Chapter 1The Third Level

• Lesson plan
• Slide text
• Teacher guide
• Interactive chapter
• Revision notes
• Glossary
• Question bank
• Flashcards

Period 1 · This period in the lesson plan · Interactive: the claim of three levels

Where the book begins. The story opens with a claim. The railroads’ presidents “will swear on a stack of timetables that there are only two”, but Charley says “I say there are three, because I’ve been on the third level of the Grand Central Station.” His psychiatrist friend calls it “a waking-dream wish fulfillment”, and Charley’s friends also call his stamp collecting a “temporary refuge from reality”. Charley answers both: “Well, who doesn’t? Everybody I know wants to escape, but they don’t wander down into any third level at Grand Central Station.” And on the stamps: “Well, maybe, but my grandfather didn’t need any refuge from reality”. This part ends on the first line of page 2: “President Roosevelt collected stamps too, you know.”

Our own sorting — who says what. First read page 1 aloud, then on the board write the four speakers on the left and what they say on the right, in a different order:

• 1. The railroads’ presidents · 2. Charley · 3. The psychiatrist friend · 4. Charley’s friends
• (a) The third level is a waking-dream wish fulfillment. (b) Stamp collecting is a ‘temporary refuge from reality.’ (c) Grand Central Station has only two levels. (d) There are three levels.

Now ask: Match each speaker with what he says.

Sample answer — 1 (c), 2 (d), 3 (a), 4 (b).

Stop here. Charley’s friends say his stamp collecting is an escape. How does Charley answer them?

Sample answer — He half agrees (“Well, maybe”), but he says his grandfather, who started the collection, “didn’t need any refuge from reality”, because things were “pretty nice and peaceful in his day”.

Read and find out (p. 1). The question in the margin, “What does the third level refer to?”, can be answered only in part in the first period: students can write that it is the third level of Grand Central Station that Charley claims to have been on, and that the psychiatrist friend calls it wish fulfillment. The 1894 part is added after pages 3–4 are read. The full answer is in the answers to Read and find out.

Where students get stuck.

• “only two” — two what? The first sentence does not use the word level, so students take “two” to mean railroads or presidents. The title and the next sentence, “third level”, show that the talk is of the levels of Grand Central Station.
• Everyday expressions: pieces like “swear on a stack of timetables” and “kind of mad”; their meanings are in Part 2 — Everyday speech and phrases of the glossary.
• The jump in time: On p. 1 Charley is speaking after everything has happened: “I’ve taken the obvious step: I talked to a psychiatrist friend of mine”. The account of that night begins on p. 2 with “Anyway, here’s what happened at Grand Central.” Write two words in a corner of the board: p. 1 = now, from p. 2 = last summer.
• The words of question 3: Question 3 of Reading with Insight puts the idea of this page in other words (‘…worry and stress.’). If students want to write a line from the story, they should write the story’s words: “the modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and all the rest of it”.

Also for this part. How the story argues · Key terms · flashcards 1–10, 63; question bank A1, A2, A3, A20, C1, C2.

Period 2 · This period in the lesson plan · Interactive: the corridor in Grand Central

What the book says. “Anyway, here’s what happened at Grand Central. One night last summer I worked late at the office.” Charley wanted to reach his apartment uptown quickly, so he went to Grand Central to take the subway. He insists on two things about himself: “I’m just an ordinary guy named Charley, thirty-one years old”, and “I wasn’t trying to escape from anything; I just wanted to get home to Louisa, my wife.” Then he loses his way, and says this is easy to do, because “I’m always bumping into new doorways and stairs and corridors”.

Our own suggestion — the route on the board. Draw the route above on the board from top to bottom like a ladder, but leave the boxes empty. Students read pp. 2–3 in turns and fill in each box in English. Then ask: At which point does Charley get lost?

Sample answer — On the second level, when he “ducked into an arched doorway heading for the subway — and got lost.”

Stop here. Why does Charley tell us that he is “just an ordinary guy” and that he passed “a dozen men who looked just like me”?

Sample answer, our reading — Perhaps so that we believe him: the strange thing could happen to anyone. He also says he “wasn’t trying to escape from anything”, which goes against what the psychiatrist friend said on page 1.

An idea Charley kept hidden (pp. 2–3). “Sometimes I think Grand Central is growing like a tree, pushing out new corridors and staircases like roots.” Later he thinks that for people “Grand Central has been an exit, a way of escape”, and adds: “But I never told my psychiatrist friend about that idea.” Our reading: the idea of escape is in Charley’s own mind too; this line will be useful when you teach question 1 of Reading with Insight on p. 6.

Where students get stuck.

• Lost before, too: The lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel and the office building on Forty-sixth Street are earlier occasions, not that night’s. Students take them for the night of the third level.
• An unfinished sentence: Charley’s words break off in the middle, at “maybe that’s how the tunnel I got into…”. Show students that the sentence is left unfinished; Charley does not complete his thought.
• Words about the corridor: the meanings of “angling left and slanting downward” and “feeling its way” are in the glossary.

