Amazing Women (Level 1)
English Readers
Helen Keller
Classroom Activities
, the activity type is reusable
2 Discuss with the class the ways in which we can
help people with disabilities – and what people with
disabilities can do to help and teach others.
Before reading
5 Language 1 Speaking
1 Tell students that they are going to read a biography of
Helen Keller. Ask students if they have heard of Helen
Keller. Explain that Helen Keller became deaf and blind
when she was only 19 months old. With the help of other
people, she learned to read and write, and eventually she
taught people around the world about blindness.
2 Divide students into groups of three or four.Tell them to
imagine and discuss what it is like to be deaf and / or blind.
• What would it feel like and what would they miss?
• How would their lives change?
• Would their other senses become more important?
• Would they become more dependent on other people?
TIP
Where you see this symbol
with any story in this book.
While reading
2 Comprehension
Tell students to read the introduction to Helen Keller’s story
(the section in bold on page 33). Then ask these questions:
1 Helen Keller learned to communicate with the help of
several special people. Who could these people be? How can
someone who is deaf and blind communicate?
2 She used her communication skills to teach people about
blindness. Why was it important for Keller to teach other
people about blindness?
While reading
TIP
3 Comprehension You can use this activity for other stories, but you
should adapt the handout as needed.
Tell students that they are going to find out how people
helped Helen Keller in her life, and how she helped other
people. Give them a copy of the Helen Keller handout at
the end of this document and ask them to make notes under
each heading in the grid as they read the story and the
timeline.
After reading
4 Comprehension
1 Put students into groups of three or four and let them
compare the notes they made in the grid for activity 3.
Then draw the grid on the board and ask each group to
contribute a way in which people helped Helen Keller
and how she helped others.
You can use this activity for other stories but you will
need to divide up the story into new sections.
Put students into groups of three or four. Write the
following sections of the story on the board:
1 Pages 33–34: from the Introduction down to Her name
was Anne Sullivan.
2 Pages 34–35: from At first, I was to understand me when
I spoke.
3 Pages 35–36: from I studied hard to I never forgot her.
4 Page 36: from With the help of to the end.
Assign each group a section of the story above and give
them a sheet of paper. Tell them to reread the relevant part
of the story, and write a list of key names, dates, verbs, nouns,
adjectives and short phrases which are useful for retelling
that section of the story.
The groups then practise retelling their section of the story
using their key words and without referring back to the
story text. Then ask each group in turn to retell their section
of the story, using only their notes.
6 Speaking
In the same groups as for the previous activity, ask students
to discuss the following questions:
1 Who was the most important ‘helper’ for Helen Keller?
2 What was Helen Keller’s most important achievement?
3 What can we learn from the life of Helen Keller?
7 Video
Watch the video of Helen Keller telling her story on www.
collinselt.com/readers. Students already know the story well,
so they should be able to concentrate on the pictures behind
the story. Ask students to comment on the pictures they
saw. Which pictures were particularly interesting? Were they
surprised by anything they saw?
8 Research
Ask students to use the websites listed in the ‘Further
Research’ document to find further interesting information
about Helen Keller, e.g. about the organization she set
up to help educate people about blindness, her books
and her inspirational quotations. They could also find out
information about Braille, its inventor (Louis Braille) and
how important this system is for blind people.
© HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2014. This page is photocopiable.
1
Amazing Women (Level 1)
English Readers
Helen Keller
Answer Key (Classroom Activities)
1 Speaking
Answers will vary.
Students may say that if they were blind and /
or deaf, they might feel lonely. They would
need other people to help them with everyday
things. It would be more difficult to learn
about the world.
If they were blind, they wouldn’t be able to see
shapes and colours. They wouldn’t be able to
enjoy art or films, or fashion. They wouldn’t
be able to recognize people’s faces, etc. They
would need to learn Braille to be able to read.
They would need a guide dog to help them go
from place to place.
