Amazing Writers (Level 4)
English Readers
Mark Twain
Classroom Activities
Where you see this symbol
with any story in this book.
, the activity type is reusable
Before reading
1 Guess
Divide students into groups with a minimum of three in each
group. Tell them that they are going to read a biography of
Mark Twain. Ask students to read the introduction to Mark
Twain on page 41 and the introduction in bold on page 43
(My life was ... love of books). Write or dictate the following
questions and ask students to discuss them in groups. Tell
students to make guesses if they don’t know the answers.
1 Where was Mark Twain from?
2 What do you know about the stories Huckleberry Finn and
Tom Sawyer?
3 Mark Twain said ‘I worked at several jobs, some of which I liked
and some of which I was not very good at. One thing stayed the
same ... and that was my love of books.’ What jobs would suit
someone who loves books? List as many as you can.
While reading
2 Reading
Ask students to scan the timeline on page 54 and note down
all the jobs that Mark Twain had in his lifetime. Which ones
did they list in question 3 above?
3 Reading
Give each student a copy of the handout Mark Twain. Tell
students to skim the handout and highlight the keywords in
the questions. Then they should skim the story of Mark Twain
and note which parts of the text discuss the topics in the
handout.
TIP
4 Comprehension
Now tell students to read the story in full and complete
the handout. They should circle the words in the boxes that
apply to Mark Twain’s story. If a word partly applies, they can
underline it. Tell students to note down the reasons why they
chose to circle, underline or leave a word blank.
Make it clear that there are lots of possible correct
answers to this exercise, but some answers are more
correct than others!
5 Speaking Put students in pairs or groups of three and ask them to
compare their answers, giving reasons for their choices.
After reading
6 Reading
Ask students to scan the text again and highlight or note
down the title of books written by Mark Twain. Ask them
to spend a few minutes reading about / noting down the
content of each book and thinking about whether or not
they would be interested in reading it. Ask students to
choose the top two books they would most like to read.
7 Reading
Put students in pairs or small groups and invite them to
share their ideas from activity 6. Feed back as a class. Ensure
that students give reasons for their answers by referring to
information about the books’ content in the text.
8 Language Ask students to list all the underlined words in the story on
a piece of paper. They should try to retell parts of Twain’s
story using these words. Tell students to do this in their
heads for a few minutes before saying their story aloud to
their partner.
Then tell students to scan the text and find 5–10 more
words that they are unfamiliar with and add them to the
list. They can check meanings in a dictionary. They should
then once again practice telling Twain’s story using the
original list plus the new words, first in their heads and
then with a partner.
9 Video
Ask students to watch the video and while doing so, note
down the high points and the low points of Twain’s life,
giving reasons for their answers.
10 Research
Ask students to find out more about ONE of the books
they chose in activity 7. They should find out:
• what type of book it is
• what the book is about
• where it is set
• the main characters (if any)
• what readers think of it, and why
11 Writing
Ask students to write up their research from activity 10. In
their writing they should:
• indicate why they were initially interested in this book
• include a summary of what they found out about the
book
• indicate whether they are still interested in reading this
book, after finding out more about it, giving reasons.
© HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2014. This page is photocopiable.
1
Amazing Writers (Level 4)
English Readers
Mark Twain
Answer Key (Classroom Activities)
1 Guess
Answers will vary.
1 Students may know that Mark Twain is
American.
2 They may know about his most famous
novels: Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.
Both are set on the banks of the Mississippi
River in the period of slavery. Tom Sawyer
relates the tale of a boy who ran away after
seeing a murder. Huckleberry Finn is a poor
boy who also appears in this book. At the
end of Tom Sawyer, Huck is adopted into
a respectable family. In Huckleberry Finn,
the boys escape their civilized life for an
adventure along the river.
3 Answers will vary. Answers may include:
librarian, journalist, writer, publisher, teacher
2 Reading
Mark Twain’s jobs include: printer*, river pilot,
volunteer soldier, miner, reporter*, journalist*,
travel writer*, author*, publisher*
*Those marked with an asterisk are those which
suit someone who loves books, so may overlap with
students’ answers to question 3 above.
3 Reading
Childhood: pp43–44
Hannibal: pp44–45
Education: pp44–46
Steamboat work: pp45–46
Writing: pp48–51
Publishing business: pp50–51
Death: p53
4–5 Comprehension and speaking
Answers may vary. Suggested answers:
1 Circled: death, grief
Underlined: respectability, poverty, hard work
Blank: religion, adventure, violence
Reasons: Several of Twain’s siblings died
when he was a child. He mentions that this
made his family very sad.
Students may underline ‘respectability’ because
Twain’s father was a judge and he attended
private school.They may underline ‘poverty’
because although the family was not poor,
there was not enough money for books and
toys.They may underline ‘hard work’ because
Twain had to find a job at the age of 12.
2 Circled: busy, dangerous, small
Underlined: industrial, well-developed,
important
Blank: coastal, picturesque
Reasons: Twain says ‘there was a lot of
activity’. He says there was a lot of violence.
He describes the town as small. It is
described as fast-developing, and it has
a port and rail junction. Students may
perceive that it is therefore comparatively
‘industrial’, ‘well-developed’ or ‘important’.
It is beside a river, not a coast. Twain never
mentions the town in terms of its beauty.
