TRUE! --nervous --very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses --not destroyed --not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily --how calmly I can tell you the whole story.

It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture --a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees --very gradually --I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.

Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded --with what caution --with what foresight --with what dissimulation I went to work! I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him. And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door and opened it --oh so gently! And then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern, all closed, closed, that no light shone out, and then I thrust in my head. Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in! I moved it slowly --very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man's sleep. It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed. Ha! would a madman have been so wise as this, And then, when my head was well in the room, I undid the lantern cautiously-oh, so cautiously --cautiously (for the hinges creaked) --I undid it just so much that a single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye. And this I did for seven long nights --every night just at midnight --but I found the eye always closed; and so it was impossible to do the work; for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his Evil Eye. And every morning, when the day broke, I went boldly into the chamber, and spoke courageously to him, calling him by name in a hearty tone, and inquiring how he has passed the night. So you see he would have been a very profound old man, indeed, to suspect that every night, just at twelve, I looked in upon him while he slept.

Upon the eighth night I was more than usually cautious in opening the door. A watch's minute hand moves more quickly than did mine. Never before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers --of my sagacity. I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph. To think that there I was, opening the door, little by little, and he not even to dream of my secret deeds or thoughts. I fairly chuckled at the idea; and perhaps he heard me; for he moved on the bed suddenly, as if startled. Now you may think that I drew back --but no. His room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness, (for the shutters were close fastened, through fear of robbers,) and so I knew that he could not see the opening of the door, and I kept pushing it on steadily, steadily.

I had my head in, and was about to open the lantern, when my thumb slipped upon the tin fastening, and the old man sprang up in bed, crying out --"Who's there?"

I kept quite still and said nothing. For a whole hour I did not move a muscle, and in the meantime I did not hear him lie down. He was still sitting up in the bed listening; --just as I have done, night after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall.

Presently I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was the groan of mortal terror. It was not a groan of pain or of grief --oh, no! --it was the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe. I knew the sound well. Many a night, just at midnight, when all the world slept, it has welled up from my own bosom, deepening, with its dreadful echo, the terrors that distracted me. I say I knew it well. I knew what the old man felt, and pitied him, although I chuckled at heart. I knew that he had been lying awake ever since the first slight noise, when he had turned in the bed. His fears had been ever since growing upon him. He had been trying to fancy them causeless, but could not. He had been saying to himself --"It is nothing but the wind in the chimney --it is only a mouse crossing the floor," or "It is merely a cricket which has made a single chirp." Yes, he had been trying to comfort himself with these suppositions: but he had found all in vain. All in vain; because Death, in approaching him had stalked with his black shadow before him, and enveloped the victim. And it was the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel --although he neither saw nor heard --to feel the presence of my head within the room.

When I had waited a long time, very patiently, without hearing him lie down, I resolved to open a little --a very, very little crevice in the lantern. So I opened it --you cannot imagine how stealthily, stealthily --until, at length a simple dim ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from out the crevice and fell full upon the vulture eye.

It was open --wide, wide open --and I grew furious as I gazed upon it. I saw it with perfect distinctness --all a dull blue, with a hideous veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones; but I could see nothing else of the old man's face or person: for I had directed the ray as if by instinct, precisely upon the damned spot.

And have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but over-acuteness of the sense? --now, I say, there came to my ears a low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I knew that sound well, too. It was the beating of the old man's heart. It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.

But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon the eve. Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant. The old man's terror must have been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every moment! --do you mark me well I have told you that I am nervous: so I am. And now at the dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of that old house, so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror. Yet, for some minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst. And now a new anxiety seized me --the sound would be heard by a neighbour! The old man's hour had come! With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room. He shrieked once --once only. In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I then smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done. But, for many minutes, the heart beat on with a muffled sound. This, however, did not vex me; it would not be heard through the wall. At length it ceased. The old man was dead. I removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he was stone, stone dead. I placed my hand upon the heart and held it there many minutes. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead. His eve would trouble me no more.

21/05

End of the story :

If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body. The night waned, and I worked hastily, but in silence. First of all I dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and the legs.

I then took up three planks from the flooring of the chamber, and deposited all between the scantlings. I then replaced the boards so cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye --not even his --could have detected any thing wrong. There was nothing to wash out --no stain of any kind --no blood-spot whatever. I had been too wary for that. A tub had caught all --ha! ha!

