains from the centre, and shimmering with little soft
tapers. Old Mr and Mrs Linton were not there. Edgar and his sister had it entirely to
themselves; shouldn’t they have been happy? We should have thought ourselves in
heaven. And now, guess what your good children were doing?
WUTHERING HEIGHTS (THE
FARMHOUSE)
A sixteenth century farmhouse, the grandest building in the
neighbourhood except for Thrushcross Grange. The home of the
Earnshaws and, later on, owned by Heathcliff.
Position
Wuthering Heights ("Wuthering" is a local word,
meaning wild, exposed, storm-blown) is in a very
exposed position on the moors, a four mile
(6.5 kilometre) walk from Thrushcross Grange. The
nearest town or village is Gimmerton which has the
doctor and parson.
The farm sits on the northern side of a hilltop also
known as Wuthering Heights (or "the Heights").
This hill prevents it from seeing Thrushcross
Grange directly. The road from the farm into
Gimmerton valley is steep and winding.
Layout
The farm is surrounded by a wall with a barred gate secured by a chain. A
pathway leads from the garden gate to the main door with gooseberry bushes
bordering it.
There is a barn nearby with a round window (possibly a pitching window) which
is within speaking distance of the main door. The barn has a fairly large porch
(big enough to shelter twelve sheep).
There are also some stables with a porch and a shed behind the barn which can
be used for milking cows.
From the farmhouse
entrance, a yard is
visible. As well as
the front entrance,
you can get to the
interior by passing
through a washhouse and a paved
area containing a
coal shed, pump and
pigeon cot.
The farmhouse has a few stunted trees at the end of the house and a range of thorns,
permanently bent by the wind. The trees are firs, one of which damages the kitchen
chimney stack during high winds. They are close to the house. One of them breaks
Lockwood's window in chapter 2, and Cathy escapes via the trees.
Sitting-Room (The ‘House’)
The entrance to the sitting-room has grotesque carving over the front and around the
main door. The door has griffins and 'boys' (cherubs?) carved above with the date 1500
and the name 'Hareton Earnshaw'. This leads directly into the family sitting-room, big
enough to hold a fifteen-man band. There is a large fireplace. Opposite is a vast oak
dresser which reaches to the roof. This dresser has a collection of large pewter dishes with
silver jugs and tankards, and space at the bottom for dogs and children to shelter in.
Above the fireplace are some old guns and horse pistols. There are three gaudily-painted
canisters on the mantlepiece.
The floor of the sitting room is of smooth, white stone. There are some high-backed,
primitive chairs painted green and one or two heavy black ones in the shadows. It has a
side door leading down to a cellar.
Kitchen
The kitchen has a hearth nearly enclosed by two benches shaped as circular segments.
There is a ladder that goes through a trap in the roof, believed by Lockwood to lead to the
garret where Joseph sleeps The kitchen has windows which face east or south east to allow
in light in the morning.
Other Rooms
There is a small spare room which Hindley considered turning into a parlour.
The main bedroom during Heathcliff's ownership of Wuthering Heights
was described thus: "There was a carpet—a good one, but the pattern was
obliterated by dust; a fireplace hung with cut-paper, dropping to pieces; a
handsome oak-bedstead with ample crimson curtains of rather expensive
material and modern make; but they had evidently experienced rough
usage: the vallances hung in festoons, wrenched from their rings, and the
iron rod supporting them was bent in an arc on one side, causing the
drapery to trail upon the floor. The chairs were also damaged, many of
them severely; and deep indentations deformed the panels of the walls."
Another room, Catherine's, consists of a chair, clothes-press and a large
oak case with squares cut near the top resembling coach windows. It has
panelled sides which slide back to reveal a couch. It is against a window
whose ledge acts as a table. A fir tree is outside, close enough for its
branches to touch the latticed window (in 1801).One room upstairs is
turned into a parlour for Linton and also used as such by Cathy.
Joseph's room is in the attic (garrets), reached via a ladder. There
is enough room for at least four people (the young Cathy,
Heathcliff and a plough boy were treated to a service with Joseph).
