Ks4 English

Ks4 English

Morning Glass, the autobiography of professional surfer Mike Doyle.

The first time I ever saw somebody riding a surfboard was at the Manhattan Pier in 1953.  

As much time as I’d spent at the beach, you’d think I would have at least seen one surfer before then.

Multiple Choice

Which is the topic of the story?

• Surfboarding

• Sunbathing

• The Manhattan Pier

• The 50s

Fill in the Blanks

"As much time as I’d spent at the beach, you’d think I would have at least seen one surfer before then."

What does you'd stand for?

But there were only a few dozen surfers in all of California at that time and, like surfers today, they were out at dawn surfing the morning glass. By the time the crowds arrived, they were gone.

Open Ended

What does the writer mean when talking about the "morning glass".

But this one morning I took the first bus to the beach, walked out onto the Manhattan Pier, looked down and saw these bronzed 13 gods, all in incredibly good shape, happier and healthier than anybody I’d ever seen.

Fill in the Blanks

Who are "the gods" the writer refers to?

They sat astride their boards, laughing with each other; at the first swell they swung their 15 long boards around, dropped to their stomachs, and began paddling towards shore.

Multiple Choice

Find the synonym for "astride"

• sitting on

• next to

• across

• diagonally

From my viewpoint, it was almost as if I were on the board myself, paddling for the swell, sliding into the wave, coming to my feet, and angling the board down that long wall of green water. It was almost as if I already knew that feeling in my bones. From that day on, I knew that surfing was for me.

Multiple Choice

Did the writer think surfing was for him?

• Yes

• No

Open Ended

What made the writer think he was made for surfing?

There were several surfers out that day. Greg Noll was just a kid then, about sixteen years  old, but he was hot. On one wave he turned around backward on his board, showing off a  bit for the people watching from the pier. I was just dazzled.

Multiple Choice

Find the synonym for "dazzle"

• impress

• disappoint

• traumatize

Open Ended

What did the writer see that made him dazzle?

Once I’d discovered there was such a thing as surfing, I began plotting my chance to try it. I used to stand out in the surf and wait until one of the surfers lost his board. The boards then 25 were eleven feet long, twenty-four inches wide and weighed fifty or sixty pounds. When  they washed in broadside, they would hit me in the legs and knock me over. I would jump back up, scramble the board around, hop on, and paddle it ten feet before the owner snatched it back – ‘Thanks, kid’ – and paddled away.

Open Ended

Did the writer find it easy to surf since the beginning?

Would you have done the same as he did?

One day in 1954, when I was thirteen, I was down at Manhattan Pier watching a guy ride a  huge old-fashioned paddle-board – what we used to call a kook box. It was hollow, made of  mahogany, about fourteen feet long, maybe sixty-five pounds and had no fin. It was the  35 kind of paddle-board lifeguards used for rescues; they worked fine for that purpose, but for  surfing they were unbelievably awkward. When the guy came out of the water, dragging the  board behind him, I asked if I could borrow it for a while. He looked at me like ‘Get lost, kid.’  But when he sat down on the beach, I pestered him until he finally shrugged and nodded  toward the board.

Multiple Choice

What was a "kook box"?

• A paddle-board

• The board of a paddle

• The nickname of a surfer

I’d watched enough surfing by then to have a pretty clear idea of the technique involved. I dragged the board into the water and flopped on top of it. After a while I managed to paddle the thing out beyond the shore break and got it turned around. To my surprise, after a few  awkward tries, I managed to get that big, clumsy thing going left on a three foot wave. I came to my feet, right foot forward, just like riding a scooter. I had no way of turning the 45 board but for a few brief seconds, I was gliding over the water.

Multiple Choice

What does the writer compares surfing to?

• Riding a scooter

• Riding a bike

• Riding a horse

Fill in the Blanks

"I came to my feet, right foot forward, just like riding a scooter."

What figure of speech does the writer use in this sentence?

As the wave started to break behind me, I looked back, then completely panicked. I hadn’t  thought that far ahead yet! My first impulse was to bail out, so I jumped out in front of the  board, spread-eagled. I washed up on the beach, dragged myself onto the dry sand, and  lay there groaning. 

Open Ended

What feelings does the writer express in the paragraph you just read?

What words and expressions does he use to make you understand his feelings?

"As the wave started to break behind me, I looked back, then completely panicked. I hadn’t thought that far ahead yet! My first impulse was to bail out, so I jumped out in front of the board, spread-eagled. I washed up on the beach, dragged myself onto the dry sand, and lay there groaning. "