Also for this part. Where students go wrong · flashcards 11–19, 64, 68, 69; question bank A4, A5, A6, B1, C3, D1, D2.

Period 2 · This period in the lesson plan · Interactive: 1894 on the third level

What the book says. “For just a moment I thought I was back on the second level, but I saw the room was smaller, there were fewer ticket windows and train gates, and the information booth in the centre was wood and old-looking.” Then the clues come one by one, and Charley says: “And then I knew.” To make sure, he looks at the newsboy’s papers: “It was The World; and The World hasn’t been published for years.” And later: “I’ve found that front page since, in the Public Library files, and it was printed June 11, 1894.”

Our own sorting — the list of clues. While reading pp. 3–4, students write these clues in their copies; you write them on the board:

• open-flame gaslights
• brass spittoons on the floor
• a gold watch, a derby hat, a handlebar mustache
• a dress with leg-of-mutton sleeves
• a very small Currier & Ives locomotive
• The World, with a lead story about President Cleveland

Now ask: Which of these clues gives Charley the exact year?

Sample answer — The book names no single clue. The clothes tell him only “eighteen-ninety-something”; after “And then I knew”, he checks the newspaper “To make sure”, and its front page, which he later found in the Public Library files, was printed June 11, 1894.

Stop here. Charley says, “And then I knew.” What did he know, and how did he make sure?

Sample answer — The book does not say it in words, but the next lines show it: he had come into an older time, when everyone was dressed like “eighteen-ninety-something”. “To make sure”, he looked at the newsboy’s papers and saw The World, a paper that “hasn’t been published for years”.

Where students get stuck.

• Words of the world of 1894: gaslights, spittoons, derby hat, leg-of-mutton sleeves; their meanings are in Part 3 — The world of 1894 of the glossary. With each word ask only: how is this a sign of the old days?
• The two dates: From here, write the two dates separately on chart paper: June 11, 1894 = the front page of The World (p. 4); July 18, 1894 = the postmark of the first-day cover and the date of Sam’s letter (pp. 5–6). Students mix them up.
• A later find: “I’ve found that front page since” means that the library discovery came later, not that night.
• Names as printed: The book writes only President Cleveland; have students write only that in their answers too.

Also for this part. Facts of the story · flashcards 20–31; question bank A7, A8, A9, B2, B3, C4, D3.

Period 3 · This period in the lesson plan · Interactive: the tickets to Galesburg

What the book says. As he turns towards the ticket windows, Charley realises: “I could buy tickets that would take Louisa and me anywhere in the United States we wanted to go. In the year 1894.” His wish is clear: “And I wanted two tickets to Galesburg, Illinois.” Then he asks the reader “Have you ever been there?” and gives a picture of Galesburg in 1894, with its long evenings and fire-flies, “in a peaceful world”. The clerk adds up the fare, but when he sees the bills he says “That ain’t money, mister” and “if you’re trying to skin me, you won’t get very far”. Charley’s conclusion: “There’s nothing nice about jail, even in 1894.”

On p. 5: “And that was that. I left the same way I came, I suppose.” The next day he “drew three hundred dollars out of the bank, nearly all we had”, and then: “But I’ve never again found the corridor that leads to the third level at Grand Central Station, although I’ve tried often enough.” Louisa “was pretty worried”, and Charley says “after a while I stopped; I went back to my stamps”.

Our own suggestion — the money sums. First write these four points on the board:

• Charley draws three hundred dollars from the bank, “nearly all we had”.
• At a coin dealer’s you have to pay a premium for old money.
• His three hundred dollars buy less than two hundred in old-style bills.
• In 1894, eggs were thirteen cents a dozen.

Now ask: Charley loses more than a hundred dollars when he buys old money. Why does he not care?

Sample answer — He is thinking of life in 1894, not of today’s prices. In 1894 “eggs were thirteen cents a dozen”, so even less than two hundred dollars in old-style bills would be a lot of money there.

Stop here. Whose money looked wrong to the clerk, and why?

Sample answer — Charley’s own money, the money of his time. In 1894 “the money was old-style bills, half again as big as the money we use nowadays, and different-looking”, so the clerk thought Charley was trying to cheat him.

Where students get stuck.

• Whose bills were old: Students think Charley’s bills were old. It is the other way round: Charley had the bills of his own time, and in 1894 old-style bills were in use. The next day he draws $300 and buys old-style currency.
• “half again as big”: This means one and a half times as big, not half as big. It, “skin me” and “ain’t” are in Part 2 — Everyday speech and phrases of the glossary.
• “I suppose”: Charley does not remember exactly how he came back. Keep “I suppose” in the answer; do not have students write Charley returned the same way as a certain fact.
• Who is “we”: In “nearly all we had”, we = Charley and Louisa.

Also for this part. Reading with Insight, questions 1 to 3 · flashcards 32–47, 61; question bank A11, A12, A13, A14, B4, B5, B6, C5, C7, D4, D5.