There are (at least) two garrets, one of which Heathcliff was locked
in as a child (and may well have been his room). They have
skylights and the young Catherine was able to climb from one
garret to the other via the skylights.
THRUSHCROSS GRANGE
The most important building in the neighbourhood; the home of the
Lintons and, later on, owned by Heathcliff. He rented it out and the
leasing of it by Mr Lockwood begins the book.
Layout
Layout of Thrushcross Grange
Position
Emily Brontë does not describe Thrushcross Grange
with the same detail that she applies to Wuthering
Heights.
Thrushcross Grange lies within a large park, with a
two-mile (three kilometer) walk from the main house to
the porter's lodge by the entrance. It is a four mile (six
and a half kilometer) walk to Wuthering Heights which
lies to the north. Wuthering Heights cannot be seen
from the Grange although Penistone Crags beyond can.
The park is unusally large for an untitled family like the
Lintons: Cathy rarely leaves it for the first thirteen
years of her life.
The picture above shows the kind of location that the Grange would
occupy.
The building has numerous projecting sections and surrounds a
courtyard that has a high wall around it. In front of the house are the
formal gardens.
The Rooms
Some of the rooms mentioned are:
A drawing room where the young Heathcliff and Catherine first see the Lintons
which has crimson carpets, chairs and tables, a white ceiling bordered with gold,
and glass-droplet chandeliers
A parlour where Heathcliff meets them on his return which looks out on the
garden, the park and the valley of Gimmerton. The moor is in the distance and
Wuthering Heights (the hill) can be seen although Wuthering Heights (the house)
is hidden on the other side. It is on the first floor and a window on the opposite
side also overlooks the courtyard.
The kitchen is part of a wing and the rear of the building is used when the Grange
is not occupied except by servants. The kitchen leads directly into the entrance
hall and has a door into the yard.
There is also the hall, the library (which may be another name for the parlour),
Edgar and Catherine's bedroom, Isabella's room, Ellen's room.
Upstairs, there is a study with a fire (which is used by Lockwood) as well as the
main bedrooms used by the family in residence.
Non Fiction Writing Task
Using all of the information you now have have
about the two famous fictional houses, choose
one, then produce an Estate Agent’s leaflet
advertising and describing the property for sale.
If you finish one leaflet easily, you could try to
produce one for the other house.
Try to emphasise the contrast between the two
properties.
Don’t forget:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Titles
Pictures
Sub-headings
Text boxes
Columns
Anything else?
Section 2
Now let’s think about the meaning of…
‘Home.’
What makes where you live
your home?
List 5 things that make your
home your home!
"No matter how dreary and
gray our homes are, we
people of flesh and blood
would rather live there than
in any other country, be it
ever so beautiful. There is
no place like home."
L. Frank
Baum
The Wonderful
Wizard of Oz
Miss Mills replied, on general
principles, that the Cottage of
content was better than the
Palace of cold splendour, and
that where love was, all was.
Charles
Dickens
David Copperfield
"When I speak of home, I
speak of the place where -in default of a better -- those
I love are gathered together;
and if that place were a
gypsy's tent, or a barn, I
should call it by the same
good name
notwithstanding."
Charles
Dickens
Nicholas Nickleby
In love of home, the love of
country has its rise.
Charles
Dickens
The Old Curiosity
Shop
Imagine you have to leave your home
without warning, never to return again.
You have time to grab one small
item before you leave.
Write a detailed description of the
object and explain its importance to
you.
Watch some of these short animated
films that accompany children telling
their own stories of becoming
refugees.
Imagine how it would feel to have to
leave your home in this way.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01k7c4q
Now read the opening of this short
novel about two Mongolian brothers
who seek refuge in England.
The Unforgotten Coat - Frank Cottrell Boyce
I hadn’t seen this photograph since the day it was taken, until now. Even
so, I can tell you anything you want to know about it. The boy on the left is
Shocky. The one on the right is Duncan, who used to come to school with
biscuits in his pocket. He’s married now, inexplicably. The girl on the left is
Mimi Toolan and the one on the right is me.
At the moment the picture was taken, I was mostly wondering whether
Mimi would ask me back to hers after school. Mimi’s mother let her play
with her make-up, which my mother definitely did not, even though I was
mature and sophisticated.
