English Lessons with Derren Brown A course for Upper-Intermediate Students by David Nicholls
A new approach to learning English, this is a series of lessons based on the episodes of the hit UK TV show ‘Derren Brown’. Lessons include grammar explanations, exercises, vocabulary tasks and discussion questions. They are ideal for self-study and classroom use.
Derren Brown – The Heist Video link Comprehension: 1) What are Derren’s aims in this episode? 2) According to Derren, is it possible to use hypnosis to make someone commit murder or carry out a robbery? 3) What method will Derren use to persuade these managers to commit the robbery? 4) What annoying situations must the managers face on their first night at the hotel? 5) Why does Derren want to watch their reactions to these situations? 6) How does Paul react to the maitre de’s request? 7) What useful skills based on body language does Derren teach them? 8) How does Derren use language at the seminar to suggest the idea of robbery and a romanticized idea of crime? 9) What does Derren ask them to do later, when they are in the pub? 10) Why do two of the managers refuse to steal from the shop? 11) What famous experiment does Derren Brown carry out? What are the aims of the experiment? 12) What is the ‘persuasion process’? 13) What are the results of Derren’s persuasion process? Do they surprise you?
Grammar - CONDITIONALS FIRST CONDITIONAL If + Present / will or won’t + 1st form If you believe that you will be hypnotised, then it will happen. SECOND CONDITIONAL If + past / would or wouldn’t +1st form No-one would carry out a robbery if they were told to under hypnosis What would / will you do if 1) If you were asked to steal from a shop (as a joke)? 2) If you see someone stealing at a small shop? 3) If you had the opportunity to be on one of Derrren’s shows? 4) If you got an unexpected bill at a training seminar? 5) If you are invited to a seminar about reading body language? 6) If you were asked on stage by a hypnotist? THIRD CONDITIONAL
If + past perfect/ would or wouldn’t + have + 3rd If Derren hadn’t encouraged me, I wouldn’t have stolen the money What would you have done if 7)….you had been on Derren’s show? 8)….and you had been given the unexpected bill? 9)….and you had been asked to steal sweets? 10)….and you had taken part in the Milgram experiment? 11)….and you had had the opportunity to carry out a robbery? Vocabulary Match the words in the 2 columns
To carry out (a robbery) To make s.t up
To start To bump (run) into
To kick off (a process) To come across (a security guard) To get down (on the floor) To drop s.o off (at Gresham st) To give s.t away To read out To go on To fall over
To lie/sit down To lie To take s.o to some place (give s.o a lift) To give something for free To dictate To commit (do) To lose one’s balance To continue
Discussion questions: Have you ever been hypnotised? Would you like to be? What do you think hypnosis is? Many of Derren’s techniques rely on language techniques. Would you like to learn them and use them in your work? Do you think there are some memory techniques that are useful in language acquisition? Do you think that there is anything immoral in what Derren does? Do you like him? How can you tell if someone is making something up? Were you surprised at the results Derren achieved? What kinds of people was Derren looking for? Do you think that some of them were play acting?
Answers: 1) He is going to teach a group of managers some of his mind tricks and also, he wants to see if he can persuade some of them (using some more tricks which they are unaware of) to steal hundreds of thousands of pounds from a security van. 2) No. Derren says that hypnosis is just a form of play acting. No-one would ever commit murder under hypnosis, if they didn’t want to kill that person.
