Jamaica Inn – Introduction - Pictures

Jamaica Inn – Introduction – Discussion

Later in the lesson, you are going to listen to a radio drama called Jamaica Inn. The pictures are from the story.

Before you listen

Predicting

Look at the pictures with your partners and discuss the following questions.

  1. Which of the following kinds of story do you think Jamaica Inn might be?

romance ghost story adventure mystery crime sci-fi comedy

Give reasons for your opinion.

  1. Where and when do you think the story is set? What evidence is there in the pictures for your ideas?
  2. What do you think the title Jamaica Inn might mean?
  3. Do you think this is essentially a happy or a sad story?

Story-building

You are going to guess what happens in the story based on the pictures.

·  Decide who the characters are (the people in the pictures) and their relationship to each other.

·  Decide what happens and how the story ends.

·  Don’t write your story out in full.

·  Make short notes if you wish.

You are going to summarize your story idea to a student from another group later.

Jamaica Inn Part 1 – Listening

The story is set in rural England in 1820. Before you listen discuss these questions with your partner:

·  What do you think life was like 200 years ago (not only in England)?

·  What kind of jobs did people do?

·  What kind of places did they live in?

·  Was life easier or harder than today? In what ways?

·  What do you think people’s main worries, fears, hopes and joys were?

Vocabulary preparation

The following words are in the first part of the story. Match the words on the right with their meanings.

coach / pub where people can stay overnight
lashing / person who owns or manages a hotel or an inn
moor(land) / something that you makes you feel better about a difficult situation
respectable / word that describes rain falling very heavily, often with a lot of wind
landlord / large open area of land with very few trees or plants and very few buildings
inn / (here) strange, unusual
queer / acceptable to most people in a place
consolation / form of transport that is pulled by horses and was used in the past

Listening – Section 1

What information do we learn about Mary?

  1. Her age
  2. Her personality
  3. Her life up until now
  4. Where is she, what is she doing and why?
  5. Who is she with?

Listening – Section 2

What do we learn about the following people?

·  Mary’s mother

·  Patience

·  Joshua

Where do Patience and Joshua live?

What does Mary’s mother want Mary to do?

How does Mary feel about this and why?

Listening – Section 3

  1. What happened last Tuesday?
  2. Where is Mary now and what is she doing?
  3. Who is the letter from?
  4. What is the connection between Patience, Joss (Joshua), Bodmin and Jamaica Inn?
  5. What is the journey like?
  6. What is the countryside like?
  7. What is the weather like?
  1. Who does Mary talk to?
  2. What advice does he give her?
  3. Where are they at the end of the scene?
  4. What can Mary see?
  5. How does she feel?
  6. What is going to happen next?

Part 1 – Part 2 - Prediction

Work in groups of three or four and choose your roles: Mary, Patience and Joss.

If there are more than three of you, invent another plausible character.

Write the first minute of Scene 2 and be ready to act it out in around 15 minutes.

Answers – vocabulary
inn / pub where people can stay overnight
landlord / person who owns or manages a hotel or an inn
consolation / something that you makes you feel better about a difficult situation
lashing / word that describes rain falling very heavily, often with a lot of wind
moor(land) / large open area of land with very few trees or plants and very few buildings
queer / (here) strange, unusual
respectable / acceptable to most people in a place
coach / form of transport that is pulled by horses and was used in the past