Date: April 24, 2005
Level: Easier (Try the harder lesson.)
Downloads: This Lesson (Word Doc) | Class Handout (Word Doc) | Class Handout (PDF)

Listening (2:04 - 243.2 KB - 16kbps)

THE ARTICLE

Have you ever wanted to know what a teenage James Bond looked like? Well now you have your chance to find out. The family of Ian Fleming, creator of 007, has approved of a drawing of the superspy in his schoolboy days. The illustration will be used on the cover of a new set of children’s books about the young Bond. James, aged thirteen, is very different from the handsome and sophisticated man he grows up to be. He is tall, a little scruffy, wears baggy pants and has a mop of messy hair. He looks quite handsome and has no acne, crooked teeth, nor any other teenage problems. And if you look closely enough, you’ll see he looks slightly like Sean Connery.

The young Bond books are written by long time Fleming fan Charlie Higson. Mr Higson said the picture of James as a schoolboy greatly helped him develop the character: “Now I know what he looks like. Young Bond and his world have really come alive.” His first novel, Silver Fin, was a bestseller as soon as it hit the shelves in early April. The book describes James as a public schoolboy at Eton. His first mission is to end the evil and wicked actions of a scientist who experiments on human beings. The scientist’s son is one of James’s classmates and is also a nasty character. The book does well in showing how the young James Bond gained his expertise in becoming a superspy.

WARM UPS

1. CHAT: Talk in pairs or groups about: teenagers / James Bond / being thirteen / teenage problems / Sean Connery / children’s books / superspies… For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

2. JAMES BOND / 007 BRAINSTORM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with James Bond or 007. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them.

3. BEING 13: What was life like as a 13-year-old? (1) Talk with your partner / group about your memories of your earliest teens. Was it a good or difficult time? (2) In pairs / groups, imagine being 13 again. Talk to each other as 13-year-olds about life today.

4. JAMES BOND: Talk with your partner about the British superspy. Who is your favorite actor to play 007? What is your favorite Bond movie song? What is your favorite James Bond gadget? What is your favorite Bond movie? A list of movies is below:

Dr. No (1962) From Russia With Love (1963) Goldfinger (1964) Thunderball (1965) Casino Royale (1967) You Only Live Twice (1967) On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) Diamonds Are Forever (1971) Live And Let Die (1973) The Man With The Golden Gun (1974) The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

Moonraker (1979) For Your Eyes Only (1981) Never Say Never Again (1983) Octopussy (1983) A View To A Kill (1985) The Living Daylights (1987) Licence To Kill (1989) GoldenEye (1995) Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) The World Is Not Enough (1999) Die Another Day (2002)

 
5. CHILDREN’S BOOKS: In pairs / groups, talk about children’s books. Who is / was your favorite author? Which characters did you like best? Are there any children’s authors from your country who are (or should be) famous internationally? Which of the following writers / books would you encourage your children to read?

• J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter series)
• Hans Christian Andersen (Fairy tales)
• Aesop (Many famous fables)
• Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)
• Dr Seuss (Green Eggs and Ham)
• A.A. Milne (Winnie the Pooh)
• Lewis Carroll (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland)
• Michael Ende (The Never Ending Story)
• Kenneth Graham (Wind in the Willows)
• Tove Jannson (Finn Family Moomintroll)
• Rudyard Kipling (Jungle Book)
• J.R.R. Tolkein (The Hobbit)
• E.B. White (Charlotte’s Web)

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. WORD SEARCH: Use your dictionary / computer to find word partners (collocates), other meanings, synonyms or more information on the words ‘school’ and ‘boy’.

2. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true or false:

1. Now we have our chance to find out what the young James Bond looks like.  T / F
2. The family of 007’s creator is angry about a drawing of James, aged 13.  T / F
3. The young James Bond looks a little like Sean Connery.  T / F
4. A picture helped an author write a book about the young James Bond.  T / F
5. The book didn’t sell well in the bookshops.  T / F
6. Young James’s first mission is to find an al-Qaeda killer in Afghanistan.  T / F

3. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

(a)	chance	untidy
(b)	creator	went on sale
(c)	scruffy	a little
(d)	slightly	know-how
(e)	fan	opportunity
(f)	hit the shelves	horrible
(g)	nasty	enthusiast
(h)	expertise	originator

4. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

(a)	Have you ever	problems
(b)	your chance	Fleming fan
(c)	handsome and	the shelves
(d)	teenage	wanted to know…?
(e)	long time	sophisticated man
(f)	really come	character
(g)	hit	alive
(h)	nasty	to find out

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. GAP-FILL: Fill the gaps with the words in the column on the right.

