ONCE

 

Once - lesson 1

Lesson 1 Monday

What do you think about the quote above? Do you agree or disagree?
Can you think of a memory when you felt really happy?

1. Think about it on your own, for a few minutes
and then talk about your memories in your groups.

You can find the sentences in the picture above in the book we will read.
Take a look at the cover of the book: 

What do you think the book will be about?

2. Before we start listening we need to take a look at some words:

Do you know what an orphanage is?
I almost caused a riot - What did he almost do?

Who is the Virgin Mary and The Pope? 

What is a nun?

We are going to listen to the first chapter together in class. 

Together in the group, I want you to discuss and answer the questions below. Help each other!

Lesson 2 

1. Answer the questions in the document named ONCE- questions
2. Go to the Reading log and fill out the form. 
3. Copy the chat and past it in the document ONCE- questions. 
4. Hand in both the Reading log and ONCE- questions.

The questions 

* Before you answer the questions - always go to the "Text and thought" first and make sure you have taken notes while reading. 

Reading Log - text and thought

Go to the Reading Log in Classroom and write down a quote and your thoughts.

You find the READING LOG here as well. Make your own copy!

* Answer the questions in the document "Questions" in Classroom.

Chapters 1-2

 Describe and discuss your first impressions of Felix and Mother Minka.

 - What do you think they look like?

 - What kind of persons are they?

- Where is Felix and why?

-How old do you think he is?

2. Why was it so special that Felix found a whole carrot in his soup?

 ‘Once I stayed awake all night, waiting for Mum and Dad to arrive.’ 

3. What does this quote mean to Felix?

4. Why is Felix’s notebook so important to him? Identify 4 things this notebook symbolizes.

5. Do you think Felix will ever meet his parents again? Motivate your opinion

Chapter 3 (page 18)

 “Once I saw a customer, years ago, damaging books in Mum and Dad’s shop. Tearing pages out. Screwing them up. Shouting things I couldn’t understand.” 

1. Identify two things that make Felix worried and explain how his thinking starts to change. Back our thoughts with quotes from the text.

2. Felix has plans to help his mother and father. What are they, and what motivates him to take action? 

Chapter 4 (page 29)

 “Once I escaped from an orphanage in the mountains and I didn’t have to do any of the things you do in escape stories.” 

1. List some of the reasons Felix thinks he is lucky. List things you think he could complain about. 

2. What indications are there—recognized or missed by Felix—that something is terribly wrong? What explanations does Felix come up with to make sense of things?

 Chapter 5 (page 41)

 “Once I walked all night and all the next day except for a short sleep in a forest and all night again and then I was home.” 

1. Contrast Felix’s dreams with the reality of what he discovers when he makes it home. 2. Describe the different emotions he experiences. 

Chapter 6 (page 53)

 “Once I walked as fast as I could towards the city to find Mum and Dad and I didn’t let anything stop me. Not until the fire.” 

1. What changes have taken place in and how do they influence his actions? 

2. How does Felix control his anxiety?

Chapter 7 (page 62)

 “Once I woke up and I was at home in bed. Dad was reading me a story about a boy who got left in an orphanage. Mum came in with some carrot soup. They both promised they’d never leave me anywhere. We hugged and hugged.” 

1. What are the meanings of the armbands? What do Felix’s predictions about the future signify? 

 2. How does Felix answer his own question, “Why would the Nazis make people suffer like this just for the sake of some books?” (page 70) Why is this the turning point?

 Chapter 8 (page 72) 

“Once I spent about six hours telling stories to Zelda, to keep her spirits up, to keep my spirits up, to keep our legs moving as we trudged through the rain toward the city.” 

1. Why does Felix go from six hours of storytelling to keep Zelda’s spirits up to the point where he suddenly hasn’t got any more stories (page 80)? 

2. How do Felix and Zelda manage to survive?

Chapter 9 (page 81)

 “Once I lay in the street in tears, because the Nazis are everywhere and no grown-ups can protect kids from them, not Mum and Dad, not Mother Minka, not Father Ludwik, not God, not Jesus, not the Virgin Mary, not the Pope, not Adolf Hitler.”

