Penguin Readers Factsheets

level
E

T e a c h e rs n o t e s

1
2

Ghost in the Guitar

3
4
5

by Paul Shipton

6
PREINTERMEDIATE

S U M M A R Y
om is not a very good guitarist but he and his
pianist girlfriend are happy together and enjoy
playing in their band, Steel City. They are
delighted to get a chance to compete in the Battle of the
Bands but then disaster strikes. Katy breaks Toms
guitar and has to borrow money from her studious
younger sister, Rachel, to get Tom a new one before the
competition.

They finally find an old guitar which they can afford,

but as soon as Tom picks it up, he begins to change
Tom becomes obsessed with playing the guitar, and
his single-mindedness seems to pay off. Overnight, his
playing improves enormously, but he is not the person
that Katy knew.
She finds out that the guitar belonged to someone
called David Ryan, a guitarist who was killed in a car
crash, after the Battle of the Bands competition in 1980.
She also discovers that the guitar is supposed to bring
bad luck
She enlists the help of her sister in finding out more
about David Ryan, and the coincidences begin to pile
up. She and her sister become convinced that the ghost
of David Ryan has taken over Tom, and if Steel City
dont win the competition, Tom will also be killed in a car
crash.
The day of the competition arises, and there seems to
be a good chance that Steel City will win, with Tom
playing brilliantly. But then Rachel arrives with bad
news. She has discovered that David Ryans band won
the competition in 1980, and suddenly, Katy has to stop
Tom winning.
She runs onto the stage and breaks Toms guitar for a
second time. For a moment, she is afraid that the ghost
of David Ryan will hurt her, but then, he leaves Toms
body and Tom is back to normal.
The final twist in the tale is that Rachel, the younger
sister who only liked classical music, has found the
whole episode so exciting that now she listens to pop
music in secret.

Pearson Education 2001

ABOUT PAUL SHIPTON

Paul Shipton was a teacher but is now a full-time writer,
mainly of books for younger people.
He was born and grew up in Britain, but he now lives
in Wisconsin in the United States with his wife and
children.

BACKGROUND AND THEMES

The Ghost in the Guitar poses some age old questions.
Can the spirit of a dead person haunt a place, or an
object? Can the spirit migrate into the body of a living
person and take possession of that person? And, if it
can, how can it be exorcised or driven out of the
person?
Toms guitar is, apparently, haunted by the spirit of
David Ryan, a brilliant guitarist who died in a car crash.
Does Ryan haunt the guitar because he died violently,
or because he achieved his ambition, to win the Battle
of the Bands, and then found that it was not what he
wanted after all? By the end of the story, his spirit has,
again, apparently, been exorcised, but what, exactly,
has brought about the exorcism? Is it merely the
destruction of the object, the guitar, or is it that Tom, in
some ways Ryans doppelganger and the person Ryan
possessed, has been brought to see that people need,
as Katy puts it, more than one plan in their lives.
Perhaps there is a non-supernatural explanation to it
all. Rachel, in the story, says history sometimes repeats
itself. Perhaps this is because, faced with the same
stimuli, the same kind of people tend to behave in the
same way. Everyone who enters for a pop group
competition wants to be famous and inevitably one or
two will become so obsessed that they start to behave
differently, strangely.

Penguin Readers Factsheets

T e a c h e rs n o t e s
Communicative activities
The following teacher-led activities cover the same
sections of text as the exercises at the back of the
Reader and supplement those exercises. For
supplementary exercises covering shorter sections of the
book, see the photocopiable Students Activities pages of
this Factsheet. These are primarily for use with class
readers but, with the exception of the discussion and
pair/groupwork activities, can also be used by students
working alone in a self-access centre.

ACTIVITIES AFTER READING THE BOOK

Put students into groups to think of a new title for each
chapter of the book. The title must be a sentence from
the chapter in each case. Elicit the ideas for each chapter
and decide which is the best.

Glossary

ACTIVITIES BEFORE READING THE BOOK

It will be useful for your students to know the following new words.
They are practised in the Before You Readsections of exercises at
the back of the book. (Definitions are based on those in the
Longman Active Study Dictionary.)

Put students in groups to discuss the following questions.

Chapter 12

1 Do you play any musical instruments? How good are

you?

arena (n) a building with a large, flat, central area surrounded by

raised seats, used for sports or entertainment
band (n) a group of musicians who play together

2 Would you like to be a famous musician? Why/Why

not?

bass (n) the lower half of the whole range of musical notes

3 Have you been to a concert recently? Which group did

you see?

