I. Pre-reading

1.1. DISCUSS your family background (your parents' professions and/or jobs). Have you ever thought those to be (1) prestigious; (2) unimportant; (3) nothing much to speak of; (4) something to be silent about? Give your reasons:

1.2. Say if you would like to follow your father's / mother's tracks and become a teacher. Or, perhaps, it is quite the reverse. Share your ideas while working in small groups.

1.3. Ask your teacher if s/he thinks teaching students reminds her, at times, of engaging in a circus show, or a rodeo ride, or a Camel Trophy race. Be persistent in asking for explanations.

II. Reading

2.1. Understanding the title.

Here is the title of the story, Braving the Bull. Where do you think the action takes place — in Spain, Mongolia, Portugal, North America, or China? Tell your partner what you expect to read about in the story.

2.2. Reading for pleasure and enrichment.

Read the story and answer the question: Did Wade's attitude towards his daddy's occupation change that day?

The following words will be helpful to understand the events better.

Hardly — almost not, scarcely.

Antics — tricks, pranks.

Burrito — a Mexican dish: flat bread folded around meat.

Sinewy — having strong muscles.

Scrawny — thin and weak.

Doggedly — with great determination.

Douse — cover something with water.

Mock — not real, but intended to be very similar to something.

Tender — a worker taking care of the arena.

Baggy — lacking shape, hanging in loose folds.

Garbage — rubbish, waste of various kinds.

"Elie's out of the gate! Wow! Look at that horse buck!" Wade was up on his feet cheering. He hardly noticed the people around him in the bleachers.

Wade Alien Hubbell, Jr., had been a big fan of rodeos ever since he was a little kid. Now he was in the sixth grade and excited to be on his own at the rodeo in his hometown of Cortez, Colorado.

"You can do it, Jimmy," he muttered, just before Jimmy was thrown over the horse's head into the dust. Drat! He almost made the bell. Wade turned away from the arena in disappointment. Someday I'll be out there and I'll stay on for the whole eight seconds, he thought.

When he looked back into the ring, he groaned. Oh no, there's Pa! What's he doing, blowing the horse's nose with his bandanna? That's ridiculous. Wade felt humiliated, but the crowd loved it when the clown felt the horse's head to see if it had a temperature. They laughed and applauded as Hubbell the Clown then led the horse away so the rider was able to get up and out of the ring safely.

He's making a complete fool of himself, Wade thought as he watched the audience enjoying his father's antics. Angry, the boy bolted from the stands and stalked off to get a burrito. Don't they see what a jerk Pa is? he wondered. Baggy pants, red-and-white polka-dot bandanna, and old dusty, moth-eaten hat with an arrow stuck through it. What's so funny about clowns anyway? Even in the circus, they're dumb.

Wade took huge bites of his bean-and-cheese burrito and washed them down with a Coke. He stood at the fence half-watching as the women barrel-racers put their horses through their paces. He knew it took a lot of skill to maneuver a horse around those barrels without knocking them over, but it wasn't exciting or dangerous enough to be interesting to him. All he wanted was for the bull riding to start.

He was into his second burrito, beef and cheese this time, when the announcer called out over the P.A. system: "And now... crackle ... event that takes great... screech!... bulldogging!" Wade pressed closer until he was at the rail. He just about missed the'first rider who lasted less than two seconds before being propelled well clear of the lunging bull. He must not have had a good hold on the rope, Wade thought as he finished his drink and waited for contestant number two to break out of the holding pen.

"...Crackle... he"s off!" Wade's eyes eagerly followed the heaving bull and his sinewy, skillful rider. That guy is glued on. He's gonna be the winner for sure, Wade thought excitedly. It seemed more like eight minutes than eight seconds before the buzzer finally went off and the crowd cheered the best rider of the day. Wade was so inspired-by the cowboy's skill that he hardly noticed the other cowboys and the clowns who were busy making it safe for the rider to jump off the bull and bow. With a sweep of his high-crowned Stetson, the victor headed to the fence and swung his legs over — chaps, spurs, boots, and all.

Wade felt as though the event were over: no other rider could measure up to that one. But just then, out of the gate exploded the biggest, meanest bull he had ever laid eyes on. The rider on his back looked as if he wished he were somewhere else.

The bull was roaring mad. No puny, scrawny human was going to stick him with spurs and stay on his back for long!

The crowd hushed. Wade could sense their fear of this monster. He admired the cowboy for hanging on for, five long seconds, but finally the bull charged ahead, stopped dead, and lurched sideways, causing his rider to lose his seat. The cowboy doggedly held on, which was a mistake. When he lost his grip on the rope that girdled the bull's huge chest and fell to the ground, he slipped right under the bull's hoofs. Wade Alien had never seen such fury before in a rodeo animal. The bull was out of control, thundering back over the fallen rider, whose life was in great danger. He lay motionless, facedown in the dirt, arms and legs sprawled out.

