STAGE Three Men in a Boat 4 Jerome K. Jerome

Introduction

This ungraded summary is for the teacher’s use only and should not be given to students.

The story George, William and Jerome, the narrator, are all feeling ill and decide they need a holiday. A sea trip, they think, would be far too uncomfortable and boring and a trip to the country would be both boring and isolating, but a trip up the river seems an enjoyable option. The work involved would give them an appetite problems cooking their breakfast: he manages to get too. So the three (plus Montmorency the dog) travel eggs all over himself and burn himself badly. up the River Thames from Kingston to Oxford and part Later that day they have a great battle opening a of the way back. tin of fruit, as they have forgotten to bring a tin-opener In a series of amusing anecdotes and reminiscences with them. They try many different methods, none too numerous to summarize, Jerome reveals to the of which work, and they are so angry they eventually reader just how incompetent they are at coping with throw the battered tin into the river! the day-to-day practicalities of life. On another day, George and Jerome leave William When they pack for the trip the three of them are alone with the boat while they go for a walk in Henley. so clumsy and lacking in common sense that, amongst When they come back William seems very tired other things, they attempt to place the butter they are and explains that he has had a big fi ght with a large taking into a teapot, change their minds, extract it number of swans although the others later realize that with great diffi culty only to see George step on it and his tiredness seems to have more to do with the bottle William sit on it before fi nally deciding to place it back of whisky that goes missing! in the teapot! Returning to London from Oxford, the three men Their trip seems doomed to be problematic from are determined to fi nish their journey despite the the start: they agree to start at six-thirty in the morning terrible weather they are having. However, as they are but do not stir until nine. After breakfast they fi nd it shut up in the boat and conversation naturally turns to diffi cult to fi nd a taxi and when they do, they need two illnesses they could develop, their resolve weakens! taxis to take them and their bags to the river. At Pangbourne, they decide to visit the theatre in The plan is for William and Jerome to begin the London and catch a train home. trip without George who is going to join them at Shepperton. On the way there, William gets very Background to the story thirsty but not for water: while he searches for a bottle Jerome K. Jerome lived from 1859–1927 and is of whisky he is thrown head fi rst into the basket! principally remembered for Three Men in a Boat, Once George joins them, he is persuaded to pull although he wrote other novels and plays. He helped the boat until Penton Hook where they stop for the found The Idler, a magazine which featured authors night. Putting up the cover for the night proves yet such as Mark Twain and W. W. Jacobs. Three Men in a something else which they tackle with great diffi culty Boat was made into a TV fi lm by the BBC in 1975. and William traps himself inside the cover. After supper, they settle down for their fi rst uncomfortable night on the boat. The next morning, the three travellers are not so keen on bathing in the river as they were when they were planning the trip. Jerome, however, tries to splash some water on himself by climbing onto a tree branch. Of course, he falls in. William has great

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OBW4 Activity Worksheets MB.indd 131 20/2/08 12:54:45 STAGE Three Men in a Boat 4 Pre-reading activity Match the words with the pictures

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8

a Then George, with great feeling, showed us e The rain come down without stopping. how he felt in the night. Everything in the boat was wet. b ‘Why don’t you help us, you great stupid f ‘Good heavens! Old J.’s gone in!’ Harris said. thing!’ cried George. g The most exciting thing of all is to let girls c Harris said that he had had a terrible battle tow your boat. with the swans. h We beat that tin into every shape there is – but d Montmorency and the cat did not speak, we could not make a hole in it. of course, but it was easy to imagine their conversation.

To the teacher

Aim: To familiarize students with the setting the pictures into the order they might appear in the Time: 15 minutes story – and perhaps to suggest a story which might Organization: Give one copy of the worksheet to link these pictures. It is not important if they get the each student or each group of students. Ask them to correct order. The important thing is to suggest an match the words with the appropriate picture. When order which makes sense of the pictures. the students have completed this task, check the Key: 1a, 2c, 3b, 4d, 5f, 6e, 7h, 8g. answers with them. Then ask them to try and put

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OBW4 Activity Worksheets MB.indd 132 20/2/08 12:54:45 STAGE Three Men in a Boat 4 After reading activity A game of Snap!

