Ireland: The leprechaun

Objective & content

This Look Closer episode (Ireland, myths and legends mini-series, episode 52) is a one-minute documentary about the leprechaun of the old Irish stories, told with an old book drawing, real photos and drawings. A single narrator explains that the leprechaun is a very small shoemaker with gold hidden under the ground, then tells the story of a boy called Tom, who catches one and is tricked with red ribbons. Learners meet the present simple for telling a story (makes, catches, shows, puts), must for the rules of the stories (he must show you his gold), If you catch a leprechaun, ..., the possessives his and my, and a closing What colour is ...? question. The vocabulary is about jobs, clothes, colours and folk tales. Learners listen, then answer the 10 questions in the app: 7 on facts and 3 on vocabulary (shoemaker, spade, trick).

Materials & prerequisites

You need the episode (audio and slideshow) and the printables: a one-page pupil pack and teacher pack (the text, three pictures, the key words and the 10 questions, with the answers highlighted in the teacher pack), a pupil question sheet and a teacher answer key. There is no lesson plan. Learners should know the colours and the present simple with he (he makes shoes). Leprechaun and shoemaker name the subject, so they are taught for understanding; hammer, ribbon and spade are shown or explained in the episode.

Curriculum alignment

Tagged imagination-tales-and-legends (6e, "Imaginaire, contes et légendes", study topic "Ireland, land of myths and legends", Cycle 3). The episode targets CEFR level A1+.