Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets


After another long summer at the Dursleys, Harry Potter wanted to go back to Hogwarts. On his birthday, which nobody in the house remembered, a strange elf dressed in a pillowcase whose name was Dobby arrived with strange warnings for Harry: he didn’t have to return to Hogwarts!

When Harry refused to stay home from school, Dobby caused Harry a lot of troubles with the Dursleys, who locked Harry up in his room and refused to let him out.

In the middle of the night, he was awakened by Ron’s face at the window. It was – Ron and his twin brothers, Fred and George, who came in their dad’s old car to rescue Harry. Ron’s father had put a spell on it so it could fly through the air!

They used the car to pull the bars off the window and load Harry’s trunk into the vehicle. The boys took Harry to their family home, where he could spend the rest of the summer.

The family magically travelled from their home to Diagon Alley, where they could buy their school supplies. Harry entered Borgin & Burkes, a shop that sold Dark Arts supplies. He heard Lucius Malfoy selling some Dark Arts items from his house. Draco wanted his dad to buy him something, but Lucius planned to buy Draco only a racing broom. While buying his textbooks at Flourish & Blotts, he met his future Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. He was Gilderoy Lockhart – vain, blond, grinning, wearing strange robes and author of numerous books on tracking monsters.

The second school year started. The students had new lessons, some new teachers and a lot of work to do. Harry started to hear a mysterious voice in the walls. As the school year progressed, this mysterious voice became more and more menacing, and soon bad attacks started happening to the students of Hogwarts: they were "petrified" in a coma-like state. Harry discovered that he could speak to snakes, and that he was the person who, according to legend, could open the mysterious “Chamber of Secrets” and release the monster inside.

There was a monster in the school. Harry had no idea who was attacking the students, and wanted to find out the responsible. He, Ron and Hermione decided to transform themselves into Slytherin students using a potion Hermione had created, the Polyjuice. So they could question Draco Malfoy, because they believed he was setting the monster loose in the school. They discovered that Draco was not the one they were looking for.  

Harry found a magic diary with some clues to identify the real author of the petrifyings. He discovered that if you wrote in it, the original keeper, Tom Riddle, could write back.

Then Hermione was attacked and petrified by the monster. Ron’s sister, Ginny, was kidnapped and taken down into the Chamber of Secrets, and Ron and Harry were helped by an important clue that Hermione had left for them. They went down into the Chamber of Secrets to rescue Ginny.

Harry and Ron left to find the Chamber of Secrets and kill the monster that liveds there. It was a basilisk, a giant snake whose gaze could permanently kill someone. Harry realized that was why he was hearing a voice in the walls – it was the snake traveling through the plumbing, talking about killing. He understood its words because he knew Parseltongue.

They first went to Lockhart for help in fighting the basilisk. He told them he couldn’t help them. They took him into the Hogwarts undergrounds to find the Chamber.

 

Harry and Ron got separated down there and Harry was left to pursue the monster on his own. Harry arrived in the Chamber. Ginny was lying on the ground, unconscious. An image of a teenage boy with black hair was also standing there by the girl. Harry recognized the boy as Tom Riddle but didn’t understand what he was. He was a projection from the diary, he explained. He told Harry he wanted to destroy him, and that Ginny opened the Chamber of Secrets and let the snake enter Hogwarts’ pipes and petrify people. 

 

Tom Riddle told Harry that he grew up to become Lord Voldemort. He opened a statue and the Basilisk came out. Then Fawkes the phoenix arrived! The bird was carrying the old Sorting Hat in his beak, went after the basilisk and blinded it with his beak. An old sword dropped out of the hat.

The Basilisk attacked Harry, who stabbed it in the mouth with the sword and killed it, but the snake left a poisonous tooth into his arm. Harry also fell on the floor.

The bird’s tears fell on him and healed him. Fawkes brought the diary to Harry. He took the basilisk’s tooth and stabbed it into the diary. A black ink just like blood came out of the diary. The Riddle projection screamed and disappeared.
 Ginny woke up. She understood that Voldemort had possessed her through the diary. Harry took her back to Ron.

Harry and Ron became heroes, and Harry was very happy when Hermione and the rest of the victims were healed and Gryffindor won a lot of House points.