 1. Explain what Barney is doing. What sort of person do you think he is? What does he represent?

 2. What impact does the realization that no one can protect the children have on Felix? 

Chapter 10 (page 91) 

“Once I was living in a cellar in a Nazi city with seven other kids when I shouldn’t have been.”

 1. Use an example of Felix’s behaviour or “self-talk” to illustrate his unusual degree of maturity and self-awareness. Explain your reasoning. 

2. What story “saved his life,” and what connections does he finally make? 

Chapter 11 (page 99) 

“Once I escaped from an underground hiding place by telling a story. It was a bit exaggerated. It was a bit fanciful. It was my imagination getting a bit carried away.” 

1. What lengths does Felix go to when trying to “escape”? How does Barney handle it? 

2. What does Felix discover about Barney, and how does Barney make Felix help him?

 Chapter 12 (page 112)

 “Once a dentist stopped me from asking a Nazi officer about my parents and I was really mad at him.” 

1. Why did Barney stop Felix from asking about his parents? Why do he and Felix decide that Zelda needs to know the truth? 

 2. Describe the range of reactions the children are showing as a result of the traumas each has suffered. How do you feel about the stories shared by the children?

 Chapter 13 (page 121) 

“Once I told Zelda a story that made her cry, so I lay on her sack with her for hours and hours until she fell asleep.” 

1. Analyze Barney’s gesture of giving Felix new boots. What does he mean by what he says to Felix on page 122? What other “good things” does Felix seem to think he’s got, and what can you see in him that is good (e.g., his hope and optimism)? 

2. Felix makes a terrible discovery in the chapter and Barney is forced to tell him some awful truths about what is going on. What is Felix torn between as he tries to take it all in? 

Chapter 14 (page 132)

 “Once I loved stories and now I hate them.” 

1. Describe Felix’s state of mind as this chapter opens. Describe your own feelings as you read about his close shaves and what he discovers upon returning to his hideout.

 2. The importance of books is emphasized in this chapter. Felix’s favorite gets him into terrible danger, but other books save him. What do books symbolize and mean for Felix? 

Chapter 15 (page 144)

 “Once the Nazis found our cellar. They dragged us all out and made us walk through the ghetto while they pointed guns at us.” 

1. Barney and Zelda wouldn’t go. Why not? Think of three more reasons. 

2. What is important to Felix as they head to the railway station? What is important to the others as they are tossed aboard the train? 

Chapter 16 (page 153) 

“Once I went on my first train journey, but I wouldn’t call it exciting—I’d call it painful and miserable.”

 1. Once again, a book becomes a saviour of sorts. Explain how. What is the significance of the fact that Felix is willing to use—and virtually lose—his notebook? 

2. What choice and possible outcomes does the hole in the carriage create for the people inside? 

Chapter 17 (page 162)

 “Once I lay in a field somewhere in Poland, not sure if I was alive or dead.”

 1. Felix feels fortunate: “However my story turns out, I’ll never forget how lucky I am” (page 163). What is your explanation for this? 

2. Knowing Felix as you do by the end of the novel, how do you think his story might continue?

Final writing assignment

Imagine that you are an adult and that a teacher has asked you to write a personal narrative to tell her 15-year-old students what you have been through. 

Choose one of the following assignments:

Write between 150 and 600 words, size 12. 

Text type: personal narrative 

1. You are Felix, the main character of the book Once. You are now an adult.  You tell them what happened to you when you were a child. Pick 2-4 situations and describe how they have affected you as an adult.

2. You are a Jewish survivor and you tell them what you have been through. Pick 2-4  situations from the book and describe how they have affected you to become the person you are today.

3. You are an ex-soldier, who didn't agree with Hitler during the war. Pick 2-4 situations from the book and describe what you were forced to do and how you felt about that.


To prepare, take a look at the template below on how to write a personal narrative. Remember to show and don't tell! 

Example: 

When I was a child my parents needed to leave me at an orphanage. My family are Jewish and... 

or

I never wanted to be a soldier but I had to. I had no choice.