hthex4u

JOANNE KATHLEEN ROWLING
Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born on 31 July 1965 in England. She has always wanted to be a writer and wrote her first “book” at the age of  six – a story about a rabbit called Rabbit. She still remembers when she  was a little girl and her father told her fantastic adventure stories , which she really enjoyed. She  also remembers when, together    with her  sister, she played with a group of children in the neighbourhood. Two of the children she played with, had surname Potter, a name she liked very much. Her parents were both Londoners  but  they wanted to live in the country and in 1974 the family moved to a village in the Forest of Dean. Joanne liked wandering across the fields and beside the River Wye with her sister.
Her favourite subject at High School was English while her favourite activity was telling stories to her friends over lunchtime. At Exeter University Rowling took a degree in French and spent one year studying in Paris.
After college she moved to London to work for Amnesty International. During this period, on a particularly long  train ride from Manchester to London in the summer of 1990, that idea came to her of a boy who is a wizard and doesn’t know it. Four hours later, when the train arrived at King’s Cross Station, many  of the characters and some parts of the story were fully formed in her head.
In 1992 Rowling moved to Portugal  where she taught English. There she got married and she had a baby, then, she returned to Britain with her little daughter and a suitcase full of Harry Potter notes and chapters.
 She settled in Edinburgh to be near  her sister and worked hard to finish the book. She lived in a very tiny flat and wrote ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ at the table in a café. The book was published in June 1997 and it achieved almost instant success both in Britain and America. The story of the boy wizard, his sad childhood and his adventures at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy caught the imagination of readers of all ages. The title of the seventh and final Harry Potter book was revealed  on 21 December 2006 ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ‘ and was released on 21 July 2007. This last book broke its predecessor's record as the fastest-selling book of all time. It sold 11 million copies in the first day of release in the United Kingdom and United States. She has said that the last chapter of the book was written "in something like 1990", as part of her earliest work on the entire series. The series, totalling 4,195 pages, has been translated, in whole or in part, into 65 languages.
The Harry Potter books have also gained recognition for sparking an interest in reading among the young at a time when you thought children abandon books for computers and television.
What is the secret of Rowling’s remarkable success? As Rowling herself said, ‘ It’s the power of the imagination’
J.K Rowling still lives in Edinburgh, with her daughter Jessica.

Ex n°1
READ THE BIOGRAPHY AND WRITE THE ORDER IN WHICH YOU FIND THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION
Harry Potter’s series 
Her first job 
Her present life 
Her school memories 
J.K Rowling’s childhood 
J.K Rowling as a mother 
The reason  for the success 
When she got the idea of writing  Harry Potter 

Ex n°2
WHAT DO THESE DATES AND NUMBERS REFER TO ?
65 = _________________________________________________________________________________

1992 = _______________________________________________________________________________

“something like 1990” = __________________________________________________________________

21th December 2006 = __________________________________________________________________

11 million = ___________________________________________________________________________

June 1997 = ___________________________________________________________________________

Ex. N°3
READ THE PASSAGE AGAIN AND DECIDE IF THE FOLLLOWING STATEMENTS ARE TRUE T OR FALSE F.   THEN  CORRECT THE FALSE ONES.

 1 J.K Rowling is a British famous writer

  2 She has always liked writing or telling stories

  3 She worked for Amnesty International in France

  4  She was a French teacher

  5 She had the idea of writing Harry Potter when she was 25

   6 When she left Portugal she moved to Scotland

  7 The sixth “Harry Potter” had the record of the fastest-selling book of all time

  8 Her last book sold 11 million copies in the first day of release

Ex n° 4
READ THE TEXT AGAIN AND ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS. GIVE FULL ANSWERS!
1. What was Rowling’s first book about? (1p)
2. How old was Jeanne when her family left London to a village in the forest of Dean? (1p)
3. What did Joanna Kathleen like when she was at the high school? (1p)
4. How does the idea of the surname Potter come to her? (1p)
5. What did she do after taking a degree? (2p)
6. Where did Kathleen have the idea of a story of a boy who is a wizard? (1p)
7. Why did she move to U.K? (2p)
8. When was the seventh book published? (1p)
9. Why are the Harry Potter books so important among the young? (2p)
10. Where does she live now? (1p)
11.Talk about the last book you read. Write some information about the author, the plot, the main characters and express your opinions about it.(no less than 80 words)

SCRIVI UN BREVE DIALOGO PER OGNUNA DELLE SEGUENTI FUNZIONI

1. locating people and things. talking about places

2. asking and talking about actions in progress

3. describing people

4. asking and talking about past events

5. talking about means of transport

6. asking for and giving directions

7. asking and talking about recent actions

8. talking about health

correttore prova riassuntiva finale.doc

Present simple or continuous?

1. They are listening/listen to a CD at the moment
2. I’m going/ go to the cinema every Saturday
3. We aren’t walking/ don’t walk to school in the mornings
4. What do you do/ are you doing at the moment?
5. They don’t get up/ aren’t getting up early on Sundays
6. How often does she play/ is she playing volleyball?  

Present simple or continuous?

1. Josh and Claire are students. They_____________ (go) to Richmond Secondary school. At the moment they ___________________ (not/study). It’s Sunday afternoon and they ________________ (play) tennis.
2. My dad’s a musician. He _____________ (play) in a band. At the moment he ___________________ (not/play). It’s 7 p.m. and he ______________ (cook) dinner.
3. I’m a secretary. I usually _______________ (work) in London. Now I ______________ (visit) a friend in Oxford.
 
Choose the right alternative

1. Is this your cap? Yes, it’s my/mine
2. Are these theirs/ their jackets?
3.  Is this Amy’s phone? Yes, it’s her/hers.
4. Our house is very small. Their/theirs is big
5. This is your/ yours pen. My/mine is blue 

Translate in English

A Dov’eri sabato sera?
B Ero alla festa di Emily
A È stata bella?
B Sì. È stata fantastica ma domenica ero molto stanca
A La festa era a casa di Emily?
B No, era al ristorante Gino’s
A Quante persone c’erano alla festa?
B C’erano dodici persone. Emily era bella. Indossava un vestito nuovo di colore rosso
A C’erano Vicky e Susie alla festa? 
B Sì.

Complete using the past simple

I _____________ (go) to the auditions for the part of Luna in the Harry Potter Films. I _____________ (travel) to London with my mum and my friend, Katie.  We _________________ (wait) outside the building all night and we ____________________ (not/sleep). It ______________ (be) so exciting!
The auditions _______________ (start) at about 9 a.m. At first we all ____________ (go) into a room with about 50 other girls and we ________________ (say) our names and we ______________ (tell) them where we _____________ (be) from. I ______________ (not/do) very well in my audition because I _____________ (be) very nervous. I ________________ (not/get) the part, but I ________________ (have) a great day! 

Present simple, present continuous or past simple? Use these verbs: arrive, close, finish, live, open, play, start, stay, study, travel, walk, watch, work, visit (pay attention, there are odd-one-outs)

1. Yesterday the party ______________ at 7 and ______________ at 10.30.
2. Ten years ago, my aunt and uncle ______________ in a flat in Rome.
3. Every year we ________________ Lake Garda
4. I _________________ a good film on TV at the moment
5. My brother usually ______________  computer games
6. They _________________ English in a language school now.
7.  Last year they ________________ to New York by plane