Reading Comprehension exercise:

Questionnaire


 1. Who was Dobby?

 2. What did Dobby want from Harry?

 3. How was Harry rescued from his room?

 4. What did Harry hear from the school walls?

 5. What did Harry discover about himself?

 6. What did Harry and his friends do to discover the responsible of the troubles?

 7. What did they discover?

 8. What happened to Hermione?

 9. Who was Ginny and what happened to her?

 10. How did Harry and Ron enter the Chamber of Secrets?

 11. Who was Fawkes?

 12. What did the enchanted diary do?

 13. Who was the owner of the diary?

 14. How did Harry win over Voldemort?

 15. How did the film end?

Nicola Giacobbo

Hi, my name is Nicola. My family name is Giacobbo.
I’m 11 years old. I’m from Italy. I live in Cittadella, it’s a city of art.
The name of my school is Luigi Pierobon and I am in class 1.
I play soccer with Cittadella and my position is defender.
My favourite soccer player is Ibrahimovic.
My favourite colours are red and black and my favourite team is Milan.

My favourite singer is Micheal Jackson and my favourite song is “Thriller”.

My favourite film is Karate Kid.

My favourite band is U2.

I’m 1,50 meters high. I have got brown hair and brown eyes and I have an olive complexion.

I normally wear jeans and T- shirts with sneakers.

I like pizza but I don’t like potatoes.

My favourite school subject is Physical Education and I don’t like Music.

In my family there are my mum Barbara, my dad Alessandro, my sister Marta and me.

My mum has blond hair and brown eyes.

My dad has black hair and black eyes.

My sister Marta has blond hair like mum and brown eyes. My sister goes to dancing school. She likes it very much. My parents work in a fruit shop in the centre of Cittadella.

I have got a dog called Vienna. She is brown and white.

I live in a big house with a beautiful garden. It has got a lot of trees and flowers.

My best friend is Riccardo.

Bye from Nicola.  

Marianna Micolucci

Hi!

My name's Marianna and my family name's Micolucci.  I'm 11 years old.

I'm Venezuelan but I live in Italy, in Cittadella: it is a small city of arts.

I have got brown hair and brown eyes.

I attend Luigi Pierobon Lower Secondary School in class 1^LSA.               

My mum's Venezuelan. Her name's Teresa but her nickname is Rosalinda and she is fifty-five years old. My dad's Venezuelan, too. His name's Albino and he is fifty-three years old. I have a brother, his name's Carlo and he is twenty-six years old. He has got a girlfriend, her name's Francesca and she is twenty-two years old .                                                           

My best friend's Chiara, she is 11 years old and she's Italian.

My passion is football!

My favourite team's Milan and my favourite footballer's Zlatan Ibrahimovic .  

I love dancing and listening to music ... My favourites singers are Wiz Khalifa and Tinie Tempah.  My favourite song's Black and Yellow.                                             

My favourite band's Black eyed peas . My favourite film's Fast and Furios 5 , I like action or horror movies .

My favourite subject is English.

My favourite colour's ligth blue and my favourite animals are cats: I have got two cats, their names are Stellina and Ketty.

I LOVE MY LIFE...   

         

BYE BYE, Marianna                                          

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Harry Potter had green eyes, round eyeglasses and a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. He was a lonely boy. He had a hard life: his parents had died in a car crash when he was still a baby, and he lived with his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. They didn’t love him: they let him live in a very small room under the stairs, and treated him more like slave than like a family member.

His fat cousin Dudley, the Dursley's real son, bothered Harry all the time.

 

On his 11th birthday, a giant, Hagrid, informed Harry that he was really a wizard, and that he had to go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Harry also learned that, in that world, he was a hero. Hagrid told him that when he was an infant, the evil Lord Voldemort killed his parents and then tried to kill Harry too, but Harry survived, and Voldemort’s powers were destroyed.

  

Harry started school in September. Professor and Assistant Headmistress Minerva McGonagall helped the students to be selected for the house in which they would spend their next seven years of study. In the Great Hall, Harry saw all the teachers, included Severus Snape, professor of Potions. The Headmaster Professor Dumbledore made a welcoming speech. Hogwarts had four houses: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. The enchanted Sorting Hat selected the house into which each child would enter.

