This
is another graded reader that I used with my class of young
learners.
I
think this book is based on Le Morte d’Arthur
by Thomas Mallory, because the introduction makes reference to
Thomas Mallory. But it’s not entirely
clear.
At
any rate, I myself know very little about the legend of King Arthur. (It’s always been one of those things I’ve
been meaning to read up on someday, but have never got around to.) So I can’t vouch for the accuracy of this
book.
The
stories in the book are often very strange.
Someone will take a dislike to someone else for no apparent reason, and
then a completely senseless fight will break out.
I’m
not sure if this strangeness is inherent in the source material, or if this is
a problem with abridging and simplifying the work for beginning English
students. (The publishers, Penguin
Readers, classify this book as level 2, which means that it has to be limited
to a core vocabulary of only 600 words.)
I
suspect it is the latter. (I don’t know
much about King Arthur, but I do know enough to recognize that several sexual
liaisons were being cut out from the book, which made the personality conflicts
much more meaningless. In this book, for
example, King Arthur and Sir Lancelot fall out for no reason whatsoever.)
Nevertheless,
my students seemed to enjoy the book. I
suspect this is because the simple stories in the book had a type of fairy tale
quality. I think many of the childhood
fairy tales we grow up with have a similar style—simple stories where people
love each other or hate each other for no real reason. And I suspect this may be universal, so that
even in Cambodia my students were easily able to recognize the
genre.
Classroom
Materials
[In common with other graded readers by the
same publisher, there’s no glossary in this book. Instead, the activities at the back of the
book instruct students to look up certain words in their dictionaries. I thought it would save time if I just
created a list of all these words. I
took all the definitions from an electronic dictionary, and just copied and
pasted them onto a vocabulary sheet that we went through on the first day. Every class after that, I designed a
vocabulary matching sheets that drilled the students on 5 words at time. The materials are reproduced below.]
Archbishop: a bishop of the highest rank who is in charge of churches and other
bishops in a particular large area
Bishop: a priest of high rank
who is in charge of the priests of lower rank in a particular area
Castle: a large strong building, built
in the past by a ruler or important person to protect the people inside from
attack
Cave: a dark place
inside a mountain
Evil: very very bad
Gold: a
valuable, shiny, yellow metal used to make coins and jewellery
Harp: a large, wooden musical
instrument with many strings that you play with the fingers
Helmet: a strong
hard hat that covers and protects the head
King: a male
ruler of a country, who holds this position because of his royal birth
Knight: a man
given a rank of honour by a British king or queen because of his special
achievements, and who has the right to be called 'Sir', or (in the past) a man
of high social position trained to fight as a soldier on a horse
Lady: a polite or old fashioned way
of referring to or talking to a woman
Lake: a large
area of water surrounded by land and not connected to the sea except by rivers
or streams
Magic: the use
of special powers to make things happen which would usually be impossible, such
as in stories for children
Nun: a woman of the church
Poison: a substance that can make
people or animals ill or kill them if they eat or drink it
Queen: a woman
who rules a country because she has been born into a royal family, or a woman
who is married to a king
Scabbard:
a long thin cover for the blade of a
sword, which is usually fixed to a belt
Stone: the hard
solid substance found in the ground which is often used for building, or a
piece of this
Sword: a weapon with a long sharp
metal blade and a handle, used especially in the past
Wound: to hurt
somebody with a sword, knife, or gun
*****************************************************************
Archbishop,
bishop, castle, cave, evil
|
Definitions
___________________ very
very bad
___________________ a bishop of the highest rank who is in charge of
churches and other bishops in a particular large area
___________________: a priest of high rank
who is in charge of the priests of lower rank in a particular area
___________________: a large strong building, built in the past by a ruler or important
person to protect the people inside from attack
___________________ a
dark place inside a mountain
Sentences:
When Arthur was a young man, Merlin went to
London. He visited the ___________________, the most important man in the Church
When evening came, King Arthur was not out of the
wood. The he saw a very big, beautiful ____________
in front of him.
The Archbishop is greater than many ___________________s .
A bad person is very ___________________.
Bats live in a ______________ inside a mountain.
************************************************
gold,
harp, helmet, king, knight
|
Definitions:
___________a man of high social position trained to
fight as a soldier on a horse
___________ a male ruler of a country, who holds
this position because of his royal birth
___________ a strong hard hat that covers and
protects the head
___________ a large, wooden musical instrument with
many strings that you play with the fingers
___________ a valuable, shiny, yellow metal used to
make coins and jewellery
Sentences:
This very old story begins with Uther, a great
_______.
A lot of people wanted to be king, so the
_____________ and great men began to fight.
Arthur took the ______________ from his head, so
Pellinore could see his face.
She played beautiful music on the _________.
He is very rich.
He has a lot of ________.
********************************************
lady,
lake, magic, nun, poison
|
Definitions
____________ a woman of the church
____________ a large area of water surrounded
by land and not connected to the sea except by rivers or streams
____________ a polite or old fashioned way of
referring to or talking to a woman
____________ the use of special powers to make
things happen which would usually be impossible, such as in stories for
children
____________ a substance that can make people
or animals ill or kill them if they eat or drink it
Sentences
After a long time they came to an open place in the
mountains. There were no trees, but Arthur saw a strange ____________
. The water was very blue and there were
flowers next to it.
A lovely young woman walked across the water and
stood on the ground next to King Arthur.
"I am the ________ of the Lake."
Morgan le Fay was a queen, with a castle in the
country of Gorres. She was a very bad
woman. She could do ___________, but she only used her __________ for bad
things.
The ______s worked for the church and helped people.
He drank the _____________ and then he died.
*************************************************
queen,
scabbard, stone, sword, wound
|
Definitions
_______________
the hard
solid substance found in the ground which is often used for building, or a
piece of this
_______________
a woman
who rules a country because she has been born into a royal family, or a woman
who is married to a king
_______________ a weapon with a long sharp metal
blade and a handle, used especially in the past
_________________ (Verb)
to hurt somebody with a sword, knife, or gun
__________________(Noun) a damaged area of
the body, such as a cut or hole in the skin or flesh made by a weapon
_______________
a long thin cover for the blade of a
sword, which is usually fixed to a belt
Sentences
Only the next king can pull the sword out of the
______________.
I am the Lady of the Lake. Your _____________, Excalibur, is waiting for
you.
Morgan le Fay was a _____________, with a castle in
the country of Gorres.
The sword was inside a _____________.
The knight ___________ed King Arthur, so he cannot
go back to Camelot.
Nobody could make Sir Tristram's ___________ better.
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