CD (n) Compact Disc; a small circular piece of hard plastic on which

music or information is recorded

ACTIVITIES AFTER READING A SECTION

competition (n) an organized event in which people or teams

compete against each other

Chapters 12

concert (n) a performance given by musicians or singers

1 Put students into pairs to role play a conversation

between Tom and the owner of the Kings Arms pub.
Tom wants to get a gig at the pub and the owner is
happy for Steel City to play there. In the conversation,
they agree the day, the time, the money and other
details of the gig.
2 Put students into pairs to role play a conversation
between Danny and Tom. Danny has found a better
guitarist and he wants Tom to leave the band.

battle (n) when two armies fight each other in one place

drum (n) a round musical instrument which you play by hitting it with
your hand or stick
gig (n) a popular music or jazz concert
guitar (n) a musical instrument with strings, a long neck and a
wooden body, which you play by pulling the strings
plug in (v) to connect a piece of electrical equipment to the
electricity supply or to another piece of equipment
string (n) one of the long thin pieces of wire that is stretched across
a musical instrument to produce sound
van (n) a vehicle used for carrying goods which is covered and has
metal sides and is smaller than a truck

3 Ask all the students to imagine that they are Katy. Tom
has never met her younger sister, Rachel and Katy
describes her to him. Ask them to write the
description and then read it out.

amplifier (n) a piece of electronic equipment used to make music

and other sounds louder

Chapters 35

shocked (adj) feeling surprised, upset or offended

1 Put students into pairs to role play a conversation

between Katy and her mother. Tom has changed and
Katy tells her mother about the changes. Her mother
tries to think of a good explanation for the changes.
2 Phil Carter has bad dreams. Put students into groups
to talk about bad dreams they have had. Can they
explain the reason for any of the bad dreams?

Chapters 35

confused (adj) unable to understand something clearly

Chapters 68
cheer (v) to shout approval, encouragement, etc.
clap (v) to hit your hands together several times to show that you
enjoyed something or approve of something
speaker (n) the part of a radio, CD players, etc. where the sound
comes out

Chapters 68
1 Put students into pairs to answer these questions.
(a) In what way(s) did history repeat itself in
Chapter 8?
(b) In what way(s) were things different?
2 Put students into small groups to write the newspaper
story about the Battle of the Bands in 1980. They must
use the information in the story and add more ideas of
their own.

Pearson Education 2001

Publi sh ed and dis trib ute d by Pea rso n Education

Fac ts hee t w ri tten by Ter ry Phi l ips
Fa ctshe et se r ies dev elo ped by Louis e James

level

Penguin Readers Factsheets

level
E

Students activities

Ghost in the Guitar

2
3

Photocopiable

Students can do these exercises alone or with one or more

other students. Pair/group-only exercises are marked.

Activities before reading the book

Work in pairs. Find these things in one or more of the

pictures in the book.
a guitar
a library
a microphone
a newspaper
a photograph
a piano
a radio
a sofa
a stage
an amplifier

Activities while reading the book

Chapters 12
1 Match each person or thing (ai) from the first part of
Chapter 1 with a description (iix).
(a) Katy
(b) Tom
(c) Steel City
(d) Aruna
(e) Kings Arms
(f) Danny
(g) The Battle of the Bands
(h) The City Arena
(i) Saturday 10th
(i) a competition
(ii) a pub
(iii)Katys band
(iv)Katys boyfriend
(v) the bass guitarist and singer
(vi)the drummer
(vii) the narrator of the story
(viii) when the competition happens
(ix)where the competition happens
2 Find 15 words from Chapter 2 connected with Steel
City.
g d
c u
r

r
s
i

u m m e
g
u d
t
n s

o g n t a
w
g b a
d
e b o

s
r
r

r
p l

a y s
c o n

r
p
i
i e
g c
n n
o a
s d
r t

3 Match the questions (aj) and answers(ix) about the

information in Chapter 2.

Pearson Education 2001

(a) Who is Rachel?

(b) What was she doing when Katy arrived home?
(c) Why didnt Katy and Rachel spend much time
together?
(d) What did Rachel think of the pop band?
(e) What did Katy want from Rachel?
(f) How much money did Katy want to borrow?
(g) Why didnt Tom buy the first guitar he tried?
(h) Where did the shop owner get the last guitar
from?
(i) When did Tom change?
(j) What did Katy do when she got home?
(i) Because it was too expensive.
(ii) He changed after he took the guitar.
(iii)He got it from the back of the shop.
(iv)She thought it was silly.
(v) She wanted enough to buy a guitar.
(vi)She wanted Rachel to lend her some money.
(vii) She was sitting at her desk and studying.
(viii) She wrote a sad song.
(ix)Shes Katys younger sister.
(x) They were interested in different things.