  Harry met a boy named Ron Weasley, and before Christmas someone let a very big troll into the school – and Harry and Ron were the ones who discovered it – in a girls' bathroom! Another student, Hermione, was trapped in there with him. She went there to cry after fighting with Ron. Using magic spells, they defeated the huge, stinky creature. After this incident, the three became great friends. At Christmas Harry and Ron remained at Hogwarts. Ron got a sweater and pies from Mrs. Weasley. Harry received a strange gift, the Invisibility Cloak, which completely hides the one who wears it.

  Harry and the other students quickly settled into school life: History of Magic with Professor Binns; Herbology with Professor Sprout; Astronomy with Professor Sinistra; Spells with Professor Flitwick in Charms. Binns was the school's only ghost professor: he died one day while sleeping in the staff room, woke up and didn't even know he was a spirit. The hardest class was with Snape in Potions. The Gryffindor first year students had to attend Snape's course with their Slytherin counterparts. Snape liberally took away house points from Gryffindors and repeatedly laughed at them while the Slytherins had fun too.

  
Harry always had a lot of lessons and homework, and he also practised Quidditch, a sport that combined elements of football, basketball and polo. It was played in the air, with all team members on broomsticks. There were seven players on each team. Three players called Chasers had to score in the three hoops at the end of each field. The Seeker had to look for the fastest ball, the winged Golden Snitch. Two Beaters protected the Chasers and Seeker from the attacking black balls called Bludgers. The Keeper was like a goalie, trying to keep the rival Chasers from scoring. Harry was the youngest Quidditch player in a century.

  During the school year, the three friends had to solve the mystery of the three-headed dog that was the guardian of something in a corridor of the school. They found out that a very valuable object, the Sorcerer’s Stone, was hidden in the school. When one of the professors started acting as if he was trying to steal it, they wanted to stop him.

They went past the terrible dog and down into the undergrounds of the school, to save the stone. Ron and Hermione helped Harry to get through the challenges set forth to stop the thief, but Harry had to go on alone to fight with the professor.

They arrived at a giant chessboard with life-sized pieces. Ron, an expert at wizard's chess, directed a game with the three of them taking the place of other pieces. Ron sacrificed himself to the violent opposing queen. Harry won the game. He and Hermione continued, but Hermione had to stop in the chamber of potions. Harry arrived into the room where the stone was hidden. He didn’t find Snape, but Professor Quirrell! The little prof was not totally what he seemed – the turban he was wearing concealed the real controller of his body: the weakened Voldemort.

Quirrell revealed that he was the one who let the mountain troll into the castle, tried to kill Harry in the Quidditch game, drank unicorn blood to sustain Voldemort, and tried to get the Sorcerer's Stone. Quirrell looked at a magic mirror to see if it revealed where the Sorcerer's Stone was. The stone, hidden in the mirror by Dumbledore, materialized in his pocket. Quirrell began to argue with an unseen person. This second voice wanted to talk to Harry. Quirrell took his turban away and turned around. Harry got a real shock when he saw Voldemort’s face in the back of Quirrell’s head!

 

The Dark Lord told Harry that without a physical body to live in, and unicorn blood to drink, he had no form. Harry had a battle with Voldemort and killed Quirrel.

He saved the Sorcerer’s Stone, but he was almost killed! The school headmaster, Dumbledore, arrived just in time to save Harry.

The school year ended spectacularly. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were honored for their service to the school, and Harry left to go back to the Dursleys for the summer.

Practice reading comprehension:

Questionnaire

1.      Who lived Harry potter with?

2.      How did his relatives behave with him?

3.      What happened on his 11^th birthday?

4.      Who was Hagrid?

5.      What was Hogwarts?

6.      What happened when Harry was an infant?

7.      Who were Harry’s first friends at Hogwarts?

8.      What was the cause of their friendship?

9.      What did the three-headed dog do?

10.  What was hidden in the school?

11.  What happened in the last chamber?

12.  Who saved Harry?

13.  How did the school year end?

14.  Describe Harry Potter physically and psychologically.

15.  Describe the school headmaster, Mr. Dumbledore.

The passive (il passivo)

I TEMPI PASSIVI

This house was built 20 years ago.

Costruzione attiva e costruzione passiva

In una frase attiva, il soggetto compie attivamente l’azione espressa dal verbo.

<Mark legge un libro.>

Mark è il soggetto del verbo legge. Compie attivamente l’azione di leggere. Si tratta di una frase attiva.

Nella frase passiva, il soggetto subisce passivamente l’azione espressa dal verbo.

