Obw The Silver Sword
Obw The Silver Sword
Obw The Silver Sword
Stage 4
The Silver Sword
1 Put the following events in the story in 4 Are these sentences true (T) or false (F)?
the right order. Number them 1–10. a ___ Ruth’s mother is Swiss.
a ___ Ruth decides to go to Switzerland. b ___ Edek was caught taking a chicken to
b ___ American soldiers put Jan in prison. the city.
c ___ Joseph gives Jan the sword. c ___ When they met, Jan liked Edek.
d ___ Ruth, Edek and Bronia find d ___ Jan stopped the trains to take food.
their parents. e ___ Both the Wolffs’ sons were dead.
e ___ Joseph escapes from prison. f ___ The Burgomaster said they could stay
f ___ The children escape by canoe. with the Wolffs.
g ___ The children stay on the Wolff’s farm. g ___ Jan wanted to go back to the Wolffs for
h ___ Joe takes the children to a refugee the sword.
camp by Lake Constance. h ___ The I.T.S. helped children to find their
i ___ Ruth and Bronia meet Jan. parents.
j ___ Ruth and Bronia find Edek. i ___ The I.T.S found Jan’s parents.
j ___ Ruth married a Frenchman.
20 marks
20 marks
2 Who said this in the story? Who did they
say it to? Jan, Ruth, Bronia, Joseph, the 5 Can you describe how the children
Wolffs, Ivan (the Russian soldier), travelled from Posen to Switzerland?
Greenwood (the American captain).
a ‘I’ll give you this sword if you do something
for me.’ ............... to ...............
b ‘The whole of Warsaw wants to see my
officer.’ ............... to ...............
c ‘He was going to Switzerland to find your
mother.’ ............... to ...............
d ‘We don’t have enough money to pay 200
marks.’ ............... to ...............
e ‘I’ll remember you for ever.’
............... to ...............
20 marks
………………………………………..
………………………………………………………..
………………
………………………………………..………………
………………………………………..………………
………………………………………..………………
……………………………………………………….
a Who is this? ...............
b What has he just left? ............... 30 marks
c Where does he want to go? ...............
d Why does he want to go there? ............... Total marks
e Does he get there? ...............
10 marks
1
a 4
b 6
c 2
d 10
e 1
f 8
g 7
h 9
i 3
j 5
2
a Joseph, Jan
b Ivan, Ruth
c Jan, Ruth
d Ruth, Greenwood
e Bronia, the Wolffs
3
a Joseph
b Prison
c Warsaw
d His family is there
e Yes
4
a T
b F
c F
d T
e T
f F
g T
h T
i F
j T
5
Students’ individual answers.
17 Jan had a cockerel called _____. 25 ‘I’m not a little girl, I’ll be eighteen
a Jumpy next week.’
b Bumpy a Ruth
c Scrumpy b Bronia
d Jimpy c Mrs Krause
d Eva
18 Ruth found her new life difficult until
she _____. 26 ‘That’s a nice welcome, isn’t it?’
a met Jan a Ruth
b went to the prison b Jan
c started the school c Edek
d went to Germany d Ivan
19 Frau Wolff’s sons were _____. 27 ‘Switzerland is still a long way away. We
a German soldiers must go on.’
b American soldiers a Ruth
c prison guards b Jan
d Polish soldiers c Joseph
d Edek
20 After the war, Ruth went _____.
a to Zurich university 28 ‘You stopped the train and were going to
b to France steal food from it.’
c back to Warsaw a Captain Greenwood
d to America b the farmer
c Jan
20 marks
d the Burgomaster
32 a room under the ground in a house 40 a building that is almost destroyed and is
a cellar falling down
b attic a ruin
c rapids b cellar
d study c attic
d camp
33 part of the river where the water moves
very fast 20 marks
a zone
b rapids PLOT
c elastic
d stream Choose the best answer.
34 to fall down suddenly because you are ill 41 During his first winter in prison
or weak Joseph _____.
a faint a tried to escape many times
b silly b escaped with other prisoners
c trip c wanted to stay there
d grow up d was too ill to escape
35 to send out air from the mouth and throat in 42 It took Joseph _____ weeks to walk home to
a noisy way Warsaw.
a faint a four and a half
b cough b three
c ruin c three and a half
d sneeze d five and a half
37 a place for people to live for a short time 44 The children escaped from their house
a cellar by _____.
b camp a running out of the front door
c attic b running out of the back door
d house c moving from roof to roof
d sitting on the roof
38 a kind of string that gets longer as you pull it
a camp 45 The children decided to go to _____ to find
b nail their mother and father.
c elastic a Switzerland
d rope b Poland
c Germany
39 to take care of someone or something d Russia
a grow up
b look after 46 Edek walked more slowly and his _____
c bring up was no better.