3) He won’t mention a robbery, but he will massage words and ideas into their minds so that, hopefully, they will spontaneously decide to commit the robbery when the opportunity comes up. 4) Firstly there is an irritating security guard dressed in green who hassles them when they go for dinner. Then the maître de gives them a bill for their food and drink which they weren’t expecting. 5) Derren wants to see who is alpha-male or female of the group. 6) He throws his card on the snooker table and tells the maître de to ‘put it all on that’. He offers to pay for everyone. He is the alpha male! 7) How to see if someone is lying. He says ‘you can tell from the movement of the eyes whether someone is remembering an image or making one up.’ He tells them how to confuse an aggressor. And he tells them how to remember long lists. 8) He constantly repeats certain words and phrases, and flashes them into their minds (Paintings of a security van on the wall, KASH and KILLS written on the slide, Derren says ‘it takes nothing to move those guards out of the way’ ‘stealing’ He ‘accidentally’ shows them a slide of the security van. He gives them guns. ‘Just do it!’.) 9) He wants them to steal sweets from a local shop. 10) Paul refuses because he has a teenage daughter and he won’t set a bad example. Veronica was terrified when she was a child of stealing. And so she refused to do it after Derren spoke about childhood. 11) The Milgram experiment. They are asked to give electric shocks to another volunteer. The volunteer is an actor. The point of the experiment is to see how much punishment the manager will be prepared to use, simply because the scientist asks him to. The original experiment demonstrated that a majority of people are ready to do awful things, simply because an authority figure asks them to. 12) He uses certain words, colours, signs and symbols which he connects to a feeling of power and aggression, as well as a childish and romantic idea of crime. 3 out of his 4 candidates go through with the robbery Grammar (suggested answers) 1) I would refuse 2) I will tell the staff 3) I would go on the show 4) I wouldn’t pay it 5) I will accept the invitation 6) I would say yes 7) I wouldn’t have trusted him 8) I wouldn’t have paid it 9) I wouldn’t have stolen them 10) I would have refused to punish the student 11) I wouldn’t have carried it out Vocabulary To carry out (a robbery) To make s.t up
To commit (do) To lie
To kick off (a process) To come across (a security guard) To get down (on the floor) To drop s.o off (at Gresham st) To give s.t away To read out
To start To bump into/run into s.o To lie down / sit down To take s.o to some place (give s.o a lift) To give something for free To dictate
To go on To fall over
To continue To lose one’s balance
Derren Brown – The Messiah Video Link Comprehension: 1) What are Derren’s aims in this episode? 2) Why does Derren encourage us to question our beliefs? 3) Who will Derren first try and convince that he is a genuine guru in their field? 4) Under what circumstances will Derren own up and tell the leading figures that he is actually a fake? 5) What is ‘remote viewing’? 6) Do the psychics endorse Derren as the real thing? 7) Is Derren a Christian? 8) How does Derren convince the evangelist? 9) Why does Derren compare casinos to New Age groups? 10) What are the supposed side effects of the ‘dream catcher’? 11) What special powers does Derren claim to have after being abducted by aliens? 12) How does he convince the old couple of these special powers? 13) What is ‘cold reading’.
Vocabulary
Match the words in the 2 columns
To buy into s.t To own up
To mention To believe in s.t
To wrap your arms around To plug in To turn on/off To bring up To turn down (an offer) To come along To pass on To look out for s.o To grow up
To reject To tell the truth (‘to come clean’) To go to To die (like pass away or pass over) To hold tightly To connect an electrical machine To switch on/off To become an adult To take care of s.o from a distance
Grammar – revision of TENSES/CONDITIONALS/PASSIVE and GERUND/to + INF 1) If at any point they (ask) me if it’s a trick, I (own up). But they (ask)? 2) I’d like to talk about the dream machine that you have. You (have) it for 5 days now. We (deliver) this machine to you, and you (give) instructions on how to use it.
3) Lorraine (convince). The next day I (get) a call from the radio station (ask) me to talk about the dream machine. I (decline) 4) I know who you are. I (read) your books. 5) You (have) difficulty sleeping, at the moment. 6) At the next UFO meeting I (bring up) the idea that Richard would make a remarkable speaker. 7) If spiritualists really (talk) to the dead for all these years, then that is a wonderful thing. If, on the other hand, it’s not true, then it could (see) as a very ugly and manipulative lie. 8) The people who are here at this event (respond) to an advert to come along and have a reading. 9) I’m going to give a reading to a group of people I (not meet) before. 10) No other spiritualist or medium (ever give) me what he (give) me today. Discussion questions: Do you believe in psychic powers? Do you have any strong reasons for this? Would you pay to go on a course that teaches psychic abilities Do you think that Derren is right that we should question our beliefs? What techniques do you think Derren is using in each ‘miracle’ which he performs? Have you ever seen anyone using similar techniques? Are these techniques immoral? Derren says ‘there are no clocks in the casinos’. Why do you think this is? Did you find his final performance as a person who can speak to dead relatives disturbing? Why do you think he did this? What was the point of his show?
