Speaking assignment due 15 April

This task only applies to the students who are currently doing their internship (praktik).

I want you to make a recording (a sound file or a short movie) where you talk about your internship in English. You can choose to talk on your own, or with a friend. If you like, you can interview each other in English about what you are doing and what you think about your position as an intern (praktikant). You need to talk for 2-3 minutes/person. A cell phone recording should be fine.

Send your sound file or movie to me via Pednet (you may need to compress the file a bit if it's too large) asa.falk@pub.malmo.se

Please let me know if you have any questions.

This task is due no later than Friday, 15 April.

Reading schedule Big Mouth & Ugly Girl

Week 13
for Friday, 1 April: page 185 - 224

Week 14
for Friday, 8 April: page 225 - 266

Bowling for Columbine part 1 and 2

Please check the Bowling for Columbine-post below where you can find the links to the first two parts of the film.

Homework for Wednesday 30 March

Please answer the following questions. Deadline Wednesday 30 March before class starts at 2:40 pm.


1. Ursula sees Matt up on a cliff and gets the impression that he is thinking about jumping. Do you think that Matt is considering something like that? Give reasons for your answer.

2. Why is Ursula's mother still so concerned about Ursula hanging out with Matt even though the whole incident at school is officially "over"?

3. Analyze the e-mail conversation between Matt and Ursula in chapter 29. What do their messages tell us about them as individuals and about their relationship with each other?

Reading for Friday 1 April

Please read pages 188 - 224 for Friday, 1 April. Check the blog for your homework for Wednesday.

Bowling for Columbine

Today there has been some technical problems here on the blog. My posts were all of a sudden gone. Hopefully it has been resolved now.

Today in class we talked about the novel so far and looked at the response people have posted here. We also watched two episodes of Michael Moore's film Bowling for Columbine in which he explores the American love/hate relationship with guns. I will post the clips we watched here shortly.

Here is part 1 and part 2 of Bowling for Columbine.

Picture: www.imbd.com

Homework for Wednesday 23 March

Deadline for your response is Wednesday 23 March before class starts at 2:40 pm.


1. Can you understand Matt's mother's reaction to the situation or do you think she's overreacting? Explain.

2. Why do you think Ursula suspects the Brewer twins to have something to do with Matt's arrest?

3. Find a passage in the text (up to page 140) that you find interesting and explain why it's interesting to the story.
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Thanks to Felicia and Besarta who helped me come up with the questions.

No class 16 March

Wednesday's class is cancelled due to "utvecklingssamtal" at Malmö Borgarskola. Please note your homework for Friday 18 March. See previous post.

Homework for Friday 18 March

Please answer the following questions in the comments section below this post. Deadline: Before class starts on Friday 18 March (8:15 am).

1. Why do you think Ursula is avoiding Matt at school after he has been released?

2. What do you think about the way Matt's friends react to the situation and what would you have done if you had been a friend of Matt's?

3. Find a quote (a sentence or 2-3 sentences) on page 57-96 that you find interesting and important to the story. Type the quote that you have chosen and explain why you picked it.

Response to today's homework

To those of you who did your homework for today: good job! What happened to the rest of you? I'm grading your response, you know.

I think your response is reasonable and to the point. You relate to school shootings and bomb threats in America that may have caused the fear at Rocky River as well.

Try to be even more creative in your response next time. If you see that someone else has already written what you were going to write, either try to relate to and expand on that idea somehow, or try to think of something else to write.

In class today we read the response on the blog and we looked up words and expressions from the chapters that we have read so far. Homework for Friday is to read up to page 96. 

Here are some of the words that we looked up:

asthmatic
hoarse
brusquely
absorb
anxiously
coincidence
exuded
anxiety
flurry
tantalising/tantalizing
elusive
frowning
relent
scorn
famished
aching
evidently
obsessed
desperate
neglect
accused
inquired
investigation
plotting
interrupt
immature
authorities
grin
attorney

Homework for Wednesday 9 March

Here are the questions that I want you to answer in the comments section below this post. The students who were in class today helped me come up with the questions. Thanks!
The deadline for your response is Wednesday, 9 March at 2:40 pm.

Don't forget to type your first name before you post. Click the "anonymous" option. If you are having trouble posting, please e-mail me at: asa.falk@pub.malmo.se
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1. Why do you think everyone in the novel is terrified about the rumors of a bomb threat at the school?

2. What would be Ursula's reasons for helping Matt, do you think?

3.  What would be Ursula's reasons for calling herself "Ugly Girl"?

Questions for today's class

Today we discussed the first two chapters of Big Mouth and Ugly Girl.

We talked about the following:

1. What happens in the very first chapter and how does Matt react to what is happening to him? How would you react if the same thing happened to someone in your class or to you, even?

2. In chapter 2 Ursula/Ugly Girl is introduced. How does she describe herself?  
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   Please note: After Friday's class I will post the questions that you will answer here on the blog. Check back here soon. 

Bring your novel

Please bring your copy of the novel we are reading for today's class. See you!