W. A. Ward Dear English Teachers!

pre-reading Time: 5 min.
aim: 
focusing students’ attention on text.
1. 
You might wish to rearrange the pairs. Have them work in pairs. Ask them to 
write down three things for each question. Monitor their work, help if necessary. 
While-reading Time: 10 min.
aim: 
practising scanning.
2. 
Have students look through the text quickly. Ask them to work in pairs and do 
a 
true/false task
. Have them compare their answers. Check the answers in a 
whole class discussion. 
anna's story
Most of our outside activities begin as things we do or join as a family. Five of 
the seven of us play the violin, so we go to lessons as a family, and work on our 
college work when it is not our turn to be working with the teacher. Music (violin, 
piano, and now trumpet) is more like another college subject than an “outside 
activity”, and I can’t imagine my week without it. Gymnastics started in the same 
way – the local gym offered classes in the afternoon for homeschoolers, and all 
of us went to the gym together. 
I’m not a gymnast, but I enjoyed the company of other students, and the 
opportunity to work on my strength and balance. 
My younger sister is the only one who has continued these classes. she’s less 
social than i am, and likes to see how far she can push herself in gymnastics. i 
like team sports better.
3. 
Ask students to look at the photos and answer the following questions.
encourage them to create their own mottos.
• What differences are there between Anna’s and her sister’s interests?
• Read the girls’ mottos. Whose motto did you like most? Why?

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Teacher’s book
159
students’ own answers.
post-reading Time: 15 min.