I am the messenger & Noughts and Crosses

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 4

I am the Messenger & Noughts and Crosses

Lesson Objectives

• Follow up The Messenger
• Introduction Noughts and Crosses 

General Announcements

• Answers homework assignments StSt in itslearning > Bronnen > Term 3 > Answers
• Presentations: directly after general part of the lesson

Literature Assignment

• To be handed in online 
• Deadline 19 February
• You will receive the assignment in the course of next week

"So which one of you is Ed?"
"Him," I answer, pointing to Marv.
"Oh no you don't," Marv counters, and I can tell by the look on his face that he isn't as afraid as he should be. He knows we'd both be dead by now if this gunman was the real thing. He looks up at the stocking-faced man and says, "Hang on a sec... " He scratches his jawline.
"You look familiar."

"Okay," I admit, "I'm Ed." But the gunman's too busy listening to what Marv has to say for himself.

"Marv," I whisper loudly, "shut up."
"Shut up, Marv," says Audrey.
"Shut up, Marv!" calls Ritchie from across the room.
"Who the hell are you?" the gunman calls across to Ritchie. He turns to find out where the voice came from.
"I'm Ritchie."

"Well, shut yourself up, Ritchie! Don't you start!"
"No worries, " returns the voice. "Thanks a lot."

This scene is followed by Ed commenting on his friends as being

1. idiots
2. brave
3. smart arses
4. the best friends ever

"All my friends seem to be smart arses. Don't ask me why. Like many things, it is what it is.'

What problem does the bank robber have (besides hardly being able to control his hostages)

1. He doesn't get any money
2. The bank manager phones the police
3. He loses control and kills Marv
4. His getaway car is gone

'He looks closer.

Out of the glass doors of the bank.

A slab of sweat falls from his throat.
He breathes hard.

His thoughts churn, and...
He goes off.

"No!"
The police are outside, but they have no idea what's happening in the bank. Word hasn't made it to the street yet. They're telling someone in a gold Torana to stop double-parking outside the bakery across the road. The car moves on and so do the cops, and the useless gunman is left holding the bag of money. His ride's gone.'

effect sentence structure?

How does the bank robber solve this problem?

1. He takes Ed's taxi
2. He takes Marv's car
3. He uses Audrey as a hostage
4. He leaves the bank shooting at the police

'An idea hits him.
He turns again.

Back to us.
"You," he orders Marv. "Give us your keys."
"What?"
"You heard me."
"It's an antique, that Car!"
"It's a piece of shit, Marv," I abuse him. "Now give him the keys or I'll kill you myself!"'

Does the gunman esape with Marv's car?

1. Yes, he does.
2. Hell no
3. He gets away at first, but is caught by the police eventually

'As we all get to our knees to watch him, we see him approaching the car.

"Watch this." Marv begins to laugh. Audrey, Marv and I all watch, and Ritchie's on his way over to us.

Outside the gunman stops and tries to work out which key opens the car. That's when we all crack up laughing at the incompetence of him.

He eventually gets in and tries to start the car countless times, but it never kicks over.'

On his way out the gunman has

1. dropped the gun
2. dropped the car keys at least twice
3. no idea what he is doing

What does Ed do at the end of the first part?

Did you enjoy reading the first part of I am the Messenger?

Yes, I did

No, I didn't

It was okay

Not too bad

Why?

Your thoughts on Ed

Will you continue reading the story?

Yes

Nope

I think so

I don't think so

Now we will read the Emilia Earhart story on p. 11 (Stepping Stones)

If you want to read it together with me. Stay.
If not, start your homework:
Reading: What happened to Amelia Earhart
Study vocabulary A1&2
Do assignments 11 & 14 (Stepping Stones p. 12-15)
Next time: vocab practice + start Noughts and Crosses

The story is about two groups: the Noughts and the Crosses

Read along with the next two excerpts from the book. 

What do they tell you about these two groups?

1

At the far end of the road, there was a huge crowd outside my school. And they were shouting and chanting. (...)

‘NO BLANKERS IN OUR SCHOOL. NO BLANKERS IN OUR SCHOOL.’

The slogan was shouted out over and over again. Callum and three other noughts were surrounded by police officers who were trying to push their way through the crowd to get to the school entrance. More police stood in an arm-linked line trying to push the crowd of Crosses back into two orderly groups. 

I ran faster, but the closer I got, the less I could see. I pushed and elbowed my way through the crowd.
‘Callum! CALLUM!’  

‘NO BLANKERS IN OUR SCHOOL . . .’

 

2

‘Hi. I’m Sephy Hadley.’ I thrust my hand under the nose of the nought girl I was sitting next to. She had a dark brown plaster on her forehead which stuck out on her pale white skin like a throbbing thumb. ‘Welcome to Heathcroft.’ 

She looked at my hand like it was about to bite her. Wiping her own hand on her tunic, she then took mine and shook it slowly. ‘I’m Shania,’ she said softly.   (…)

‘How’s your head?’ I asked, pointing at the plaster.

‘It’s OK. It’ll take more than a stone step to dent my head.’

I smiled. ‘That plaster’s a bit noticeable.’

‘They don’t sell pink plasters. Only dark brown ones.’ Shania shrugged.

My eyes widened at that. I’d never really thought about it before, but she was right. I’d never seen any pink plasters. Plasters were the colour of us Crosses, not the noughts.

Crosses

Noughts

Adapted to television series - aired on BBC in March/April 2020

What does Wikipedia tell you?

The book Noughts and Crosses is an alternate reality fiction based in a 22nd-century parallel universe. Their world, technologically at least, is similar to the one we live in today: about the same jobs, same type of government etc. 

But there is one key difference: equality between races is lacking and there aren't many laws or constitutions to protect from discrimination. 

What does Wikipedia tell you?

There are two races in the book: the Crosses (darker-skinned people) the race with the individuals owning most of the wealth, good jobs, different and better schools etc. 

The second race, the noughts (lighter-skinned people) are at the poorer end of society usually doing manual labour or being servants to Crosses, with poor schools – if any at all.

What does Wikipedia tell you?

The book is written from two different perspectives – Callum's and Sephy's (Persephone) – and their experiences of their entwined but very different worlds. 

The chapters alternate, with even chapters being Callum's and odd ones Sephy's.

What are themes of this book?

Themes

Racism

Terrorism

Justice

Heroes

Forbidden love

What is your impression of Noughts and Crosses so far?

1. I like it.
2. It's okay.
3. I don't like it.
4. The topic sounds interesting.

Let's start reading

You can read the Prologue later if you like. 

This will give you some more insight in what 

happened three years before chapter 1 starts.

We'll start with chapter 1.