First english lesson...

Thoughts about the first lesson in english

In the beggining it was mostly introduction the the subject, but all necessary and relevant for all of us. There was some confusion, but it was solved. Then we had to do an introduction of our partner in front of class, which was a quite good warm-up, as we were forced to communicate in english, while given a chance to get to know each other better. In the end we were given an exercise with a fairy tale, where we were to read some of it out loud and the answer some questiens on teams of 2. I think it was a very good first day, and it was nice to get to do something, instead of just listening to information all day.

Questions to The Fisherman and the Goldfish by A. Pushkin (The Fisherman and His Wife by the Grimm Brothers) (preparation time 30 minutes)



1. What tells you that it is a fairy tale? Look for fairy tale characteristics / genre features
Personification - talking fish
Magic - wishes
Home-out-home

                  Magical numbers - 3

2. What is the moral of the fairy tale?
Don't be greedy


3. Comment on the illustration on your page. What can you see in the picture? (Show the pictures from the Internet)
Wife - fair lady, she slaps the fisherman - "don't argue with me, go see the fish."


4. Could this fairy tale be used in the Folkeskole? If yes how? Could the illustrations be used for colouring? Could you hand out the pictures only and read the fairy tale aloud and let the pupils find the right order of the illustrations? Do they support the vocabulary acquisition? (visual aids)
Yes, but only in the higher grades since the language is quite advanced.
You could give out the pictures, and while the teacher read out the fairy tale, they should put the pictures in order.
The pictures shows a place (the far east) and that kind of damages the image of a fairy tale, but they support the text.


5. Make up a conversation between the fisherman and his wife, and present it to the class (you are allowed to give your imagination a free rein i.e. you can stay in the fairy tale world or/and you can make their world into a real world / modern version of the fairy tale)
"Why did all my glory disappear?! What did you do?!"
"The mighty fish took it all away"
"But I don't understand - I all wanted something better for us"
"I never wanted all those things - I only ever wanted you"
"But I thought I needed all those things.. Maybe I don't - Maybe I just need you. Can you forgive me?"
"Sure my darling, but I hope you learned your lesson. In my heart you will always be a Tsaritsa."
"And in the end, all that matters to me are you and what you think of me"
"I love you"
"I love you too."
… And they kissed and lived happily ever after.