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Lesson Plan Level 4 Berlin Express

Michael Austen

Aims • •

•

Hiro thinks the man is like (a shark) and why: he has small eyes and sharp teeth. He moves silently and is wearing grey clothes. There is something frightening about his smile. s mile. Talk Talk about the fact that the man is seen from Hiro’s point of view, view, and how this adds to our impression of the man. For example, the man’s smile makes Hiro feel very cold, as if an icy hand had touched the back of his neck. Ask them if they agree that this is much more vivid than the author just saying ‘The man had a frightening smile.’ smile.’

To stimulate students to read the book. To encourage students to think about the elements of a thriller. To give students the opportunity to try some creative creative writing, focussing on characterisation.

1.

Tell students students the title of the book is Berlin Express and that it is a thriller. thriller. Ask students to work with a partner to think of examples of thrillers – films or books.

5.

Now ask students to think of a different animal animal and to write a description of a person who looks and seems like this animal, again from Hiro’s point of view. view. Students share their descriptions with a partner for feedback. Are they vivid and believable? Volunteers Volunteers can share their descriptions with the whole class.

6.

Text message game. Ask students to read Extract 4, which gives two different text messages about the same subject. Discuss which message was sent first. (Answer: (Answer: the the second message). Talk about what the messages might mean and write suggestions up on the board. (The messages are arrangements for a contract killer, but you might think it best to let students find this out when they read the book.) Now give each student two small pieces of paper and ask them to write two messages of their own. As in the extracts, extracts, the messages should be about the same subject. Take the messages in, mix them up and then give each student two messages. (If they pick their own, they should swap it.) Now tell students to mov movee around the room reading out their messages until they find the students who have the other half of their messages. Give them two minutes to do this.

Suggested answers: James Bond , The Bourne Identity , The Da Vinci Code . Next students discuss what thrillers are like. Suggested answers: They answers: They are usually fast, exciting, exciting, action-filled stories, often set in unusual or exotic locations; suspense is maintained in plot twists and turns; the hero (usually male) finds himself in great danger as he confronts a powerful villain. Feedback Feedback to the whole class. 2.

Now tell tell students that the ‘Express’ in the title is a train, and that the main character of the book is Hiro, a twenty-year-old Japanese boy who is on holiday from studying English in England. Elicit what they think might happen to Hiro in the story, based on the title and their discussion in Exercise 1.

3.

Ask students to read Extracts 1 and 2, which which describe Hiro’s travel plans. Give them a map of Europe, Europe, or alternatively alternatively, if ICT is available, available, students can find a map of Europe on the Internet. Tell Tell students to plan a jour ney they would take if they had an InterRail ticket. What countries would they visit and why? They should talk to a partner about their choices.

4.

Ask students to read Extracts 3a and b, which are descriptions of a man Hiro meets on the train. Ensure that everyone understands which animal

Cambridge English Readers

© Cambridge University Press 2010

7.

Ask students to read Extract 5 and to discuss it with a partner. What do they think has happened just before the extract? They should make some notes. Now tell them that in Berlin Express , Hiro goes to the police to tell them what has happened, but the police don’t believe him.

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Using their notes, ask the pairs to work together to write this scene using just dialogue, with Hiro trying to explain what has happened and to convince the police he is telling the truth, and the police officer refusing to take him seriously. Share these scenes with the whole class, with one member of the pairs taking taking the part of Hiro and the other taking the part of the police officer. 8.

Ask students to read Extract 6, which gives a brief description descriptio n of the Brandenburg Brande nburg Gate in in Berlin, where something important happens in the story. story. Now ask students to think of a place they know well and to think of something dramatic that could happen there. You may



wish to remind students about the sorts of things that can happen in a thriller as discussed in Exercise 1. Feedback to the whole class. Optional extra: students extra: students could write this scene. 9.

Debate. Choose two students to take part in a debate – one should love thrillers and one shouldn’t like them much at all. The two students take turns to give their point of view, i.e. ‘I think thrillers are great because…’ ‘I don’t like thrillers because…’ When they have have finished, the rest of the class votes to support either student 1 or student 2.

10. If

there are are enough copies copies of Berlin Express to to go around, give them out and ask students to start reading.


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Extract 1 ‘I have an InterRail ticket,’ Hiro answered, then seeing the confused look on her face, guessed he’d better explain. ‘That means I can use my ticket to travel anywhere in Europe. Berlin is my first stop.’

Extract 2 Hurriedly, Hurriedly, he got out his InterRail map and pretended to study it closely. He’d left London that morning very early and taken the Eurostar to Brussels in Belgium. From there he’d caught this train going to Köln, and in Köln he would get the train to Berlin. But where would he go after that? Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, was only five hours by train from Berlin. Then, he could go to Vienna, maybe. If there was time he might even get to Budapest.

Extracts 3 (a) Hiro didn’t didn’t like the look of the man. There was was something about his smile, his grey clothes and the silent way he moved, which reminded Hiro of a shark. (b) The man’s man’s eyes eyes seemed very small and his teeth very sharp. Hiro was reminded of a shark once again. He imagined the man swimming towards him and smiling. The smile made Hiro feel very cold, as if an icy hand had touched the back of his neck.

BERLIN ASSIGNMENT HOTEL ADLON ROOM 319 TUESDAY TUESDAY AFTER 8PM. HALF FEE AT MEETING, HALF ON COMPLETION.

Extract 5 When Hiro woke the next morning, mor ning, everything came back to him immediately immediately.. There seemed to be no escape from the awful dream. The moment he opened his eyes it felt as if the Shark was standing next to the bed and whispering, ‘Leave Berlin alive – not in a coffin!’ Hiro’s first idea was to catch the earliest train out of the city. He would go directly to Prague, or maybe Warsaw or Amsterdam – anywhere as long as he could get out of Berlin. But then, as Hiro lay in bed looking up at the ceiling, thinking about what had happened on the platform, he started to feel angry. angry. ‘Why should an old man make me run off?’ he thought. Hiro began to wonder why he’d he’d been so afraid. Perhaps it was because he was safe inside his hotel room, but Hiro thought he should teach the Shark a lesson. He would show him who was boss!

Extract 6

MEET BRANDENBURG GATE 1PM TOMORROW. COLLECT EQUIPMENT AND HALF FEE.

When Hiro came out of the underground station five minutes later, later, he found himself in a wide street. Smart shops and hotels stretched away away in both directions – and there was the Brandenburg Gate, a couple of hundred metres away. Hiro saw the six columns of the great Greek-style gateway, just as he’d seen in the guidebook, and on its top, the horses and chariot against the sky.



Extract 4


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