Chapters 35
1 Complete these sentences about the changes in Tom
in Chapter 3. Use a verb from the box in each case.
believe
pick up
smiled

called
pointed
stopped

gave
got out of
made
pushed
say
seemed
turned

(a) Tom did not Katy outside the factory.

(b) He didnt sorry for coming late.
(c) He but it wasnt his usual warm smile.
(d) Toms guitar-playing was so good Katy
couldnt her ears.
(e) When Aruna made a joke, Tom her a cold,
dark look.
(f) When Katy looked at Tim, he so different.
(g) Something about the sound of his voice her
afraid.
(h) He a finger at Danny and said he was playing
too fast.
(i) He to Katy and said her playing was boring.
(j) When Danny reached for Toms guitar, Tom
Dannys hand away.
(k) Tom her Katherine, not Katy.
(l) When Katy reached for his guitar, he suddenly
the car.

PREINTERMEDIATE

Penguin Readers Factsheets

Students activities
2 Match words from the first column with words from
the second column to make phrases from Chapter 4.
(a) happy
(i)
day
(b) big and friendly (ii) face
(c) all
(iii) fear
(d) new
(iv) floor
(e) real
(v) life
(f) little red
(vi) light
(g) guitar
(vii) luck
(h) sudden
(viii) man
(i) soft
(ix) money
(j) music
(x) months
(k) shop
(xi) owner
(l) long
(xii) person
(m) six
(xiii) rock band
(n) much
(xiv) shop
(o) other
(xv) side of town
(p) bad
(xvi) smile
(q) tenth
(xvii) song
(r) thin
(xviii) sound
(s) big
(xix) strings
(t) old
(xx) time
3 Work in pairs. Tell the story of Chapter 4. Use the
phrases from Exercise 2.
4 Work in pairs. Complete these connections in
Chapter 5 between the past and the present.
(a) Dave Ryan was a really good guitarist. Tom
(b) Music was the only important thing to Dave
Ryan. Music
(c) Dave Ryan lost his job because of his music.
Tom
(d) Dave Ryan shouted at the people in the band.
Tom
(e) There was a big competition on the 10th July
1980. There is
(f) Dave was driving too fast when he crashed.
Tom
(g) Linda sometimes heard the guitar in Phils room.
Katy
(h) Dave Ryans band was called Circle of Gold.
Tom

Chapters 68
1 Complete these sentences about the information in
Chapter 6. Use a word from the box in each case.
camera crash
face
fire ghost guitar
hair
history
information
library
newspaper
pages person photographs
practice sister story
words
(a) Tom left first at the end of the .
(b) Then Katy left with her .
(c) Rachel said to Katy, We need more about all
this.
(d) Katy met Rachel at the after work the next
day.
(e) They had built part of it again after a .
(f) Rachel asked for a copy of the town from 11th
July 1980.

Pearson Education 2001

(g) Rachel slowly turned the .

(h) Katy saw the Music News.
(i) There was a about music competition.
(j) There were also three of the bands in the
competition.
(k) In one of them, Dave Ryan was looking straight
at the .
(l) His was thin and white.
(m)His was long.
(n) He was holding Toms and he looked exactly
like Tom.
(o) Dave Ryan has come back. Hes a . said
Rachel.
(p) Some part of him didnt die in that twenty
years ago.
(q) I think that Tom Webster and Dave Ryan are
fighting inside one .
(r) We must stop repeating itself. Steel City has
to win the competition.
2 There is a mistake in each of these sentences about
the information in Chapter 7. Find the mistake and
correct it.
(a) All the bands had to wait in a big room under the
stage.
(b) At about seven oclock, the band saw the crowd
start to arrive.
(c) A hour later, Lisa Jones picked up the
microphone and sang a song.
(d) Tigers of the Mind were worse than the second
band but better than the third band.
(e) Steel City played well, especially Aruna.
(f) Tom was happy when the two songs were over.
(g) The judges asked three bands to play again.
(h) Phil Carter brought Rachel to the competition.
(i) Dave Ryan was angry because Circle of Gold
lost.
(j) Dave Ryan and Circle of Gold didnt go back on
stage.
3 The words and phrases come in the last part of the
story. Work in pairs. Why are they important.
(a) first CD
(b) factory
(c) college
(d) plan
(e) pop star
(f) musician
(g) pop music

Activities after reading the book

Work in pairs. Answer these questions.
1 Why was David Ryan angry after his band won the
competition?
2 Why did his ghost stay in his guitar? Compare your
ideas with other pairs.

Publishe d and d istribu ted by P ear son E ducat ion

Factsheet written by Terry Philips
Fac tshee t s eri e s devel ope d by L ou ise J ames

level