Key Skills in English


no one ever noticed at all. I would wish that I could walk down the street without people seeing me and then doing that look-away thing. Here’s what I think: the only reason I’m not ordinary is that no one else sees me that way.


But I’m kind of used to how I look by now. I know how to pretend I don’t see the faces people make. We’ve all gotten pretty good at that sort of thing: me, Mom and Dad, Via. Actually, I take that back: Via’s not so good at it. She can get really annoyed when people do something rude. Like, for instance, one time in the playground some older kids made some


noises. I don’t even know what the noises were exactly because I didn’t hear them myself, but Via heard and she just started yelling at the kids. Tat’s the way she is. I’m not that way.


Via doesn’t see me as ordinary. She says she does, but if I were ordinary, she wouldn’t feel like she needs to protect me as much. And Mom and Dad don’t see me as ordinary, either. Tey see me as extraordinary. I think the only person in the world who realises how ordinary I am is me.


My name is August, by the way. I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse.


Key Skills in English ?


1. Both Sam (extract 1) and August (extract 2) are unusual characters. Name one way in which they are similar to one another, and one way in which they are different.


2. Both Sam and August tell their stories directly to the reader, using the first person pronoun ‘I’. How does this affect the way you respond to the characters? Explain your response.


3. What do you think August means when he says: ‘the only reason I’m not ordinary is that no one else sees me that way.’?


4. Based on the extract, what do you consider to be the strongest aspects of August’s character? Explain your response.


5. From a novel you have studied, select a character who had to overcome some obstacle or deal with a personal problem. Briefly describe the obstacle or problem and comment on the attitude of the character to his/her situation and how he/she felt about it. You must name the novel and the author.


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Unit 3: Ficiton


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