3C - Into the Wild - Chapter 2

Chapter 2 -The Stampede Trail

Epigram:  graffito by Alexander Supertramp
(you can skip the text by Jack London)

This chapter is about the Stampede Trail.  Don't get bogged down in the details.  The most important thing is the description of the bus and how Chris McCandless' body was found.

JOURNAL EXERCISE:  Pretend you are one of the people who found Chris McCandless.  Write an entry in your diary (Tagebuch) describing how you felt when you found the body.

3C - Into the Wild - Chapter 1

Chapter 1 - The Alaska Interior

Read the epigram (postcard written by Chris McCandless) and answer this question in your journal:

JOURNAL ENTRY QUESTION:  Why is the epigram at the beginning of Chapter One important?

VOCABULARY:  Pick out at least one phrase (and it's meaning!) on each page that expands your English vocabulary.  Keep a list of 5-10 words (and their meanings!) that you learn from this chapter.

SUGGESTIONS:
to protrude - "A rifle protruded from the young man's backpack"
misfit - "dreamers and misfits"
exceedingly "His gear seemed exceedingly minimal"
to lurch - "the truck lurched over a bridge"
foolhardy - "the hitchhiker's scheme was foolhardy"
gung ho - "He was determined. Real gung ho"
to insist - "Alex insisted on giving Gallien his watch"

PHRASES
 to fish for something (information) - "fishing for a last name"
to reject the bait - "rejecting the bait"
no picnic "Livin' in the bush isn't no picnic"
to be up to - "Gallien asked if his parents or a friend knew what he was up to"
to deal with - "I won't run into anything I can't deal with on my own"

DON'T WORRY ABOUT
muskeg (it's a plant)

3C - Reading Journal/Portfolio - Into the Wild

READING JOURNAL/PORTFOLIO – INTO THE WILD

• For points (to be determined, but at least 30) – Due Thursday,  June 18 at the latest!
•  Buy yourself an A5 Heft.  Write your thoughts and exercises in the Heft to turn in.
• Do the work yourself.  Don’t rely on the Internet or your friends to do the work for you.11

It stands to reason that the more you read (and listen to!) English, the better your texts will be. Why? Because you are constantly improving your vocabulary, sentence structure, story structure and reading comprehension.

We have chosen the book, Into the Wild, because the story of Chris McCandless is interesting. To begin with, how could an intelligent guy end up dying of starvation/poisoning? In addition, his life philosophy (giving away all his money, living off the grid, pitting himself against the elements) has been an inspiration to millions. Many have aspired to live like “Alexander Supertramp,“ although perhaps not to such an extreme.

To get the most out of the book, you should heed the following guidelines:

• Find a quiet place for a few minutes a day to read the book (15-30 recommended). No distractions! No cell phones, music, television, etc. Unplug and go Into the Wild with Chris McCandless!
• The epigrams at the beginning of each chapter are not so important (unless it is a letter/postcard from Chris McCandless). You can skip them.
• The chapters are quite short, so you can do different exercises for each of them. 
• Resist the urge to look up every word you don’t know (try to figure out the meaning from context ) BUT you should try to improve your vocabulary. For every page, you should write at least one phrase (and its meaning!) in your reading journal. You may also keep a list of words that occur more than once, or are really important. 
•  See the blog for more hints and tips! Ennsvalleyenglish.blogspot.com

Some of the exercises you can do:

• Keep a running list of phrases and vocabulary
• Write a summary of each chapter.
• Respond to the chapter: did anything make you think? 
• Pretend you are Chris McCandless, and write a postcard to one of his friends based on the chapter. 
• Keep a list of quotes that inspire you
• See the blog for more suggestions: 

Tasks to sum up the book:

• Write a review about the book for a school newspaper
• Write about Chris McCandless’ life philosophy, using examples from the book.
• What do you think would have happened if Chris McCandless had lived?
• Pretend you are Chris McCandless in his last days, and write a letter to his parents
• Would you like to go on a journey like Chris McCandless? What would you do differently?
• See blog for other tasks:  ennsvalleyenglish.blogspot.com

New Research by Jon Krakauer into Chris McCandless' death

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2015/05/01/403535274/into-the-wild-author-tries-science-to-solve-toxic-seed-mystery

3C - Homework Options for April 16

READING JOURNAL - PFLICHT

Begin reading "Into the Wild" (do the pre-reading exercise first!)  Sandrock will post questions to guide your Reading Journal and will update you via WhatsApp!

