Solutions Third Edition

1 Literature Worksheet Teaching Notes

The Prince and the Pauper – Mark Twain
LESSON SUMMARY to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – was published in 1884.
Twain’s use of colloquial language and his satirical wit made
• Reading: extract from the chapter ‘Rags and Riches’
Huckleberry Finn an instant classic: ‘All modern American
• Listening: extract from the chapter ‘Coronation’
literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called
• Speaking: analysing and discussing the novel
Huckleberry Finn,’ Ernest Hemingway wrote in 1935.
• Writing: a diary entry
By the 1880s, Mark Twain was a famous author and a witty
• Literary feature: mood
and popular public speaker. He travelled around the world,
• Internet project: the Tudor royal family and life in Tudor
times to Sri Lanka, India, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and
South Africa giving lecture tours, partly to pay off debts. His
humorous sayings are still often quoted today.
WARM-UP EXERCISES
Mark Twain married Olivia Langdon in 1870, and they had four
• Explain that the word pauper is an old word which means
children. Tragically, only one of them lived longer than him.
poor person. Ask students to look at the illustrations of the
Mark Twain died of a heart attack in April 1910.
two babies on page 2. How are the two babies different?
(One is a prince and the other is a pauper. One has nice
clothes and the other is dressed in poor clothes.) MORE CULTURAL CONTEXT
• In The Prince and the Pauper, the son of the king of England Mark Twain was a master of using humour and satire to make
and a very poor boy switch places for a short time and powerful political points. Like the English author Charles
experience each other’s lives. Ask students to imagine that Dickens, he created a wide range of fictional characters who
they can switch places with another person for a week. Who reflected the society around them.
would they choose to switch places with, and why? The Prince and the Pauper was written just after the American
EXERCISE 1  BEFORE YOU READ Civil War and only sixteen years after the end of slavery in
Question 1: students read About the author on page 1. the USA, and it was a time of great social and racial injustice.
In The Prince and the Pauper Twain wrote an exciting, light-
Question 2: students read Cultural context on page 1.
hearted adventure story, but he filled this story with social
Question 3: students read Background to the story on page 2.
commentary. He contrasted the rich and luxurious lifestyle in
POSSIBLE ANSWERS the palace with the poverty and violence just outside its gates.
1 Mark Twain’s best-known stories are set on the Mississippi In this way he brought attention to the negative aspects of
River. both 16th-century English society and 19th-century American
society.
2 He wrote about slavery, racism and social injustice. He
There have been several film, TV and stage adaptations of The
described the difficulties of life for poor people.
Prince and the Pauper. The book’s main theme of switching
3 Tom’s family is unhappy about his birth because they are
identity has become a popular plot for many books, films and
very poor. Edward’s family, and all the people of London, are
TV shows.
very happy when Edward is born because he is the first son
of the king.
MORE BACKGROUND TO THE STORY
MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The Prince and the Pauper is set in the last year of King Henry
Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in 1835 in Florida,
VIII’s reign. Henry VIII was a popular king in the early years
Missouri, USA. When he was four, the family moved to
of his reign, but as he grew older, he became suspicious,
Hannibal, Missouri, where his famous books The Adventures
greedy and wasteful. He spent huge sums of money on his
of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are set. His
extravagant lifestyle, while his people suffered great poverty.
father died when he was eleven years old, and he left school
It is estimated that Henry VIII had over 70,000 people killed
and started working as a printer’s apprentice. When he was
during his reign, including two of his own wives!
21, he got a job as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River.
However, after the American Civil War began in 1861, civilian
traffic on the river was suspended. Clemens moved to Nevada SYNOPSIS
and tried to make his fortune looking for silver and gold. He
Tom Canty (the unwanted pauper son of John Canty) and
lost all his money, but he found work as a reporter for a local
Edward Tudor (the long-awaited son of King Henry VIII) are
newspaper in Virginia City. At this time, he adopted his pen
born on the same day in 1537. Nine years later, Tom is living in
name, Mark Twain – steamboat slang for 12 feet (3.6 metres)
poverty, but he dreams of meeting a prince. One day, he visits
of water.
the king’s Palace of Westminster. A soldier pushes him away
His first success as a writer came in 1865, when he published a
from the gates, but Edward Tudor sees this and feels sorry for
humorous short story in a New York weekly newspaper. Then,
Tom. He invites the boy into his room in the palace.
in 1876, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was published. This
Tom and Edward swap clothes, and they notice how similar
story of a young boy and his adventures along the Mississippi
they look. Still dressed in Tom’s rags, Edward goes outside
River was hugely popular. The Prince and the Pauper followed
to scold the soldier who hit Tom. Believing that Edward is a
in 1881, and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – a direct sequel
beggar, the soldiers throw him out of the palace and onto the

