Earlier this year, I posted an entry about Max, the main character from the Playway to English textbook that we use. This year we have seen the next chapter in the Playway series. Max is now apparently homeless, having long since been abandoned by his former friends, Linda and Benny. The most recent "adventure" that Max had was when he was stuck in the rain. He hates rain apparently so he went into a local shop and asked "One umbrella please", the shopkeeper said "Here you are." He replied "How much is it?" "Four pounds" "Oh? Ooh... umm... okay, here you are."
The voice actor is really starting to sound aged, and this in combination with the brokenness of Max's reply made it seem like it was Max's last four pounds. This only makes the following events even more heart breaking. It turns out that Max was unable to figure out how to open the umbrella and threw it away in frustration - only of course to have a complete stranger appear, comment on how nice the umbrella was and open it easily. The story concludes with Max miserably tramping off through the rain, perhaps looking for a dry place to sleep.
- Daniel
I find it remarkable how, well, depressing so much of their culture seems to be. Especially what they communicate to children - we wouldn't dare teach children with anything but happy day scenarios. But I guess if nothing else, Max's story is a lot more interesting than the characters I (don't) remember from my German studies.
ReplyDeleteI feel obliged to mention that Playway to English is a Cambridge product, and the Max story as detailed here might have undergone some Daniel-filtering. :)
ReplyDeleteBut the facts of the story are essentially true.
- Daniel.
Playway to English second edition was published in 2009. There is teachers book, students book, CD, test, workbook and so on. If you need more information try this http://www.preskoly.sk/k/ucebnice-slovniky/cudzi-jazyk/anglicky-jazyk/playway-to-english-2nd-edition/
ReplyDeletePlayway to English is on of the most popular course for primary school for English study.