The missing coins

Teacher’s notes

LEVEL 1

PENGUIN READERS Teacher Support Programme

The Missing Coins
John Escott

Discussion activities
Before reading
1 Discuss: Talk about visiting a new city. Put students into small groups. Have them discuss the following questions. • What do you like doing when you visit a city for the first time? • Where is your favourite city? Why? • What is good to see in your favourite city? When students are ready, ask some groups to share their opinions with the rest of the class. Describe: Divide the class into two groups, A and B. Group A chooses a picture from the book but doesn’t tell B which it is. The students in Group A take turns to describe the picture. Group B discusses and decides which picture it is by saying the page number. Then it is Group B’s turn to choose another picture and describe it to Group A. Group A says which it is. Guess: Divide the class into two groups again. This time, Group A chooses another picture from the book. Group B must find out which picture it is by asking Group A questions, e.g. Is there a car in the picture? How many people are in the picture? After Group B guesses the picture correctly, they swap roles. It’s Group B’s turn to choose another picture, and Group A guesses which one it is. Predict: Have students look at all the pictures in the book. Ask them to think what the story is about. Encourage them to guess the answers to the following questions. • Who is the main character? • What is the name of this place? • What is he or she doing? • What is happening? • Is it a happy ending or sad ending? Retell: Put students into groups. Have them choose to be one of the following characters: the policeman, the shop owner, the shop assistant, or the man with the flute. Have them discuss how to re-tell the story from their point of view. Research: Have students work in groups. Ask them to use resources from outside the classroom, e.g. the Internet, library books and travel agencies to get some information