Paper 2 Activity Pack - A Family Supper and Stones

We understand that Paper 2 is giving lots of teachers and students anxiety. Relax! We’ve
led many students to success in this key assessment, and we have the strategies and
activities that allow students to build knowledge and confidence with their chosen texts.

We have to remember that comparing, contrasting, and writing a sophisticated essay of

this nature requires extensive work from our students. They have to wrestle with big
ideas, authorial choices, and consider how these texts interact with one another. While
these sample activities link to Family Supper and Stones, they are easily modified for any
Paper 2 text. Be sure to check out the blank graphic organizers in the appendix…they are
ready to be deployed in your class immediately!

Activity 1: Working with Keywords or Phrases

We love this activity to help students think about the essence of a particular chapter from
a novel or scene from a play. It can also be applied to short stories or entire literary works.
The task is simple:

1. Review or skim a given page, chapter, short story, or novel.

2. Identify 5 keywords or phrases that you feel capture important themes or ideas.
3. List the ideas and write one sentence for each in your LP.
4. Share your list with your group and discuss your choices.
5. Add class ideas to the collaborative table.

5 Keywords or Phrases - A Family Supper

Keywords or phrase Reason for choice Academic sentence

“Proud of pure Shows the father’s pride in Japanese The narrator describes his father as
samurai blood” culture and heritage. being “proud of samurai blood” and
(narrator) readers infer his love and affection for
his traditional Japanese heritage and
culture.

“Theatrical puffs on Shows Kikuko’s rebellious nature and As Kikuko takes “theatrical puffs on her
her cigarette” fear of her father’s authority cigarette”, readers understand the
smoking as a rebellion against her
father.
 “Old woman in the Symbolizes traditional Japanese The “old woman in the white kimono”
white kimono” culture symbolizes traditional culture and how
it is being challenged in the face of
modernity in post-WWII Japan.

“darkness” The entire story is shrouded in The motif of darkness is pervasive

darkness, both literally and throughout the text, as Ishiguro uses
figuratively this concept to illustrate Western
influence infiltrating Japanese culture.

“There are other The key moment in dialogue where Through dialogue, Ishiguro illustrates
things besides work.” readers can infer that father the father believes Watanabe failed to
ultimately disagrees with Watanabe’s see “there are other things besides
decision and will not murder his kids work.”

5 Keywords - Stones

Keywords or phrase Reason for choice Academic sentence

Stones Most important symbol Readers can imply the stone represents
the permanence of death.

Flowers Symbol of life; occurs early in the Findlay juxtaposes the symbols of
story flowers and stones to show the clear
dichotomy between life and death that
is pervasive throughout the story.

“Inside he had been Clear characterization The narrator states his father “had been
destroyed” destroyed” to capture the mental
trauma endured during WWII and his
father’s inability to reintegrate into
society.

Curtain Barrier to light Findlay employs the curtain as a symbol

to illustrate the father’s inability to
escape his emotional trauma.

“Good riddance” Illustrates Cy and Rita’s rejection of While Ben is able to find peace when
their father reflecting on his father’s death, his
siblings declare “good riddance”, thus
illustrating how violence and alcoholism
destroyed can destroy relationships.

Activity 2: Gallery Walk with Quotations

This is another great activity to use as you teach a text. Using the previous night’s reading
or choosing a chapter or scene from the text, write 6–10 quotations and enlarge them.
Stick them on the walls and use the following protocol. This activity works best when each
quote contains some easily identifiable authorial choices such as figurative language,
specific word choice, or other elements of craft that are worth celebrating.

1. Form pairs or small groups.

2. Tour the gallery, spending approximately 2 minutes at each “exhibit.”
3. Read the quotation with your partner.
4. Identify the context and summarize what is happening in the quotation.
5. Discuss the author’s craft and pin the reference to a technique (or two)
6. Discuss the implications of this quotation.

Gallery Walk Quotes - A Family Supper

The poison resides in the sex glands of the fish, My father was a formidable-looking man with a
inside two fragile bags. Their bags must be large stony jaw and furious black eyebrows.
removed with caution when preparing the fish, for
any clumsiness will result in the poison leaking into
the veins.

The tearoom looked out over the garden. From
where I sat I could make out the ancient well that
as a child I had believed to be haunted. It was just
visible now through the thick foliage. The sun had
sunk low and much of the garden had fallen into
shadow.
After a while, the conversation had become even
sparser than prior to Kikuko’s arrival. Then my
father stood up, saying: “I must attend to the
supper. Please excuse me for being burdened by
such matters. Kikuko will look after you.”

