Modul 5: Hangutánzó szavak: 02 Past Curfew

Hi. Let’s take a look at some more sounds.

Here is a photo of some leaves.  In autumn, leaves fall off the trees and land all over the ground. Autumn leaves are very colourful and when you walk through them, you can hear them rustle. Leaves rustle. Children love to jump and kick their way through the autumn leaves and it creates a pleasant sound.

A sound that isn’t so pleasant is the sound of creaky floorboards. Do you have creaking floorboards in your house? When you know where about the floorboard is, often you make a large step over it so that it doesn’t creak.

What’s this sound? It’s the jingling of keys. If you have lots of keys on your key ring, then you’ll be familiar with the sound that they make when you swing them around. Keys jingle.

The Story: Past Cerfew (with explanation)

In the early hours of a crisp autumn morning, Maddie was sneaking back into her house, trying not to wake anyone. 

A crisp morning is fresh and cold. So, on a fresh, cold autumn morning, Maddie was sneaking back into her house, you know, she was moving very quietly and carefully trying not to wake anyone – not her parents or her siblings or even the dog.

She had been at a party but stayed out past her curfew.

Curfew is the time until you can stay out in the evening. Most parents want their children back home before about 10 or 11 pm, so the children have got a 10 or 11 clock curfew. Maddie stayed out past her curfew – past the time that her parents had told her.

Maddie knew that if her parents caught her, she would be in big trouble.

Did she know about her curfew? Yes. She knew when her curfew was because she knew that by being late, she would not be in a little bit of trouble, but in a lot of trouble. She would be in big trouble.

She carefully opened the gate to her front garden and trod lightly down the path towards her front door.

By opening the gate carefully, not forcefully but carefully, she could minimise the noise of her entering the front garden. She continued to be careful of the noise that she made by treading lightly down the path towards her front door. To tread lightly is to step with caution and as little weight as possible.

The leaves that coated the ground gently rustled as she went.

Since she had been careful opening the gate and walking down the path, the only noise that could be heard was the gentle, soft rustling noises of the leaves that she brushed past as she trod lightly.

Once inside the house, she slowly shut the door and hung her keys on a hook. Maddie’s face screwed up as she heard the jingling of her keys as they swung on the hook

When she got inside the house, she continued to be careful of making any noise so she shut the door not quickly but slowly and she hung her keys,  she put her keys on the hook. Her face screwed up. She became tense because her keys made a jingling sound as they swung side to side on the hook.

She listened for the sound of her parents waking up, but there was silence upstairs.

Because the keys made a loud sound, she listened to hear if her parents’ sleep was disturbed. Was it? No. There was silence upstairs. She didn’t wake them up.

Lightly making her way up the stairs, she reached the top and glided across to her room.

Again, she moved lightly. This time she was moving lightly up the stairs to go to her room. On each step she was treading carefully and when she was upstairs how did she go to her room? Clumsily? Heavily? Loudly? No, she glided across to her room. ‘Gliding’ gives us the image that she was so light stepped and quiet that she floated through the air directly to her room.

Her face suddenly winced again because she had stood on a creaking floorboard.

Her face winced. She cringed. Remember how it screwed up and became tense when her keys swung downstairs? Thats what her face did again, it winced. Why did it wince? Because though she was gliding across the hallway, she had stepped onto a creaking floorboard.

Again, she stopped in her tracks and listened for any disturbance. There was no reaction.

So she stopped to hear if anyone was disturbed or moved. Was there any distraction? No. She carried on.

Relieved, she opened her bedroom door, stepped inside and edged the bedroom door shut.

Relieved: phew! She was happy. She was happy that she didn’t wake anyone. She entered her bedroom and she stepped inside. She stepped in to still be quiet. And how did she shut the door? She edged it shut. She didn’t slam it. She carefully edged it shut.

As Maddie turned on her light, her face dropped. After all her efforts to keep quiet, her parents were sitting upright on her bed waiting for her with stern looks on their faces.

As she turned on the light, her face dropped. She couldn’t believe it. She was stunned. She tried to be so silent so that she didn’t wake up her parents because if they knew that she had come home past curfew, she would be in big trouble, but they were already awake sitting, not slouched but sitting upright, on her bed. They had stern looks -serious faces.

The Story: Past Cerfew (2nd reading)

Let’s take a look at the story again.

In the early hours of a crisp autumn morning, Maddie was sneaking back into her house, trying not to wake anyone.

She had been at a party but stayed out past her curfew. Maddie knew that if her parents caught her, she would be in big trouble. She carefully opened the gate to her front garden and trod lightly down the path towards her front door. The leaves that coated the ground gently rustled as she went.

Once inside the house, she slowly shut the door and hung her keys on a hook. Maddie’s face screwed up as she heard the jingling of her keys as they swung on the hook. She listened for the sound of her parents waking up, but there was silence upstairs. Lightly making her way up the stairs, she reached the top and glided across to her room. Her face suddenly winced again because she had stood on a creaking floorboard. Again, she stopped in her tracks and listened for any disturbance. There was no reaction.

Relieved, she opened her bedroom door, stepped inside and edged the bedroom door shut. As Maddie turned on her light, her face dropped. After all her efforts to keep quiet, her parents were sitting upright on her bed waiting for her with stern looks on their faces.