I was also thinking Oh. My. Days. Shocky has put his hand on my
shoulder! Once, just before Christmas, I had managed to manipulate
Shocky into being my partner in a classroom activity. This should have
resulted in a moment of physical contact because it was a trust game, only
it turned out that Shocky was not to be trusted. And by the time this
photograph was taken, Shocky had completed an unbroken run of two
hundred and thirty-seven days of failing to notice my existence.
How do I remember my thoughts so clearly? Because those were the only
thoughts I had in the first two terms of Year Six:
1. Mimi, can I come back to yours?
2. Shocky, please notice me.
Also, this photograph was taken in the summer term of Year Six. And doesn’t
everyone remember everything about their last summer in primary school?
The sports day. The leavers’ trip. The leavers’ photograph. The endless
discussion of which school you were going to next, the promise to stay
friends even though you were going to different schools. Everyone signing
their names on everyone else’s shirts on the last afternoon. And all the time,
you had the feeling that day by day, inch by inch, a door was opening and
sunshine was pouring in, and any day now you would be allowed out through
that door, laughing and yelling so loud that you wouldn’t even hear when it
closed behind you, for ever.
I can tell you when it was taken. It was the second week of the summer term.
During morning break, Mimi spotted two kids – one big and one little, the big
one holding the little one’s hand – staring through the railings of the
playground. The little one was wearing a furry hat and they had identical
coats. Mad coats – long, like dressing-gowns, with fur inside. But any coat
would have looked mad. The sun was beating down. The tarmac in the car
park was melting. Everyone else was wearing T-shirts.
Mimi went over and said, “What are you two looking at?”
The big one put his finger on his lips, shushing her, and said, “Pay
attention to your teacher.” He pointed at Mrs Spendlove, and the very
minute he did, she blew the whistle for the end of break, like he knew she
was going to do it.
When we were all lined up, somehow these two were standing right
behind me. I was looking at the littlest one, who had his hat pulled down
right over his eyes. It looked so uncomfortable; I wanted to fix it for him –
but the big one put his hand under my chin and turned my head away.
“Don’t look at him,” he said.
He was asking for a slap, quite honestly. But before I could do anything
about that, Mrs Spendlove was walking us into class. The two boys went
straight to the back and the little one made himself at home in what was
supposedly my seat. I stood there, staring right at him, thinking he’d take
a hint. But no.
Mrs Spendlove said, “Everyone, I’d like you all to say a big hello to a new
face in our class. A happy new face, I hope. This is Chingis.”
Everyone said hello except me. I said, “What about the other one, Miss?
What’s he called?”
She hadn’t noticed the little one until then. “Oh. Chingis,” she said, “I’m afraid
your little brother isn’t in this class. He’s in Miss Hoyle’s class just along the
corridor.”
“No,” said Chingis, “my little brother is in this class. Look, he’s here next to
me.”
Everyone laughed except Mrs Spendlove. “Sorry, sorry,” she said. “I mean he
belongs in Miss Hoyle’s class.” She was flapping her hands at the rest of us to
be quiet, mortified because she thought we were laughing at him and it was
her fault. But I was standing next to him and I could see he hadn’t made a
mistake. He was digging in.
“Julie, would you show Chingis’s brother to Miss Hoyle’s class?”
I certainly would. For one thing, I wanted my seat back.
As soon as I stepped towards the little one, though, the big one put his hand
up, right in my face, and said, “No.”
Some poetry about living in a
new culture.
Island Man - Grace Nichols
Morning
And the Island man wakes up
To the sound of blue surf
In his head
The steady breaking and wombing
Wild seabirds
And fisherman puling out to sea
The sun surfacing defiantly
From the east
Of his small emerald island
He always comes back groggily groggily
Comes back to sands
Of a grey metallic soar
To surge of wheels
To dull North Circular roar
Muffling muffling
His crumpled pillow waves
Island man heaves himself
Another London day
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips
/grace-nichols-island-man/
Hurricane Hits England – Grace Nicholls
It took a hurricane, to bring her closer
To the landscape
Half the night she lay awake,
The howling ship of the wing,
Its gathering rage,
Like some dark ancestral spectre,
Fearful and reassuring:
Talk to me Huracan
Talk to me Oya
Talk to me Shango
And Hattie
My sweeping, back-home cousin.
