PENGUIN READERS Level 2 Dante's Peak (Teacher's notes).pdf

PENGUIN READERS

Teacher Support Programme

Teacher’s notes

LEVEL 2

Dante’s Peak

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earthquake and hot gas explodes into the lake. The couple

die. Harry also meets Rachel’s son Graham who likes

playing in a disused mine with his friends.

Chapters 4 –5: Rachel drives Harry up the mountain.

They meet Ruth. Rachel used to be married to Ruth’s

son. Harry notices that there are brown, dead trees and

says there is acid in the water. Lauren, Rachel’s daughter,

finds two dead animals. Next they see dead fish and then

they find the two dead swimmers, face down, in the water.

Harry telephones his boss, Paul, who decides to come to

Dante’s Peak. However, Paul and Harry don’t agree. Harry

thinks the volcano will explode and Paul doesn’t. They

decide to take their equipment up the mountain and agree

to tell the businessmen what they find.

Chapters 6 –7: Paul and Harry meet in Rachel’s café. They

decide to take a helicopter up the mountain. Although

they go up in the helicopter, they don’t see an earthquake

that causes rocks to fall down the mountain, because it

happens underneath the helicopter. Rachel asks Harry to

dinner. That evening when they are at dinner, Rachel talks

about herself and her marriage to Brian. Harry tells Rachel

what happened to his girlfriend, Marianne. The next day,

they take the equipment up the mountain. Terry Furlong

takes one of his robots. The robot can find smoke and gas.

The following day, Terry is up the mountain and the team

is reading the messages from the robot down below. They

realise an earthquake is happening but it is too late. A rock

falls on Terry and breaks his leg. Harry and Hutcherson go

up in the helicopter and rescue him.

Chapters 8 –9: The earthquake is bad for business but

Paul says that not a lot happened up the mountain and

that Terry was unlucky. However, Harry thinks that lava

is moving up nearer to ground level. They have a fight.

Paul decides they need to leave and both Paul and Harry

tell the business people that they don’t think Dante’s Peak

is dangerous. No-one realises that the fish in the lake near

Ruth’s house are dying. Harry walks Rachel home. He

puts his arm around her. When they get to Rachel’s house,

Lauren wants a drink, but the water is brown. Harry wants

to see where the water comes from, so they all go up the

mountain. There is gas everywhere. When Harry finds

the other scientists, they think the mountain is ready to

explode. The people of the town have to leave, but Ruth

doesn’t want to. Ash and smoke start to come out of the

mountain and the school building moves. People start to

run and scream.

Summary

Dante’s Peak was written in 1997 as a novel based on the

film of the same name. Dante’s Peak is a small town in

the north-west of the United States, situated on the side

of a volcano that has been inactive for thousands of years.

When the mountain starts showing signs of activity, Harry

Dalton, an expert on volcanoes, is sent to investigate the

movement. Harry finds a volcano which he believes is

going to erupt in a very short time, but finds that no-one

in the town is willing to listen to him. Even his own boss

feels that he is exaggerating the danger, and that Harry is

over-reacting because his girlfriend was killed in a volcanic

eruption some months previously. Then the volcano starts

to erupt, and everyone realises that Harry was right. But

has this realisation come too late to save the people of the

town?

Introduction and Chapter 1: The story of Dante’s Peak is

similar to the real volcanic eruption of Mount St Helens

in 1980 in the United States. Harry Dalton, a scientist,

works at the United States Volcano Office. His boss,

Paul Dreyfus sends him to Dante’s Peak, a small town

in the north west of the US, to investigate a mountain

that is moving. Harry thinks the volcano will explode.

Local businessmen and the mayor don’t want to hear this.

Harry’s girlfriend died in a volcanic explosion and he

wants to stop this happening to anyone else.

Chapters 2–3: Harry meets Rachel Wando, the mayor

of Dante’s Peak when she is thanking the newspaper for

calling the town ‘the second best town in America’. Elliot

Blair, a businessman, wants to put lots of money into

Dante’s Peak and make it a centre for winter holidays.