When I had made an end of these labors, it was four o'clock --still dark as midnight. As the bell sounded the hour, there came a knocking at the street door. I went down to open it with a light heart, --for what had I now to fear? There entered three men, who introduced themselves, with perfect suavity, as officers of the police. A shriek had been heard by a neighbour during the night; suspicion of foul play had been aroused; information had been lodged at the police office, and they (the officers) had been deputed to search the premises.

I smiled, --for what had I to fear? I bade the gentlemen welcome. The shriek, I said, was my own in a dream. The old man, I mentioned, was absent in the country. I took my visitors all over the house. I bade them search --search well. I led them, at length, to his chamber. I showed them his treasures, secure, undisturbed. In the enthusiasm of my confidence, I brought chairs into the room, and desired them here to rest from their fatigues, while I myself, in the wild audacity of my perfect triumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which reposed the corpse of the victim.

The officers were satisfied. My manner had convinced them. I was singularly at ease. They sat, and while I answered cheerily, they chatted of familiar things. But, ere long, I felt myself getting pale and wished them gone. My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears: but still they sat and still chatted. The ringing became more distinct: --It continued and became more distinct: I talked more freely to get rid of the feeling: but it continued and gained definiteness --until, at length, I found that the noise was not within my ears.

No doubt I now grew very pale; --but I talked more fluently, and with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased --and what could I do? It was a low, dull, quick sound --much such a sound as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I gasped for breath --and yet the officers heard it not. I talked more quickly --more vehemently; but the noise steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and with violent gesticulations; but the noise steadily increased. Why would they not be gone? I paced the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the observations of the men --but the noise steadily increased. Oh God! what could I do? I foamed --I raved --I swore! I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder --louder --louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it possible they heard not? Almighty God! --no, no! They heard! --they suspected! --they knew! --they were making a mockery of my horror!-this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! and now --again! --hark! louder! louder! louder! louder!

"Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! --tear up the planks! here, here! --It is the beating of his hideous heart!"

02/04

Under influence

Video study : Doll Face

About the idea of INFLUENCE

Brainstorming about the media

the media : define the word

09/04

Defining the word media as a source of information as well as entertainment : main means of mass communication (broadcasting, publishing and the internet).

Video study : the influence / power of the media on girls / women

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEbULFMhvFA

 11/04

A Media Star - page 76

about the business of entertainment

Text about Bill Bryson's experience of media training and publicity tours, how superficial and inauthentic they are.

Production about the introductory document:

The cartoonist uses the cartoon as a media to criticize the way mainstream media informs the population. They don't actually inform, rather they are doing entertainment, but disguized as information. Real information is viewed as boring and is rejected.

30/04

Citizen Kane - page 77

People involved in running a newspaper

- reporter / investigater - close to the terrain...out there reporting and investigating

- writer / columnist - office work based on reporter's findings... writing and analyzing

- editor - makes choices which set the tone for the newspaper / responsible for the paper's policy and values

In the extract :

PART 1

2 characters : Mr Carter (old fashioned press - indignant - rigid - flabbergasted - resisting changes) & Mr Kane (modern press - moving in / taking over / new editor / relaxed)

PART 2

mise en commun en fin d'heure

02/05

Brainstorming : dystopia + examples

An imagined state or society in which there is great suffering or injustice, typically one that is totalitarian or post-apocalyptic.

A dystopia often uses existing trends in a society and develops them to an extreme to warn readers against the consequences of those trends.

"1984" by George Orwell,

"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley,

"The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

"The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood

among series :

"Black Mirror" and "West World"

Through dystopia, authors express their concerns about issues of humanity and society, and warn the people about their weaknesses. Authors use dystopia as a literary technique to discuss reality, and depict issues that might happen in the future. Thus, the role of dystopia in literary works is to educate and give awareness

07/05

text page 119 and introductory document page 118 ( sets the tone / oppression / absence of freedom / people are being restricted in their movements /presence of vultures in the sky : carrion birds that feed on corpses which suggests there is death around... a bad omen)

Elements to identify in the text :

PART 1

who / where (environment) / what / general tone and atmosphere

A dreary environment which appears lifeless. There are no animals, no birds, no people except for the police patrol. It is what the main character Winston is seeing outside his window and it isn't very inviting.