Where are the ring tenders on their horses? Wade looked around desperately. As he turned back, he saw his father, not five feet from the head of the raging bull. Hubbell the Clown, with a red toreador's cape and a big water pistol, proceeded to douse the bull. The crowd laughed nervously and then gasped as the bull dug in his hoofs, lowered his head, and took off after the moving clown.

Hubbell, with mock bullfighter's dignity, presented his red cape, and the bull obligingly charged. Behind the cape was hidden a garbage can lid, and the bull hit it with a clang.' The crowd roared. Even Wade had to laugh. His dad was funny and darned gutsy, too.

Meanwhile, medics had quickly put the unconscious cowboy on a stretcher and were running out of the ring with him at a faster-than-usual clip. Hubbell let down his guard for just a second and failed to see what was coming. To his horror, Wade watched as the bull ran with all two thousand pounds of his bulk right into his father, knocking him over. Then and only then did the ring tenders appear. It took four of them, but they managed to head off the bull and herd him into a holding pen.

Wade Alien was beyond thinking as he threw himself over the fence and ran to where his father lay, his baggy pants covered with dust and his arrow-festooned hat trampled and shredded.

"Pa, it"s me! Are you all right?" Wade Alien couldn't hide the fear in his voice.

Hubbell stirred slightly, groaned, and opened his eyes. He looked around and stared at the garbage can lid that lay next to him. It had several hoof prints imprinted in it. He turned his head to face the boy. "Well, son," he said slowly, "I"ve had the wind knocked out of me, but without that garbage can lid, I believe it could have been a mite worse."

After a few seconds, he gave the boy a wink and to Wade' s amazement began to play to the audience. He lifted his legs high in the air and reached up with his arms to feel if any bones were broken. As he stood up, he felt his head, his neck, his shoulders, arms, and—very carefully — every one of his ten fingers. The audience went wild. They cheered and applauded the man who, Wade knew, had given the best performance of the day!

2.3. True of false?

The boy was given to rodeo performance watching.

He always enjoyed watching his father in the arena.

Watching bull-riding was the boy's second-best occupation.

Wade dreamed about becoming a toreador some day.

The boy laughed at his father's antics out of politeness.

Wade's father, it seems, was very good at what he was doing.

The events in the arena could not have ended differently.

The best performance of the day belonged to Wade's father.

2.4. Understanding points of view.

Scan the story and try to explain what the characters meant.

Wade: "He's out of the gate! Wow!"

Wade: "You can do it, Jimmy."

Wade: "That guy is glued on."

Daddy: "I've had the wind knocked out of me."

The bull (had he time to think clearly):

"Okay, okay, you deserved it, clown!"

2.5. Local coloring.

Scan the story again. There are several words in the text that convey local coloring very effectively. List them matching their explanations.

a show featuring horses and riders	rodeo
a special sort of sandwich	?
a worker at a ranch handling cattle	?
a person in charge of handling rodeo animals	?
a peculiar kind of hat always worn by cowboys	?
a device for managing horses attached to boots	?
a professional bullfighter as he's called internationally	?

2.6. Storing vocabulary.

Paraphrase the following using the expressions from the story

She made a swift movement with her eyelids indicating it was a joke.

The situation went from bad to worse becoming quite unmanageable.

The boy was behaving like a silly one playing to the girls' attention.

The crowd at the soccer match was shouting as loudly as they could.

That young author drew his inspiration from visiting ancient castles.

Such young girls should not be there without parents or older friends.

The caged animals began to rage scared by the thunder and lightning.

The player grimaced as if in pain trying to catch the eye of the referee.

His failure at the entrance exams was a heavy blow to his self-esteem.

He never depends on anyone, he always goes his way to the very end.

Expressions to choose from: to be on one's own, to make a fool of oneself ,to be humiliated by, to be inspired by, to roar mad, to be out of control, to give somebody a wink, to go wild, to play to somebody.

2.7. Colloquial English.

There are several phrases in the story that are the thoughts of the boy expressed in colloquial English. Wade doesn't know any better, you see. But you do. So, try to "translate" his thoughts into literary English explaining connotations on the way.

e.g. Drat! = The boy means that it's a great pity that the cowboy wasn't able to...etc. It expresses a 12-year-old's utter disappointment.

"Drat! He almost made the bell."

"Don't they see what a jerk Pa is?"

"That guy is glued on."

He's gonna be the winner for sure!

His dad was funny and darned gutsy, too.

2.8. Studying grammar.

Bull riding is a rough and dangerous sport. The story could have ended in a much less happy situation, of course. Let's try to figure out what course the events in the story could have taken. Brainstorm all the possible situations Wade could have found himself in.

Wade could have forgotten _________________

failed ____________

fainted___________

___________, so he wouldn't have ___________ .

2.9. More grammar.

At one moment, the boy was so inspired by the cowboy's skill that he hardly noticed anything around him. What about other characters? How did they behave? Recollect the details using the table below to intensify your message.

The clown Wade The rider was so The bull The crowd

charmed enraged inspired absorbed shaken endangered entranced humiliated engulfed

that he hardly ...