Answers: 1) To convince five leading figures that he had powers in their particular field of expertise: Christian evangelism, alien abduction, psychic powers, New Age theories and contacting the dead. He will use his techniques of magic (?), suggestion, psychology, misdirection and showmanship. 2) He feels that we make a lot of important decisions based on our belief systems, and so we should be prepared as intelligent human beings to question those who influence us. 3) He’ll try to convince the psychics. 4) If they ask whether it is real, he will admit that he is actually using some of his techniques of mind manipulation. 5) Remote viewing is when someone sits in another room and draws a picture, and you ‘read their minds’ and guess the picture. Derren will do this to convince the psychics that he has special powers. 6) Yes 7) He used to be (until he was in his 20’s). But now he is an atheist. 8) He converts a roomful of people to Christianity through the power of touch. 9) They both sell false hope with the aid of lights, colours and dreams. 10) People dream less, and in black and white. 11) He claims he can tell people their entire medical history 12) He tells her about her throat problem (thyroid gland) and trouble sleeping and heart problem and doesn’t like western medicine. 13) A very old technique (trick) of telling someone information about themselves without (apparently) being able to do so.
Vocabulary
Match the words in the 2 columns
To buy into s.t To own up
To believe in s.t To tell the truth (‘to come clean’)
To wrap your arms around To plug in To turn on/off To bring up
To hold tightly To connect an electrical machine To switch on/off To mention (also.. to look after a child until he has grown up) To reject To go to To die (like pass away or pass over) To take care of s.o from a distance To become an adult
To turn down (an offer) To come along To pass on To look out for s.o To grow up
Grammar – revision of TENSES/CONDITIONALS/PASSIVE and GERUND/to + INF 1) If at any point they ask me if it’s a trick, I’ll own up. But will they ask? 2) I’d like to talk about the dream machine that you have. You’ve had it for 5 days now. We delivered this machine to you, and you were given instructions on how to use it. 3) Lorraine was convinced. The next day I got a call from the radio station asking me to talk about the dream machine. I declined 4) I know who you are. I have read your books. 5) You are having difficulty sleeping, at the moment. 6) At the next UFO meeting I will bring up the idea that Richard would make a remarkable speaker. 7) If spiritualists really have been talking to the dead for all these years, then that is a wonderful thing. If, on the other hand, it’s not true, then it could be seen as a very ugly and manipulative lie. 8) The people who are here at this event (have) responded to an advert to come along and have a reading. 9) I’m going to give a reading to a group of people I have never met before. 10) No other spiritualist or medium had ever given me what he gave me today.
Derren Brown – The Assassin Video Link
Comprehension: 1) What are Derren’s aims in this episode? 2) Why is Robert Kennedy’s murder mentioned? 3) What does Derren do to the first girl from the audience? 4) What does Derren do to the man and how? 5) What test does Derren give the four candidates? 6) What experiment does Derren carry out on the final candidate? 7) Do the experts think it is possible to program a man to carry out an assassination? 8) What do Chris’ family think about Chris? 9) What kind of brain washing techniques will Derren be using? 10) Why does Chris think that he is at the rifle range? 11) If the marksman mode is the first part of the programing process, what is the second part? 12) What sets off the trigger of marksman mode? 13) Why is Chris so surprised when Derren tells him his pin number? 14) How does Derren test whether Chris remembers shooting someone with a water pistol in the restaurant? 15) Which celebrity broadcaster is the target for assassination?
