Ghost in the Rain

1. Ghost in the Rain Lesson Objective understand verbs, and identify them in a text use appropriate verbs to describe the rain

2. All afternoon it rained, beating the flowers flat and rolling from the leaves into the soaking grass. The lake was a darkness between the trees, its surface dimpled with rain, and from all the downstairs windows in turn I watched the drops slide and patter down the glass. Even after tea, when the sky darkened and the wind dropped, even then the rain fell, in light taps and trickles of sound outside the house. I waited until I heard Mrs Powell serve my aunt’s supper. Then I opened the door of my bedroom and slipped out. The corridor was gloomy, its ends invisible. The great staircase curved down into the dimness, and peering through its smooth, twisted bannisters I could see one candle burning down there, on the sideboard by the mirror. I came down, silently. The only sound was the clock, its deep ‘tock’ and the soft click and stir of the invisible pendulum.

3. Half-way along the hall a slot of red, flickering light fell across the darkness; the drawing-room door was open. Hidden in the heavy purple folds of curtain I looked in at Aunt Alicia, sitting on the sofa before the fire. She did not see me. Her hair was untidy; wisps of it hung down and she wound them absently around her fingers. The room was littered with unfinished paintings, and sketches piled on the tables. She looked as people do sometimes when they don’t know they are being watched; tired and unguarded, her back straight and her gaze hard and empty. I tip-toed across the doorway, quickly, and ran down the kitchen passage to the garden door. It was ajar again. Rain was pattering into a pool on the doorstep, but when I stepped outside and looked up the cloud was broken and ragged, with dark patches of sky glinting with stars. Between the bushes the ground was muddy; water drops fell in showers from the springy branches.

4. Verbs are action or doing words. Write down a list of rainverbs here:

5. The Rain at Maes-y-rhiw Write a description of the rain at Maes-y-rhiw. Use the verbs that we wrote on the board, or make up some of your own to write about the rain. Think about the places that the rain could fall on. trees the well Alicia’s house people Think about the effect that the rain has. For example: The rain trickled under the door, annoying Mrs Powell who had just cleaned the floor. It hammered against the roof, damaging some of the tiles.

6. What have we learned? Do we know what verbs are? Can we use appropriate verbs to describe how the rain falls?