Myths and magical creatures

Objective & content

At the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, a guide tells Ellie the Irish legend of Finn McCool, the giant who escaped a bigger giant by dressing up as a baby; Ellie enjoys the story but does not believe it. Pupils learn to tell a myth or a legend in a few sentences and to talk about magical creatures. After six multiple-choice questions on the tour, they name six creatures from a box of eight, match eight words with their meanings, complete nine sentences from a word box and make nine adjectives with -ous (danger, dangerous). The last and hardest task is the Greek myth of Pandora's box, with a choice of three words in each bracket.

Pedagogical guide

The tour carries the words of the topic, so pupils meet each one in a story before working on it. The tasks go from recognising words to using them: pictures, meanings, new sentences, then word forms. The word-form task asks for one kind of change only, with a worked example; point out the spelling (fame, famous; glory, glorious). In Pandora's box, each choice is settled by the words around it, so pupils should read the whole sentence before they circle. The grammar stays on the A2- floor (past simple, much bigger than, must for a deduction), and no task tests grammar.

Suggested procedure

1. (5 min) Ask which magical creatures pupils know and write the names on the board.
2. (10 min) Pupils read the tour and tick the six answers; check together.
3. (8 min) Pupils name the creatures, then match the words with their meanings.
4. (8 min) Pupils complete the sentences; remind them that two words are extra.
5. (8 min) Do the -ous example together, then pupils make the other adjectives.
6. (10 min) Pupils read Pandora's box and circle the words; check with the answer key on page 4.

Adaptations

[S] Show a photo of the Giant's Causeway before reading and ask "Who made this?". Read the tour aloud in two voices before pupils work alone.

[A] Pupils retell Finn McCool's trick in five sentences. To take it further, they invent a magical creature and write its myth.

Materials & prerequisites

One copy of the three pupil pages per pupil, in colour or in black and white. Page 4 is the answer key: keep it. Pupils should know the past simple of common verbs.