Claire

Lesson Plan of Short Story

-- H. H. Munro (Saki), The Open Window

Pre-reading activity

Task 1: Stimulate imagination

 Attach a picture of a window on the blackboard.
 Ask students to close their eyes, suppose it is now an October afternoon, and
imagine what they can see through the window.
 Ask a few students to share what they have seen through their minds’ eyes.
 Point out that everyone will have different appreciation toward one object, and that
is due to his or her mood at that moment as well as the past experiences.

Task 2: Understand the vocabulary

 Divide students into two groups. The first group has to find out the meanings of
vocabulary in Part A and the second group in Part B.
 Put students in pairs, one from the first group and the other from the second group.
They have to tell each other the meanings of new words they are assigned.

Part A Part B
annoy bog
tremble apologize
amuse conscious
hostess muddy
figure seize
run into extraordinary
graveyard nerve(s)

1
 Claire

While-reading

Task 3: Story-retelling
 Ask students to read the story to paragraph 2, page 51.
 Ask students to rewrite the story that they have read in their own words.
 Ask a few students to read out what they have written down.

Task 4: Impression about the characters

 Divide students into groups of five.
 Ask them to discuss their opinions about the characteristics of the three characters,
Framton Nuttle, Vera, and Mrs. Samppleton. They can also underline sentences
which help them form such impressions.
 After discussion, they have to use two or three sentences to describe these
characters respectively and write down the sentences on the board.
 The representative of each group explains to the class what they have written on
the board.

Task 5: Predict the plot

 Ask students to read the next four paragraphs.
 In the same group of five, students make their prediction about the following plot.
 Ask one or two groups to share their prediction.
 Ask students to finish reading the whole story and compare the ending with their
prediction.
 Ask students’ responses toward such an ending.

Task 6: Cultural notes and grammatical

feature
 Explain the culture-specific etiquette that can be found in the story, like:
 Letters of introduction (in paragraph 3)
 When to start a conversation with a stranger? (In paragraph 5: when she thought
that they had sat long enough in silence.)

2
 Claire

 Highlight the grammatical feature that is repeatedly used in the story

wonder + whether/ why/ who……

Task 7: Further discussion

In the same groups of five, students discuss the following questions
 Do your impressions of Framton Nuttle, Vera, and Mrs. Samppleton change after
you finish the reading?
 If you were Framton Nuttle, what would you feel about the open window?

Task 8: Comprehension check

Teacher reads the following statements. If the statement is true, students raise their
arms above the head. If the statement is false, students cross their arms.
 Framton Nuttle goes away into the country for his illness.
 Framton’s sister thinks he can recover through the help of loneliness.
 Framton knows a lot about Mrs. Sappleton before he comes to visit her.
 Mrs. Sappleton is Vera’s aunt.
 The window is kept open for Mrs. Sappleton’s husband and two brothers.
 Framton chats joyfully with Vera and Mrs. Sappleton.
 Mrs. Sappleton gives full attention to Framton during their talking.
 Sappleton’s husband and two brothers are ghosts.
 Vera is good at making up stories.

Post-reading

Task 9: Share experience

 Teacher tells the experience of being fooled one time at April Fool’s Day.
 Ask students in small groups to share their experience of being fooled or fooling
others.

Task 10: Journal writing

Suppose you were Vera, write about this event in your diary. The journal should be

3
 Claire

within 200 words. Turn it in tomorrow.

Source of this story:

British and American Short Stories (1993) Longman, simplified by G. C. Thornley,
p. 49-52.