About "Big Brother" who appears on the posters, we don't know who "he" is : an individual? a group? an entity? At any rate, we know that he represents totalitarian power.

PART 2 :

an oppressive atmosphere - people living in constant fear : in survival mode

Their lives are monitored all the time :

- a telescreen records all their activity.  This data is the analyzed and it can lead to arrests.

- the thought police makes sure people conform to the rules of living, behaving and thinking that have been set by the regime.

• Study of the force-feeding scene in the movie "Iron-jawed Angels".

Description of events ( women in jail / arrested because they are suffragettes / hunger strike... solidarity / to stand by someone / to stick together)  

Talking about emotional reactions  (I'm horrified / disgusted / shocked... admirative of these women)

• Comprehension of background song :

I was standing by my window,
On one cold and cloudy day
When I saw that hearse come rolling
For to carry my mother away

CHORUS :

Will the circle be unbroken
By and by, Lord, by and by
There's a better home a-waiting
In the sky, Lord, in the sky

I said to that undertaker
Undertaker please drive slow
For this lady you are carrying
Lord, I hate to see here go

CHORUS

Oh, I followed close behind her
Tried to hold up and be brave
But I could not hide my sorrow
When they laid her in the grave

CHORUS

07/03

Women in jail :

Alice Hawkins prison notes (audio)

http://www.alicesuffragette.co.uk/audio.php#prisonnotes

12/03

To my surprise, it was harder facing Maude than Richard.
Richard' s response was predictable -- a rage he contained in front of the police but unleashed in the cab home. He shouted about the family name, about the disgrace to his mother, about the uselessness of the cause. All of this I had known to expect, from hearing of the reactions of other women' s husbands. Indeed, I have been lucky to go this long without Richard complaining. He has thought my activities with the WSPU a harmless hobby, to be dabbled in between tea parties. It is only now he truly understands that I too am a suffragette.
One thing he said in the cab did surprise me. 'What about your daughter?' he shouted. 'Now that she's firmly on the road to womanhood, she needs a better example than you are setting.'
I frowned -- the phrase he used was so awkward it must be masking something. 'What do you mean?'
Richard stared at me, both incredulous and embarrassed.
She hasn't told you?'

'Told me what?'
That she's begun her . . . her . . .' He waved his hand vaguely at my skirt.

'She has?' I cried. 'When?'
'Months ago.'
'How can you know when I don't?'
'I was with her at the time, that's why! And a humiliating moment it was, for both of us. She had to go to Jenny in the end - you weren't home. I should have guessed then how deeply you were into this ridiculous nonsense.'
Richard could have said more, but must have sensed he didn't need to. I was remembering when my own courses began - how I had run to my mother, crying, and how she had comforted me.
We were silent the rest of the way back. When we got home I took a candle from the hall table and went directly up to Maude's room. I sat on her bed and looked at her in the dim light, wondering what other secrets she was keeping from me, and how to tell her what I must tell her.
She opened her eyes and sat up before I had said anything. 'What is it, Mummy?' she asked so clearly that I am not sure she had been asleep.
It was best to be honest and direct. 'Do you know where I was today while you were at school?'
'At the WSPU headquarters?'
'I was at Caxton Hall for the Women' s Parliament. But then I went to Parliament Square with some others to try to get into the House of Commons.'

'And - did you?'
'No. I was arrested. I've just come back from Cannon Row Police Station with your father. Who is furious, of course.
'But why were you arrested? What did you do?'
'I didn't do anything. We were simply pushing through the crowd when policemen grabbed us and threw us to the ground. When we got up, they threw us down again and again. The bruises on my shoulders and ribs are quite spectacular. We've all got them.'
I did not add that many of those bruises came from the ride in the Black Maria - how the driver took corners so sharply I was thrown about, or how the cubicles in the van were so small that I felt I had been shut in a coffin standing up, or how it smelled of urine, which I was sure the police had done themselves to punish us further.
'Was Caroline Black arrested too?' Maude asked.
'No. She had fallen back to speak to someone she knew, and by the time she caught up the police had already got us. She was terribly upset not to be taken. She even came down to Cannon Row on her own and sat with us.'
Maude was silent. I wanted to ask her about what Richard had told me in the cab ride home, but found I couldn't. It was easier to talk about what had happened to me.
'I'll be in court early tomorrow,' I continued. 'They may send me straight to Holloway. I wanted to say goodbye now.'
'But - how long would you be in - in prison?'
'I don't know. Possibly up to three months.'

