The Man, the Boy and the Donkey: Listening & Writing

In this activity you will listen to a Voki animated character reading the "The man, the boy and the donkey" fable.

It is divided into three parts

PART 1:


PART 2:


PART 3:


After listening, I would like you to create your own Voki animation!
You should use it to tell your opinion of this fable:

How would you have acted If they were the boy in “the man, the boy and the donkey”?
what if you were the man?
what if you were the people in the streets?
Do you agree with the moral?

You can crate your Voki animation here and post your link in the comments section below.

Aesop's Fables: Writing Task

In order to test your writing skills, we are going to collaboratively create a fable of our own!

The title of the fable will be: "The dog and the cat"



The moral of the fable must be: "Be yourself and you will be loved"

From these concepts, you can be as creative as you want.
You should each write only a short sentence, so that all your classmates can participate.

We will be using Google Docs, you have all already been invited to participate in the document and can start right now through this link: Writing task: The dog and the cat

Aesop's Fables: Vocabulary

Which of these words do you already know? Which ones you do not? Is there any word that calls your attention?



You can give your answers or ask your questions in the comments section below.

The Ant and the Grasshopper: Animated video

This here is Walt Disney's 1934 short animated film "the grasshopper and the ants"

The Wolf and the Lamb: listening activity

In the next video you can listen to a longer, playacted version of "The wolf and the lamb"

Aesop's Fables

For the next lesson will be introducing the topic of Aesop's Fables.

Aesop was a slave and story-teller believed to have lived in Ancient Greece between 620 and 560 BCE, and is credited with having written the most popular fables, which remain in our culture even to this day.

For the purpose of the lesson, we will be focusing on three of these fables:

The Ant and the Grasshopper

In a field one summer's day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart's content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.

"Why not come and chat with me," said the Grasshopper, "instead of toiling and moiling in that way?"

"I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant, "and recommend you to do the same."

"Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper; we have got plenty of food at present." But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer.

(Then the Grasshopper knew: It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.)

The Wolf and the Lamb

Once upon a time a Wolf was lapping at a spring on a hillside, when, looking up, what should he see but a Lamb just beginning to drink a little lower down. "There's my supper," thought he, "if only I can find some excuse to seize it." Then he called out to the Lamb, "How dare you muddle the water from which I am drinking?"

"Nay, master, nay," said Lambkin; "if the water be muddy up there, I cannot be the cause of it, for it runs down from you to me."

"Well, then," said the Wolf, "why did you call me bad names this time last year?""That cannot be," said the Lamb; "I am only six months old."

"I don't care," snarled the Wolf; "if it was not you it was your father;" and with that he rushed upon the poor little Lamb and ate her all up.

(But before she died she gasped out: "Any excuse will serve a tyrant.")

The Man, the Boy and the Donkey

A man and his son were once going with their Donkey to market. As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them and said: "You fools, what is a Donkey for but to ride upon?"

So the Man put the Boy on the Donkey and they went on their way. But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said: "See that lazy youngster; he lets his father walk while he rides."

So the Man ordered his Boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn't gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other: "Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along."

Well, the Man didn't know what to do, but at last he took his Boy up before him on the Donkey. By this time they had come to the town, and the passers-by began to jeer and point at them. The Man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at. The men said: "Aren't you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey of yours and your hulking son?"

The Man and Boy got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and they thought, till at last they cut down a pole, tied the donkey's feet to it, and raised the pole and the donkey to their shoulders. They went along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came to Market Bridge, when the Donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the Boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the Donkey fell over the bridge, and his fore-feet being tied together he was drowned.

("That will teach you," said an old man who had followed them:

"Please all and you will please none.")

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Welcome to Evedir's ESL Blog.

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