Tell me why you visit
An English coast?
What is the meaning
Of old tongues
Reaping havoc
In new places?
The blinding illumination,
Even as you shortCircuit us
Into further darkness?
What is the meaning of trees
Falling heavy as whales
Their crusted roots
Their cratered graves?
O why is my heart unchained?
Typical Oya of the Weather,
I am aligning myself to you,
I am following the movement of your winds,
I am riding the mystery of your storm.
Ah, sweet mystery,
Come to break the frozen lake in me,
Shaking the foundations of the very trees within me,
Come to let me know
That the earth is the earth is the earth.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/grace-nicholshurricane-hits-england/10293.html
from Search For My Tongue - Sujata Bhatt
You ask me what I mean
by saying I have lost my tongue.
I ask you, what would you do
if you had two tongues in your mouth,
and lost the first one, the mother tongue,
and could not really know the other,
the foreign tongue.
You could not use them both together
even if you thought that way.
And if you lived in a place you had to
speak a foreign tongue,
your mother tongue would rot,
rot and die in your mouth
until you had to “spit it out.”
I thought I spit it out
but over night while I dream,
it grows back, a stump of a shoot
grows longer, grows moist, grows strong veins,
it ties the other tongue in knots,
the bud opens, the bud opens in my mouth,
it pushes the other tongue aside.
Everytime I think I’ve forgotten,
I think I’ve lost the mother tongue,
it blossoms out of my mouth.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/sujatabhatt-search-for-my-tongue/10294.html
(munay hutoo kay aakhee jeebh aakhee bhasha)
(may thooky nakhi chay)
(parantoo rattray svupnama mari bhasha pachi aavay chay)
(foolnee jaim mari bhasha mari jeebh)
(modhama kheelay chay)
(fullnee jaim mari bhasha mari jeebh)
(modham pakay chay)
Section 3
Asylum seekers: nowhere
boys
Around 1,200 children arrived in Britain seeking asylum last
year – often alone, and after long, harrowing journeys
hidden in freezers or under lorries. We find out what
happened next.
Amelia Gentleman
The Guardian, Saturday 22 June 2013
Young asylum seekers: ‘There were five of us in the fridge, all standing
in the dark. I was afraid I might die.’ Photograph: Lydia Goldblatt for
the Guardian
Several times a month, social workers
in Kent are called to the port at Dover
to collect a child who has turned up,
usually hidden in the back of a lorry, to
embark on a new life in Britain.
Last year they collected an eight-yearold boy from Vietnam, hidden in a box
in the back of a white Transit van. From
time to time, UK Border Agency staff
have fished children out of the water at
Ramsgate. Usually, the children are in
their teens and are pulled from the
undercarriages of articulated lorries or
found concealed behind crates in the
refrigerated compartments designed to
transport fresh produce. Sometimes
they have cut through the lorry's
canvas coverings with a knife and
slipped beneath them.
A few weeks ago, a boy arrived with a
broken hip, caused by falling from a lorry.
"Their physical state depends on how clever
or lucky they are," says the Kent council
official responsible for unaccompanied
migrant children (who asked not to be
named). "Some arrive in a very poor state,
with broken legs and arms. The majority are
very, very tired and dishevelled." Last year,
130 of these children arrived in Kent, aged
between eight and 18, exhausted by long
journeys from some of the world's poorest
and most conflict-scarred nations, including
25 from Afghanistan, 15 from Iran, 10 from
Eritrea, 10 from Vietnam.
The younger boys, and girls of all ages, are
immediately found foster carers. Almost
none of the children have documents, so
determining their age is a complex process;
but those boys who seem to be a bit older
(15 or above) are sent to a converted old
people's home that has been made into a
hostel for unaccompanied asylum seekers.
… Two days spent at the centre reveal the
extraordinary difficulties they experienced
on their journeys, and the huge challenge
their arrival poses for officials in Kent,
charged with caring for children who have
been sent across the world in search of a
better or safer life.