Vocabulary
Collocate the words in the 2 columns
To carry out To whittle down
A gun A story (or a word)
To fire To play along To set off To quicken To commit To turn someone into To give To make up
The candidates Your breathing A highly dangerous act (a crime) An assassination With the hypnotist A trigger (or a bomb) A deadly assassin A talk
A conspiracy theorist An assassin
A famous person Someone who sees a crime
A candidate A well-known figure
Someone who steals from your pocket Someone who believes in alternative explanations of political events Someone on radio or TV Someone who kills for political/financial gain A person who suffers due to a criminal act Someone who is going to be selected for a job, position or role An average person Someone who is watching a performance or TV show
An eyewitness A pickpocket A broadcaster An ordinary member of the public A member of the audience A victim
Grammar – TENSES/CONDITIONALS/PASSIVE/GERUNDS Use the correct verb forms 1) It was obvious that he (program) to kill Kennedy. 2) Nothing like this ever (attempt) before. 3) How long you (work) in this field? 4) If anything (happen), the assassination will occur at a public event with a well-known figure as the target. 5) The test which I’ve done so far (show) me who in this audience is the most prone to hypnosis. 6) If we were sitting here and a fly came in, my brother (open) the door. 7) In order to convince Chris to become an assassin I (use) brain washing techniques allegedly used by the CIA’s MKultra program. 8) Chris is slowly getting used to (fire) the weapon. 9) I used (be) a pickpocket when I was younger (be) 10) If Chris lies, there (be) a peak in his heart rate, his breathing (quicken) and his body (produce) more sweat.
Discussion questions: What is Derren’s method of hypnotism? Why does he whittle down the candidates? What kinds of things can hypnotism help us with? Do you think any famous assassinations were due to mind control or hypnosis of some kind? Which ones? Are you a conspiracy theorist? What conspiracies do you believe in? Why doesn’t the official story convince you? If you were an assassin, which famous broadcaster would you like to kill? Have you ever been the victim of a pickpocket? What happened? Have you ever witnessed a crime?
Answers: 1) He wants to find out if it’s possible program someone to kill. 2) Because conspiracy theorists claim that he was assassinated by a man under mind control. 3) He convinces her that she is unable to move her hands.
4) He puts him to sleep using the power of suggestion – he interrupts an automatic process (shaking hands) and asks him to sleep. 5) He instructs them to throw what they think is concentrated acid (it is actually water) in the other persons face. 6) He instructs him to sit in a bath of ice cold water, and the man doesn’t feel the pain. 7) No – they think that in the TV studio people play along with the hypnotist, but in real life they are unlikely to do so. 8) That he is a peaceful man – wouldn’t hurt a fly. 9) He will be using the same techniques as those used by the CIA in the 1960s. 10) He thinks that he is being trained under hypnosis to improve his aim with a rifle (which is partly true!). 11) The second part is amnesia – Derren must create gaps in his memory 12) The sound of the mobile phone, (a ring tone) 13) Because Derren has made him lose his memory – he can’t remember that he has just told him 14) He uses a polygraph test – and Chris passes the test. 15) Stephen Fry is the target – he will be murdered while he is giving a talk at a London theatre. Vocabulary To carry out To whittle down
An assassination The candidates
To fire To play along To set off To quicken To commit To turn someone into To give To make up
A gun With the hypnotist A trigger (or a bomb) Your breathing A highly dangerous act (crime) A deadly assassin A talk A story (or a word)
A conspiracy theorist
Someone who believes in alternative explanations of political events Someone who kills for political/financial gain
An assassin A candidate A well-known figure An eyewitness A pickpocket A broadcaster An ordinary member of the public A member of the audience A victim
Someone who is going to be selected for a job, position or role A famous person Someone who sees a crime Someone who steals from your pocket Someone on radio or TV An average person Someone who is watching a performance or TV show A person who suffers due to a criminal act
Grammar – TENSES/CONDITIONALS/PASSIVE/GERUNDS Use the correct verb forms 1) It was obvious that he had been programmed to kill Kennedy. 2) Nothing like this has ever been attempted before.
