The White House Ghost

8/3/2019 The White House Ghost

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Retold by S. E. Schlosser

It is said that Lincoln's ghost haunts the White House. He appears in the room where the

Lincoln bed is kept. Harry Truman once responded to a 3 o'clock knock on his door and found

no one there. He attributed the knock to Lincoln.

Lincoln is said to return to the White House when the security of the country is at risk. He

strides up and down the second floor hallway, raps at doors, and stands by certain windows

with his hands clasped behind his back. One staff member claimed to have seen Lincoln sitting

on his bed pulling on his boots.

A bodyguard to President Harrison was kept awake many nights trying to protect the president

from mysterious footsteps he heard in the hall. He grew so tired and worried; he finally

attended a sance to beg President Lincoln to stop so he could get enough sleep to properly

protect the president!

Abigail Adam's ghost was seen drifting through the closed doors of the East Room to hang the

laundry during the Taft administration.

A gardener claims to have spoken to the ghost of Dolly Madison, who reproved him for tryingto remove the rose bushes she had planted over a hundred years ago.

In the 1930s Andrew Jackson's ghost could be heard laughing in the Rose room.

In 1952, extensive repairs were done to the second floor of the White House. Since then, the

ghosts have not walked so actively.

FROM:

http://www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/dc.html
http://www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/dc.htmlhttp://www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/dc.html


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1- Try and find as many words as you can from the ghost semantic

field:

Organize your findings in a grid.

Similar meaning Related words Reactions to ghosts

2- Write their translations, explain the differences of meaning.

3- What could the White House ghost be?


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4- Discuss with a partner what you know about the White House.

5- Using the title, guess what the story might be about.

6- Imagine a story. Be creative!

7- Prepare 6 guesses: what do you think the story is going to deal with?

1. 4.

2. 5.

3. 6.


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8- Prepare 6 questions to which you would like to find an answer in thereading.

1. 4.

2. 5.

3. 6.

9- Write 10 words you expect to find in the extract.

1. 6.

2. 7.

3. 8.

4. 9.

5. 10.

10-Imagine a short summary of the story using these words.

11- Discuss it with your partner.


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1- Write 10 key-words you read:

1. 6.

2. 7.

3. 8.

4. 9.

5. 10.

2- Write a short summary of the story using those words and someconnectors.


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3- Check if you found the words you thought might appear in the textand tick the correct ones.

4- Try and answer your questions.

1. 4.

2. 5.

3. 6.

5- Prepare 6 more questions & answers to ask your friends:

1.

2.

3.


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4

5.

6.

Answer the questions:

Who is mentioned?

What do you learn about them?


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Where does the story unfold?

When? (different dates or periods)

What is the text about?


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Do you like it or not?

Why?

1- Write a summary of the story.

2- Write a story using the same title. The best story (the mostinteresting, the most creative, the funniest.) will be selected bythe class.

3- Make a poster about the White House.


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4- Make a PowerPoint presentation about the most famous Americanpresidents.

5- Write the biography of A. Lincoln.

Documents

The White House Ghost