However, there is a problem. A young couple go for a

swim in the lake up on the mountain. There is a small

c Pearson Education Limited 2008

Dante’s Peak - Teacher’s notes

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PENGUIN READERS

Teacher Support Programme

Teacher’s notes

LEVEL 2

Dante’s Peak

Chapters 10 –11: A building falls onto the school bus

and there are earthquakes all the time. Harry goes in

the car with Rachel to get her children and Graham

goes to get Ruth. Elliot Blair, Les Worrell and some

other businessmen pay a lot of money to escape in the

helicopter. However, there is too much ash in the air and

it stops the engine. The helicopter crashes. There are rocks

falling everywhere. Harry, Rachel and the children meet at

Ruth’s house and start to drive down the mountain. Lava

starts to flow into Ruth’s house and it is too dangerous

to continue by car. They take Ruth’s boat onto the lake.

However, the water is acid and starts eating into the boat.

Chapters 12–13: They cannot reach the other side of the

lake, so Ruth jumps out. The acid starts to eat into her legs

and she dies. Suddenly, water, trees, rocks and buildings

start moving down the mountain. Paul tells Harry by

radio that the scientists have to leave. The river is very

high and it carries Paul’s car away. He dies. Harry finds a

car that works and they start driving down the mountain

again. Roughy jumps in. When they get to Dante’s Peak

there is a cloud of hot gas and ash (pyroclastic flow)

coming towards it. Their only chance of escape is to go

underground into the mine. They drive into the mine.

Graham and his friends have left food and drink in there.

They go to find it, but Harry has forgotten the radio. As

he goes back to the car to get it, rocks fall down. He gets

separated from the others but sends a message for help.

Two days later, when the earthquake stops, people come to

rescue them. They all survive.

Conflict between humans and nature: One of the most

important themes of the book is the conflict between

humans and nature, and the fact that we should never take

nature for granted. Harry is a man with a great affinity

and respect for volcanoes and for nature in general. He is

therefore willing to take notice of the subtle changes in

nature which point to the danger, such as the acidity of

the water and the number of dead trees in the area. On

the other hand, his boss and his colleagues place their

trust in the computers and other man-made machines that

monitor the volcano and they are proved wrong in the

end. Nature wins and takes her revenge on Paul Dreyfus,

Harry’s boss, as he loses his life in the eruption. In this

way, the story acts as a warning not to place too much

trust in modern technology, but to respect the old ways of

interpreting nature’s signals.

Making decisions: The main character of the book,

Harry Dalton, an expert on volcanoes, is trying to rebuild

his life after his girlfriend was killed in a volcanic eruption.

Although he suspects that the volcano at Dante’s Peak is

going to erupt, he feels that it is possible that he is now

over-anxious about other people being killed in the same

way as his girlfriend, and that this anxiety is affecting his

judgement. For this reason he is prepared to put aside, for

a while, his own suspicions about the volcano at Dante’s

Peak, and listen to his boss, who believes that there is

nothing to worry about. This decision in fact has tragic

consequences for the townspeople.

The influence of big business: The other main theme

of the book is the influence that big business can have on

people’s lives and fates. Dante’s Peak is about to receive a

large investment from a wealthy businessman who wants

to build a winter holiday complex there. This would

make the town much richer than it is, and the plan is

enthusiastically supported by the members of the business

community in the town. When Harry Dalton arrives with

his predictions of a volcanic eruption, the business people

don’t want to listen to him, as they know that a volcanic

eruption or even rumours of one would ruin their plans.

They are happy to support Paul Dreyfus’s opinion and to

refuse to believe Harry. In doing so, they allow something

far worse to happen to the townspeople than the loss of

the anticipated holiday complex.

