1. Anticipation: illustrations – title – author – date – typology  This document is an article taken fromtaken from the British newspaper The weekly Telegraph and writtenwritten on the 5th October 2004 byby Richard SavillThe title is “Bullied girl died after suicide pact” = it is entitledentitled …

We can see two photos, one in the top right-hand cornerin the top right-hand corner, and one in the in the bottom left-hand cornerbottom left-hand corner. These photos picture (= represent) Laura Rhodes and her parents.

AT THE TOP 

ON THE LEFT

THE UPPER PART

 

ON THE

RIGHT

IN THE MIDDLE

THE LOWER PART

AT THE BOTTOM 

Written document: an extract fromfrom a novel, an extract fromfrom a short-story, an extract fromfrom a diary, an article fromfrom a newspaper…

IN THE TOP IN THE TOP RIGHT-HAND RIGHT-HAND CORNER CORNER

IN THE BOTTOM IN THE BOTTOM LEFT-HAND LEFT-HAND CORNERCORNER

2. Global comprehension (1st reading): Who? What? When ? Where 

The scene takes placeThe scene takes place in the UK (I quote “Birmingham”)The main charactermain character of this article is a young girl who committed suicide because she was the victim of bullies .

She lived in Neath in the UK

3. Detailed comprehension: 3.1. Vocabulary

Find in the text the equivalent of the following sentences:

1. Her friend could not come to her funeral.

“Laura’s friend […] was not well enough to attend the service” (lines 17-20)

2. Experienced people whose job consists in helping teenagers. “Trained counsellors” (line 25)

3. She was always terrified before going to school.

“Every morning her heart would beat faster and she would feel a “gripping” sensation inside” (lines 57-60)

4. They discovered the letter while they were tidying up her possessions.

“… found the handwritten letter while gathering together Laura’s belongings” (lines 13-15)

5. Her parents decided to show her letter to everybody in order to help other bullied kids. “Released the letter in the hope that it would help other bullied youngsters” (lines 8-11)

 

Décomposez les mots suivants et proposez une traduction

Worthless

Handwritten

Helpless

Schoolgirl

Overweight

worth + less = sans intérêt

hand + written = écrit à la main help + less = désemparé,

délaissé

school + girl = écolière

over + weight = en surpoids

3.2. Answer the following questions (answers in your copybook)

1. Why did Laura Rhodes commit suicide?

She committed suicide because she was the victim of bullies.

2. What did the bullies do to her? Bullies made her feel “ugly and worthless”

3. How do we know? Did she confide in an adult? We know it thanks to a letter her parents found in her belongings

4. Did her parents know about her problem? Justify by quoting the text. Her parents knew about this problem (quote lines 22-27)

5. Who is Rebbeca Ling? How did she know her? She was Laura’s friend. She was part of the suicide pact, but she survived it. They made friends on the Internet to share the same problems with bullying.

6. How did Laura feel? What were her reactions each morning when she had to go to school? She felt “ugly and “worthless, demoralised, belittled, helpless. Each morning, she felt a gripping sensation in her stomach because she didn’t want to go to school any more.

3.3. Right or Wrong? Justify by quoting the text. RIGHT WRONG1. Laura Rhodes committed suicide by shooting herself

She took an overdose (line 5)

2. Her parents never showed her letter

They released the letter after her funeral (line 9)

3. Laura Rhodes wrote her letter on her computer

The handwritten letter (line 13)

4. Rebecca committed suicide, but she did not die

Rebecca Ling, 14, who survived the suicide pact (line 17-18)

5. Rebecca couldn’t be present at her friend’s funeral

Was not well enough to attend the service (19-20)

6. Laura was victim of bullies because of her physical appearance

She was bullied because she was overweight and bigger than other girls in her school year (38-41)

7. Laura cried every morning when she was in the car to go to school

She wanted to cry but found she could not (64-65)

3.4. Grammar

1. Relever dans le texte l’équivalent de ‘‘faire faire’’ :

made her feel « ugly and worthless »

2. Relever les deux comparatifs contenus dans le texte :

bigger -faster

3. Cocher la bonne forme verbale : a) Some kids hit other kids

make them feel unsafe. to make them to feel unsafe.

b) Most bullies want their victims

do things they don’t want doing. to do things they don’t want do. doing things they don’t want to do .

c) Bully is wrong. Bullying is wrong.