Teachers Notes. Paper Planes. Written by Allayne L. Webster. Contents OMNIBUS BOOKS. Teachers Notes by Rae Carlyle OMNIBUS BOOKS OMNIBUS BOOKS

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1 Teachers Ntes OMNIBUS BOOKS Paper Planes Written by Allayne L. Webster Teachers Ntes by Rae Carlyle Cntents OMNIBUS BOOKS Categry Title Authr Junir Fictin Paper Planes Allayne L. Webster Publicatin Date August 2014 Frmat Extent Binding Printing 198 x 128 mm 192 pp Paperback Mn ISBN Previus publicatins Stresshead (Omnibus Bks, 2011) Barnesy (Omnibus Bks, 2010) Our Little Secret (Omnibus Bks, 2007) Intrductin... 2 Abut the Authr.. 2 Activities... 2 OMNIBUS BOOKS Previus publicatins (Bb Brwn and Ben Wd) Give Me a Hme amng the Gum Trees (Omnibus Bks, 2007) Teachers Ntes may be reprduced fr use in schl activities. They may nt be redistributed fr cmmercial sale r psted t ther netwrks.

2 Intrductin Eleven-year-ld Nik is wken ne mrning when his brther receives a phne call. Heading ut n t his apartment s balcny, Nik can see nthing mving except a paper plane flating in the distance. But the peace is an illusin. War is cming t Sarajev, and the lives f Nik, his family, and his friends, will never be the same. Paper Planes tells the stry f living thrugh the siege f Sarajev, as seen thrugh the eyes f a cnfused and frightened child. Nik s family remains in their hme, hping that they will be safe, and that the war will sn be ver, but the siege drags n and survival becmes increasingly perilus. Eventually, Nik s parents make ne f the hardest decisins any parent can ever make. It is nt pssible fr the whle family t leave, but maybe, just maybe, Nik s lder brther and sister can use their psitins and cntacts in the armed frces t smehw smuggle Nik ut. Nik s stry is ne f heartbreak, f hpe, and f the pwer f the human spirit t hld n in the wrst situatins. Abut the Authr Allayne L. Webster grew up in the castal twn f Kingstn, Suth Australia. She nw lives in Adelaide with her husband and teenage sn. She is the prud recipient f tw Arts SA grants and the authr f three bks including tw yung adult nvels, Our Little Secret and Stresshead, and a yunger reader nvel, Barnesy. Paper Planes is based n a true stry. Activities English Nik and Nedim are best friends. They have knwn each ther since they were tiny children, and thrughut the curse f the siege f Sarajev they have becme even clser and mre imprtant t each ther. Life in Sarajev is mre dangerus fr Nedim and his family than it is fr Nik. This is because Nedim s family are Muslim, and the war that has swept ver their cuntry invlved a lt f ethnic hatred, persecutin and killing f Muslim peple. Befre the war, the fact that the tw bys came frm families with very different religius and cultural traditins didn t matter within their friendship r daily lives. But nw it matters a lt, and it is difficult fr Nik t understand why. 2

3 As Nik gradually cmes t realise the implicatins that being Muslim in that time and place have fr his friend, s t des the reader. - Hw des the authr intrduce and explain the tpic t us? - What language des Nik use when describing his understanding f his friend s religius backgrund and beliefs? - Lk at the dialgue between Nik and the ther characters regarding the tpic. Hw many times is it discussed during the stry? Hw lng are the passages explaining it? What wuld have been the impact n the reader if it had been presented in a straight explanatry passage rather than thrugh dialgue and Nik s vice? - Why d yu think the authr chse t d it like this instead f simply explaining at the start f the nvel? - Write a shrt stry frm Nedim s perspective, where he talks abut explaining t Nik hw being Muslim affects him and his family during the siege f Sarajev. When the tw bys realise that Nik will be leaving and Nedim will have t stay, they bth find it very difficult and upsetting. They struggle with nt knwing hw t talk t each ther abut it, and t have any cnversatin at all. Then Nedim cmes up with the idea f the cde wrd the special thing that they can have between them, t use any time they write r talk t each ther t signal the imprtance and specialness f their friendship. Peple use language all the time t signal clseness in relatinships, r membership f a grup. - Why d yu think that having a cde wrd like this makes the bys feel better abut the situatin and their friendship? As a class brainstrm and make a list f reasns why having a secret wrd that nly the tw f them knw is special helps them. - Language is used t cmmunicate facts, but it can als be used t cmmunicate feelings. Discuss the feelings that are being cmmunicated when they use the cde wrd what types f things might they really be saying when they use it? - Think abut yu and yur friends and family and hw yu talk t each ther. Are there any wrds r phrases that yu use that cmmunicate feelings rather than facts/infrmatin? (Hint: think abut nicknames, jking references t past events, and slang terms that children use and adults dn t.) Chse ne f these phrases r wrds and write a paragraph explaining what it means t yu, hw yu feel when it is used, and where it cmes frm. Illustrate yur paragraph with pictures f bth the literal meaning f yur wrd r phrase, and the special meaning f it. 3

