The Shadow and the Flash: Part 1

This advanced-level story, by Jack London, was first published in 1903. In it, two competitive scientists take different routes to achieving invisibility, with tragic results. The story is told in five parts. Each part contains audio and an accompanying lesson plan written by Daniel Barber, which includes teacher’s notes, student worksheets and a full transcript and glossary. 

In Part 1 of this science fiction story, we are told of the fierce rivalry between Lloyd and Paul that continues through their childhood and time at university. In this lesson, the students will:

• explore the theme of rivalry
• identify contrastive stress
• practise making contrastive stress
• predict how the rivals will be competitive
• listen for gist
• predict the rest of the story