Falling Angels, Tracy Chevalier

• Identification of the narrator, the characters, places and references to time.
• Description of the situation
• Focus on relationships (father / mother - mother / daughter)

 19/03

Writing a personal letter

https://www.wikihow.com/Sample/Friendly-Missing-You-Letter

21/03

Entraînement à l'écriture d'une lettre.

Sujet :

A week after her mother has been taken to Holloway, Maud writes her a letter.

Example of production:

Dear mother,

I hope your days are not too dull and lonely and that you are well. I wonder what you do in jail all day...

I look forward to seeing you again. I'm proud that you are a Suffragette and that you are fighting for women's rights and although you can't be here for me now, I understand that it is a just cause worth fighting for.  I just think it is unfair that they arrested you for demonstrating.

Don't worry about me.  Father is there for me and I go to school everyday and take each day as it comes.

I got really worried about you yesterday when we read an article about force-feeding in the newspaper. I do hope they don't do this to you.

I really look forward to spending time with you again and hope I will be able to visit you at the prison.  At least I hope you will be able to write back.

Father was angry when you left and he really doesn't believe in the cause but I can see he misses you too.

My dearest mother, please write back soon if you can,

With all my love and affection,

Your loving daughter,

Maud

1. Introduction :

This document shows a series of pictures and posters which all show the women’s struggle for suffrage /  the right to vote

The soundtrack is a famous 1911 union song called “Bread and Roses” ( bread for food  / money to buy food & roses for respect)

Notes  :

-1913  USA before the first world war

-Women tortured in prison?

Amendment

-Men’s support needed

-Archive documents

-Demonstrations

-A march

-arrest, to be arrested

-jail = prison

-campaign (VB & noun)

-president WILSON

-England too , hostile reactions

-suffragettes

14/02

Research about the following women.

You need to find out about :

• dates of birth & death

• places of birth / countries of origin

• family background / studies
  

• activities / achievements (famous for ?)

Lucy Burns    /    Alice Paul   /   Emmeline Pankhurst

Discovering the situation which will be the basis of your final task debate :

Assessment : distribution of role play cards for the debate.

Evolution versus creation

 Notions du programme traitées :

l'idée de progrès - mythes et héros

brainstorming :

Dominante:

Interaction orale : debating

Discover the theory of evolution...

Write a paragraph presenting the document.

January 8th:

It is a humoristic document. It is not necessarily scientifically accurate. The movie begins with a cell. It divides and multiplies to evolve. It becomes a more complex organism. It crawls out of the water. It evolves again, until it becomes an amphibian, a dinosaur, a rodent, a monkey before finally turning into Homer Simson!

 January 10th:

- recap

- A short documentary

subject matter : evolution

variation + inheritance + selection + time = design

genome : unique pattern of information

a living book

it contains genes which are lines of code written within molecules / DNA (CTAG)

2 long curved spaces : the double helix

James Watson + Francis Crib won the Nobel Prize for its discovery in 1953

Charles Darwin and Alfred R. Wallace theorised on natural selection which is a shortcut for the many mechanisms involved in evolution.

The idea that only the fittest survive and that nature is based on competition has led to misinterpretations. We are now realizing that cooperation is a process which is just as important in nature.

More about DNA : https://www.livescience.com/37247-dna.html

January 15th :

http://ekladata.com/rXJu27_lIoYMB7sPrVRmp482rpg.jpg

http://armorinsecondes.eklablog.com/dogbert-16-11-12-20-11-12-a3169991

 In this humouristic cartoon, two characters have opposing viewpoints (= opinions) about the theory of evolution. They argue but neither of them is really convincing. They are not giving good arguments and are not listening to eachother. Their posture is judgemental and disrespectful.

The video itself criticizes the dishonesty of some scientists (through the archeologist) which eliminate things that bother them in their research in order to reach the conclusions they were aiming for.

In research , trial and error is really scientifically honest. A double blind study with a placebo also to test the effect / efficiency / adverse effects of a product...

January 17th:

Study of the opening statement to a debate

 January 22nd:

Entraînement : making an opening statement.

