A Writer and a Teacher - A Reading Comprehension Worksheet for the 9th Grade

Frank McCourt died in New York last week at the age of 78. Most people will remember McCourt as the author of Angela's Ashes. Fewer people, however, knowthat he also spent 30 years of his life teaching creative writing in New York City high schools. McCourt always told his students that their own lives were the best subjectfor their writing. In Angela's Ashes, he took his own advice and based the book on his childhood memories.McCourt liked to say that his years as a teacher didn't leave him much time to write, but they did make a writer out of him. That's because he spent so many of his lessons telling the students about his own experiences. "He told stories. That was his method,"says Mary Heller, a former student. "He thought that by telling us stories, he'd teach us how to do it too."McCourt was born in New York to Irish immigrant parents who had come to the USA to find a better life. Sadly, they failed to realize their dreams. When Frank was 4 years old they returned to Ireland, where they lived in extreme poverty. At the age of 19, Frank went back to New York. After moving from one job to another for several years, he enrolled in New York University and got a degree in education. In 1957 he began teaching. His experiences in the classroom are described with much humor in his third book Teacher Man, published in 2005.While he was still a teacher, McCourt wrote a short play and a few articles on Ireland for local magazines. However, he began to write seriously only after he retired, publishing his first book, Angela's Ashes, in 1996. It immediately became an international bestseller and won a number of important awards. In 1999, it was made into a movie. None of this surprised McCourt's former students. As Heller says, "We all thought he was such a genius. We always believed he would do great things. We were right!"(Adapted from "McCourt: A Storyteller Even as a Teacher," New York Times, July 20, 2009) QUESTIONS Answer questions 1-8 in English, according to the text. In questions 6 and 7 circle the number of the correct answer. In the other questions, follow the instructions. 1. What did McCourt tell his students to write about? (Par. 1) 2. According to McCourt, what problem did teaching create for him? (Par. 2) COMPLETE THE SENTENCE.Because he was a teacher, he... 3. What does Mary Heller explain in paragraph 2? COMPLETE THE SENTENCE:She explains why McCourt ... 4. In paragraph 3, the writer gives information about McCourt's (–). CLICK THE TWOCORRECT ANSWERS. personal background first steps as a writer jobs in Ireland relations with his parents professional training success as a teacher 5. What do McCourt's books Angela's Ashesand Teacher Man have in common? COMPLETE THE SENTENCE.Both books are... 6. According to paragraph 4, McCourt's former students (–). were surprised by his book made a film about him advised him to write expected him to become famous 7. What information is given in paragraph 4 about Angela's Ashes? It was the first thing McCourt wrote. McCourt wrote it after he stopped teaching. McCourt wrote it for his students. McCourt worked on it for three years. 8. Angela's Ashes was a big success. Copy a sentence or a phrase from paragraph 4 that shows this.