If they were deaf, they wouldn’t be able to
enjoy the sound of music. They wouldn’t be
able to hear what others are saying. They would
need to learn to lip-read, understand sign
language, etc.
The problems would be even more serious for
a person who was deaf and blind. In both cases
they would rely more on their other senses and
other people to help them.
Who helped Helen Keller?
2 Comprehension
Answers will vary.
1 Students may say that the ‘special people’
may be her family, friends of the family,
or perhaps a doctor or nurse, or someone
who has studied the problems of deaf-blind
children. They may suggest that someone
who is deaf and blind may communicate
only by using gestures, touch, showing their
feelings by crying, shouting, etc.
2 Students may say that Helen wanted to
teach others about blindness because she
wanted other blind people to learn from her
experiences. She wanted to show the world
that it was possible for blind or deaf-blind
people to learn and make a difference in the
world.
3 and 4 Comprehension
Answers will vary.
Suggested answers are given in the grid below.
How did this person / these people
help her?
• Martha Washington, daughter of the Keller
family’s cook
• She played with Helen and they created
their own sign language.
• Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the
telephone
• He told Helen’s mother about the Perkins
School for the blind.
• Anne Sullivan, a teacher from the Perkins
School
• She taught Helen to ‘read’ signs written
on her hand. Helped Helen to read Braille.
Helped Helen at school and university. Spoke
for Helen in her talks around the world.
• The teachers and students at the school
• They taught Helen and the students also
learned from each other.
• Polly Thomson
• She became Helen’s guide when Anne
Sullivan became ill and died.
• Winnie Corbally
• She became Helen’s guide when Polly
Thomson became ill.
Who did Helen Keller help?
How did she help them?
•Women
• After getting her degree, she worked for
organizations that fought for women’s rights.
•Workers
• In 1912, she started to work with workers’
organizations. She discovered that some
work can make people blind. She wrote a
book about this so that other people would
know about it.
• Blind people
• She started her own organization, Helen
Keller International, to teach people about
blindness and how it can be prevented. She
also gave talks around the world about her
beliefs, and wrote 12 books.
© HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2014. This page is photocopiable.
5 Language
Answer will vary.
Some useful words, names, dates, and phrases
for each section of the story:
1 meningitis, disease, deaf, blind, communicate,
difficult time, Martha Washington, sign language,
professional help, 1886, Alexander Graham Bell,
Perkins School, Anne Sullivan
2 difficult student, Anne Sullivan – kind, drew signs,
water, read, communicate, 8 years old, Perkins
School, children, teachers, Braille, 1894, New York,
different schools, speak, voice, understand
3 1900, university, Anne, words on hand, 1904,
degree, use communication skills, organizations,
women’s rights, 1912, workers’ organizations,
book in Braille, 1915, own organization,
Helen Keller International, blindness, prevented,
travelled, talks, popular, Anne ill, Polly Thomson,
guide
4 12 books, famous, 1957,Winnie Corbally, guide,
travel, theatre play,The Miracle Worker, popular
film, 1964, award from President of USA,
Women’s Hall of Fame, 1968, end of life, proud
6 Speaking
Answers will vary.
Students may say:
1 Anne Sullivan: because she did the most
to help Helen in her life – teaching her to
read, helping her to get her degree, acting
as her guide and speaking for her during
her talks. (Other possible answers may be:
Helen herself, Helen’s mother for bringing
Anne Sullivan to their home, Helen’s
teachers.)
2 Helen Keller International: because this
organization still exists today and teaches
people around the world about blindness.
(Other possible answers may be: her 12
books which explain her ideas, her talks
because they reached so many people at a
time when people knew very little about
preventing blindness.)
3 We can learn not to give up even when
things seem impossible in our lives. We can
be happy and thankful for the abilities we
do have. We can learn the importance of
helping others, etc.
7 Video
Answers will vary.
8 Research
Answers will vary.
2
Helen Keller
Who helped Helen Keller?
How did this person / these
people help her?
Who did Helen Keller help?
How did she help them?
© HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2014. This page is photocopiable.