d cough a foot
b cough
c leg
d head
Total marks
SETTING PLOT
1 d 41 d
2 c 42 a
3 c 43 b
4 c 44 c
5 a 45 a
6 a 46 b
7 a 47 b
8 a 48 d
9 b 49 c
10 a 50 a
CHARACTERS
11 c
12 b
13 a
14 c
15 a
16 a
17 d
18 c
19 a
20 a
DIALOGUE
21 c
22 b
23 c
24 a
25 a
26 d
27 a
28 a
29 c
30 d
VOCABULARY
31 d
32 a
33 b
34 a
35 b
36 d
37 b
38 c
39 b
40 a
5 Because he wanted to go back to the Wolffs’ 1 Written by Jan, a few days after he faints
farm and get the silver sword. outside Ruth’s and Bronia’s cellar in
6 Because Jan screamed at him and kicked him Warsaw:
when Joe wouldn’t take him north to Boding. I’ve been living here for a week now, and I’ve
7 Because he had received letters from Herr Wolff decided to stay. Everyone wants to look in my
and Joseph Balicki, and he now knew for box, but they’d better look out! The sword is
certain that the children’s father was living in my secret, and I’m not going to show it to
Switzerland. anyone. If I keep it, I know it will
8 The heavy rain turned the stream into a fast-
bring me luck.
moving river, which carried Edek’s boat out into
the lake. 2 Written by Ivan, the Russian guard, after he
9 Because she thought that he cared more about visits the Warsaw cellar and is jumped on
his dog Ludwig than about Edek. by Jan:
What a strange day! I’d just arrived at the cellar
Before Reading Chapter 14 with chocolate and good news for the girls
The ‘yes’ answers are numbers 1 and 5. when suddenly this wild boy was trying to put
a knife in my neck and a cockerel was biting
AFTER READING my ankles! Luckily, nobody was hurt, but the
boy’s box got broken. Then Ruth started
Activity 1 crying! I had no idea what it was all about!
5 Joe: Hello, young man! What are you doing in 3 Written by Frau Wolff, on the last day that the
my lorry? children spend on the farm in Bavaria:
8 Jan: I needed somewhere to sleep, so I I wish they could stay. Jan reminds me so
climbed in here while you were sleeping. But much of Rudolf. Even Ludwig agrees! But I
I’ve got to go now. know they must leave tonight, before the
2 Joe: And where are you going? Burgomaster can take them away. I just hope
11 Jan: North. I’ve left something in a village they’ll reach the Danube safely in those old
called Boding. Are you going north? Can you canoes . . .
take me there? Written by Edek, while he was a prisoner
7 Joe: Just a minute. You’re rather young to be working on a farm near Guben in
travelling by yourself, aren’t you? Germany:
1 Jan: Well, I was with my family till yesterday.
This must be the most miserable place in the
But they didn’t want me to go back to
world. If the food was any worse, and the
Boding, so I ran away.
work was any harder, we’d all die. Tonight I’m
10 Joe: Why didn’t they want you to go?
going to try again to escape. And this time I
4 Jan: Because Edek’s sick, and Ruth wanted
won’t stop until I’m back in Warsaw with Ruth
me to help them. But I’ve got to go to
and Bronia.
Boding.
9 Joe: If they need your help, young man, you’re Activity 3
wrong to leave them alone. You should be arch, barn, camp, canoe, cellar, lorry, mattress,
with them. So I think you should – Hey! paddle, rapids, rifle, rope, ruin, signal,
There’s no need to kick me! zone
3 Jan: Ow! What are you doing? No! Let me go!
6 Joe: Right. You can just stay here now, nice
j o c a M p s e p H
and quiet. I was going to drive north, but I’ve
now decided we’ll go south – to find your s g b a r n r a L v
family. i z o n e e U r o i
g a t t o M i o r e
Activity 2
n r b U t i n p r c
a c e L L a r e Y a
L H p a d d L e t n
s Y r i f L e o U o
r a p i d s r s n e
o W M a t t r e s s
Activity 4
Students can complete this how they like.
Possible answers:
My dear friends,
At last we have arrived at a camp near Lake
Constance. The journey in the canoes was
quite difficult for Bronia and me. When we
passed the village, an American soldier saw
us and tried to stop us. We got away from
him when I let go of the paddle and he fell
into the river. Later we found our paddle, and
went down the river to Falkenburg. There we
found Edek and Jan waiting for us on top of a
haystack.
Edek became very ill and I was worried that he
was too ill to finish the journey to
Switzerland. Luckily, a soldier called Joe
Wolski gave us a ride in his lorry and
brought us to this camp.
Now we want to go to Switzerland – but first we
have to prove who we are. Jan thinks that he
left the silver sword at your farm, near the
photo of Rudolf. Could you send it to us?
Then perhaps the camp official will believe
our story and let us go to Switzerland.
Thank you so much for looking after us. We will
always remember you.
Love from Ruth
Activity 5
Open answers. Encourage discussion.