<Il libro è letto da Mark.>

Il complemento oggetto della frase attiva, il libro, diventa soggetto del verbo è letto. Tuttavia il libro non compie nessun’azione, se ne sta lì fermo e passivamente viene letto. Si tratta di una frase passiva.

Chi in realtà compie l’azione è il complemento di agente (da Mark).

Solamente i verbi transitivi, cioè quelli che hanno un complemento oggetto, possono essere messi in forma passiva, poiché è il complemento oggetto attivo a diventare soggetto della frase passiva.

Quando si usa la costruzione passiva in inglese

Paragoniamo queste due frasi, la prima attiva, la seconda passiva:

Mark legge un libro.
Il libro è letto da Mark.

Esprimono lo stesso concetto. Notiamo però che la prima frase è più semplice e lineare della seconda.

La costruzione passiva risulta sempre più contorta della costruzione attiva. In inglese, dove è sempre preferibile esprimersi nel modo più semplice possibile, si tende a prediligere la costruzione attiva.

Esistono tuttavia delle circostanze in cui si preferisce utilizzare la costruzione passiva.

 

Uso il passivo quando…	Esempio
Non so chi compie l’azione. Quando manca un soggetto attivo concreto, la costru-zione passiva consente di dare un soggetto definito alla frase. In queste frasi normalmente il complemento di agente non viene espresso.	Frase attiva: <Hanno costruito questa casa 20 anni fa.> Chi ha costruito la casa? Non lo so. Manca un soggetto concreto. Volgendo la frase al passivo, il complemento oggetto, questa casa, diventa soggetto. Costruzione passiva: Questa casa è stata costruita 20 anni fa. This house was built 20 years ago.
La frase attiva ha un soggetto concreto. Tuttavia, ai fini del discorso che sto facendo, mi interessa porre l’accento sull’oggetto su cui l’azione ricade piuttosto che su chi la compie. Poiché nella costruzione passiva il complemento ogget-to diventa soggetto, viene messo in prima posizione, acquistan-do maggior importan-za nella frase. Quando viene espresso il complemento di agente in inglese, questo è preceduto dalla preposizione by.	Sto parlando di un libro appena uscito e dico: <20.000 persone hanno già letto questo libro.> Se, ai fini di ciò che sto dicendo, mi interessa maggiormente porre l’accento sul libro piuttosto che su chi lo ha letto, giro la frase in forma passiva, in modo che il libro diventi soggetto ed acquisti una maggior importanza nella frase.         Questo libro è già stato letto da 20.000 persone. This book has already been read by 20,000 people.
Si esprimono in inglese frasi che in italiano sono impersonali, cioè che hanno un soggetto generico. La persona "di cui" si parla diventa soggetto della frase ed il secondo verbo viene messo all’Infinito o all’Infinito Progressivo se nella frase attiva è richiesto il Present Continuous. È anche possibile utilizzare la costruzione attiva con un soggetto generico: they, people. Tuttavia la costruzione passiva è più comune. Questo tipo di costruzione passiva è frequente con i seguenti verbi: To say (dire) to think (pensare) to believe (credere) to consider (considerare) to report (riportare, riferire) to know (sapere) to expect (aspettarsi) to suppose (supporre)	Si dice che quella donna abbia 105 anni. Si dice: costruzione impersonale. Costruzione attiva con soggetto generico: They say that woman is 105 years old. Nella costruzione passiva "quella donna" diventa soggetto. That woman is said to be 105 years old. Si pensa che lui viva a Roma. Costruzione attiva: People think that he is living in Rome. Costruzione passiva: He is thought to be living in Rome. Ci si aspetta che lo sciopero finisca presto. The strike is expected to end soon.

Costruzione dei tempi passivi


Tutti i tempi passivi sono tempi composti, che utilizzano l’ausiliare to be al tempo attivo corrispondente ed il Participio Passato del verbo che si vuole mettere in forma passiva.

To be al tempo attivo corrispondente + Participio Passato

Esempio:

<Questa casa è stata costruita 20 anni fa.>

Il verbo to build (costruire) deve essere messo al Simple Past passivo (l’azione è passata, il tempo in cui si è svolta è passato).

Per costruire il Simple Past passivo devo mettere il verbo to be al Simple Past (was / were) ed il verbo to build al Participio Passato (3° voce del paradigma).

This house was built 20 years ago.
 

