Pink Bow Tie

Introduction
‘Pink Bow Tie’ is different from all the previous BritLit kits! Until now the materials
produced have been aimed primarily at what, in Portugal, is called the secondary level in
education, which includes years 10 and 11 (for 16 and 17 year olds). This kit is aimed at
younger teens, and is the first in series for 13 and 14 year old learners who, in reference
to the Council of Europe Framework measures (CEF) equate more or less to A2.2 to
B1.1 (([Link]

The Project. The BritLit project was started in 2002 with the intention of providing
Portuguese teachers of English in the state sector additional resource material for the
extensive reading requirements. It is a joint venture between the British Council in
Portugal and APPI (Assoçiação Portuguesa de Professores de Îngles.) While aimed at
the Portuguese market, the usefulness of the project as an international model is
recognised and generic versions of the resources kits are being developed.

The Resource Kits. Like other BritLit kits this one is based on a story which is an
authentic piece of writing. Unlike other stories used by BritLit, this one was written for
younger teens. The resource kits provide a never-ending source of material for the
teacher inasmuch as teachers are asked to contribute their own experiences and ideas
to the project; we would like to see the materials mutate and mature with use. One of
the advantages of using an electronic form is that each section can easily be
personalised or changed in some other way to suit your needs or those of your students;
we would be interested to see examples of this approach. We very much welcome your
contributions.

This Kit. The materials presented here are for class work on ‘Pink Bow Tie’, by the
popular Australian writer Paul Jennings. Like other BritLit kits, it is intended for the
development of language development and cultural understanding rather than as a
source of literary study. There are four parts: Characterisation, Context, Word Work,
After Reading, plus a teachers key. As with all other BritLit productions, this is called a
‘kit’ to emphasise the fact that you, the teacher, are expected to assemble the
component parts yourself, using the parts you require in the order you prefer. This is
not, therefore, a course, simply a resource which can be picked over with some items
used and others discarded. For this reason, each worksheet or worksheets within a sub-
heading stand alone, and do not require work to have been done on any other
worksheet. It is intended that the order in which the work is done is largely up to the
teacher responding to the needs of their class. However, we would make the following
suggestions:

• Some of the worksheets have been designed with preparation for reading the
text in mind. In other words, the intention is that these worksheets are to be used
before the students read the text. The reason is simply that by quoting from the
text and dealing with language and content piecemeal in these sections, we
assume that this will help the student to a more fluent reading of the text, without
the need to break off and consult for meaning.

Introduction 1
 • We also advise that all the work in the section ‘Characterisation’ is done before
the students are asked to read the complete text. This section is designed to
‘fast-track’ students into an appreciation of the situation the characters in the
story find themselves in.
• The ‘Context’ section can be done either before or after the text has been read,
as can the work in ‘Word Work’, although we would recommend that this latter
section is tackled after the text has been read.
• As the title suggests, the section ‘After Reading’ is to be tackled once all the
other work has been completed. It attempts to ‘wrap up’ the work on the story,
and to look forward to alternative texts.
• Some worksheets provide links to sites that are relevant to the work being
presented and it is assumed that teachers will develop their own materials from
these links. Please note, however, that some material may be subject to
copyright restrictions, over which the BritLit Project has no control. Please help
us by reporting any broken or disused links.
• Copyright permission has been obtained where applicable. All BritLit material is
photocopiable.

We very much welcome your contribution to the project. Much of the material in the
current kit has been contributed by state school teachers working in collaboration with
the project team and we invite you to contribute your ideas and experience so that future
versions of this material will present an even wider choice of opportunities for students to
explore language and culture through literature.

The story ‘Pink Bow Tie’ concerns the trials and tribulations of fourteen year old, at a
new school, who finds himself in trouble with the Principal, an imposing figure who
sports a pink bow tie. In order to explain his otherwise unorthodox appearance, the boy
starts to tell an extraordinary and unbelievable story. As a result, he expects to be in
even more trouble. But then, something even more extraordinary happens.

Acknowledgements

This kit has been assembled by Fitch O’Connell, with much help and assistance from
Octávio Lima, Ana Maria Lomelino and Emília Davis.

BritLit steering group February 2005: Isabel Brites, Carmo Leitão, Fitch O’Connell, Mark
Howard

Porto
February 2005

Introduction 2
Contents
Section Worksheet Description
Characterisation The Boy Quotes from the story describing the narrator
The Principal Descriptions of Splodge, with picture matching
exercise.
People on the train Descriptions from text of people in carriage, plus
multiple picture matching activity.
Pre-reading activity Students answer questions to create a story;
raises anticipation of ‘real’ story
Guide to reading Some students may need to be guided carefully
through their reading activity. Only use this if they
need extra support as it may diminish the reading
achievement.
Context Ideal School Students have the opportunity to design and plan
their own, ideal school.
School rules and What’s fair and isn’t fair in the world of school
punishments rules. Students decide appropriate punishment for
misdemeanours.
Punishment Pelmanism Matching card game, where students get to match
the punishment and the crime
Are you old enough Short research project to complete a chart showing
comparison of legal ages in three countries
A train journey Language related to train journeys, plus story
telling exercise
Telling Lies Telling lies in three countries …. How do we
know? Reading based exercise
Honesty Pays Game based on ‘Scruples’ – students have to
challenge each other to tell the truth, or pay the
consequences!
Biography Reading activity about the author Paul Jennings
Word Work Questions Two ways of asking questions occur in the text and
are examined here
Past and Present at the Using the present perfect to link past and present
same time actions
Verbs with prepositions The text contains a lot of verbs and prepositions
which are explained in this section
Glossary Two glossaries are presented: one is English :
English and the other is English : Portuguese
After Reading A chance to recap the story by designing a dust
jacket for the book. Example used is another story
written for this age group, with suggestions on how
to further the reading experience
Key Answers and suggestions

Introduction 3