The Teacher's Notes by Wendy Body Teacher's Notes | Spywatch | Look and Read
PROGRAMME 1
Sent Away
Story Summary
Norman Starkey is to be evacuated. Arriving in the country he and another evacuee, Mary Parker, are taken by the kindly Cyril Jenkins to find new homes. Mary goes into the reluctant care of Phillip Grainger and his housekeeper, Miss Millington, at Westbourne Hall. Norman ends up at Wells Farm with the warm and caring ('call me Aunty Amy') Mrs Hobbs where he meets a fellow evacuee, Dennis Sealey. Later that night, the two boys are woken by tapping at the window.
Questions and discussion
- What suggests that Norman and Dennis will become friends?
- What are our first impressions of Mr Grainger and Miss Millington? Will they turn out to be 'goodies' or baddies'? Why?
- What or who might be tapping at the window?
- What differences does Norman find between his real home and his new one?
- What must it have been like to have rationing and limited supplies of things like sweets and chocolate?
- Why were children evacuated? Why, for the most part, did their parents not accompany them?
- How do children think they might react if they had to become evacuees?
Teaching section
Story
The present day, and the adult Norman Starkey is on a journey back into the past - started off by finding the scrapbook he made during his time as an evacuee. Wanting to research for the book in which he intends writing about his experiences, he meets Miss Lee who is temporarily in charge of the Westbourne Library and Museum. Together, they discover the inhabitant of the previously unused PC - Professor Cedric David Rom. The PC screen and Professor CD Rom are the vehicles for most of the language teaching.
Language points
- wordplay: mouse as in animal and mouse as in computer
- 'Mrs Misery': song about ee words (song book)
- the wartime cartoon character Chad is introduced for the ch song (song book)
Programme 2
The Teacher's Notes booklet available from the BBC also includes details of the photocopy masters and further follow-up ideas for this programme.
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