January 24th:

agreeing and disagreeing / inviting someone to think or express an opinion...

 February 5th:

Vidéo de préparation à la tâche finale (idées / questionnements / contexte scolaire)

Situation : school board meeting

 Lien avec des pistes de réflexion pour le débat:

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/biosciences/outreach/teaching-resources/evolution/evolution-creationist-arguments.aspx

09/10

Sequence on African Americans

Introduction with picture page 88 :

archive document: an illustration of segregation in the US

https://www.fondationlouisvuitton.fr/en/exhibitions/exhibition/jean-michel-basquiat.html

documents page 89

Jim Crow by Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jim Crow is a drawing by Jean-Michel Basquiat.  It's meant to look like a creepy version of a child's drawing and it criticizes the Jim Crow laws.

Jim Crow is the name given to the laws and regulations which organized segregation in the southern states.  For instance, colored people were segregated in public places, transport and schools.

The names of the rivers evoke the path that slaves took from the north (NY's Hudson) to the southern states or the route that slaves might have wanted to take to reach the non segregated states of the north.

 11/10

Merry-go-round by Langston Hughes

This poem by Afro-American writer Langston Hughes aims at pointing out the absurdity of the segregation laws called "Jim Crow laws".  In this poem, a young child from the south is visiting the north.  He is standing in front of a merry-go-round and is very confused because he doesn't know where the "Jim Crow section" is.  This shows the deep conditionning African-Americans were submitted to in the southern states.

Brown vs Board of Education - document page 89

Basic knowledge about the Supreme Court and its mission.

Details about the case :

When Linda brown was told she couldn't attend the school closest to her home because she was coloured, her father decided it was too unfair to keep quiet.  He sued the Board of Education and the case was appealed to the Supreme Court.  Thanks to this, segregation was abolished in schools as of 1954.

Homework : préparer le recap (poème de Langston Hughes + Supreme Court + Brown Vs Board of Education)

15/10

Sit-ins - documents page 90 :

This document portrays a group of 3 activists sitting in a segregated bar and being bullied and humiliated by the white people around them.

They do not react because they have chosen a passive and peaceful mode of action to protest against segregation / to show their disapproval of segregation / to fight for equality.

Compréhension écrite du texte :

-   derogatory word which was used at the time : negroes

- prononciation de non-violent, racial, racially, south, southern

-  Where? When? Who? What?

Homework : répondre aux questions sur le texte et préparer une prise de parole en continu pour expliquer ce que vous avez compris.

Commencer avec 'this article deals with...'

16/10

Recap :

 Oral Comprehension :

Speech by Martin Luther King - Unfilfilled Dreams - March 1968

The unfulfilled dreams mentioned here are probably a world without war and without discrimination.

Martin Luther King delivered this speech in a church in Atlanta, Georgia.

He most likely had an audience of both white and black church-goers.

Mindmap made from notes :

  Script de l’enregistrement (CD 1, piste 32)

Phonetic symbols :

http://ekladata.com/rsGfp_CIXeXoRWC4U76Fp1L5j5k.jpg

05/11

recap

oral comprehension : Malcolm X's speech

Script de l’enregistrement (CD1, Piste 33)

 06/11

 Recap / comparision between the two speeches :

We noticed that Malcolm X's speech is way more aggressive than Martin Luther King's. Indeed, while Martin dreams of a utopia by fighting to build a temple of peace in the US, Malcolm blames Americans and says Afro-Americans will never be considered as real Americans but they should fight to get the same rights and freedom as them. Unlike Martin Luther King , he doesn't think black and white people will one day be able to live together, that's why he believes and fights for the "separate but equal" concept. Another difference is that MLK says that people should keep the faith, protest and speak out peacefully whereas at this point Malcom X supports violent actions if required.

 Introduction page 92 : the Freedom Riders

08/11

recap

Parenthèse : mid-term elections

Elections in the US (presidential elections /House of Representatives / the Senate)

Mid-term elections :

 13/11

 text page 92 / 93

putting paragraphs in the right order

summary

15/11

recap summary

revision of past tense page 98 (1 & 2)

22/11

You are a student and you attend a meeting with elderly members of the Freedom Riders who are now in their 70s.  Imagine a conversation where you ask them questions about their motivation, strategy and memories.

200 words