PENGUIN READERS
Teacher’s notes LEVEL 1 Teacher Support Programme
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Mark Twain is not much of a student. Out by the river or in the cave,
however, Tom excels at everything he does. In the end, he
always does the right thing.
Life in the past: The adventures take place by the
Mississippi River in the mid-1800s. In those times
children’s lives were very different from today.
Discussion activities
Before reading
1 Research: Ask students to look for information on
the Internet. Where is the Mississippi River? Is it long
or short? How did people live in the 1850s in America?
Did children have a good life? What did they play with?
Is your life now very different?
About the author
Mark Twain was born Samuel Clemens in the southern Chapters 1–3
United States, in Florida in 1835, but he grew up in After reading
Hannibal, Missouri. He spent his childhood in a river 2 Discuss: Is Tom a happy boy? Is he clever? What does he
like? What doesn’t he like? Is Tom a good friend? What is
town on the Mississippi River. This environment was the a good friend? What do you like doing with your friends?
main source for some of his best known novels such as
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures Chapters 4–8
of Huckleberry Finn (1884). When he was twelve, his After reading
3 Write, ask and answer: Write What was on the
father died and he had to give up school to work as
teacher’s table? on the board and elicit the answer
a printer’s apprentice. His pen name, “Mark Twain,” (his new book). Now tell students to write similar
means safe waters, a phrase used by Mississippi boatmen. questions about Chapters 4 – 8. Students then mingle
His best books are considered to be skillful re-creations as a group, asking and answering each other’s
of American life at that time. Clemens died in 1910, questions.
but Mark Twain is still remembered as one of America’s Chapters 9–13
greatest writers. While reading (At the end of Chapter 10)
4 Role play: Put students in pairs to act out a
Summary conversation between Tom and Aunt Polly. Student A:
You are Aunt Polly. Ask Tom about his adventure in the
Tom, an orphan who lives with his Aunt Polly, is a
cave. Student B: You are Tom. Answer Aunt Polly’s
playful boy. His close friend, Huck, hasn’t got a family, is questions. Brainstorm possible questions with the
homeless and doesn’t go to school. Tom and Huck have whole class first (see key).
several adventures together; they witness Injun Joe kill a
After reading
doctor, clear Muff Potter’s name when he is accused of 5 Game: Write the following characters on the board:
murder and see Injun Joe find a lot of money. Tom and Tom, Huck, Becky, Aunt Polly, Injun Joe, Muff Potter,
his friend, Becky, get lost for three days in a cave. While Mrs. Douglas. Put students in small groups and give
looking for their way out, Tom sees Injun Joe. Later, Tom them five minutes to think of as many true sentences
and Huck go back to the cave and find the money Injun about these characters as possible without looking back
at the book. Each group has to say one true sentence
Joe had hidden there. Huck is adopted by Mrs. Douglas. in turn. They cannot repeat. If they can’t think of one
Now, he has a home and goes to school but he finds it or the sentence is wrong, they are eliminated. The
hard to fit in and runs away. Tom, however, convinces him group left at the end is the winner.
to return.
Vocabulary activities
For the Word List and vocabulary activities, go to
Background and themes
www.penguinreaders.com.
Multiple intelligence: Tom is often associated with
mischief. He doesn’t play by the rules of society and he
c Pearson Education Limited 2008 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Teacher’s notes of 1