Background and themes

The placement of the town Dante’s Peak in the Cascade

Mountains of Oregon and Washington states in the

United States was no accident. It was in this area that the

United States experienced one of its worst ever volcanic

eruptions, in 1980 when Mount St Helen’s erupted. The

volcano had been dormant for over 120 years when it

started showing signs of activity in early 1980. It erupted

in May 1980, when the top of the mountain was blown

off by the force of the explosion and its height was

reduced by about 400 metres. More than sixty people died

and an area of 600 square kilometres was devastated. The

volcano continues to spit steam and ash today. The book

is therefore based on a reality which people in that area of

the United States know very well.

c Pearson Education Limited 2008

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Teacher’s notes

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Dante’s Peak

Discussion activities

Chapter 7

Before reading

Predict: Have students work in pairs and discuss the

following questions. What do you think Terry’s Robot is?

What do you think it will be used for? Why would people

use a robot on a mountain? How could the robot help the

scientists? Have the students write down their ideas

and predictions.

Guess: Write these words on the board: earthquake,

acid, smoke and lava. Have students guess what they

mean by giving them a context. a This is hot and red

and comes out of a volcano. b This is a liquid that

can burn you. c Where there is a fire, you often see

this in the air. It’s black . d This is when the earth

moves.

After reading

Research: Have the students look up the states of

Oregon and Washington in books or on the Internet.

Ask students to find out as much as they can about

these states. Ask them also to locate the Cascade

mountains. What can you find out about the Cascade

Mountains? Is there anything unusual about these

mountains? Are they safe or dangerous?

Check: Students see if their predictions for activity 8

are right.

Chapter 8

After reading

10 Role play: Student A is Elliot Blair. You want to

know everything about the mountain and if there are

any problems. You ask a lot of questions. Student B is

Paul Dreyfus. You don’t think there are any problems

with the mountain and you don’t want Elliot to take

away his money or worry about the mountain. Have

the conversation.

Chapter 1

After reading

Pair work: Ask the students to think about how

Harry felt when his girlfriend died. How do you think

Harry felt when this happened? Why do you think he

continued to work with volcanoes? Did this help him feel

better after his girlfriend’s death, do you think?

Chapter 9

After reading

11 Pair work: Ask the students to work in pairs and to

imagine they are looking at smoke and ash coming

from the top of Dante’s Peak. You need to decide what

to do. Write a list of the most important things you need

to do. What should you do first? Think about your

friends and family? Think about the things you own.

What should you take with you?

Chapter 2

Artwork: Ask the students to imagine what the

winter holiday centre will look like. Ask them to draw

a plan of the centre and include everything the town

will need.

Chapter 4

Before reading

Chapters 10 –11

Predict: Have the students work in small groups and

talk about the title of Chapter 4. What do you think

‘Dead fish on the water’ means? Why do you think the

fish are dead? What has killed them? Is this important?

Why? Have the students write down their ideas.

After reading

12 Pair work: Ask students to work in pairs and to talk

about Ruth. How does Ruth feel when she sees her house

destroyed? See how many describing words you can think

of together and write them down. Think of words in

your own language and look them up in your dictionary .

After reading

Check: Students see if their predictions for activity 5

are right.

Chapter 12

Before reading

13 Discuss: Ask students to discuss whether they think

the boat will get across the lake. Will everybody on the

boat live? What could happen?

Chapter 5

After reading

Role play: Student A is Rachel Wando. Rachel wants

to know everything about the mountain and if it

is dangerous. Student B is Harry Dalton. Harry

thinks there is a problem and that the mountain is

dangerous. He wants people to leave the town.

Student C is Paul Dreyfus. Paul doesn’t agree with

Harry and wants Rachel to think everything will be

OK. Have the conversation.

Chapter 13

After reading

14 Write: Ask students to write a paragraph about what

they think will happen to the family. Will Rachel and

Harry get married? Where will they live? What will they

do? Write down your ideas .

Vocabulary activities

For the Word List and vocabulary activities, go to

www.penguinreaders.com.

c Pearson Education Limited 2008

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