Activity

Learning about Frankenstein.

Characters:

Theme: Mary Shelley i Frankenstein. Temps verbals de passat.

Competencies

Competence in Linguistic Communication

Competence in cultural awareness and expressions

Subjects and year by Educational System

Spain > English > 4th ESO > Communication

Enunciation


We are going to read an article about British writer Mary Shelley, author of the novel Frankenstein. To do so, here there are some activities: 


ACTIVITY 1 

PART A (Warm-up): 
QUIZ: What do you know about Frankenstein? Do this quick quiz and find out.   
 
1) Frankenstein is, in origin,... 
a) A film 
b) A novel 
c) A theatre play 
 
2) According to the story, who is Frankenstein? 
a) A monster 
b) An alien 
c) A scientist 
 
3) Who wrote Frankenstein? 
a) Lord Byron 
b) Mary Shelley 
c) Bram Stoker 
 
4. When was Frankenstein published? 
a) 1818 
b) 1923 
c) 1765 

PART B  
 
Read the article about the famous writer Mary Shelley and her novel Frankenstein. Fill in the gaps with the Past Simple or Past Continuous of the verbs in brackets.   

Mary Shelley. Retrat asseguda

 Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein 

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is frequently called the world’s first science fiction novel. Films like Edward Scissorhands or Avengers are Frankenstein’s adaptations in disguise.  
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is one of the most famous horror novels ever. She (1) ___________ (publish) it in 1818 and, since then, hundreds of film adaptations of it have been made. The novel’s success lies in the fact that it poses philosophical questions that continue unresolved today. Mary Shelley (2) ______________ (create) this novel in the Romantic spirit of her time and added gothic and horror elements to create a spooky story that warns us about the dangers of an irresponsible use of science and technology.  
Mary Shelley (3) _______________ (be) born in 1797 in London. Her parents (4)_______________ (be)  William Godwin, a philosopher, and Mary Wollstonecraft, a feminist writer, who died soon after giving birth to Mary Shelley.

Mary Shelley (5) _______________ (receive) a great education, not common for women at that time. While other girls’s education consisted in learning to be good wives and mothers, Mary Shelley read a lot of books of philosophy and politics and literature. She was only 19 years old when she (6)________________ (write) Frankestein, a novel about a scientist who gives life to a creature and then cruelly rejects it, causing the creature become brutal as it tries to make friends.  
Mary Shelley’s idea for her most famous novel came while she (7) _________________ (spend) some days with her husband, the poet Percy Shelley, their friend Lord Byron, and other famous authors. During those days, the weather was very bad, and it (8) __________________ (rain) almost every day, so the group of friends had to stay indoors most of the time. They (9) ________________ (read) horror stories when Lord Byron suggested having a horror story contest. Everyone wrote their story and read it to the rest, but Mary could not think of one. One night, Mary (10)_______________ (have) fantastic dream while she (11) ________________ (sleep). As soon as she (12) _______________ (wake) up, she wrote it down and read it to her friends. They all (13) _________________ (feel) amazed. It was brilliant. Percy Shelley encouraged Mary Shelley to make it longer and create a novel.  The novel was published as Frankenstein two years later, and it (14) ___________________ (become) more successful than any of the other writings produced that summer.  
Since then, Frankenstein has been present in the popular culture worldwide and has influenced many of the science fiction films that we know today, such as Edward Scissorhands, about an artificially created human-like creature whose scissorhands provoke the scorn of people, or Avengers: Age of Ultron, with the figure of a mad scientist who achieves something god-like but ends up creating something terrible. 

Adaptat de:  
https://junkee.com/the-blockbuster-films-you-didnt-realise-owe-everything-to-mary-shelleys-frankenstein/56548 (13/04/2022) 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Shelley (13/04/2022) 
https://historia.nationalgeographic.com.es/a/tormento-literario-mary-shelley_15577 (13/04/2022) 

 

 

 

 

Observations and context

L'objectiu d'aquesta activitat és acostar a l'alumnat a la figura de Mary Shelley i repassar el contrast de temps del passat: Past Simple i Past Continuous. El text es podria complicar més i afegir uns altres temps com el Present Perfect i el Past Perfect. 
La part A és una activitat de calfament per a activar coneixements previs i preparar a l'alumnat per a la part B, que és una activitat gramatical. 

Aquesta fitxa es pot complementar amb l'activitat Frankenstein is still alive, que incorpora una comprensió lectora sobre el text inclòs en aquesta activitat. També amb l'activitat Frankenstein’s puzzle, en la qual es treballa la comprensió oral i la producció escrita. 

Algunes de les autores contemporànies a Mary Shelley, que van influir en la seua obra, són les que s'esmenten en els següents punts.  

- Mary Wollstoncraft (1759-1797), mare de Mary Shelley i una de les pioneres del moviment feminista modern (destaca la seua obra A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, 1792). Va ser ferma defensora d'un ordre social basat en la raó. Es va establir com a escriptora professional i independent a Londres, una cosa inusual per a l'època. 

- Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1743-1825), poetessa, assagista, crítica literària, editora i autora de literatura infantil. Va tindre gran influència en el moviment romàntic de l'època en promoure els valors de la Il·lustració i la sensibilitat. La seua poesia va contribuir al desenvolupament del Romanticisme britànic i la seua antologia de novel·les del segle XVIII va contribuir a establir el cànon literari actual.  

- Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855), escriptora de la qual es considera primera novel·la romàntica en llengua anglesa, Jane Eyre, que incorpora ja elements del gòtic.  

- Emily Brontë (1818-1848), la novel·la del qual Wuthering Heights (Cimeres Borrascoses), incorpora també elements del gòtic i s'ha consagrat com un dels clàssics de la literatura britànica.  

- Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1848), una de les grans novel·listes que van escriure sobre “la condició d'Anglaterra”, és a dir, sobre la societat i els problemes de la classe treballadora. Entre les seues novel·les, destaquen Mary Barton i North and South.  

- George Sand, pseudònim de Amantine Lucile Aurore de Dudevant (1804-1876), una de les escriptores més notables del Romanticisme  i immensament popular en la seua època.

 
 

Description

Models contextuals i gèneres discursius d'ús comú en la producció de textos escrits. 

Activitat de repàs dels temps verbals Past Simple i Past Continuous a partir d'un text sobre Mary Shelley i la seua obra Frankenstein.

L'activitat va precedida d'un qüestionari per a activar coneixements previs i introduir la figura de Mary Shelley i la seua novel·la Frankenstein.

Answer

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