Unit 8 Co-operation
Let’s talk What do you do when someone does or says something you don’t like?
Co-operation “Hey!” hissed Carl, angrily. “Give me back the atlas!” “No!” snapped Stefan, holding the atlas out of Carl’s reach. “I need it now.” He was trying to keep his voice down so that Mrs. Lewis wouldn’t hear him. Mrs. Lewis had asked the class to work in pairs and to share one atlas between two. Just at that moment, she looked up and saw Carl pushing Stefan. The atlas crashed to the floor. “Stop that now!” she ordered. The rest of the class had stopped working. Everyone was staring at this new form of entertainment as the two boys rattled out their excuses. “Stefan started it. He grabbed the book...”
“Carl wouldn’t let me see the map...” “He wasn’t working. He was talking...”
Calmly, Mrs. Lewis raised her hand for silence. “I don’t want to hear any more,” she announced. “I’ve had enough of your fighting. If you don’t stop it, you will both get detention. I want you to CO-OPERATE. Do you know what the word means?” Carl muttered, “Yes, Mrs. Lewis. It means ‘work together’.” “Correct!” the teacher said. “I want you two to spend the weekend working together. I want you to prepare a presentation called ‘Why We Should Co-operate’ and present it to the class on Monday.” Stefan’s face fell but he nodded, “Yes, Miss.” The two boys made a semblance of working till the bell rang for recess but, as soon as they were in the schoolyard, the argument broke out again. “You think you’re clever but all you do is draw silly pictures,” scoffed Stefan. Carl rebuffed him with, “That’s better than shouting my mouth off like you.” Tara came between them. “Stop it, you two. You heard what Mrs. Lewis said. You’ve got to co-operate.” Stefan protested, “I can’t work with him.” “Well, because of your silly behaviour you’ve got to spend the weekend together,” laughed Tara. “So you might as well try to enjoy it.”
Cause and effect
What is the problem? What do you think will happen next?
• Pause at the end of this page and ask students to recap what has happened to Luke in the narrative so far. • Ask them to use context clues to work out the meaning of ‘ made a semblance of’ .
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