I tempi passivi progressivi seguono lo stesso schema, utilizzando il corrispondente tempo progressivo del verbo to be.

Poiché è sempre presente l’ausiliare to be, per mettere il verbo in forma interrogativa o negativa, si mette il verbo essere in forma interrogativa o negativa.

Quando è stata costruita quella casa?

When was that house built?

Quella casa non è stata costruita 20 anni fa, è stata costruita 25 anni fa.

That house wasn’t built 20 years ago, it was built 25 years ago.

Nella seguente tabella sono mostrati esempi dei tempi verbali di uso più comune per il verbo build-built-built (costruire).

Tempo verbale	Forma attiva	Forma passiva
Infinito	To build	To be built
Forma base	build	be built
-ing form	building	being built
Simple Present	I build	It is built
Present Continuous	I am building	It is being built
Simple Past	I built	It was built
Past Continuous	I was building	It was being built
Present Perfect	I have built	It has been built
Past Perfect	I had built	It had been built
Future Tense	I will build	It will be built
Condizionale Presente	I would build	It would be built
Condizionale Passato	I would have built	It would have been built

Costruzioni passive particolari

Costruzione passiva dei verbi che reggono il doppio oggetto

Dare qualcosa a qualcuno

Alcuni verbi reggono in italiano il complemento di termine della persona (a chi?) ed il complemento oggetto della cosa (che cosa?).

Alcuni di questi verbi sono:

Dare (to give)
Dire (to tell)
Mostrare (to show)
Chiedere (to ask)
Offrire (to offer)
Pagare (to pay)
Insegnare (to teach)

In inglese questi verbi, oltre alla costruzione corrispondente all’italiano, possono avere anche una costruzione con il doppio complemento oggetto, della persona e della cosa. 

a) To give something to someone
b) To give someone something

Poiché nella costruzione b) sono presenti due complementi oggetti, sono possibili in inglese due costruzioni passive.

Costruzione attiva:

They gave Mark the book. (Hanno dato il libro a Mark)

Mark: oggetto 1
The book: oggetto 2

Costruzione passiva:

1.   Mark  diventa soggetto della frase passiva.

• Mark was given the book.

uesta frase non ha una traduzione letterale in italiano, perché in italiano non esiste una costruzione passiva in cui figuri il complemento oggetto (the book).

In inglese è questa la costruzione passiva che si usa più comunemente.

2.   The book diventa soggetto della frase passiva. 

• The book was given to Mark. (Il libro è stato dato a Mark.)
  

I was born

Il verbo nascere si esprime in inglese utilizzando le forme passive del verbo bear - bore - borne / born = portare, generare

La forma born del Participio Passato è utilizzata solo nelle forme passive che hanno il significato di nascere.

I was born in 1958 = sono stato generato >>> sono nato nel 1958

Trattandosi di un evento collocabile in un momento preciso del passato, si utilizza il Simple Past, quindi in questo caso il Simple Past passivo del verbo to bear.

Tania Cagnotto

Tania Cagnotto

Tania Cagnotto was born on 15th May 1985 in Bolzano.

She is an Italian diver, she is the best Italian diver!!!

Tania’s dad, Giorgio Cagnotto, was a fantastic diver in the 1970s.

He won two silver medals at the Olympics. Now he is the coach of his daughter.

Tania’s mum, Carmen Casteiner, was for eight times champion of the platform. Now she is the technical trainer of her daughter.

When Tania was only 6 years old, she did her first dive and she understood that diving was her life.

In 2000 she positioned 7th in the 3m trampoline diving championship.

She won the gold medal at the European championship of Berlin in 2002.

In 2003 she won the gold medal at Stockholm and she joined the Guardia of Finanzia diving team.

In 2005 at Montreal she honored Italy winning the bronze medal in the trampoline diving championship.


In 2008 Tania in Peking positioned 5th! These results have never been obtained from other Italian divers.

In 2009 Tania conquered the bronze medal at the World championship in Rome. But the real surprise was the silver medal for her and Francesca Dallapè in the synchronized diving competition.

That was the first silver medal in the Italian story of synchronized diving competition.

In 2010 Tania and Francesca won the gold medal at Budapest in Synchronized diving competition; Tania won the gold medal in the 1m trampoline diving too.

Today Tania is 26 years old and still is a fantastic diver!!!!!



By Greta De Poli, 2LSA