Read Closely and Quote
RF.5.4
Read the text, then answer the questions.
The Refusal
The rule was that everyone in Year Six performed at the leavers' assembly. Kemi told Mr Adeyemi she would not. Not could not — would not. He asked why. She said that if she explained, he would try to solve it, and it was not a problem to be solved. It was a decision. He could have made her. Instead he asked whether she would run the sound desk, which nobody had volunteered for and which meant she would be there for every rehearsal. She said yes. At the assembly she was at the back, in the dark, and every cue was perfect. Her mother asked afterwards why she had not been in it. Kemi said she had been.
- 1. What was the rule?
- 2. Quote the words in which Kemi refuses to explain.
- 3. What did Kemi tell her mother afterwards?
- 4. Quote accurately the distinction Kemi draws in the second paragraph.
What We Kept
Stanza one: We kept the table, which was too big, and the clock, which had never gone, and a tin of buttons nobody wanted, and the habit of turning lights off. Stanza two: We gave away the good chairs. We gave away the china, all of it. We gave away the piano to a school because none of us could play. Stanza three: Ten years on, I would not know the chairs if I saw them in a window on a street. But I turn the hall light off behind me every single time, and think of her.
- 1. What does the speaker still do every time?
- 2. Quote the line that shows the given-away things are forgotten.
- 3. Why was the piano given to a school?
- 4. Quote accurately the item in the first stanza that is not an object.
LessonPrint · RF.5.4 · Set 2 · free to copy for classroom use