Task 1: Comprehension

Answer the “while-reading” questions for both texts.

1) Santee is an idyllic suburb in California, U.S, with a population of 58.000 people

2) Charles Andrew Williams took out his .22 revolver and started shooting at his High School

3) Bryan Zucker and Randy Gordon were both left fatally wounded, while 13 other students was hit

4) That the school lived too much by its usual cliques and since Williams were the odd one out, it was bound to break him.

5) We are told that he is a 15-year-old boy who grew up neglected by his father. He came to Santee about two years before the incident from a rural town in Maryland. His parents was divorced and he barely saw his mother. He was jug-eared, skinny and timid.

6) Andy was a victim to extreme neglect from his parents and bullying from his fellow peers, which of course in the end brought him to lose it. Not that his actions in anyway is excusable but with the neglect and bullying he became lonely and isolated more than he was before. People were constantly at his back and mean to him (like when two of his friends called him a pussy, when he threatened to pull a columbine) and that kind of treatment is bound to have some kind of effect. For Andy Williams the effect to shape in a school shooting.

7) They called him a pussy and did not believe that he had the guts to do it.

8) I would blame his so-called friends and his neglecting parents that did not see what their son was going through.

9) Because there was many signs around Andy Williams to warn people about how far out he was, yet no one did anything about it

IT’S ONLY ME

1) Why is the article called “It’s only me”?

2) Comment one the children’s motives for threating to shoot.

The girl he liked kissed another boy, but he was only kidding

3) Why do parents at nearly every school shooting say they “never thought it would happen here”

They of course haven’t seen the signs of any kind of gun violence.

4) According to the article, what do school shootings and plane crashes have in common?

“ Rare but retrieving for the primitive fears they evoke. “

5) Why are Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris mentioned?

Because they were in one of the biggest school shooting feuds of all time.

6) What is the awful shorthand they have given kids?

Children have such an easy access to weapons at home. Parents are allowed to have guns lying around in the house.     

7) “… the adults fire back at a moving target” Explain.  

8) “The culture cracked down on itself” Explain

9) What is your impression on the writer’s attitude to Charles Andrew Williams.

She feels sorry for him

10) What is/are the message(s) of the article?

11) Is “It’s only me” a good title? Why/ why not?

12) Can you think of a better title?

Task 2: Analysis

Read the model and do the tasks below.

NON-FICTION:

Communication model:

Relationship between sender and receiver

IT’S ONLY ME

Who                                          Nancy

Says what                                 Stop School shootings

To whom                                  EVERYBODY - THE PUBLIC

Under which circumstances                   

With which purpose                

With which effect                    The receiver's reaction

WARNING:

Who                                          Time

Says what                                  School shootings in Santee, CA

To whom                                   Everyone with kids or grandkids in school, authority

Under which circumstances      Through the newspaper   

With which purpose                   Eye-opener to parents to aware them of these school shootings  

With which effect