Level: intermediate.
Visuals: texts, pictures of the tales, cards with proverbs (рисунок 1, рисунок 2, рисунок 3)
Aims:
- to develop the skills of pupils to compare, analyze, to make comparisons;
- to improve auding, reading and speaking skills of pupils;
- to raise an interest to national folklore, to bring up tolerance and respect to other people’s customs.
The development
I. Warming up
Teacher: Do you like to read fairy tales?
What tales were the most interesting for you when you were a child?
What English tales do you know?
What do you think why children enjoy reading tales?
Teacher reads the beginning of the Russian tale “ The grasshopper and the ant”
Have you recognized this tale?
What are the main heroes of it?
What is the moral of the tale?
Now I want you to read the tale “The ants and the Grasshoper” in English.
All summer long the ants were busy. They were working and planning for the snowy months. They raced back and forth. They were gathering food for the long winter days.
They gathered grass and grain and stored it in their caves.
One sunny day the grasshopper was watching the busy little ants: ”Why not come and chat with me,”said the grasshopper, “ instead of working in that way? Why are you so industrious on such beautiful, warm, sunny day? I guess they just don’t know how to have a good time?
Wintertime came. Snow covered the fields and the grain disappeared. One winter some ants saw this grasshopper who looked now pale and thin. He told that he was dying of hunger and that he needed something to eat. He couldn’t find any food in the ice and snow.
“You acted so smart in the summertime, Mr Grasshoper. You told us that we were crazy working so hard. Now you are the one who is hungry, and we are the ones who are laughing. Who is crazy now ?one of the ants asked him.
You may have for the grasshopper e some of our grass and grain this time. But we hope that you have learned that hunger is the price you pay for not planning ahead. There is time for work and a time for play”.
What are the main heroes of this tale?
What were the ants doing?
What was the grasshopper doing?
Why was it difficult to find food in winter?
What is the moral of it?
T: And now we shall read a Mancy people’s tale, which is called “ Two dogs”.
This is an English version of it made by our pupil Konstantinova Sonya.
There lived two dogs. Winter time came, it became cold. Their master made soup for them but they were always hungry and cold.
“Let’s go fishing when summer comes! We’ll store the food for all the winter.
“Yes. Of course!
The summertime came. There was a lot of fish and the dogs became fat.
All the summer they were enjoying much food. One dog asks the other dog;
- Will we go fishing to prepare for winter?
- Why? There is no need. Look! We are fat enough to live without fishing till the next summer.
Another winter came. They were again cold and hungry. And they began to talk about fishing in summer .But every time when summer comes they don’t go fishing and when winter comes they are cold and hungry.
Do you like this tale? What is its moral?
What are similarities and differencies between these three tales?
What Russian proverbs about the moral of these tales do you know?
Match the following Russian and English proverbs:
- An idle brain is the devil’s workshop
- Everything comes to him who knows how to wait
- You never know what you can do till you try
- Actions speak louder than words
- Business before pleasure
Делу время – потехе час
Труд кормит, лень портит
Глаза страшатся, руки делают
Терпение и труд все перетрут
Судят по делам, а не по словам
Т: What conclusion can we make?
Different people have similar tales and proverbs, because all people respect the ones who like to work and help each other. And the idea “it is best to prepare for the days of necessity” is common for people of different countries and nationalities.
Стол, за которым ты сидишь,
Кровать, в котором ты уснешь,
Тетрадь, ботинки, пары лыж.
Тарелка, вилка, ложка, нож,
И каждый гвоздь, и каждый дом,
И каждый ломоть хлеба
Все это создано трудом,
А не свалилось с неба!
За все, что сделано для нас,
Мы благодарны людям.
Придет пора, настанет час
И мы трудиться будем!
В. Лифшиц
Wordlist
folk – народный
ant – муравей
grasshopper – кузнечик similarity – сходство
to gather – собирать
grain – зерно difference – различие
to store – запасать
industrious – трудолюбивый
to die of hunger – умирать от голода
price – цена
idle brain – пустая голова