Lesson Plan: To Sleep, perchance to dream…ay, there’s the rub!
II. While Reading Tasks
A. Vocabulary Inference
- strikes [Strike] verb ( past struck ) [ trans. ] (of a disaster, disease, or other unwelcome phenomenon) occur suddenly and have harmful or damaging effects on : an earthquake struck the island | [ intrans. ] tragedy struck when he was killed in a car crash.
- foresaw verb ( -sees, -seeing; past -saw ; past part. -seen ) [ trans. ]
- be aware of beforehand; predict : we did not foresee any difficulties.
- premonitions noun a strong feeling that something is about to happen, esp. something unpleasant : he had a premonition of imminent disaster.
- colliery noun ( pl. -leries) a coal mine and the buildings and equipment associated with it.
- exploit verb [ trans. ] make full use of and derive benefit from (a resource) : 500 companies sprang up to exploit this new technology.
- lashed verb [ trans. ] beat forcefully against (something) : waves lashed the coast | [ intrans. ] torrential rain was lashing down.
- seeped verb [ intrans. ] (of a liquid) flow or leak slowly through porous material or small holes : water began to seep through the soles of his boots.
- porous adjective(of a rock or other material) having minute spaces or holes through which liquid or air may pass.
- slurry noun ( pl. -ries) a semiliquid mixture, typically of fine particles of manure, cement, or coal suspended in water.
- debris noun scattered fragments, typically of something wrecked or destroyed : the bomb hits it, showering debris from all sides.
- landslide noun the sliding down of a mass of earth or rock from a mountain or cliff.
- paranormal adjective denoting events or phenomena such as telekinesis or clairvoyance that are beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding : a mystic who can prove he has paranormal powers.
- perished verb [ intrans. ] suffer death, typically in a violent, sudden, or untimely way : a great part of his army perished of hunger and disease.
- REM abbreviation: rapid eye movement.
- incorporate verb [ trans. ] put or take in (something) as part of a whole; include : he has incorporated in his proposals a large number of measures; territories that had been incorporated into the Japanese Empire.
- stimuli noun (a thing or event that evokes a specific functional reaction in an organ or tissue : areas of the brain which respond to auditory stimuli.
B. Questions for Comprehension
- A psychologist, who has written a book entitled Paranormality.
- Richard Wiseman explains how our sleeping minds can trick us.
- Aberfan is a small village in south Wales.
- In the 1960s.
- The side of the hill subsided and half a million tons of debris slid into Aberfan and smashed into the village school.
- One hundred and thirty-nine schoolchildren and five teachers lost their lives in the tragedy.
- Barker wondered whether the extreme nature of events in Aberfan might have caused large numbers of people to experience a premonition about the tragedy.
- Yes. He received 60 letters from across England and Wales, with over half of the respondents claiming that their apparent premonition had come to them during a dream.
- One of the most striking experiences was submitted by the parents of a 10-year-old child who perished in the tragedy. The day before the landslide their daughter described dreaming about trying to go to school, but said that there was “no school there” because “something black had come down all over it”
- A third of the population experience this phenomenon at some point in their lives.
- Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, and Charles Dickens.
- Eugene Aserinsky is a U.S. psychologist who helped pave the way for a new science of dreaming.
- He showed that waking up a person after they have spent some time in the REM state is very likely to result in them reporting a dream. Almost everyone dreams in color. Although some dreams are bizarre, many involve everyday chores such as doing the washing-up, filling in tax forms, or vacuuming. If you creep up on someone who is dreaming and quietly play some music, shine a light on their face or spray them with water, they are very likely to incorporate the stimuli into their dreams.
- Out of the 60 people who reported having dreamt about the future diaster, 36 of the respondents provided no evidence that they had recorded their dream prior to the disaster.
- These respondents may have had many other dreams before hearing about Aberfan, and then only remembered and reported the one dream that matched the tragedy. Not only that, but the lack of any record made at the time of the dream means that they could have inadvertently twisted the dream to better fit the unfortunate events that transpired.
C. Questions for Reflection and Discussion
Students’ choice.
Have students share responses with class. Maybe hang the drawings on the wall in the classroom!
III. Post Reading Tasks
A. *Paragraph Writing:
Have students share their writings with the class.
B. Fun Activities
Students can try these out for fun.
C. Photo Activity
Students’ choice.
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