Let's talk about Holes!

When you have read the book Holes and seen the movie, you guys will have lots to talk about, so that is what we are going to do during the lesson after.

You will work in groups of three or four and discuss the questions that you have got on the cards. Take turns and pick cards from your pile and discuss the questions that you see on your card. Remember to be active and speak English all the time. Help your friends out if they need it, ask them questions to help keep the conversation going.

The discussion questions are about...

• Fate and destiny
• Friendship 
• The curse (?) on the Yelnats family
• Green Lake now and then 
• Changes that Stanley and the other boys go through 
• Zero and his family
• The other characters in Holes 
• Differences between the book and the movie 

And... Explain the pictures. Give examples of when you have read about this in the book or seen it in the movie. 

Talk about how fate and destiny affect Stanley and his family. Stanley's great-great-grandfather was "cursed" because he did not carry Madame Zeroni up the mountain as he had promised.
How was this promise fulfilled over a hundred years later?
How did the story of Stanley's great-grandfather's survival help Zero and Stanley survive their escape from Camp Green Lake?
(fate = a power that is believed to control what happens in the future, destiny= what happens in the future : the things that someone or something will experience in the future)

One important theme in Holes is friendship. At home, Stanley did not have many friends. But at Camp Green Lake, he and the other boys in his group develop a strong bond. Stanley forms a special friendship with Zero, whom he teaches to read.
Discuss the bond that develops among the boys – how do they become friends?
How can you tell that Zero and Stanley are friends? Give examples.

The Yelnats believed there was a curse on their family for generations.
Do you believe there was a family curse?
What do you think the Yelnats family believed by the end of the book?
Do you think people have control over their own lives? Or is something else at work?

Camp Green Lake seems like a place from another world — a dry, flat wasteland covered with hundreds and hundreds of holes. Green Lake had once been the largest lake in Texas, surrounded by peach trees.
Why did the area change all of a sudden?
Predict how Camp Green Lake will look ten years after Stanley leaves. What clues in the story lead you to this conclusion?

Stanley goes through many changes during his time at Camp Green Lake.
Describe Stanley at the time he arrives at Camp Green Lake.
What is he like a few months into his sentence?
How does he change by the time he leaves?

Stanley slowly develops a friendship with a fellow inmate named Zero, a small, quiet boy who rarely speaks.
Is Zero stupid, as most people think?
What clues are given to prove that Zero is really very smart?
What role did Zero's family play in Stanley's family generations earlier?

Stanley is placed in group D. Besides Zero, which of the characters in the group do you remember the most? Why?
What is the relationship between the boys and the guards?
Stanley and Zero were not the only characters to develop throughout the story. How do the rest of the boys at Camp Green Lake change by the end of the book?

What are some of the differences you noticed in the Holes movie from the book?

Was it easier to understand the story in the book or the movie? Which did you enjoy more and why?
When you watched the movie, did you imagine the characters looking like the actors who played the main roles? Did anyone surprise you with the way they looked in the Holes movie? Why or why not?