was an Old Man in a Barge,
Whose Nose was exceedingly large;
But in fishing by night,
It supported a light,
Which helped that Old Man in a Barge
Poem B
There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, “It is just as I feared!
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!”
(a) Write down a list of the rhyming words in each poem.
(b) Write down one sentence for each poem explaining why it is nonsense.
(c) Fill in the missing words in the following sentence:
Lear is mocking people with big…in the first poem, and people with…in the second one.
(d) Do you find the poems funny? Do the drawings make them funny?
Discuss these two questions with your partner. Give reasons for what you say.
(e) Who do you think these poems were written for? Write down your answer.
(f) Write a nonsense rhyme yourself, using the same form as Lear did: five lines, the same rhyming, and the same rhythm. Share it with your partner.
2. (pairs) The tale of the lion and the rabbit has been told to generations of children before you.
(a) Look at the picture below and see if you can either recognise the story or predict what it is about.
(b) Read the first two paragraphs aloud to your partner and listen while your partner reads the last two aloud to you.
Formal Assessment:
When your teacher assesses your reading aloud skills as part of the Formal Assessment Task 1, he or she will use the following rubric.
The lion king and the rabbit
An ancient African story
1. The lion, who was king of the forest, was feared by all the other animals. He used to hunt and eat one of them every day. One day he called all the other animals together. ‘I have to hunt and eat one of you every morning. Nothing can change that. However, if every evening you decide which one of you it will be, that one can come to my cave in the morning to be my breakfast and I can leave the rest of you alone and you won’t have to run away.’
2. The animals agreed, and every evening they drew lots* to see who would be eaten the next morning. Each morning the unlucky animal who had been chosen went to the lion’s cave to be eaten, while the other animals peacefully grazed. One evening the rabbit was chosen. He said he did not want to be the lion’s breakfast, and would think of a plan.
3. The next morning he arrived late at the lion’s cave, apologising for keeping the king waiting. The lion demanded that he come closer. The rabbit said: ‘I wouldn’t eat me, if I were you. I have promised to return to the cave of the real king of the forest, so that he can eat me. He will be very angry if you do, and chase you out of the forest.’ The lion demanded to be taken to this other lion, who the rabbit said was bigger and stronger than he was. The lion said he would kill the intruder or chase him away.
4. The rabbit set out for a well he had once seen, with the lion following. After some time they came to the well and the rabbit told the lion that his rival lived inside it. The lion went forward and looked down into the well. Seeing his own reflection in the water, he leapt in to attack his rival and was never seen again.
* To draw lots means to let chance decide, for example, by seeing who takes the piece of paper with the cross on it out of the box.
Do you think the lion would have enjoyed having any of these animals for his breakfast? Why or why not?
(c) What are the effects of the rabbit’s words on the lion?
(d) If we change the lion’s first sentence into reported speech, it reads: The lion said that he had to hunt and eat one of them every morning. Change the lion’s third sentence into reported speech. Write it out.
(e) Write down six verbs from the second paragraph.
(f) Join up with another pair for the following game. Someone will need to keep score. One of you names an animal starting with the letter ‘a’, for example, ‘armadillo’. The next person has to name an animal starting with the last letter of that animal, for example, ‘orangutan’. If someone cannot think of an animal, that person scores one point, and gives an animal starting with the letter ‘b’ and the game continues. The person with the highest score is the loser.
A last look at language
The words we use to describe things show how we feel about them. These words could be complimentary or rude, insensitive and discriminatory. Here is an example to help you understand:
‘You are a real monkey’ said to someone who is not very bright. How would the person feel on hearing this? It would be better to say: ‘I can see you are struggling with that. Can I help you?’
In the final activity you are going to change any language that is inappropriate for the occasion, or that hurts the person it is addressed to.
1. The following sentences are not polite. Change them so that they are. Write a sentence explaining what is wrong with each.
(a) Hey! Move out of my way. (1)
(b) That is mine! Give it to me! (1)
(c) You are stupid! Don’t you know how to do that? (1)
(d) That girl is so fat she looks like a hippo. (1)
(e) Okay, I said I was sorry. What more do you want? (1)
(f) He is poor, look how he dresses. We don’t want him at our animal fancy dress party. (1)
(g) Boys are always better at science than girls. (1)
(h) Okay, I’ll take it, but it’s not something I really want. (1)
2. Look up the following words in a dictionary and add them with their meanings to your
personal