3) How long have you been working in this field? 4) If anything happens, the assassination will occur at a public event with a well-known figure as the target. 5) The test which I’ve done so far have shown me who in this audience is the most prone to hypnosis. 6) If we were sitting here and a fly came in, my brother would open the door. 7) In order to convince Chris to become an assassin I will be using brain washing techniques allegedly used by the CIA’s MKultra program. 8) Chris is slowly getting used to firing the weapon. 9) I used to be a pickpocket when I was younger 10) If Chris lies, there will be a peak in his heart rate, his breathing will quicken and his body will produce more sweat
Derren Brown – The Guilt Trip Video link Comprehension: 1) What are Derren’s aims in this episode? 2) Who has he chosen as a victim? 3) How will they achieve their aims? 4) How do they initially make him feel guilty? 5) How does Derren feel about guilt? 6) How does Derren make Jody doubt his own memory? 7) What goes missing? Who finds it? Where? 8) How is Jody given a motive for killing Dr Black? 9) What song do they sing when they are drinking? 10) How does our hero confess to the murder?
Grammar PAST MODALS must/might/could/can’t + have + 3rd form When Jody notices that his fish has gone, he says My fish. I MUST HAVE EATEN it all. (It’s certain that I ate it) We use these modal forms in the past to speculate about past events. E.g The murderer MUST HAVE BEEN left handed – look at the injuries on the victim. You CAN’T HAVE LEFT your keys at home – you were holding them in the restaurant. Complete these sentences with past modals 1) When they changed his food Jody ____ ____ felt very confused. 2) Dr Black ____ ____ been killed by Jody if he has no alibi or explanation for where he was at the time of the murder. 3) It ____ ____ been easy to make all the necessary preparations to perform this trick. 4) Jody ____ ____ felt upset when he thought that he had offended his hero. 5) Jody ____ ____ been angry when he found out that his girlfriend and family were all in on it, and so they knew all about Derren’s show.
Vocabulary Match the verbs in the 2 columns
To turn s.o in To make s.t up
To know a secret plan To inform the authorities about s.o’s guilt
To be in on s.t To get on with s.o To reassure To fabricate To buy s.t To confess
To have a good relationship with s.o To lie To believe in s.t To admit To fake To make s.o feel more certain
Match the adjectives in the two columns innocent
compliant
guilty suspicious nasty Easily led unwitting magnificent
Free from blame unpleasant distrustful blameworthy wonderful unknowing
Discussion questions: Derren emphasizes that this trick would only work on a really nice guy – why is this the case? Do you agree that guilt is a very damaging emotion? In what ways can it be positive, if any? Do you think that what Derren did in this episode was immoral? What physical symptoms do you have when you feel guilty? Who is an authority figure in your life? How do you think you would have felt if you had been in Jody’s shoes? What do you think you would have done? Would you be willing to participate in Derren’s show as an actor if one of your friends was going to be in Jody’s position?
Answers: 1) He wants to make someone feel guilty and confess to a murder which they didn’t commit. 2) Jody – a very nice but ordinary guy who applied to be on Derren’s show. They decided he was perfect but they told him that his application had been rejected. 3) Derren will fabricate a conference full of actors. These actors will set Jody up in a number of different situations which are designed to make him doubt his own memory and stimulate feelings of guilt 4) Jody bumps into his hero at the conference (An Australian musician and comedian) and the actors make him believe that he has offended his hero with insulting language.
