Two Texts in One Genre
RL.5.9
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. How is Mr Adeyemi's response different from Mr Whately's?
- 2. How is Kemi like Ivy Sallow?
The Mill: Mr Whately's Account
I did not close the mill. The mill closed. For eleven years I put my own money in. In 1979 I sold my house and moved into the office above the weaving floor, and nobody knew that but my accountant. People say I should have told them earlier. I have thought about that more than they have. If I had said in January that we might not last the year, half the workforce would have left by February, and then we certainly would not have. I held on until the day I could not pay them. Then I told them. I have been told this was cowardice. I would call it arithmetic.
- 1. How does this account differ from Ivy Sallow's?
- 2. What do both accounts agree on?
LessonPrint · RL.5.9 · Set 23 · free to copy for classroom use