Northanger Abbey

by Jane Austen

Chapter Ten: Northanger Abbey

Author: Adrian Tennant

LISTENING SKILLS teacher’s notes

Level: Beginner – pre-intermediate

Age: Teenagers / adults
Time needed: 30 minutes approx
Preparation: Copies of the questions for
activity 1.

Activity 1

1 Put students into groups of four. Ask two students

to be A and two students to be B and to sit together in
their group.
Activity 2
2 Hand out the questions to each pair in the group,
giving the As the A questions and the Bs the 1 Tell the students that they need a pen and paper
B questions. and that they are going to do a dictation.

3 Ask them to read the questions to themselves. 2 Explain that the students will be in control of
the recording.
4 Explain that you will play the recording and that you
want them to answer their own set of questions. 3 On the board draw the controls: << (rewind)
□ (stop) > (play) etc.
5 Play the recording through until the sentence ‘Were
they secret papers?’ 4 Tell the students that if they shout ‘stop’ you will
stop the recording; if they say rewind to ‘X’ you will
6 Ask students to answer the questions together. rewind the recording to the point they ask; and when
they want you to play they should shout ‘play’.
7 Monitor and play the recording again if necessary.
5 Start from, ‘At that moment the flame of
8 Now ask students to work in their group of four to Catherine’s candle went out’ and stop at ‘She put
try to reconstruct the story from the chapter using the her head under the bed-covers’.
answers to their questions to help them.
6 Remind the students that they are in control
#
------------------------------------------------------------------------- and then start the recording and follow the
A – Questions procedure above.
1. Where did Catherine go?
2. Where does Henry live? Note: At first students might be reluctant to shout out,
3. What does Henry tell Catherine about her bedroom? but they soon get into the activity.
4. What was the weather like that night?
5. What was in the corner of the room? Alternative procedure:
You might want to read the text yourself rather than
#
------------------------------------------------------------------------- play the recording as it might be easier to control in
B – Questions terms of going back to certain points in the story.
1. Who did Catherine go with?
2. What is Henry’s job?
3. What time is dinner?
4. What was Catherine’s bedroom like?
5. What did Catherine find in the cupboard?
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Podcasts / Northanger Abbey: Chapter Ten

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 Northanger Abbey
by Jane Austen

Chapter Ten: Northanger Abbey

LISTENING
subject title

Activity 3

1 Play the recording from, ‘Catherine got into bed’

until, ‘She put her head under the bed-covers’.

2 Ask the students what they think Catherine did

that night and write their predictions / ideas down on
the board.

3 Then play the next bit of the recording until, ‘At last,
she fell asleep.’

4 Then ask the students what they think Catherine

did in the morning and what the papers were about.

5 Play the rest of the recording until the end of

SKILLS teacher’s notes

the chapter.

Extension: I remember...

Ask students to remember a time when they were

frightened and make some notes about where they
were and what made them frightened. Put students
in small groups and ask them to tell each other about
their frightening experience.

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Podcasts / Northanger Abbey: Chapter Ten

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 Northanger Abbey
by Jane Austen

Chapter Ten: Northanger Abbey

Transcript
LISTENING SKILLS transcript

The carriages travelled towards Northanger Abbey.

Henry Tilney spoke to Catherine.
‘My sister is happy,’ said Henry. ‘She is often alone
at the Abbey. Now, you will be there with her.’
‘But don’t you live there?’ Catherine asked.
‘No,’ Henry replied. ‘I don’t live there all the time.
My home is at Woodston, twenty miles from Northanger Abbey. I
am the clergyman of the church at Woodston.’
‘Tell me about Northanger Abbey!’ Catherine said. ‘I have often
read about abbeys. They are always old buildings, with lots of big
dark rooms.’
‘And there will be a big cupboard in your bedroom,’ Henry said.
‘You will try to open it. Then the flame of your candle will go out!
And you will be alone, in the dark!’ Henry was smiling.
‘Oh, please, Mr Tilney, do not frighten me!’ Catherine said.

It was a happy journey. Very soon, the travellers arrived at

Northanger Abbey.
And then, Catherine was inside the Abbey. Eleanor took her
upstairs. At last, Catherine was in her bedroom.
‘Dinner will be at five o’clock,’ Eleanor told her. ‘I will come for
you then.’

The dining-room was very large and the food was very good.
General Tilney smiled and all was well. Catherine and the Tilneys
had a happy evening.
At ten o’clock, Catherine went to her bedroom. The night was
stormy. It was raining and the wind was blowing loudly.
Catherine looked round her bedroom. It was a fine room. She
smiled.
‘I like this house,’ Catherine said to herself. ‘It is different from
the abbeys in horror-stories. The girls in horror-stories sleep in
cold, dark rooms. But this is a fine room. I will look at everything
before I go to bed.’
In one corner of the room, there was an old black cupboard.
Catherine remembered Henry’s words. The key was in the
cupboard door and Catherine turned the key. At first, the door did
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Podcasts / Northanger Abbey: Chapter Ten

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 Northanger Abbey
TG or WORKSHEET
by Jane Austen

Chapter Ten: Northanger Abbey

Transcript
LISTENING SKILLS transcript

not open. She turned the key again.

Then suddenly, the door opened. Catherine looked
inside. Was the cupboard empty? No! There were
some papers in the corner! Were they secret
papers?
At that moment, the flame of Catherine’s candle
went out. The rain crashed against the windows. The wind made a
terrible sound. Catherine remembered all the horror-stories about
old abbeys. She was very frightened. Was somebody outside her
door? Was somebody opening her window?
Catherine got into bed. She put her head under the bed-covers.
She wanted to look at the writing on the papers in the cupboard.
But she was too frightened. Was the writing on the papers about a
terrible death – a murder? Was it about some jewels?
‘I will look at the papers in the morning,’ Catherine said to
herself. At last, she fell asleep.

The next morning, Catherine woke up and got out of bed quickly.
She ran towards the cupboard. She was excited! She was going
to learn the terrible secret of Northanger Abbey!
Catherine picked up one of the papers and looked at it.
‘Shirts. Stockings. Bed-covers,’ she read. She picked up another
paper. ‘Three white shirts and two pairs of trousers.’
No terrible secrets! No jewels! The papers were lists of things
for washing – laundry lists!
‘I am very foolish,’ Catherine said to herself. ‘I have read too
many horror-stories. I cannot tell Henry about the laundry lists. He
will laugh at me.’
And Catherine went downstairs for breakfast.
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Podcasts / Northanger Abbey: Chapter Ten

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