Lesson Plan: How Christmas Came to the Santa Maria Flats By Elia W. Peattie
II. While Reading Activities
Word Inference
- *Flat noun A flat is the British English equivalent of the word apartment. A flat is a single-family suite of rooms including a kitchen and at least one bathroom situated in a building with multiple such suites, a flat is generally a rental property. The word flat meaning an apartment comes from the Old English word flett, which means floor, a dwelling. Occasionally, one sees the word flat used in North America to give a more upscale feeling to the property available for rent, while in Britain one occasionally sees the word apartment to indicate that the rental property in question is luxurious.
- Lease |lēs| noun a contract by which one party conveys land, property, services, etc., to another for a specified time, usually in return for a periodic payment.
- ukase |yo͞oˈkās| noun an arbitrary command: defying the publisher in the very building from which he had issued his ukase.
- permit verb |pərˈmit| (permits, permitting, permitted) give authorization or consent to (someone) to do something: [with object and infinitive] : the law permits councils to monitor any factory emitting smoke | [with two objects] : he would not permit anybody access to the library.
- peculiar |pəˈkyo͞olyər| adjective strange or odd; unusual: his accent was a peculiar mixture of Cockney and Irish.
- vestibule |ˈvestəˌbyo͞ol| noun an antechamber, hall, or lobby next to the outer door of a building.
- janitor |ˈjanədər| noun chiefly North American a person employed as a caretaker of a building; a custodian.
- digression |ˌdīˈɡreSH(ə)n| noun -a temporary departure from the main subject in speech or writing: let’s return to the main topic after that brief digression.
- melancholy |ˈmelənˌkälē| noun a feeling of pensive sadness, typically with no obvious cause: an air of melancholy surrounded him | he had an ability to convey a sense of deep melancholy and yearning through much of his work | at the center of his music lies a profound melancholy and nostalgia.
- skylight |ˈskīˌlīt| noun a window installed in a roof or ceiling.
Sources: New Oxford American Dictionary, * The Grammarist
Grammar Focus: Structure and Usage
I – 1-were
There were twenty-six flat children.
II – 1-was
Cecil was evicted, along with his parents.
III – 1-in
It was in the Lease not to run and not to jump.
Reading Comprehension Fill-ins
‘You can see for yourself!’ said Ernest tragically. Roderick could see for himself. There was an inch-wide opening down which the Friend of the Children could squeeze himself, and, as everybody knows, he needs a good deal of room now, for he has grown portly with age, and his pack every year becomes bigger, owing to the ever-increasing number of girls and boys he has to supply.
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