Objectives:

• to help learners consolidate and develop their vocabulary by active using idioms

• to practise intensive reading of a fairy tale and explaining what happened in it

• to practise writing a fairy tale

• to develop students' creative skills

Warm up

The first stories that parents tell their very young children are fairy tales. What fairy tales did your parents read or tell you when you were small? What are your favourite fairy tales? Why do you like them?

Introducing the Topic

Vocabulary. Idiomatic Language

by the book — according to the rule (informal);

close the book on somebody or something — to put an end to a matter which concerns someone or something;

crack a book — to open the book to study. (Slang. Almost always in the negative.)

to have one's nose in a book — to be reading a book; to read books all the time.

hit the books — to begin to study; to study (informal);

in one's book — in one's opinion (informal)

make book on something — to make or accept bets on something (slang)

Complete the sentences with the expressions.

1. John is_(making book) on the football game this Saturday.

2. He always plays the game_(by the book).

3.  _(In my book), this is the best that money can buy.

4. It's time to_(close the book) on the Frariklin case.

5. I passed the test with an A, and I didn't even_(crack a book).

6. Well, time to_(hit the books).

7. Bob_(has his nose in a book) every time I see him.

Reading

Fairy tales often begin with the words "Once upon a time...". These short stories usually have unreal characters and animals. Sometimes the stories con­tain a moral or lesson. They are very old. People had known them a very long time before they appeared in books. Some famous collections of stories of this kind are Aesop's Fables and Grimm' Tales. A story about little girl, Little Red Riding Hood, and a wolf is one of the best-known fairy tales.

The class is divided into two groups. The students of the first group read James Thurber's version of the fairy tales "Little Red Riding Hood", which is called "The Little Girl and the Wolf'.

The students of the second group read Ronald Dahl's version "Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf.

Group 1

THE LITTLE GIRL AND THE WOLF James Thurber

One afternoon a big wolf waited in a dark forest for a little girl to come along carrying a basket of food to her grandmother. Finally a little girl did cone along and she was carrying a basket of food. "Are you carrying a basket of food to your grandmother?" asked the wolf. The little girl said yes, she was. So the wolf asked her where her grandmother lived and the little girl told him and he disappeared into the wood.

When the little girl opened the door of her grandmother's house she saw that there was somebody in bed with a nightcap and nightgown. She had ap­proached to nearer than twenty-five feet from the bed when she saw that it was not her grandmother but the wolf, for even in a nightcap a wolf doesn't look any more like your grandmother than the Metro-Goldwyn Hon looks like Calvin Coolidge. So the little girl took an automatic gun out of her basket and shot the wolf dead.

Key: 25 feet = 7.5 metres approximately

Calvin Coolidge = President of the USA (1923-1929)

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD AND THE WOLF

Ronald Dahl

As soon as Wolf began to feel

That he would like a decent meal,

He went and knocked on Grandma's door.

When the Grandma opened it, she saw

The sharp white teeth, the horrid grin,

And the Wolf said, "May I come in?"

Poor grandmother was terrified,

"He's going to eat me up!" she cried.

And she was absolutely right.

He ate her with one big bite.

But Grandmother was small and tough,

And Wolfie wailed, "That's not enough!

I haven't yet begun to feel

That I have had a decent meal!"

He ran around the kitchen yelping,

"I've got to have another helping!"

Then added with a frightful leer,

"I'm therefore going to wait right here

Till Little Miss Red Riding Hood

Comes home from walking in the wood".

He quickly put on Grandma's clothes,

(Of course he hadn't eaten those.)

He dressed himself in a coat and hat.

He put on shoes and after that

He even brushed and curled his hair,

Then sat himself in Grandma's chair.

In came the little girl in red.

She stopped. She stared. And she said,

"What great big ears you have, Grandma".

"All the better to hear you with", the Wolf replied.

"What great big eyes you have, Grandma",

said Little Red Riding Hood.

"All the better to see you with", the Wolf replied.

He sat there watching her and smiling and smiled.

He thought, "I'm going to eat this child.

Compared with her old grandmamma

She's going to taste like caviar".

The Little Red Riding Hood aid, "But grandma,

What a lovely great big furry coat you have on".

"That's wrong!" Cried Wolf. "Have you forgotten

to tell me what BIG TEETH I've got?

Ah well, no matter what you say,

I'm going to eat you anyway".

The small little girl smiles. One eyelid flickers.

She whips a pistol from her knickers.

She aims it at the creature's head

And bang bang bang, she shoots him dead.

A few weeks later, in the wood,

I came across Miss Riding Hood.

But what a chance! No cloak of red,

No silly hood upon her head.

She said, "Hello, and do please note

My lovely furry WOLFSKIN COAT".

The students on the both groups compare two tales: the original fairy tale and its new version and find differences. After that the groups exchange their representatives who tell the students of the other group the new version of the famous fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood".

Writing

A writing game "Fairytale Update"

This activity works well with the students in small groups of three, four, or five. There are two versions of the game.

Version 1

Make enough copies of the Traditional ingredients sheets for there to be a handful of ingredients for each group. Cut the 'ingredients' and put them into a bag or a hat.

Begin by reading or telling the students a fairy tale, such as The Sleeping Beauty, The Princess and the Pea or The Frog Prince.

Then ask each group to dip into the bag and take a handful of ingredients. Then they should write a fairy tale combing those ingredients.

Version 2

Copy both the Traditional and the Modern ingredients sheets, so that there will be enough ingredients for every group to take a handful for each. Cut them up and pit them in separate hats or bags.

Begin by reading or telling the students a fairy tale, such as "The Sleeping Beauty", "The Princess and the Pea" or "The Frog Prince".

Pass round the bags and ask each group individual to take a (small) handful from each.

Ask them to create their own modernized fairytale, combing all the ingre­dients, traditional and modem, they have selected.

FAIRYTALE UPDATE (Traditional ingredients)

a window

a prince a witch

a wizard

a princess a castle

invisibility

a magic carpet

a Fairy Godmother a talking bird

a tree with magic fruit

a talking fish

FAIRYTALE UPDATE (Modern ingredients) a magic walkman

a magic jacuzzi

a talking goldfish

a bank robber a punk

a yuppie prince

a talking house plant

a magic washing machine that can rinse out all your troubles

a Swiss penknife with mag­ic powers to get you out of difficult situations

a bottomless bank account

a radio that you can tune in to other people's thoughts

a magic cash card

a flying car

a terrorist

a bank clerk

a pop star

a feminist princess

a magic lipstick that makes you beautiful

a suitcase that will hold anything

a video camera that can record the future a digital watch that can tell you how many years you have left to live

a pocket calculator that makes decisions for you

a telephone line to your Fairy Godmother

a vicar

a news reporter a politician

a computer that can grant wishes

a suit that makes a wearer invisible

training shoes that will make you run at super­sonic speeds

a hamster who is really a filmstar

Homework

Write a new version of one of the famous fairy tales.