While Reading Questions -Part I

The Open Window

by Saki

Pre-Reading

Look at the following picture. It shows you a scene from the story. What do you think the story is about?

Find the following words in the text. Mark them and write their translation above.

English Hebrew Location in the text

26/22 ביצה a swamp 31/22 יום השנה an anniversary 26/22 גוף, גופה a body 3/21 תרופה a cure 26/22 לטבוע to drown

25/22 לצוד to hunt 3/21 עצבים nerves 32/22 אחיינית a niece 4/21 שלווה peace and quiet 40/22 להצטמרר to shiver

26/22 להחליק to slip/slipped 9/21 אנשים זרים strangers

17/21 טרגדיה tragedy

8/21 גרוע יותר worse

1 While Reading Questions -Part I: a. Why was Framton Nuttel in the country?______

______b. How had his sister tried to help him?______

______c. How did he feel about paying visits to strangers?______

______d. How did Framton feel in the young girl’s presence?______

______e. Did the tragedy happen while Framton’s sister was living in the country?______

______f. Why was it unusual to keep the window open at that time of the year?______

______g. What did the window have to do with the tragedy?______

______h. What was the tragedy according to the niece’s story?______

______i. Why did the aunt leave the window open?______

______j. Why was Framton sorry he had come to visit on that particular day?______

______k. Did the niece share her aunt’s belief?______

______l. Why did Framton shiver?______

______

2 HOTS: Inferring

Inferring means______

According to the niece’s story, Mrs. Sappleton was being unrealistic; she was living in a dream. Why?

______

At which point in the niece’s story did Framton feel frightened? Which sentence in the niece’s story frightened him the most? Why? Why do you think so?

______

Understanding the Story: Part I

A. Tick () True or False

True False

1. Framton was visiting Mrs. Sappleton for the first time.

2. He was a healthy young man.

3. The window was open because the weather was pleasant.

4. Framton had planned to visit Mrs. Sappleton on the tragic anniversary.

5. The terrible thing about the tragedy was that the men had drowned.

B. Circle the correct word. Translate the sentences.

An Unpleasant Visit

Framton heard about Mrs. Sappleton’s cure/ tragedy from her niece. ______”Her husband and brothers never came back from their hunting/ slipped trip,” she said. ______

3 “Ronnie climbed a rock, anniversary/ slipped and fell into a swamp/ worse. ______The others tried to pull him out, but………… ______Finally, all three of them hunting/ drowned. ______It happened three years ago today, but my aunt/ shiver expects them to come back.” ______The girl’s story made Framton shiver/slipped. ______He should not have paid his visit on this tragic swamp/ anniversary, he thought. ______It was definitely not the right cure/aunt for his nerves. ______Now he felt hunting/ worse than before.

PART II-Vocabulary Find the following words in the text. Mark them and write their translation above.

English Hebrew Location in the text

23/28 דמויות figures

36/28 לרדוף אחרי to chase

22/28 כיוון direction

37/28 קבר a grave

36/28 בית קברות a graveyard

22/28 זוועתי horrible

33/28 מחלה an illness

4 5/27 בוצי muddy

15/27 לפהק, פיהוק to yawn/a yawn

While –Reading Questions-Part II: a. Was the aunt depressed or was she cheerful?______b. What did she tell Framton?______c. How did he feel? Why?______d. What did Framton talk about? Why?______e. Was she interested in what he was saying? ______f. Why did her face grow brighter?______g. How did Framton and Vera react?______h. What did they see?______i. Why did Framton run away in terror?______j. Who is “we”? Are they ghosts?______k. How did the aunt explain Framton’s behavior?______

5 ______l. Were Vera’s stories true?______

C. Circle the word that doesn’t belong to the group: 1. sleep  stare  snore  yawn 2. cool  terrible  awful  horrible 3. happily brightly cheerfully  wildly 4. shake  shiver  chase  tremble 5. graveyard  direction  horror ghosts 6. calm  muddy  dirty  wet

Summary D. Choose the correct word: 1. The story Vera told Framton was the truth/ a lie. 2. She noticed that Framton was calm/ nervous, so she decided to play a trick on him. 3. Vera knew Framton would be scared to death when the men/ aunt suddenly appeared. 4. Framton ran away in terror because he thought he had seen the dog/ ghosts. 5. Vera wanted to amuse herself/ hurt Framton. 6. Vera found the situation funny, but for Framton it was an interesting/ awful experience. 7. Mrs. Sappleton wondered/ knew why Framton ran away without a word of apology. 8. Vera immediately remembered/ made up another horror story about Framton being chased/ followed by dogs into a graveyard.

Analysis and Interpretation A. What is the setting of the story? Complete the following table: 6 TIME PLACE/AREA SPECIFIC ATMOSPERE PLACE

Month: the______Day: the tragic______a______Part of day:______spot

B. Answer the questions: Who is a protagonist of the story?______Who is the antagonist in the story?______Vera played a cruel joke on Framton. Why was her joke cruel? ______Did Framton deserve to be treated like that? Why or why not?______What kind of the narrator can we see in the story? ______Distinguishing Different Perspectives

How does the atmosphere change when the men return from their hunting trip? 1. From Mrs. Sappleton’s perspective: ATMOSPHERE WORD BANK

משעשע -The atmosphere becomes______. amusing

מדכא -From Framton’s perspective: dark and depressing .2

יותר עליז-The atmosphere becomes______. even more cheerful

חברותי-From Vera’s perspective: friendly .3

מפחיד-The atmosphere becomes______. frightening

שובב -playful

מתוח-tense Bridging Text and Context Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) described in his literary pieces the representatives of upper- class English society at the end of the 19th century. In those times, rich people

7 who didn’t feel well went to the country, hoping that the fresh air and the quiet and peaceful atmosphere would do them good.

Their relatives and friends often helped them to make new friends in the country. The sent “letters of introduction” to families they knew there and asked them to invite the visitors for tea. It was quite unusual to invite and pay a visit to total strangers. which neither the (ביקורים חברתיים) Saki made fun of those formal boring social calls .nor the visitors enjoyed (מארחים (hosts How can this information help you understand the story? ______

Name:______

8 POST-READING

Think about the continuation of the story.

Draw a timeline on which reflect all the main events happened in the story and its continuation. Each point on the timeline should be accompanied by a sentence written in English.