Supper was waiting in a dimly lit room next to the
kitchen. The only source of light was a big lantern
that hung over the table, casting the rest of the
room in shadow. We bowed to each other before
starting the meal.
The three of us ate in silence. Several
minutes went by. My father lifted the lid and once
more steam rose up. We all reached forward and
helped ourselves.
“Here,” I said to my father, “you have the
last piece.”
“Thank you.”

My father lowered his eyes and nodded. For some “You think what he did…it was a mistake?”
moments he seemed deep in thought. “Watanabe “Why, of course. Do you see it otherwise?”
was very devoted to his work,” he said at last. “The “No, no. Of course not.”
 collapse of the firm was a great blow to him. I fear
it must have weakened his judgment.”
Gallery Walk “Exhibits” for Family Supper
Gallery Walk Quotes - Stones
We were all about to be pitched together into a
melting pot of violence from which a few of us
would emerge intact and the rest of us would
perish.
Time was like a field of clay and all the other
children I knew appeared to have cleared it in a
single bound while I was stuck in the mud and
barely able to lift my feet.
Then there was almost music and we rejoiced
because our mother had finally gained her
freedom from a life that had become intolerable.
But in Dieppe, when I shook my father's ashes out
of their envelope, there was no rejoicing. None.
In the end, the rest were blown to pieces when
their landing craft was shelled. In the meantime,
my father had recovered enough of his wits to
coral back over the end of the landing craft, strip
off his uniform and swim out to sea where he was
taken on board a British destroyed sitting
offshore.
Gallery Walk “Exhibits” for Stones
Activity 3: Studying Craft - Making Quotation-Feature-Effect Charts
“There are other things besides work,” my father
said.
“Yes.”
Our mother had been weeping before we entered
the room, but she had dried her eyes because she
never allowed us to witness her tears.
“I don’t have a civilian overcoat,” my father said.
“And don’t suggest that I put on my uniform
because I won’t. My uniform stinks of sweat and I
hate it.”
My father wore a dressing gown and haven’t
shaved. Mother said he couldn’t look her in the
eyes. She told him that she forgave him for what
he had done. But my father never forgave himself.
My mother said she never saw his eyes again.
The stones at Dieppe are mostly flint - and their
colors range from white through yellow to red.
The red stones look as if they have been washed in
blood and the sight of them takes your breath
away. I hunkered down about them, holding all
that remained of my father in my fist. He felt like a
powdered stone - pummelled and broken.
We love charts for having students think about and write about a text. One chart we
repeatedly use involves references, techniques, and the effect on the reader. This activity
helps students move beyond the academic conversations of the Gallery Walk and requires
they put their thinking into formal academic writing.

1. Write your quotation down.

2. List feature(s).
3. Explode the quotation and give context.
4. Use these sentence stems to help in your analysis.
5. Include WHAT is being said (content).
6. Include HOW the ideas are conveyed (authorial choices).
7. Highlight the response.

Quotation-Feature-Effect Chart - A Family Supper

Quotation/Reference Feature Effect and Impact on Reader

The poison resides in the
sex glands of the fish, inside
two fragile bags. Their bags
must be removed with
caution when preparing the
fish, for any clumsiness will
result in the poison leaking
into the veins.
Symbolism Ishiguro suggests that Japanese males play a powerful role
in the continuance of traditional Japanese culture. The
Metaphor “sex glands” that contain the “poison” are clear symbols
for male genitalia, and readers can infer that the poison
actually represents the Japanese culture itself. If males
handle their rich culture - the poison - with “clumsiness”,
then Japan as a nation will suffer. “The posion leaking into
the veins” metaphorically represents the overall
contamination of nation and culture if Japanese men are
unable to find a balance between traditional and modern
culture. In the end, Ishiguro places great emphasis on
males and their role, preserving and perpetuating
Japanese culture.

Quotation-Feature-Effect Chart - Stones

 Quotation/Reference
“I don’t have a civilian
overcoat,” my father said.
“And don’t suggest that I
put on my uniform because I
won’t. My uniform stinks of
sweat and I hate it.”
Feature Effect and Impact on Reader
Dialogue Findlay depicts the anger and agony the father
Imperatives experiences upon returning to Canada. Through the
imperative language in the dialogue, the father commands
Symbolism his wife, “don’t suggest that I put on my uniform because I
won’t.” This command and firm tone imply that, due to
Sibilance PTSD, he no longer is able to don his military uniform that
“stinks of sweat.” The sibilance of “s” echoes in the
Diction reader’s mind and creates a depressing mood, and we can
almost feel the power of the word “hate.” This diction is
carefully chosen by Findlay to allow the reader to
experience the hate for what the man was forced to do in
Dieppe. Thus, the reader feels empathy for the father’s
fragile mental state post-WWII.
Activity 4: Writing about craft - The Magic Sentence

We love the magic sentence and this can be a great way to be sure that students hit
Criteria B. If they have this sentence structure firmly planted in their brains, they will
automatically be talking about the author’s choices AND about how these choices shape
meaning and have implications. This activity is best if they concentrate on a particular
passage or chapter or scene and then find references first and then construct their magic
sentences.