Solutions Third Edition Elementary Literature Worksheet 1 Teaching Notes PHOTOCOPIABLE © Oxford University Press­  1
 Solutions Third Edition

1 Literature Worksheet Teaching Notes

The Prince and the Pauper – Mark Twain

streets. Meanwhile, inside the palace, nobody believes Tom’s • The attitude of the narrator, or tone of the text, is another
claim that he is not Prince Edward. They think he is mad. way of creating mood. Is the narrator serious or light-
King Henry VIII later dies, and Tom learns that he is going to hearted, sad or happy? The reader will feel the same as the
become king. He announces that there will be ‘no more blood writer feels.
while I am King’. In the following few days, he shows kindness • The diction (choice of words) also affects the mood. For
and compassion, but also feels imprisoned and lonely in the example, by describing Tom as poor little Tom in this story,
palace. Edward hears the news of his father’s death, and he Twain immediately makes the reader feel sorry for and
feels sad. He meets Tom’s cruel father, John Canty, but later sympathetic towards Tom.
escapes from him. A kind soldier called Miles Hendon looks
after him, and Edward promises to make him a knight. Then POSSIBLE ANSWERS
he is tricked and captured by John Canty and a gang of thieves. 1 Students probably feel sad for Tom and sympathetic.
They try to make him work with them, but he refuses to steal Perhaps they are surprised that he is not unhappy.
or beg. 2 When he arrives at the palace, the mood becomes brighter,
Edward later escapes from the thieves and returns to London. happier and more exciting.
Finally it is the day of the coronation. Just as Tom is about to
EXERCISE 5
be crowned king of England, Edward appears. Tom is delighted
that the real Prince Edward has returned to claim the throne.
• Students ask and answer the questions in pairs. Monitor and
help where necessary.
Edward rewards Tom and Miles Hendon for their loyalty.
POSSIBLE ANSWERS
EXERCISE 2 1 Yes, it is. But perhaps this is because it’s the only life he has
• Students read the extract quickly for gist, then answer the known, and all his friends have similar lives. Also his mother,
question. sisters and Old Andrew are kind to him.
2 No. In the text we learn that all the fathers in Offal Court
POSSIBLE ANSWER were bad to their children and hit them.
Tom does not have an easy life. He is very poor and often 3 Tom’s mother, his sisters and Old Andrew are good
doesn’t have enough to eat. (However, he is not unhappy.) characters. His sisters are kind, his mother gives him bread
EXERCISE 3 and Old Andrew teaches him to read and write.
• Students read the extract again and decide if the statements 4 He can dream about the places he has read about and forget
are true or false. about his life of poverty.
5 Students’ own answers.
ANSWERS
1 T EXERCISE 6
2 F (Old Andrew teaches Tom how to read and write.) • Students read about the next part of the story and answer
3 T the question.
4 T POSSIBLE ANSWER
5 T He lives the life of a pauper and can’t become king.
6 T
EXERCISE 7    01
7 F (He sees a young boy in beautiful clothes.)
• Students listen to the next part of the story. They then
EXERCISE 4 answer the question.
• Students read about mood and answer the questions.
POSSIBLE ANSWER
• Make sure that students understand the concept of mood.
Yes, he is getting used to his new life. He is beginning to enjoy
Refer to the information below if necessary.
himself. He is asking for lots of new clothes and beginning to
• In a piece of literature, mood is how the writer makes
forget his family.
the reader feel. The writer can use a number of different
methods to affect the reader’s mood. EXERCISE 8    01
• The setting is the physical location of the story. A scene set • Students listen again and complete the sentences with the
in a dark, narrow street can make the mood very different correct character.
from a scene set in a bright, sunny field. In The Prince
and the Pauper, there is an obvious contrast between the ANSWERS
richness of the King’s court and the poverty of the streets 1 Tom
outside, and this affects the mood of the reader. 2 Edward
• The events in the story and the themes also help to create 3 Edward
mood. When Old Andrew helps Tom, we feel relieved and 4 Tom
happy. When Tom’s father hits him, we feel sad for him.
5 Tom’s mother
6 Tom