4 Creative Activities Make a paper plane. Research different types f paper planes, and experiment with making them. Which ne flies the furthest, and which lks the best? Nik and his mther g in search f nettles grwing in the neighburhd because she has heard that yu can eat them. What lcal edible plants grw near where yu live? Research nline r in the library fr edible plants lcal t yu, and then g n a walk and see hw many yu can lcate. Yu can als include any nn-native fruit trees and vegetables that yu see in peple s gardens n yur list. As a class make a display f decrated paper planes t hang frm the ceiling r in the windw. Use clured paper t make the plane. Cut ut shapes and lines frm paper f a different clur and glue them n t yur plane. Tape a piece f string t the middle f yur plane s that it hangs dwn and lks like it is flying. Nedim and Nik bth miss being able t g t schl. Write an essay talking abut all the things that yu wuld miss ut n if yu weren t able t g t schl any mre. Paint an abstract picture that yu think shws the feelings that Nik experiences during the stry. Experiment with shapes, clur, and textures. Present yur painting t the class and explain what emtins and events the different elements represent. Research what Sarajev is like nw. If yu were ging n a hliday t Sarajev tday, which places wuld yu like t visit and why? Use yur research t create a pamphlet abut Sarajev these days. (sarajev2014.cm/en is a gd place t start lking) Science and Technlgy When the bmbing and fighting starts, the electricity in Nik s hme is cut ff. Later, the water stps cming frm the taps, and even later the gas supply used fr heating and cking is cut ff. Having heat, water, and light in ur hmes is smething that mst f us take fr granted. Fr many peple arund the wrld thugh, and fr much f past histry, these things were difficult t get. 4

5 - What are the slutins that Nik s family cme up with? As a class make a list f the different ways that they light their hme, ck their fd, and stay warm. - Which f the three (water, gas, electricity) d yu think has the biggest impact n their life when it is cut ff? Why d yu think s? - If there was a disaster in yur area, and the gas, water, and electricity stpped wrking, what culd yu and yur family d t survive? - As a class discuss the different pssible slutins that yu might cme up with, make a chart listing them all. - Hw many f yur slutins rely n having access t existing technlgy? (e.g. smene might have a generatr, smene else a camp stve with gas bttles) Health - Nik s family make a stve ut f an ld can, with a fire in the bttm f it. They put it at the tp f the stairwell s that the smke desn t fill their hmes. Design a camp-stve using materials that yu have available either at yur hme r in the lcal neighburhd that yu culd use t ck n. Make a pster shwing bth the design f yur stve, and include blcks f text justifying yur design decisins. Think abut things such as fuel, fire danger, smke, and heat utput. Nik and Nedim s family are hungry almst all the time, and d nt have enugh t eat. Everyne is very skinny, but Nik and Nedim have bth stpped grwing like they used t, and are shrter than they shuld be. A varied diet f enugh healthy fd is imprtant fr children t grw prperly. - As a class discuss the different fd grups that we need t include in ur diets. What are sme f the cnsequences (bth lng and shrt term) f nt having an adequate diet in childhd? Early n in the stry, Nik s mther had a very well stcked pantry, and it was easy fr the families t make meals frm the fd available. As time passed hwever, fd became harder t get, and they had t make d with whatever randm fd peple sent them r they culd trade fr. Cking when yu dn t have a chice f ingredients can be tricky! - Have every member f the class write dwn n a piece f paper ne item f fd that they knw they have at hme in their pantry r garden. Dn t tell anyne else what yu are writing, and dn t include fd that is kept in the fridge r freezer. - As a class, make a list f all the items that peple have written dwn. 5

6 - Brainstrm t see hw many different meals yu culd make frm the items n yur list. - Cut ut pictures f the fds n yur list frm shpping catalgues, print them ff the internet, r draw them. Make a class wall display f A4 pages f all the different meal pssibilities yu came up with. In pairs write the name f the meal at the tp f the page, the recipe and cking instructins belw, and use the pictures t make a cllage t illustrate each meal. Dn t frget t mentin hw many peple it wuld feed and if it is healthy! - Fr a challenge, make ne f the meals suggested fr the class hw much f each ingredient did yu need, and hw many peple thught it tasted gd and were happy t eat it? Gegraphy - Nik mentins several different places in the stry. Sme f them are cuntries, and sme are cities. Make a list f all the places mentined in the bk. - On a map f Eurpe, lcate all the places that are named (except Australia). - Individually r in pairs, research the places mentined in the bk. Chse ne place and write a shrt paragraph abut its histry, natural features, language, peple, and industries. Try t find a picture f yur chsen place. - Use the individual research pieces and a large map t make a class wall display. Yu can place the research pieces arund the utside f the map, and use a piece f string r wl t draw a line t the relevant pint n the map. 6