There are other exercises you can do to earn points for English class.  Here are some options:

1)      Answer questions about “Black Boy,” or “The Outsiders” (to be posted by Sandrock to the blog this weekend).  In your words, no points for Abschreiben!

2) In your textbook, p. 98-99.  Read the text “Born to Ride.” Then, using the mindmap on p. 99, write a summary of the article. 

3)  Read over p. 102 (grammar review:  indirect questions, indirect orders/advice/requests) and do exercises 1 or 2 on page 103 (you may do both exercises for extra points). Write out the answers on a separate piece of paper to turn in.

No points for Abschreiben, copying from your classmate, from the Internet, from the text or for using Google Translate to produce a text! 

3C - Into the Wild Pre-Reading

Start by watching this short video:

Then read the original article from Outside Magazine by Jon Krakauer:
http://chsenglishap3.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/5/2/13523052/death_of_an_innocent-original_outside_magazine_article.pdf

 Here's a link to the original magazine article with pictures (unfortunately a page or two is missing!)
http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/Death-of-an-Innocent.html

You will have time to do this exercise in class on Thursday, March 12.  Don't copy the language from the text; formulate your own answers.

1) "Immediately Gallien began to wonder if he'd picked up one of those crackpots from the lower 48 who come north to live out their ill-considered Jack London fantasies."

a)  What is a 'crackpot'?
b)  What are 'the lower 48'?
c)  Who was Jack London?

2) What made Gallien think that 'Alex' was ill-prepared for a journey into the bush?

3) Krakauer says people thought McCandless intended to commit suicide, "But I for one am not so sure."  What personal reason does Krakauer give for this statement?

4)  What are the two "seemingly insignificant blunders (mistakes)" Chris McCandless made that contributed to his death?

5) Write a short character sketch of Chris McCandless.  What was he like?  Formulate your own text (don't copy from the article or from the internet), and write at least FIVE sentences using descriptive adjectives (e.g. "Chris McCandless was single-minded - he wanted to go to into the Alaskan wilderness alone and no one could talk him out of it.")

Keep tuned to the blog for Reading Journal assignments!  You will have assignments to turn in at our next meeting April 16. Don't drop the ball!

10C - Into the Wild - Post #1

Start by watching this short video:

Then read the original article from Outside Magazine by Jon Krakauer:
http://chsenglishap3.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/5/2/13523052/death_of_an_innocent-original_outside_magazine_article.pdf

 Here's a link to the original magazine article with pictures (unfortunately a page or two is missing!)
http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/Death-of-an-Innocent.html


Answer these questions before we meet on Thursday, March 12.  Don't copy the language from the text; formulate your own answers.

1) "Immediately Gallien began to wonder if he'd picked up one of those crackpots from the lower 48 who come north to live out their ill-considered Jack London fantasies."

a)  What is a 'crackpot'?
b)  What are 'the lower 48'?
c)  Who was Jack London?

2) What made Gallien think that 'Alex' was ill-prepared for a journey into the bush?

3) Krakauer says people thought McCandless intended to commit suicide, "But I for one am not so sure."  What personal reason does Krakauer give for this statement?

4)  What are the two "seemingly insignificant blunders (mistakes)" Chris McCandless made that contributed to his death?

5) Write a short character sketch of Chris McCandless.  What was he like?  Formulate your own text (don't copy from the article or from the internet), and write at least FIVE sentences using descriptive adjectives (e.g. "Chris McCandless was single-minded - he wanted to go to into the Alaskan wilderness alone and no one could talk him out of it.")