3 Circled: reading in libraries, talking to people,
vocational training, travelling, private school
Underlined: army training
Blank: buying books, studying at university
Reasons: All the encircled answers are
explicitly mentioned in pages 44–46. Some
students may argue that his two-week stint
in the army is too brief to be classed as
‘army training’.
4 Encircled: dangerous, essential, skilled,
eye-opening
Underlined: enjoyable
Blank: poorly-paid, easy, boring
Reasons:The explosion highlights the dangers
of the job.Twain describes the work as
essential and skilled. His experiences along
the river taught him a great deal and thus it
was eye-opening. Students may argue that the
work was ‘enjoyable’ because Twain gained
new experiences. However, others may argue
that although the experience was enjoyable,
the work itself may not have been.Twain
describes the work as difficult and well-paid.
5 Encircled: novels, newspaper articles, short
stories, science fiction, travel books, political
commentaries.
Underlined: none
Blank: plays, poetry
6 Encircled: bad investment, unpopular
products, bad management
Underlined: the wrong advice, incompetence
Blank: Faulty machinery, the Civil War,
external factors
Reasons: Twain invested unwisely in the
typesetting machine. His science fiction
book and later political writings were
unpopular. His nephew’s management led
to bad business decisions.
7 Encircled: funny, satirical, controversial, wellresearched, descriptive
Underlined: popular
Blank: sad, long
Reasons: The text says his work is humorous
and satirical. Students may infer that his
work is descriptive of the places he visited,
and well-researched, as he talked to many
people. They may underline ‘popular’ and/
or controversial, as not all his work was as
such. There is no mention of his work being
sad or long, but students who have read his
works may put these in a different category.
8 Encircled: coincidental, sudden, painful
Underlined: mysterious, expected
Blank: violent, accidental, tragic
Reasons: There is much scope for variation
in this answer. Death by heart attack is
not violent or accidental, and is usually
considered ‘sudden’ and ‘painful’. Death at
the age of 74 is not especially tragic, though
his death was a loss to the literary world.
Death by heart attack is not ‘mysterious’,
but the link to Halley’s Comet may be
considered so. It is coincidental. Twain
expected to die at the next sighting of
Halley’s Comet, but other people may not
have expected it to happen.
© HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2014. This page is photocopiable.
6 Reading
• Life on the Mississippi – Twain’s first book
about life on and beside the river, written
using information he gathered whilst
working on a steamboat.
• Jim Smiley and his Jumping Frog – A wellknown short story published while Twain
was living in California
• The Innocents Abroad – A bestseller written
using information gathered on Twain’s
trip to the Mediterranean, Europe and the
Middle East
• Roughing It – A book based on Twain’s
experiences as a silver miner
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Probably
Twain’s best known novel, based around the
Mississippi
• Tramp Abroad – A book about Twain’s travels
in Europe in 1878
• The Prince and the Pauper – Published in 1881
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Wellknown novel and sequel to Tom Sawyer
• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court –
A mixture of history and science fiction,
largely unpopular
• The American Claimant – Written with
William Dean
• Tom Sawyer Abroad by Huck Finn – Another
book starring the well-known characters
• Pudd’nhead Wilson – A novel written in 1894
• Following the Equator – A travel book written
after the death of Twain’s daughter
7 Reading
Answers will vary.
8 Language
Answers will vary.
9 Video
Answers will vary.
High points include: Trip to World Fair in New
York and travels in New York and Philadelphia;
Trips to Hawaii and Panama; Tour of Europe
and Middle East; Innocents Abroad becomes a
bestseller; Marriage; Birth of children; Wealth
through royalties and newspaper shares;
Receiving Honorary Degrees and Doctorates
Low points include: Death of siblings and
father in childhood; Death of brother in
steamboat explosion; Death of son Langdon;
Bankruptcy; Deaths of Susy, Olivia and Jean
10 Research
Answers will vary. Ensure that students’ notes
include details for each point: what type of
book it is; what the book is about; where it is
set; the main characters (if any); what readers
think of it, and why.
11 Writing
Answers will vary. Ensure that students’ answers
cover all three parts of the question: why they
were initially interested in this book; what they
found out about the book, and whether they
are still interested in reading this book.
2
Mark Twain
Circle the words which you think complete the sentence correctly. If you think an answer is partly true,
underline the word. Be ready to explain your choices.
1Mark Twain’s childhood was characterized by ...
deathgrief
religionadventure
poverty
violence
respectability
hard work
2The town of Hannibal was ...
industrialwell-developed busy
coastal dangerous
picturesque
importantsmall
3Twain received an education through ...
reading in libraries
studying at university
talking to people
vocational training
travelling
private school
buying books
army training
4Twain found that steamboat work was ...
easy
poorly-paid
skilledessential
dangerouseye-opening
boring enjoyable
5Twain wrote ...
novels
newspaper articles
short stories
science-fiction
travel books
plays
poetry
political commentaries
6Twain’s publishing business failed because of ...
faulty machinery
bad management
the Civil War
the wrong advice
bad investment
unpopular products
external factors
incompetence
7Twain’s writings were ...
popular sad
funnysatirical
controversial well-researched
descriptivelong
8Twain’s death was ...
expected mysterioustragic
accidental
coincidentalsudden
painful
violent
© HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2014. This page is photocopiable.