5) Derren’s attitude towards guilt is very negative. He feels that it can be a very damaging impulse and he thinks it is used as a tool for manipulating people by organizations like the church. 6) The actors change the clothes – a dress and a tie. The actors change his food when he is distracted with a question from behind. They also change the furniture in his room. 7) A priceless pearl necklace has gone missing. Jody found it in his room, and he is the main suspect. In the end he goes to the management and tells them that it is in his room. This is the ‘dry run’ for the climax of the show 8) Dr Black is rude to Jody (he criticizes his clothes), and then cheats when playing croquet. 9) My baby shot me down. 10) He goes to the local police station and tells them that he can’t remember what he was doing at the time the murder took place. He then admits to committing the murder. Grammar 1) When they changed his food Jody must have felt very confused. 2) Dr Black might have been killed by Jody if he has no alibi or explanation for where he was at the time of the murder. 3) It can’t have been easy to make all the necessary preparations to perform this trick. 4) Jody must have felt upset when he thought that he had offended his hero. 5) Jody might have been angry when he found out that his girlfriend and family were all in on it, and so they knew all about Derren’s show. Vocabulary To turn s.o in To make s.t up
To inform the authorities about s.o’s guilt To lie
To be in on s.t To get on with s.o To reassure To fabricate To buy s.t To confess
To know a secret To have a good relationship with s.o To make s.o feel more certain To fake To believe in s.t To admit
innocent guilty suspicious nasty Easily led unwitting magnificent
Free from blame blameworthy distrustful unpleasant compliant unknowing Wonderful
Derren Brown – The Apocalypse, Part 1 Video link Comprehension: 1) What are Derren’s aims in this episode? 2) Why is Steven such a suitable candidate for this experiment? 3) What did the Roman philosopher Seneca recommend doing every day? 4) What do they do to Steven’s computer and phone? 5) How do they convince Steven that the end of the world is imminent? 6) Where does Steven think he is going for his birthday? 7) Where does Steven actually go? 8) What is the biological danger that is also a threat? 9) Who does the little girl represent? 10) Who does the ambulance driver represent?
Grammar – future continuous and future perfect FUTURE CONTINUOUS – an action in progress at a definite future moment Will + be + ____ing In a few weeks Steven will be living in a post-apocalyptic world. FUTURE PERFECT – a completed action at a definite future moment Will + have + 3rd form At the end of the process Steven will have learned to value his own life. Do you think that in 100 years…. 1) we will be living in a post-apocalyptic world? 2) we will be using oil and gas to satisfy our energy needs? 3) we will have stopped learning to write with pencils? 4) we will have colonized another planet? 5) we will all be speaking the same language? 6) we will have learned how to live without war?
Vocabulary Match the words in the 2 columns To come across (e.g a problem) To make s.t up (e.g a story)
To give s.o something regularly and slowly To find s.t (by chance)
To drip feed s.o (information) To back s.t up (with facts) To drop s.o off (at a café) To go about your daily business To tidy up your room To go smoothly To be infected To take s.t for granted To take part in
To reinforce an idea To lie/create s.t To clean your room To take s.o to some place (give s.o a lift) To do what you do every day To answer for your actions To go exactly as planned To participate in To expect that you will always have something and not appreciate its value To have a disease
To take responsibility
Discussion questions: Do you think that you truly value what you have in life? What kinds of things do you take for granted? Do you agree with Seneca? Should we imagine the worst losses that can happen every day to remind ourselves of the value of our lives? Do you think an apocalypse is likely? When? How? How can we prepare to survive it? Would you have liked to take part in this show? In Steven’s place? Or in the place of a family member who is in on the trick? If you had been in the show, how do you think you would have reacted to the different situations that were created for Steven? Is there anything immoral in what Derren is doing here? Do you believe that Steven is just an actor, and that the whole show is a fake?
