2. 7. English on the stage

Read the text and say why the theatre company is unusual

These people are members of a very unusual theatre company called the English Teaching Theatre. The idea began at International House, which is a centre for teaching English to foreign students in

London.

A small group of teachers got together to write and perform short plays which foreign students could enjoy, and which helped them to learn English. Soon the English Teaching Centre was invited to other schools of English all around the country and even abroad. So far, it has visited Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece. Holland, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Yugoslavia.

The group performs in schools and colleges, universities and small theatres. The show has also been filmed by .the BBC in Britain and Danish TV. On tour, all the members travel in a van, or by train, so they can't take many costumes in their luggage.You only need a jacket and a cap to show you're a ticket inspector, for instance," they told us. "The rest is up to your imagina­tion."

The show is a mixture of short sketches (one-act plays) and songs, and the audience is expected to join in with the songs and the jokes. Each sketch is based on a very simple idea. Usually the action happens in a per­fectly ordinary place, like a doctor's waiting room, or a bank or someone's house. But quite soon, something unexpected happens and the sketch becomes very funny. It is only at the end of the show that students realize they have understood all the jokes and sung all the songs in English!

Exercise

What is your opinion of this activity?

Do you think performing helps learners of the foreign language to master it?

2. 8. Harry porter

Read the text and find out what kind of pupil Joanne Rowling was.

Once upon a time, in 1990, a young woman called Joanne Rowling was going by train from Manchester to London. The train was delayed, the journey was long, she was day­dreaming and suddenly, she had the idea of a book about a boy wiz­ard. By the time the train arrived at King's Cross Station four hours later, many of the characters and the begin­ning of the plot had already been invent­ed. Ten years later, her wild fantasies of wizards and witchcraft became the biggest publishing sensation of modern times

The author

The idea of writing a book was not quite sudden. Joanne Kathleen Rowling, born on July 31, 1965 in Bristol, England, has always wanted to become a writer. She wrote her first book at the age of six -a story about a rabbit called Rabbit. At school she liked to tell stories to her friends — serial stories, in which they all performed heroic deeds.

Joanne's favourite subjects at school were English and foreign languages. She says she was a swot (зубрила) and a bookworm (just like Hermione, one of Harry Potter's best friends). After leaving school Joanne went to Exeter University to study French. After graduating from the University she worked as a secretary for some time and then moved to Portugal to teach English as a second language. Joanne says she liked it. She worked afternoons and evenings, leaving the mornings free for writing. In Portugal Joanne met and married a TV journalist. The marriage didn't last long and Rowling returned to Britain with her 4-month-old daughter and a suitcase full of Harry Potter notes.

She settled in Edinburgh and though times were hard, she set out to finish the book. Every day she put her daughter in the pushchair and walked her around Edinburgh, and when the baby fell asleep, she would hurry to a cafe to write. In this way the first book was written.

The books

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was published in June 1997 and became an immedi­ate success. By November 1997, it had been published in eight countries and had sold 30,000 copies in the UK. in July 1998, the second Potter book -- The Chamber of Secrets — shot to number one in the bestseller list. In July 1999, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban came out. It sold like hot cakes. The fourth book - Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire — broke all publishing records. It sold more than 370,000 on its first day in the UK. Today the books have been translated into 31 languages (including Russian).

Nothing like this has happened in children's lit­erature for quite a long time. Children the world over left their Pokemons and computer games and started reading. And not only children. Grown­ups read (and reread) Harry Potter books too. In Britain a special edition of the book appeared with a more "adult" cover so that grown-ups reading it on trains wouldn't have to hide their copy behind a newspaper. It is rumoured that Joanne Rowling is writ­ing her books with a magic wand!

The film

Now Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone has finally arrived on the big screen. Usually, films like this can never live up to the big expectations of eager fans, but — miracle of miracles — people who have already seen it, say that this film is a rare exception. The actors are very good and the film is beautifully created. It runs over two-and-a-half hours, but is so entertaining that it feels much shorter. Director Chris Columbus (Home Alone and Mrs Doubtfire) says that the task of finding the right young people to play Harry Potter and his best friends, Ron and Hermione, wasn't an easy one: "These are magical roles, the kind that come around once in a lifetime, and they required talent­ed children who could bring magic to the screen. But when eleven-year-old Daniel Radcliffe walked into the room, we all knew we had found Harry.

The hero

For those who somehow missed the books -the story begins when Harry is eleven. He is small and skinny, with green eyes and black hair that is always untidy. He wears round glasses and on his forehead there is a lightning-shaped scar. This scar is the only hint of Harry's mysterious past...Harry was a year old, when Lord Voldermort -the most powerful dark wizard — arrived at his house one night and killed Harry's parents.

Harry was brought up by his dead mother's sister and her husband, Mrs and Mr Dursley. The Dursleys were what wizards call Muggles (ordinary people, not a drop of magical blood in them!). What is more, having a wiz­ard in their family was a mat­ter of deepest shame for them. Harry didn't know he was a wizard and believed the Dursleys' story that his parents had been killed in a car crash. But on his eleventh birthday, Harry received a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and then he learned that his dead parents had been both powerful wizards and that he was to follow in his par­ent's footsteps and go to Hogwarts to have the prop­er wizard training.

Really you'd better read the books. They are interesting, funny, frightening and grip­ping — all of them.

Exercise

Answer the questions:

1. Where was the idea to write the book born?

2. What was the first book’s title?

3. Was it a success?

4. Who is the main character of the book?

5. What happened after the first book had been written?

6. Was the film worse than the book?

7. Was it difficult to find actors for the leading roles? Why?

8. Have you read the books about Harry Porter? What is your impression?