"Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's coat"

New story for today:

"MRS. BIXBY AND THE COLONEL'S COAT"

• Pre-treatment activity: Look at the pictures. Imagine what is happening (what are the characters doing?). Write two lines about each scene.

Students use their imagination and creativity as well as they are involved in the story.

• Treatment activity:   Read the text once. After that, click on the following link and complete the text below (this is a listening activity to focus on the pronunciation of past tenses).

http://www.voki.com/pickup.php?scid=6291484&height=267&width=200

Mr. and Mrs. Bixby _____ in a small apartment in New York City.  Mr. Bixby ____ a dentist, who ____ an average amount of money.  Mrs. Bixby was a woman who ____ full of life.  Once a month she would get on a train and travel to Baltimore to ____ her old Aunt Maude. At least that was what she ____ her husband.  What she really ____ was see a gentleman known as the Colonel and spend all her time in Baltimore in his company.

The Colonel ____ wealthy and ____ in a charming house just outside of town. He ____ no wife and no family.

• Post-treatment activity: Take real pictures to represent your favourite scene (see the previous examples). Make comments.

(Students practice writing in a different way)

My comments on my pics (previously uploaded) are:

"I love this short story! I have enjoyed it and I have decided to read Dahl's finest tales in "Tales of the unexpected". The whole story shows the consequences of adultery in a funny way and it could be taken as a mockery of marriage: none of them are happy. My favourite scenes are the one when she receives a gift from the Colonel, because I can imagine Mrs. Bixby in the train feeling so nervous and expectant and the one when she visits the pawnbroker, because it is something I had never imagined as a solution to her problem.

I love this short story! I have enjoyed it and I have decided to read Dahl's finest tales in "Tales of the unexpected". The whole story shows the consequences of adultery in a funny way and it could be taken as a mockery of marriage: none of them are happy. My favourite scenes are the one when she receives a gift from the Colonel, because I can imagine Mrs. Bixby in the train feeling so nervous and expectant and the one when she visits the pawnbroker, because it is something I had never imagined as a solution to her problem".