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 Solutions Third Edition

1 Literature Worksheet Teaching Notes

The Prince and the Pauper – Mark Twain

EXERCISE 9 Henry! He was still a kind king, and he changed many laws
• Students ask and answer the questions in pairs. Monitor and to help poor people, but when he was angry, his lords and
help where necessary. officers were very afraid.
At first, Tom felt very sorry for Edward, the real king. But his
POSSIBLE ANSWERS new life was exciting. He did not think about Edward very often
1 His new life is very comfortable and enjoyable. now, and he began to forget his family, too.
2 We learn that he is kind and has changed laws to help poor On the evening of the nineteenth of February, 1547, Tom fell
people. But we also learn that he scares people when he is asleep in his comfortable bed in the palace feeling happy. The
angry, and he has even more servants than King Henry. So next day was the day of the coronation.
in some ways he would be a good king, but in other ways he That same evening, Edward and Miles arrived at London
would be a bad king. Bridge. Everybody was talking about the coronation, and people
3 Edward thinks that Tom wants to become King. At this point were eating, drinking, and dancing in the streets. Edward lost
in the story, it seems that he is right because we learn that Miles in the crowds and walked on to Westminster Abbey.
Tom is beginning to forget his own family. There, he watched while workmen carried things in and out of
4 He is not expecting to see her, and he has begun to forget the building, making it ready for the next day.
his family. He is also probably scared to admit that he is ‘That beggar will not wear my crown,’ Edward thought.
pretending to be Edward. When no one was looking, he ran into the abbey and hid behind
5 Students’ own answers. some decorations. When the last workman left the abbey that
night, he was asleep on the floor in the corner.
EXERCISE 10
At seven the next morning, Tom rode a beautiful white horse
• Students write an entry in Prince Edward’s diary after he finds
through London to Westminster Abbey. Hertford was next to
out that Tom will become King of England.
him, and many lords and servants followed. The streets were
• Before they write, ask students to think about how to affect
full of people and colourful decorations. Music played, and
the mood of their writing, using setting, tone and diction.
people danced and sang. There were faces at every window, and
• Make sure students include all the points in the task.
crowds in every street.
• Allow class time or time at home for students to write the
diary entry. ‘Long live the king!’ they shouted.
• Monitor and help where necessary. One of the people in the crowd was Tom’s mother, and when
he saw her, in his surprise, his hands flew up in front of his eyes.
ANSWERS His mother saw it, and she pushed to the front of the crowd.
Students’ own answers. ‘My son, my child,’ she cried, touching his leg.
An officer pushed her away, and Tom looked down at her and
INTERNET PROJECT
said, ‘I don’t know you, woman.’
• Explain to students that Henry VIII and Prince Edward were
in a family of monarchs called the Tudor royal family.
• Ask students to research the Tudor monarchs online and to
make a timeline. They can type ‘Tudor monarchs’ or ‘Tudor
timeline’ into a search engine.
• Students can use portraits of the different monarchs to
illustrate their timeline, and they should include dates for
each monarch on the timeline.
• Ask students to find out about daily life in Tudor England.
Tell them to research the differences in lifestyle for the
rich and the poor. They can type ‘life for poor Tudors’, ‘life
for rich Tudors’ and ‘daily life in Tudor times’ into a search
engine.
• Students then tell the class about their research.

AUDIOSCRIPT
While England’s real king was going around the country wearing
rags, eating very little, and running away from thieves and
murderers, King Tom Canty was beginning to enjoy himself.
He did not make many mistakes now. When he wanted
to talk to Princess Elizabeth or Lady Jane Grey, he called for
them, and when he was bored, he sent them away. He loved
the royal banquets, and liked walking to dinner with an army
of officers and servants. He liked his wonderful clothes, and
asked for more – and he had more servants now than King

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