listening comprehension topic: recognizing suspense what is suspense ? read the following passage...

Listening ComprehensionTopic: Recognizing Suspense

What is suspense ?

Read the following passage

What does it make you think?

How does it make you feel?

The minutes ticked by. There was not a sound in the house. Then suddenly Nancy heard the front door open with a bang and Helen’s voice yell loudly and clearly:

“Police! Help! Police!”


Suspensethe feeling of fear or uncertainty about future events

that writers use to hold their readers’ interest

I wonder what’s

going to happen next!


How do movie makers create suspense?


Writers create suspense…

…by using short sentences and repeating certain words.

Sonya heard a noise. She backed away from the door. She turned. She ran. She fell. She

looked up. She gasped. She screamed.



…by describing a setting that makes readers wonder if something is going to happen.

No one had been inside the old abandoned house for thirty years. It was the biggest, oldest, darkest, most rundown house on the block. Every now and then, the sounds of wood and plaster crashing to the floor and doors being

opened and closed by the howling winds could be heard. The place gave everyone in the neighborhood the creeps.



…by using foreshadowing – giving readers hints about something that might happen, but not really telling them for sure.

Though he had never been in the house before, it seemed familiar to Tony. He didn’t know why, but it made him feel

terrified.



…by withholding information from readers and revealing it slowly.

Michelle had a secret, and though she wanted to share it, she couldn’t bring herself to tell anyone. She started to tell her mother, but at the last minute, she thought better of it. She could barely contain herself when she met her best friend at the mall, but she held on, keeping her secret safe. She wondered what her friends and family would say when they found out. This was one of the most exciting days of Michelle’s life, but she had to hold on awhile longer. She couldn’t tell her secret just yet.


Suspense does not always lead to a negative event

(as in horror movies).

To remember what suspense is, think of “cliffhanger” scenes in movies and

on television shows.


Listen as At the Crossroads by Rachel Isadora is read. As you listen, make a “mind movie.”

After the reading, be ready to tell where the suspense begins and what the author has done to

create it.


What was suspenseful about At the Crossroads?

Where did the suspense begin to build?

How did the author create suspense?


• by using short sentences and repeating certain words?

• by describing a setting that makes readers wonder if something is going to happen?

• using foreshadowing – giving readers hints about something that might happen, but not really telling them for sure?

• by withholding information from readers and revealing it slowly?


Suspensethe feeling of fear or

uncertainty about future events that writers use to

hold their readers’ interest


See if you can identify what the author of the book we are reading

does to createSuspense.

listening comprehension topic: recognizing suspense what is suspense ? read the following passage...

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