… Kent has more of these children than any
other authority in Britain, because it is
where so many of the big ports are located,
and the county is under pressure to
improve the care they are given. Support
workers are on hand from 8am to 10pm,
trying to help them adjust to their new
environment. "They have been on the road
for such a long time, getting into all sorts of
difficulties with people, that there is a
sense of relief at having a roof over their
heads, a place that is warm and safe," the
Kent official says. "But they quickly move on
to the next worry: what is going to happen
to me now? The relief is momentary. I don't
see any of them jumping for joy."
… One by one, a handful of boys describe
their journey here, sitting awkwardly in one
of the home's conference rooms, each
talking with the assistance of an interpreter.
They recount confused stories of travelling
through countries and cultures unfamiliar to
them, taking extraordinary risks with such
frequency that they become unremarkable.
'I had no idea about England,' says Mohammed. 'I didn’t even know
that I had arrived in this country. I had to ask the policemen where I
was.' Photograph: Lydia Goldblatt for the Guardian
An Iranian boy, Mohammed – who, like
everyone interviewed here, asked that his
real name should not be printed, and who
says he is 14 – describes how his uncle paid
for him to be taken from Iran after his
brother was arrested. He doesn't know
how much his uncle paid, nor precisely
what route he took, although the
interpreter says it usually goes through
Turkey and Greece, taking more than three
months, with 10-day breaks from time to
time, staying in houses along the way and
surviving mainly on biscuits.
… "Now I am here, I have nowhere to go," he
says. "I don't feel young, since I left home:
this journey, the difficulty of sleeping rough,
cold, snow. I don't feel welcome here. I
haven't spoken to anyone, I just have that
feeling. I don't know people. I don't speak
English." He looks as if he knows how to look
after himself, but has unhappy, troubled
eyes. He is worried about his future. "What
shall I tell you? It is on and off. Sometimes I
feel OK, sometimes I don't."
Comprehension Questions
Section 4
Now it’s time for you to get creative!
In groups of three , using an iPad, you are going
to create an E-Book about the imaginary story of
a child refugee coming to England.
You can use any medium that you wish to but your
E-Book should contain film, sound, images, poetry
that you have written and music if appropriate.
Decisions you need to make and research
you need to do:
Where will your character be coming from and why did they have
to leave their own country?
What difficulties will they have faced on their journey and what
route would they have taken to England?
Who and what did they have to leave behind?
How do they feel about this?
How are they welcomed (or not) to England?
Who helps them?
Who hinders them?
Make sure you use all of the facilities available to you to research the background to
your story.
Keep a record of what you find out so that you can incorporate it into your story.
Think of some imaginative ways to tell you story. Remember this should be a multimedia project. Did you read The Jolly Postman when you were younger?
(see link below)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQVYLU153uM
How could you create a multi-media E-Book, using modern techniques , but
with same idea of telling the story in an unusual way?
Section 5
Written Task
Write a short essay comparing the
following two pieces of writing:
from Laughter Beneath the Bridge – Ben Okri
Those were long days as we lay pressed to the prickly grass waiting for the
bombs to fall The civil war broke out before mid-term and the boarding school
emptied fast. Teachers disappeared; the English headmaster was rumoured to have
flown home ; and the entire kitchen staff fled before the first planes went past
overhead. At the earliest sign of trouble in the country parents appeared and
secreted away their children. Three of us were left behind. We all hoped someone
would turn up to collect us. We were silent most of the time.
Vultures showed up in the sky. They circled the campus for a few days and
then settled on the watch-night’s shed. In the evenings we watched as some religious
maniacs roamed the empty school compound screaming about the end of the world
and then as a wild bunch of people from the city scattered through searching for
those of the rebel tribe. They broke doors and they looted the chapel of its icons,
statuaries and velvet drapes; they took the large vivid painting of the agony of Christ.
In the morning we saw the Irish priest riding furiously away from town n his Raleigh
bicycle. After he left, ghosts flitted through the chapel and rattled the roof. One night
we heard the alter fall. The next day we saw lizards nodding on the chapel walls.