James Bond, aged 13

Have you ever wanted to __________ what a teenage James Bond looked like? Well now you have your __________ to find out. The family of Ian Fleming, creator of 007, has approved of a drawing of the superspy in his schoolboy days. The __________ will be used on the cover of a new set of children’s books about the young Bond. James, aged thirteen, is very different from the handsome and __________ man he grows up to be. He is a tall, a little scruffy, wears baggy pants and has a mop of messy hair. He looks quite handsome and has no acne, __________ teeth, nor any other teenage problems. And if you look closely enough, you’ll see he looks slightly like Sean Connery.		sophisticated illustration know crooked chance
The young Bond books are written by __________ time Fleming fan Charlie Higson. Mr Higson said the picture of James as a schoolboy greatly helped him __________ the character: “Now I know what he looks like. Young Bond and his world have really come __________.” His first novel, Silver Fin, was a bestseller as soon as it hit the shelves in early April. The book describes James as a public schoolboy at Eton. His first __________ is to end the evil and wicked actions of a scientist who experiments on human beings. The scientist’s son is one of James’s classmates and is also a __________ character. The book does well in showing how the young James Bond gained his expertise in becoming a superspy.		develop mission long nasty alive

 

2. TRUE/FALSE: Check your answers to the T/F exercise.

3. SYNONYMS: Check your answers to the synonyms exercise.

4. PHRASE MATCH: Check your answers to the phrase match exercise.

5. QUESTIONS: Make notes for questions you would like to ask the class about the article.

6. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1. GAP FILL: Check your answers to this exercise.

2. QUESTIONS: Ask the discussion questions you thought of above to your partner / group / class. Pool the questions for everyone to share.

3. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.

4. STUDENT-GENERATED SURVEY: In pairs/groups write down 3 questions based on the article. Each student surveys class members independently and reports back to their original partner/ group to compare their findings.

5. ‘SCHOOL’ / ‘BOY’: Make questions based on your findings from pre-reading activity #1. Ask your partner / group your questions.

6. DISCUSSION:

1. Did you like this article?
2. Was there anything in the article that made you smile?
3. Before reading this article, did you ever think about a young James Bond?
4. What do you think of having a teenage James Bond?
5. What are your favorite children’s books? Why do you like them?
6. Are there any children’s authors you would not want your children to read?
7. Are the children’s writers from your country the best?
8. Would you like to see pictures of other heroes when they were thirteen?
9. What were you like when you were thirteen?
10. Do you like looking at photos of yourself in your early teens?
11. What adjective would you use to describe being thirteen and why?
12. Do you have good or bad memories of being thirteen?
13. Would you like to be thirteen again?
14. Do you like James Bond?
15. Why do you think James Bond movies are so successful?
16. Which of his gadgets do you like best?
17. Can you sing / hum the James Bond theme song?
18. Would you like to be a superspy?
19. Would you like to be / date James Bond?
20. Is James Bond your image of a British gentleman?
21. Did you like this discussion?
22. Teacher / Student additional questions.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find information on James Bond. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. 13 YEARS OLD: Write something about your life as a 13-year-old. Read it to you classmates in your next lesson.

4. 007/13: Write an outline of a story for the next “James Bond, Aged 13” novel. Show it to your classmates in your next lesson.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

1. Now we have our chance to find out what the young James Bond looks like.  T
2. The family of 007’s creator is angry about a drawing of James, aged 13.  F
3. The young James Bond looks a little like Sean Connery.  T
4. A picture helped an author write a book about the young James Bond.  T
5. The book didn’t sell well in the bookshops.  F
6. Young James’s first mission is to find an al-Qaeda killer in Afghanistan.  F

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	chance	opportunity
(b)	creator	originator
(c)	scruffy	untidy
(d)	slightly	a little
(e)	fan	enthusiast
(f)	hit the shelves	went on sale
(g)	nasty	horrible
(h)	expertise	know-how

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	Have you ever	wanted to know…?
(b)	your chance	to find out
(c)	handsome and	sophisticated man
(d)	teenage	problems
(e)	long time	Fleming fan
(f)	really come	alive
(g)	hit	the shelves
(h)	nasty	character

GAP FILL:

James Bond, aged 13

Have you ever wanted to know what a teenage James Bond looked like? Well now you have your chance to find out. The family of Ian Fleming, creator of 007, has approved of a drawing of the superspy in his schoolboy days. The illustration will be used on the cover of a new set of children’s books about the young Bond. James, aged thirteen, is very different from the handsome and sophisticated man he grows up to be. He is a tall, a little scruffy, wears baggy pants and has a mop of messy hair. He looks quite handsome and has no acne, crooked teeth, nor any other teenage problems. And if you look closely enough, you’ll see he looks slightly like Sean Connery.

The young Bond books are written by long time Fleming fan Charlie Higson. Mr Higson said the picture of James as a schoolboy greatly helped him develop the character: “Now I know what he looks like. Young Bond and his world have really come alive.” His first novel, Silver Fin, was a bestseller as soon as it hit the shelves in early April. The book describes James as a public schoolboy at Eton. His first mission is to end the evil and wicked actions of a scientist who experiments on human beings. The scientist’s son is one of James’s classmates and is also a nasty character. The book does well in showing how the young James Bond gained his expertise in becoming a superspy.