Wisdom of Bear Wood Michael Welzenbach Wisdom of

Wisdom of Bear Wood Michael Welzenbach

Wisdom of Bear Wood Unit 6 W arming up B ackground T ext Analysis R einforcement

Wisdom of Bear Wood Unit 6 Questions / Activities Check-on Preview Objectives Warming up

Warming up Get ready to share your own comments with the class. You can talk about : üThings that most impress you in and about the text üThings in and about the text that you find hard to understand üWriting or stylistic feature of the text

Warming up Character sketch Boy Age: Nationality: Education: Life experience: Characteristics: Interests: Needs: Old lady

Content Ø How do you understand the title of the story? Ø What is the wisdom of Bear Wood? Ø How would you account for the strong attachment between the boy and the woman? Ø What did they get from the friendship respectively?

Wisdom of Bear Wood Unit 6 Theme Structure Text Analysis Detailed Analysis

Text Analysis Theme ü Friendship ü Nature

Text Analysis Structure Part 1: (1 -4) my life before the encounter Part 2: (5 -35) my friendship with the old lady Section 1(5 -23) friendship started Section 2(24 -27) friendship developed Section 3(28 -35) friendship ended Part 3: (36 -37) the legacy of the friendship

Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part I: Main Idea Ø Where did the boy Michael come from? How did he get to England? Ø Did he make many friends there? Why did he like to keep to himself? Ø How would you describe the Bear Wood? Ø What does it mean to the boy?

Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part I: Sentence Paraphrase My father’s government job demanded that he go overseas every few years, so I was used to wrenching myself away from friends. (para. 1) ü ü ü demanded that he go: subjunctive mood every few years: Something will happen regularly after a few years. to wrench yourself away from: to twist and pull yourself away from

Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part I: Sentence Paraphrase Loving nature, however, I was most delighted by the endless patchwork of farms and woodland that surrounded our house. (para. 2) ü ü Loving nature, however : as (because) I loved nature … a patchwork of farms (fields): farms that look like small pieces of cloth of different colors when seen from far above

Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part I: Sentence Paraphrase In the deep woods that verged against our back fence, a network of paths led almost everywhere, and pheasants rocketed off into the dense laurels ahead as you walked. (para. 2) ü ü ü verge against: to be close to; to be at the edge or border of (This is a rare expression) a network of: a system of lines, wires, roads, etc that cross each other and are connected to each other … and pheasants rocketed off: … and pheasants took off like rockets.

Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part I: Sentence Paraphrase Keeping to myself was my way of not forming attachments that I would only have to abandon the next time we moved. (para. 3) Paraphrasing: I did not try to make many friends because in that way I did not have to give up my friendship the next time I had to move.

Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part I: Sentence Paraphrase I started hiking there …, up a long, sloping hill to an almost impenetrable stand of trees called Bear Wood. (para. 4) ü an … impenetrable stand of trees: trees growing so thick that they are impossible to go through or enter into. ü stand: a group of trees growing in a given area ü impenetrable: derived from “penetrate”

Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part I: Sentence Paraphrase My own breathing rang in my ears, and the slightest stirring of any woodland creature echoed through this private paradise. (para. 4) Paraphrasing: I could even hear my own breathing, and even the lightest movement of any bird or animal in the wood could be heard throughout this paradise.

Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part I: Words & Expressions Words Phrases Sentence Pattern Grammar verge; rocket; acttached Phrases

Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part I: Exercise • Fill in the blanks according to the text. farmhouse in Berkshire. Nearby We rented an 18 th-century _______ castles and churches were ancient ______. Loving nature, however, I patchwork of farms and delighted by the endless _______ was most _______ deep woodland that surrounded our house. In the ______ woods verged _____our against network of paths led that _____ back fence, a _____ rocketed off into the ___ dense almost everywhere, and pheasants ____ laurels ahead as you walked.

Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part I: Exercise Ø ___ through a barbed-wire fence, I’d ___ the bright sun and the ___ and ___ of insects and animals outside and ___ into another world. Ø My own breathing ___ in my ears, and the slightest ___ of any woodland creature ___ through this private paradise.

Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part II : Main Idea ØHow did they react to their surprise encounter differently? How did the author’s description achieve that surprising effect? ØWhat was the woman’s house like? ØWhat was inside her house that filled the boy with admiration? ØWhat did the friendship bring to them respectively? ØHow did he learn the news of her death? ØHow did he react to the news?

Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part II : Sentence Paraphrase Then, recovering quickly, she gave a welcoming smile that instantly put me at ease. (para. 6) put sb at ease: to make sb. feel relaxed

Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part II : Sentence Paraphrase “Yes, they’re wary, ” she said. “But then, gamekeepers have been shooting them ever since they got here. They’re introduced, you know, not native. ” (para. 11) üwary: careful, cautious, watchful, suspicious, alert ügamekeeper: someone whose job is to look after birds and animals üthat are kept to be hunted on private land. Notice the use of the üword “game” to refer to theanimals, birds, and fish that are hunted üfor food or as asport. übe introduced: to be brought into this place from somewhere else üfor the first time

Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part II : Sentence Paraphrase Soon I saw a small brick cottage that glowed pinkly in the westering sun. (para. 18) Paraphrasing: Soon I saw a small brick cottage shining with a pink color in the sun that was moving toward the west.

Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part II : Sentence Paraphrase … and my well of knowledge about natural history began to brim over. At school, I earned the nickname “Prof” … (para. 24) Notice the figurative use of the word “well” and the exaggeration of having knowledge “brimming over”.

Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part II : Sentence Paraphrase Familiarity sometimes makes people physically invisible, for you find yourself talking to the heart— to the essence, as it were, rather than to the face. (para. 26) Paraphrasing: When people get to know each other really well, sometimes they don’t notice physical changes. The boy did not see that his friend, the old lady, was getting weaker and weaker because all the time he was talking to her heart, rather to her face.

Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part II : Sentence Paraphrase My mother was regarding me with a strange gentleness (para. 29) Paraphrasing: My mother was looking at me with a strange gentleness because she wanted to break the sad news gently so that I would not take it too hard.

Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part II : Sentence Paraphrase I could tell she was having difficulty. (para. 30) Paraphrasing: I could see that she was having difficulty finding a suitable way to break the news.

Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part II: Words & Expressions Words warn; inclined; essence; suspect; legacy Phrases put sb. at ease; brim over; as it were; burst through; odds and ends Words Sentence Pattern Grammar Phrases

Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part II : Exercises Translation the following into English, using the word in the bracket. 1. 我应当警告你，不要听从以下的一些建议(warn) I should warn you against some of the advice below. 2. 没人想和史密斯争论。(inclined) Nobody felt inclined to argue with Smith. 3. 藏羚羊接近灭绝。(verge) Antelopes are on the verge of extinction. 4. 他穿西装看上去总别别扭扭的。(ease) He always looks ill at ease in a suit.

Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part II : Exercises 5. 没有人怀疑有任何问题。(suspect) No one suspected anything was wrong. 6. 我感觉整个人充满了活力和希望，好像所有困难都 能克服。（brim） I brim over with vigor, hope and seem to be powerful enough to handle all difficulties. 7. 20世纪 80年代初他突然在时尚界活跃起来。(burst) He burst into the fashion scene in the early 1980 s.

Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part III : Main Idea ØWhat is the seen, the unseen? ØWhat are things that change and what are changeless? ØWhat is the “wisdom of Bear Wood”?

Text Analysis Detailed Analysis Part III : Sentence Paraphrase • It is a wisdom tutored by nature itself, about the seen and the unseen, about things that change and things that are changeless, and about the fact that no matter how seemingly different two souls may be, they possess the potential for that most precious, rare thing – an enduring and rewarding friendship. (para. 37) Paraphrasing: I have acquired a lot of knowledge taught by nature itself, about the things that I can see, such as the birds, insects, trees, and flowers, and about things that I cannot see like those natural and scientific laws and principles. I have also learned about things that change, including life itself, as well as things that are changeless like friendship, love and many other basic values. In addition to all these, I have learned another important fact that no matter how seemingly different two persons are, it is still possible for them to develop longlasting and valuable friendship which is precious and rare to all people in the world.

Wisdom of Bear Wood Unit 6 Discussion Reinforcement Retelling

Reinforcement Discussion Work in groups of four: • • Now it’s time to reflect on what we discussed in the first class. Has your understanding of the text changed? Why or why not? What do you think should be the main ingredients of friendship?

Reinforcement Retelling Choose one topic • Describe a cross-generation friendship you’ve heard or read about.