The magic sentence shows that you understand the link between the techniques and the
writer’s ideas. You need to show that you understand the role of the writer. You will also
need to develop ideas and include specific examples. Magic sentences make a great start
to a strong paragraph. Authors DELIBERATELY choose techniques because they feel they
are the most effective way of teaching us about life/messages which go beyond the text.

This handout is particularly helpful for introducing students to powerful verbs that can be
used to embed evaluation into their analysis.

WRITER + VERB + TECHNIQUE + PURPOSE + IDEA = MAGIC SENTENCE

The Magic Sentence - A Family Supper and Stones

Writer Verb Technique Purpose Idea

Ishiguro employs symbolism to criticize the rapid

modernization
plaguing Japan
after WWII.

Ishiguro implements a metaphor to compare the relative

freedom of
Japanese men
compared to their
female
counterparts.

Findlay utilizes the setting to question the response of

the community to
the father’s PTSD.

Findlay uses dialogue to highlight the anger and guilt

of the father upon
returning to
Canada.
Activity 5: Fishbowl

Games can be a great way to review key symbols, characters, and ideas from a given text
but also bring in some fun competition. One of our staples is fishbowl. The concept is very
simple. Here are the directions:

1. Brainstorm a list of 20 words, symbols, and characters from your chosen

text/chapter/scene. Here is a sample list from Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing.
2. Print out the list, cut them up and make 5-6 sets of 20, and put them in envelopes.
3. Put students in teams of 4-5.
4. Tell them the rules:

● Round 1 (2 minutes): Describe the word

○ Take turns picking up a word and trying to get your group to guess
the word/phrase. Once they guess, put the word in a stack and
rotate. Get as many guesses as you can. Count your total and score.
Look at the remaining words.

● Round 2: (1:30) Charades.

○ Without saying anything, act out the words. Skip a word if you are
stuck. Remember, you all have seen the word.

● Round 3: (1 minute) ONE WORD

○ You can only say one word to elicit the word/phrase.

5. Play the game and keep score. Celebrate winners. This game never fails.
6. Extensions:
● Have them turn over the words and talk about them and their significance in
the text. See if they can talk about them in a deep or literary way.
● Have them group the works into categories and explain their categories.
● Have each student take ONE word from the pile and unpack it in writing in
their LP. They should try to locate the word in the text and think about the
author's craft.
Activity 6: Character Hot Seat

This is one of our favorites and always gets kids engaged and excited. In this activity,
students will assume the role of a character from the novel, play, or short story and sit in
front of the class in the “hot seat.” Classmates will then pepper the character with
questions to learn more about thoughts, feelings, motivations, and conflicts. This is a
great opportunity to evaluate student understanding of key themes of the text.

Instructions:

1. Break the class into smaller groups of 3 or 4.

2. Assign each group a section of the narrative (chapter, vignette, episode, act, scene).
3. Require groups to choose a character from their assigned section to sit on the hot
seat.
4. Remind students that the hot seat character should have plenty to say about the
given scene and is a key character in the narrative.
5. Ask students to write 5 “higher order thinking questions” for their section of the
narrative using Bloom’s Taxonomy Question Stems.
6. Select one person from each group and put them in the hot seat.
7. Begin each hot seat session with a brief summary of what happens in the given
section of the narrative.
8. Begin the activity by having the character’s “home group” ask their 5 questions.
9. Continue the activity by allowing other groups to ask further questions.
10. Complete the activity by discussing key insights, themes, and implications
regarding that particular section of the narrative.

Possible “episodes” for A Family Supper:

○ Son and the father in the car from the airport to the house.
○ Team room conversation between father, son, and Kikuko
○ Son and Kikuko walking in the garden
 ○ Father and son walking “room to room”
○ Dinner and the final conversation

Possible “episodes” for Stones:

○ Before the war in Rosedale
○ Father notifying children he will join the army
○ Mother trying to calm son prior to father going to war
○ Father’s return and parade
○ Overcoat scene and reintegration in Rosedale
○ Father’s PTSD and transformation
○ Dieppe flashback
○ Returning to Dieppe and closure