Lesson Plan
Cambridge
Level 1 Beginner/Elementary CEF: A1
A Little Trouble in Dublin Richard MacAndrew
Aims
To make students interested in the book.
To think about the types of events that might
happen in an adventure story.
To learn more about some of the characters in the
story and their relationship with each other.
NB You may find that many of the activities
described below can be exploited better in your
students own language or mother tongue, if you
speak it. The mother tongue, if used carefully as a
resource, can facilitate your students progress in
English and help them to understand the context
of the story, thus preparing them to understand it
better when they read it.
Pre-reading Activities
1 Tell students the title of the book is A Little Trouble
in Dublin. Write a list of types of stories (genres)
on the board (e.g. murder mystery, comedy, science
fiction, romance, adventure). Discuss these with
students to ensure they know what they all are.
Students now look at Illustration 1. Ask What do you
see?
Suggested answers: two people (a boy and a girl)
running away from a building at night, money.
Now ask What genre do you think A Little Trouble in
Dublin is?
Answer: Adventure.
2 Ask students to look at Extract 1, a list of people
in the story, and Illustration 1. Working in pairs,
students try to guess something that happens in
the story. They should write their ideas on small
pieces of paper. Feedback to the whole class and
help students to stick their pieces of paper up so that
similar ideas are next to each other. How different
are the ideas?
3 Ask students to read Extract 2 and to look at
Illustration 2. Talk about what is happening (a shop
assistant refuses to accept Marys 20 note as he says
its forged). Look back at the ideas for Activity 2. Did
anyone think the story was about forged money?
Cambridge Discovery Readers Cambridge University Press 2010
Lesson plan Discovery
Readers
4 Talk briefly to students about bank notes. What sort
of images do they have on them?
Suggested answer: images of people or places that
are important to a country or group of countries.
Give students a piece of paper the size of a bank note
and ask them to design a new note. Stick the notes
up and give them all a number. Now ask students to
vote for their three favourite designs.
NB Students must not vote for their own bank note.
Which is the most popular design?
5 Tell students that in A Little Trouble in Dublin,
Mary visits a museum shop. Divide the class into
two teams and ask each team to write up a list of
items they think are on sale in a museum shop. They
give each item a price (in euros). This price
should be a whole number (e.g. 13, not 13.55).
Teams now swap lists. Give each team two minutes
to memorise the list of items and their prices. At
the end of the two minutes, the winning team
is the team that remembers the most items and their
prices accurately.
6 Ask students to read Extract 3. Discuss what is
happening in the extract.
Suggested answer: Andy and Mary are following a
man in Dublin. The man goes into a house. Andy
wants to leave, but Mary wants to wait longer. Andy
isnt happy, but he doesnt want to leave his sister.
They wait another 30 minutes.
Now ask students to imagine that Andy does decide
to say what he thinks about waiting. They should
write a few lines to continue the dialogue between
the brother and sister, to show how they are both
feeling. Students share their dialogue with a partner
or the whole class.
7 Ask students to discuss with a partner what happens
to Mary and Andy after Extract 3 ends. Feedback to
the whole class.
8 Students think of a place they know well and
imagine they are following someone. Ask them to
list possible hiding places (e.g. cafs, trees, etc.).
Next, ask them to think about how they would feel
if they were following someone (e.g. frightened,
www.cambridge.org/elt/discoveryreaders PHOTOCOPIABLE
 nervous). Finally, ask them to write a simple scene
as in Extract 3, where they follow someone. They
should try to show what the place is like and how
they feel as well as what is happening.
9 Ask students to look at Illustration 3 and to discuss
with a partner. What do they think is happening and
why?
Answer: Andy and Mary are trying to escape from
the two men in the picture by putting their hands
over their eyes so they cant see while the car is
moving (although you may wish to let the students
find this out by reading the book).
10 Students think of a caption for the Illustration 3 and
share these with the whole class.
Post-reading Activities
1 Ask students to complete the sentence: The thing I
liked best about A Little Trouble in Dublin was
2 Ask students to make a change to the story to
provide an entirely different ending. Feedback to the
whole class. How similar are the ideas?
3 Game How well do you know me? Place the class
in groups of three Student 1 is Mary, Student 2 is
Andy and Student 3 is the questioner.
Student 3 secretly writes three questions about Mary
and three questions about Andy (e.g. At a restaurant,
does Mary choose a burger, a pizza or a salad?).
Student 3 then asks Student 1 the three questions
about Mary without Student 2 being present and
notes the answer.
Student 2 then returns and Student 3 asks him the
same three questions about Mary. Student 2 gets a
point for every answer that is the same as Student 1s.
Now repeat the above, but this time with Student 3
asking Student 2 questions about Andy while
Student 1 is out of the room.
4 Write a 100-word story for a Dublin newspaper
about Mary and Andys adventures.

Cambridge Discovery Readers Cambridge University Press 2010 www.cambridge.org/elt/discoveryreaders PHOTOCOPIABLE

Extract 1 My notes
People in the story
Andy Lawson: a thirteen-year-old boy; Mary Lawsons
twin brother
Mary Lawson: a thirteen-year-old girls: Andy Lawsons
twin sister
Miss OBrien: Andy and Marys science teacher
Mr Green Shirt: Mary sees this man in a shop
Mr Blue Shirt: a friend of Mr Green Shirt
Inspector Helen Forrester: a Dublin police officer
Sergeant Tom Brady: A Dublin Police officer.
Extract 2
I cant take this, said the shop assistant.
Why not? asked Mary.
Its not a real 20 note, he answered. Its forged its not
real. Look here. He found a new 20 note and put it on the
shop window. Then he put Marys note next to it.
Look on the left of the note, the assistant told Mary. You
can see a kind of window on the real note, but there isnt one
on yours. Yours is forged.
Extract 3
Mary watched the man. He turned right. Andy and Mary ran
after him and turned right too.
Dont get too near him, said Mary. We dont want him to
see us.
For ten minutes they walked about fifty metres behind
the man. First there was Trinity College on their left, then the
National Gallery on their right.
Next came Merrion Square. There were houses round the
square, and trees and gardens in it.
The man walked up to the front door of a house, opened
the door and went in.
OK, said Andy. We can go back now. Weve still got time
to get to the cinema. The film actually starts at half past five.
No, said Mary and took him by the arm. Were going to
wait in the gardens.
Why? asked Andy. We cant see him.
But whats he doing there? asked Mary. I want to know.
Andy was angry, but he didnt say anything. I cant leave
my sister here, he thought. They waited and they waited. After
thirty minutes Andy said, Come on, Mary. Hes not coming
out again.
Just five more minutes, said Mary. Please, Andy.
Cambridge Discovery Readers Cambridge University Press 2010 www.cambridge.org/elt/discoveryreaders PHOTOCOPIABLE
Illustration 1 My notes
Cambridge
Discovery
Readers

A Little Trouble
in Dublin
Richard MacAndrew

CEF A1

25/02/2010 16:09
Illustration 2

Cambridge Discovery Readers Cambridge University Press 2010 www.cambridge.org/elt/discoveryreaders PHOTOCOPIABLE

Illustration 3 My notes

Cambridge Discovery Readers Cambridge University Press 2010 www.cambridge.org/elt/discoveryreaders PHOTOCOPIABLE