Unit 5 • People and places
2.1 Formative years
Thisextractis from a magazineartic le takenfrom a serieswhere people write
aboutsomeone who hasbeeninfluential int heir life.Notice the writer'suse of
physicaldescription : how does this contributeto the descriptionof the new
headmaster' s personality? Notice, too,that the writer tells stories,which are
much more interest ingthangeneralizations.- Doe s thestoryremindyouofall}thingin yourlife?
- Ifnot ,howhas your experie nceofteachersbeendifferent?
- Apart fromteachers(and paren ts), who hashad the1I10stinfluenceon your life?
The New
Headmaster
I can remember my
firstsightofDrHughes;
itwasontheassembly
hallstage. Hesweptin
withhis big blackgownbehindhim.Thisguy
meantbusiness. Helookedatus all,staredat
us sile n tly forquiteafewminutes. Iremember
it clearly, t hat tightcrinklyhair, h o w itwas
com b e dstraightbackwith Brylcreern. He h ad
viciouseyebrows, acruel,tigh tmout h,asharp
nose, asthoughit h adbeenspeciallyformed
tomakea stingattheendofit ,andhewasso
darkthat healwayslookedill-sh ave n .I was
intimidatedbyh isveryappearance.
Oneeventin his firstweekputthe fearof
Godintous.Therewasa dirtypoemthathadbeencirculating, asthey d oinschoo ls,andhe
caughta girl with it. Her namewasAmanda
Evans.Thewholeschool was assembled, andhe
broughtheruponstage by herear,withthe
poemin his otb e r hand, andhe helditoutas if
itwascoveredin filth. Hehumiliatedthegirl in
frontofus ,turnedhe rround,showedus th is
creature. It was suc h a humiliating form of
punishment; andwewereall guilty,thatwasthe
worstthing. Ifwe'dall said we'dreadit ,wou ld
weall haveheenpunished'I wishI had dare d
standupin tha t hall.Thegirlwasexpelledand
herlifewastotallycrushedbythat.
Herantheschoolwithironauthorityofa
calibrethat was muchmorethan the average
c h ild c o uldtake.We lived in fearofthisman.2.2 Writing
Part 2 writingtasks
A A British magazine runs a regular feature called'Heroes and Villains'. Each
week,somecnew ritesabout eithera person they very much admire or, on the
contrary, a person they detest or despise.The people written about may be
either dead or alive,famous people or personalfriends of the writer, so long as
the writer can showwhyt hey areeither a 'hero' or a'villain'.
Your localEnglish-language magazine (or school magazine) hasdecidedto
ado ptthe same feature,and has invitedreaders to submit their articles of about
250 words.Writeyourarti cle.BYou'reon holi day,andin the pastfew days you'vemet two people, both of
whomhave made a strong impression on you - one positive, the other negative.
Writealetterto afriendof yours, telling aboutthesetw o people (about 250
words).Taskbank: Tasks 11 , 12, 19, 20, 2 1 and 2282 • Types of writi ng