Period 4 · This period in the lesson plan · Interactive: Sam and the first-day cover

What the book says. “But now we’re both looking, every weekend, because now we have proof that the third level is still there.” Then the story of the proof begins: “My friend Sam Weiner disappeared!” Charley’s guess: “Nobody knew where, but I sort of suspected because Sam’s a city boy”, and then he says with confidence: “And that’s where he is, all right. In 1894.” In between, Charley explains the first-day cover to the reader, “and the postmark proves the date”, and adds: “They’re never opened; you just put blank paper in the envelope.” That is why the first line of p. 6 is a surprise: “The paper inside wasn’t blank.”

Our own suggestion — test the proof. Draw the diagram on the board and ask: Why is this envelope such strong proof for Charley?

Sample answer — Because every part of it points to 1894:

• The postmark shows July 18, 1894, and “the postmark proves the date”.
• It was mailed to his grandfather at his home in Galesburg, and it “went right into his collection and stayed there” until Charley opened it.
• The paper inside was a letter from Sam, who writes, “I found the third level!”

So Charley takes it as proof that the third level is still there.

The last line again. “His old business? Why, Sam was my psychiatrist.” As soon as students read this line, have them open p. 1 again and read the lines about the psychiatrist friend once more. Then ask: Sam writes, “I got to wishing that you were right. Then I got to believing you were right.” Who is “you”, and what had Sam said at first?

Sample answer — “You” is Charley. Sam turns out to be Charley’s psychiatrist, and on page 1 Charley’s psychiatrist friend called the third level “a waking-dream wish fulfillment”. In the letter he says he wished, then believed, and then found it.

Where students get stuck. On p. 5 Charley keeps jumping between now and before. Draw this table on the board and have students write now or before against each line:

• “Why” is not a question here: Our reading: in the last line, “Why, Sam was my psychiatrist.”, “Why” is a word of surprise, something like “Oh, …”; no question is being asked.
• Whose money, how much: The $800 of old-style currency was bought by Sam (p. 6); Charley drew $300 (p. 5).
• Do not announce a verdict: Is the third level real? will divide the class. The book leaves this open; both sides and their lines are in How the story argues.

Read and find out (p. 5). “Would Charley ever go back to the ticket-counter on the third level to buy tickets to Galesburg for himself and his wife?” Take this question in this same period, before reading Sam’s letter; in the book it is printed near the first-day cover part. The answer is in the answers to Read and find out.

Also for this part. What students will ask · flashcards 48–60, 62, 65, 71; question bank A10, A15, A16, A17, A18, A19, B7, B8, C6, C8, D6, D7, D8, E4.

Period 5 · This period in the lesson plan · Interactive: Reading with Insight

What the book asks. The seven questions of Reading with Insight (pp. 6–7) ask less about events and more about the ideas of the story: escape (questions 1 and 3), Sam’s letter (2), time and space (4), illogicality and the future (5), philately and the past (6), and the comparison with ‘Adventure’ in Hornbill (7). Every answer needs at least one line from the story; those lines are in the cards above.

Our own sorting — match theme and line. On the board write five themes and five lines, in a different order:

• 1. Escape from the modern world · 2. The past and the present · 3. Time and space · 4. Fantasy and reality · 5. A hobby as an escape
• (a) “My stamp collecting, for example; that’s a ‘temporary refuge from reality.’” (b) “Everybody I know wants to escape, but they don’t wander down into any third level at Grand Central Station.” (c) “now we have proof that the third level is still there” (d) “To be back there with the First World War still twenty years off, and World War II over forty years in the future… I wanted two tickets for that.” (e) “I could buy tickets that would take Louisa and me anywhere in the United States we wanted to go. In the year 1894.”

Now ask: Match each theme with the line that shows it.

Sample answer — 1 (b), 2 (d), 3 (e), 4 (c), 5 (a).

Where students get stuck.

• The sentence in question 3 is not the story’s: ‘The modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and stress.’ is the question’s wording; the story has “and all the rest of it” (p. 1).
• The form of question 5: The question ends with a question mark, and then the book adds “Discuss.” Students write only Yes or No; tell them that here both sides must be written, with examples.
• Words in the questions: medium, infer, intersection, Apparent illogicality, futuristic projection, Philately, interweaving; their meanings are in Part 5 — Words used in the questions of the glossary.
• Answers that go beyond the story: Questions 3, 5 and 6 ask students for their own examples. An answer is tied to the story only when a line from the story joins the student’s own example.

The sample answers to these questions are in the teacher guide: Reading with Insight, questions 1 to 3 · Reading with Insight, questions 4 to 7 · Lines from the book that help in answers. Flashcards 66–72; question bank E1, E2, E3, E5.

Period 6 · Assessment. This period in the lesson plan is for a written assessment from the book’s nine questions and the question bank. For practice, give students the question bank, the flashcards and the quiz.