ELL 3 English
It's time for our final short story. Welcome to "The Lottery", by Shirley Jackson.


--- Level 3/4+ questions ---
1. This story begins with a mood that is very different from the mood at the end of the story. How are these two moods different? What specific words show a change in mood?

2. In the second paragraph of the story, the children are gathering stones, seemingly just for fun. The end of the reading shows why they were actually gathering stones. What is the literary device that describes this?

3. What does it say about the culture of this village that the lottery was conducted in the same manner as "the square dances, the teen club, and the Halloween program."

4. The tone of the lottery is very anxious. What specific words does the author use to show this feeling of worry?

5. On the bottom of page 4, Mr. Adams states that in a neighboring village they don't even have a lottery. Old Man Warner responds that those villagers are a "pack of crazy fools". Why is this ironic?

6. Why do you think the village has a lottery? Is it a good or a bad thing?

7. Do you think it was right for the youth in this story to have been forced to participate in the event?

--- Level 4/5+ questions ---

1. Why has Jackson chosen common people for her characters? Could she have chosen characters from other levels of sophistication with the same effect? What is the irony of the

tone of this story?

2. What seems to have been the original purpose of the lottery? What do people believe about it?

3. Is it important that the original paraphernalia for the lottery had been lost? What do you suppose the original ceremony was like? Why have some of the villages given up this practice? Why hasn't this one?

4. What aspect of the lottery does Tessie challenge; what aspect goes unquestioned?

5. This is a different sort of story when you read it for the second time. What elements (such as Mrs. Hutchinson's attempt to have her daughter, Eva, draw with the family) might take on a different meaning the second time through?

6. Some critics insist that the story has an added symbolic meaning. Do you agree? If so, what is Shirley Jackson trying to tell us about ourselves?  (Hint: Consider that this story was written during the height of the rise of Communism and the Soviet Union.)

7. Is the lottery a collective act of murder? Is it morally right? Is tradition a good reason for such actions? How would you respond to cultures that are different from ours that perform "strange" rituals?

8. Describe the point of view of the story. How does the point of view affect what we know about the situation? How does it preserve the story's suspense?

--- JOURNAL RESPONSE ---
What if you were part of one of the families in this village? Create an entry in your journal  on the morning of the lottery, before heading to the village square with your family.

Block Rotation Day!

Please remember - this is block rotation day. That means A B C D are now D C B A!

Block D
Today we'll be continuing our work on compare and contrast writing. How do we turn planning into a full essay? What kinds of transitions are useful to make my essay read easily?

Block C
Today we'll be back on to silent reading.  Please hand in your menu projects, as they are now past due.

Block B
This is our last day to work on our political spectrum projects. Yes - you must complete both A and B. See the board for more details. If you are still looking for topics to discuss, you might consider:

1. Taxes: Who will pay to help run your country? Rich people? Poor people? Everyone the same amount?
2. If you are looking for ideas, you could discuss some issues that many political parties like to talk about, such as:

• Garbage disposal
• Traffic problems 
• Free education or private education? 
• Free university?
• Cost of public transit?
• How much money will you spend on the military? (right wing positions tend to spend more on military, left wing spend less, with the exception of communism)
•  Housing? Will there be support housing for people with less money?
• Jails - how severely should we punish convicted criminals? Is Jail meant for rehabilitation and recovery? Or should jail be used to keep criminals out of society?

Block A
Today we'll be gluing our posters together so that we'll be ready to go tomorrow. By the end of this class, your posters should be 100% done and ready for tomorrow. You may leave them here overnight so we can use them first thing in the morning.

Happy Thursday!

Here's our plan today:

Block D ELL 3 English
We're reading Harrison Bergeron today! Do the reading, do the questions 1-4.

HARRISON BERGERON.

Block C ELL 1/2 Science
Our menus should be done by today. I've booked the computer cart for one more day. Get them done!

Block B ELL 3 Social Studies
More time to work on our projects!

Block A ELL 1/2 Social Studies
More time to work on our provincial projects!

Greetings! Here's a quick note for our Block D ELL3 English class:

Read "The Sniper".

ELL 3 English
LATHER AND NOTHING ELSE

Today we'll be finishing Lather and Nothing Else. Do the questions on the pdf, then do this one:

## Find examples from the story that increase the tension in the plot ##

The more the merrier!

Welcome back, everyone!

• Spring assessment is coming. We'll be checking:
• Reading - a timed test that will take one class.
• Writing - we've been working on this for a while, but we'll do a "cold" writing sample soon.
• Speaking - this has been mostly done through presentations.
• Listening - this has also been done during class discussions. 

It's important to remember that over the next two weeks, your level will be measured based on a lot of information. No single writing sample will decide your level next year. The ELL department will look at each student's work carefully.

In each class, pick one of the following topics after we finish our silent reading. We'll have a little discussion before we write.

• Who was the person you spent the most time with and why? What did you do with them? 
• Write about a place that you went over the Spring Break. 
• What did you do for yourself during Spring Break? 
• Write about something you did with your family over Spring Break. 

ELL 1/2 Social Studies

Not everyone has uploaded their current events video. Please do this as soon as possible. If we have time during class, I will speak to you privately if I haven't seen it yet.

We'll be returning to our red textbooks.

ELL 3 Social Studies

Not everyone has done the activity for their presentation. Please make time to respond to my questions in a lightning response on your portfolio if you haven't already. Please check my post below this one for more information. (March 12)

Back to the political spectrum. Check this out:

This represents one dimension of the political spectrum. We'll dive back into our texts for a little more on this today.

ELL 1/2 Science

Please finish your personal health video if you haven't done so already. Please see the previous post (March 12) for more information.

Please return your textbooks for the class - the Human Body. Hold on to the duotang for now, as we haven't finished with that one yet!

ELL 3 English
Now that we've finished spring break, we'll do our best to finish up our elements of fiction for "The Help". Of course, it's been two weeks - so we might just jump to our next item :)

Lather and Nothing Else.