Rules GIN RUMMY SNAP 1 Each player is given eight cards, face down, 1 Give the players equal numbers of cards, face and the rest of the pack is placed face down in down so that they cannot see them. the centre of the table. The aim of the game is 2 Each player in turn lays one of their cards, to put down matching pairs and to get rid of face up, in a pile in the centre of the table. If all your cards. two corresponding cards (that make a ‘pair’) 2 The players in turn take one card from the are put down one after the other, the player centre pile, and either swop it for one of who realizes it fi rst either shouts ‘snap!’ or the cards in their hand, or discard it. The puts a hand on top of the pile of cards. (The discarded card is placed, face up, next to the second method is less noisy!) That player then fi rst pile. picks up the whole pile of cards in the centre. 3 The next player may only pick up this 3 The game continues until one player has got discarded card if it matches a card in his or all the cards and is thus the winner. her hand, thereby making a pair, and must then discard another card from his or her PELMANISM hand. Alternatively, this player may take an 1 Put all the cards face down in parallel rows. unknown card from the face down pile. He 2 Each player can turn over two cards (in any or she must still discard a card because each position) at a time. If the two cards are a player must not hold more than eight cards at matching pair, the player keeps both cards. any one time. 3 If the cards are not a matching pair, they 4 Whenever a player can make a matching pair, are turned face down again and put back in the two cards are put down face up on the exactly the same positions. The next player table, in front of the player. then has a go. 5 The winner is the player who puts down four 4 The winner is the player with the most pairs pairs fi rst and has no cards left. of cards at the end of the game.

To the teacher

Aim: To revise events and key facts of the narrative he had all the symptoms of a bad heart’ and ‘J’ form Time: 30–40 minutes the fi rst pair of cards. This is also the fi rst pair to Organization: Make a pack of 52 cards by cutting appear chronologically in the story. out and sticking each of the words and sentences All the cards are combined and shuffl ed in a pack, on a piece of card. The pack consists of two sets and one of the games can be played. The games are of 26 cards. The fi rst set has a character’s name, best played in groups of four students, so each group an action, or an object. The second set has pieces will need a full pack of cards. Once they have got the of information from the story, each one of which idea, students often enjoy making their own sets of corresponds exactly to a card from the fi rst set. The cards. cards have been printed in sequence and should be read vertically, column by column, so ‘HE was certain

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OBW4 Activity Worksheets MB.indd 133 20/2/08 12:54:47 STAGE Three Men in a Boat 4 After reading activity A game of Snap!

Cards

HE was certain he When they asked him Harris loved visiting THESE had all the symptoms for water, the lock-keeper but ‘J’ wouldn’t let him. of a bad heart. said they could drink SOME OF THIS. The three friends HE did not want to tow agreed that they all the boat because he’d had When they were cooking needed THIS. a bad day at the bank. supper at Shiplake, Harris said you do not On the fi rst night it took Montmorency brought them enjoy living in THESE them a long time to fi x THIS to put in the pan. when it rains. THIS over the boat. Harris said that he had had When old ladies and When the branch of a tree a terrible battle with gentlemen look at HIM, broke on the fi rst morning, eighteen of THESE. tears come into their eyes. ‘J’ DID THIS. ‘J’ likes THIS very much; Seven people had to help Because ‘J’ was laughing he can sit and look at it HIM when he put a so much, he dropped for hours. picture up on the wall. THIS in the river again. They discovered that the While they were packing, Harris said he was very fi sh in the glass case was George stepped on THIS good at cooking THESE. not real when it DID THIS. and Harris sat on it. When they stopped for THIS came down without Montmorency got into the lunch near Monkey Island, stopping and the three food basket and killed they found that they had friends decided to go home. not got ONE OF THESE. THREE OF THESE. In Oxford Montmorency When they were waiting They got very angry with had twenty-fi ve of THESE for a taxi, a crowd came THIS and fi nally threw in two days. to watch because they had it in the river. The three friends went so much of THIS. One morning Montmorency back to London by THIS. HE had got lost once in tried to argue with ONE Hampton Court maze. OF THESE.

J Luggage Eggs Work

A change and a rest Harris A tin-opener Broke into a thousand pieces Tents Churches The tin of fruit

Montmorency George A cat Fights

Uncle Podger The cover The river The rain

The butter Fell in the river A dead rat Train

Oranges George’s shirt Swans

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