Answers: Comprehension 1) He wants to convince an ordinary guy that the apocalypse is imminent. 2) Because he leads a self-centred existence and he takes many things for granted. He is lazy and very suggestible to hypnosis 3) He asked us to imagine the loss of everything we value at the start of each day, so that we don’t take them for granted. We appreciate their true value. 4) They hack into his computer and phone in order to manipulate the news feed. 5) They place articles and news reports about a possible meteor collision on his phone and computer. They also create fake TV and radio reports. 6) He thinks he’s going to a concert which is far out of town. 7) He is actually going to a former nuclear weapons site which has a large area of land and many cameras and actors ready to simulate a post-apocalyptic world
8) A bacterial infection which arrived on the meteor. It is killing survivors of the meteor shower at an alarming rate 9) The little girl represents bravery (courage). 10) The ambulance driver represents leadership and decisiveness. Vocabulary To come across (e.g a problem) To make s.t up (e.g a story)
To find s.t (by chance) To lie/create s.t
To drip feed s.o (information) To back s.t up (with facts) To drop s.o off (at a cafĂŠ) To go about your daily business To tidy up your room To go smoothly To be infected To take s.t for granted
To give s.o something regularly and slowly To reinforce an idea To take s.o to some place (give s.o a lift) To do what you do every day To clean your room To go exactly as planned To have a disease To expect that you will always have something and not appreciate its value To participate in To answer for your actions
To take part in To take responsibility
Derren Brown – The Apocalypse, Part 2 Video link Comprehension: 1) Where does Steven want to go and why? 2) Where is Ian (the ambulance driver) going? 3) Why does Steven volunteer to leave the compound? 4) Why does Derren want Steven to decide whether to take Danny or not? 5) What does Danny represent? 6) Why does Ian make a video diary? 7) What good news does Steven hear on the radio? 8) What happens when Ian’s wife arrives? 9) What goes wrong when the helicopter turns up? 10) How does Steven feel at the end, when he wakes up?
Grammar – Gerunds and infinitives Video explanation Quiz GERUNDS – use gerunds (___ing) after prepositions, and after certain verbs, and as the subject of the sentence ‘There’s no point in trying hard if there’s always going to be someone better than me.’ ‘His decision making skills will be severely tested’ INFINITIVE WITH TO – after certain verbs, and after adjectives, and to show purpose ‘We need Steven to remember that you’ve been waiting for your wife.’ ‘Sometimes it’s good to put down your feelings.’ ‘I’ve created each character to bring out the best in Steven.’ INFINITIVE WITHOUT TO – after modal verbs, and let, make, help ‘Steven can act like a stroppy teenager’ ‘We should get this set up’ ‘I want to make Steven value what he already has’
Vocabulary Match the words in the 2 columns
There’s no point in…. To take pity on s.o To take charge An unwitting participant To turn up To be willing to do s.t To waste To set s.o/s.t up A belated birthday party To look back on To be in charge To lack s.t
To become the leader To arrive There is no reason to… A late birthday party To feel sorry for s.o To arrange/orchestrate an event Someone who takes part in s.t unknowingly To reminisce To not have enough of s.t To be prepared to do s.t To spend time or money badly To be the leader
Discussion questions: Did you notice any similarities between this story and the Wizard of Oz? Why did Derren choose to do this? Why do you think Derren did this on Steven’s birthday? If you had been in the show, how do you think you would have reacted to the different situations that were created for Steven? Do you think that Steven has changed after this experience? How? Would you be willing to be an unwitting participant in a show like this? Are you the kind of person who likes to take charge or do you lack leadership qualities?
Answers: Comprehension 1) He wants to go to Wales. He thinks his relatives are there. 2) He’s waiting for his wife and then going to Scotland. 3) He wants to use a radio which is located outside to call for help. 4) He wants Steven to start taking responsibility, and he wants him to take pity on Danny and show his sympathetic side. 5) He represents Steven’s selfish side. 6) In case he leaves and his wife turns up. 7) His family are safe, and they will send a helicopter to rescue himself and his friends. 8) She is infected and Ian decides to leave the group and go with her. 9) The helicopter can’t land near the compound – there are too many infected people. 10) He feels relieved and happy – he thinks that the whole event was just a dream, until he sees Derren. Vocabulary There’s no point in…. To take pity on s.o To take charge
There is no reason to… To feel sorry for s.o To become the leader
An unwitting participant To turn up To be willing to do s.t To waste To set s.o/s.t up A belated birthday party To look back on To be in charge To lack s.t
Someone who takes part in s.t unknowingly To arrive To be prepared to do s.t To spend time or money badly To arrange/orchestrate an event A late birthday party To reminisce To be the leader To not have enough of s.t