The Mice That Set the Elephants Free

LESSON PLAN - 18
Name of the Teacher   : S. Bragatheeshwari                                                                                                   Standard     : VIII Name of the School     : G. H. S. S. Kulathoor                                                                                               Strength     : 24 Name of the Subject    : English                                                                                                                             Date          : 15-07-2014 Name of the Unit         : On Telling a Tale, Unit II                                                                                       Duration   : 45 mins Name of the Subunit    : The Mice That Set the Elephants Free (Intro., Para 1, 2)                         Period       : IV Issue                             : Lack of cohesive universal vision                           Sub Issue                      : Not realizing the importance of social mingling Curricular Statement The pupil: 1) reads and analyses literary text and identifies the theme.                  2) constructs various discourses like dialogues, narratives, slogans, reports etc.                  3) realizes the concept of universal brotherhood.                  4) creates awareness on social responsibility among citizens.                  5) thinks critically and takes one’s own stand regarding issues related to social mingling. Content Analysis              ‘The Mice That Set the Elephants Free’ is a fable translated from Sanskrit by Arthur W. Ryder. There was once a ruined village that was occupied by mice. It occupied all the holes and gaps in houses and temples. They were happily settled there in the village when suddenly, an elephant king came with his herd. On their way to the lake in search of water, the elephants crushed the rats’ faces, eyes, necks and heads. Pre- requisites The pupil: 1) might have read stories from ‘The Panchatantra’.
2) might have observed the peculiar features of a fable.                  3) might have read stories about friendship.                  4) might have experienced the worth of having true friends. Process Skills              Observation, communication, group work, interpretation and analysis. Life Skills              Effective communication, decision-making, problem solving and interpersonal relationship. Product/ Discourses              Story writing, write-ups, dialogues. Teaching Learning Resources              Picture of ruined buildings, chinks, herd of elephants, community of people, pictures of the cover page of Panchatantra, Aesop’s Fables, Katha Sarith Sagara and a chart with a story.
CLASSROOM ACTIVITY	ASSESSMENT
Informal Interaction              Teacher engages in an informal talk with the students to create a rapport with them.              Good morning to all!              Do you all read stories?              In which language do you read stories?             Do you like to read story books which have lot of pictures in it?              What is the reason why pictures are included in story books for children?              (To attract children and get them into the world of  reading). Introduction              Teacher asks a few questions to arouse interest in the learners.              Have you ever been tempted to read a book by its cover page?              What does the front page tell us about?              (It gives us hints about the stories and characters in it).              Are you familiar with books like The Panchatantra, Aesop’s Fables, Katha Sarith Sagara, Indian Fairy Tales etc?

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Link Talk              Teacher again asks few questions to lead the pupils to the topic.              What type of characters do you see in such books?              (Birds and animals)              Do these stories teach you something?              (Yes)              Do you know what a fable is?           (A fable is a short narrative which teaches a moral lesson usually with animals or birds as its characters).              Now we will study about a fable called “The Mice That Set the Elephants Free”. It was translated from Sanskrit by Arthur W. Ryder. Micro Processing of the Unit              Teacher reads the passage aloud with proper pronunciation, stress, accent, intonation, modulation of voice and appropriate expressions. Then she asks the students to read silently. Individual Reading              Students read the topic silently. Track Reading              Students track down the words that they read.              Teacher asks the pupils to track the reading by marking:              familiar words or ideas with a ‘√’ mark              unfamiliar words or ideas with a ‘×’ mark              confusing words or ideas with a ‘?’ mark and                      interesting words or ideas with a ‘!’ mark.

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Collaborative Learning           Teacher asks the students to sit in groups and share their ideas.              Students share their ideas with their counterparts.              Teacher goes to each group and megaphones their doubts to the entire class and helps them understand clearly. Glossary Reference with the help of the Teacher              Teacher helps the learners to share their understanding and refer the glossary and find out the meaning of difficult words. If the learner needs more clarification, the teacher intervenes and gives them appropriate situations to get the right meaning of words.       1)  Ruin (n) /ruːɪn/- spoil completely Teacher shows the picture of ruined buildings to elicit the meaning. What can you see in the picture? (Destroyed buildings) So we can say that these buildings are ruined.     2) Chinks (n) /tʃɪŋks/- small holes in a wall or between two things that join together. Teacher shows the picture of a small hole where Jerry lives and asks these questions. Do you know which cartoon is this? (Tom and Jerry) Can you say where Jerry lives in this cartoon? (In a small hole) So we can say that Jerry always lives in a chink in the cartoon.      3) Herd (n) /h3:d/- a group of animals feeding or staying together. Teacher shows the picture of a group of elephants to elicit the meaning.

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What can you see in the picture ? (A group of elephants) What are the elephants doing? (Drinking water) So we can say that a herd of elephants are moving towards the lake to drink water. 4) Community (n) /kᵊmju:nᵊtI/- a body of people living in one place or united by origin, interests etc.                      Teacher shows the picture of a group of people to elicit the meaning.             What can you see in this picture?             (A group of people)             What are they doing?             (They are waving their hands)             Are these people doing a similar activity?             (Yes)         So we can see a community of people engaged in similar activity or having similar interests. Scaffolding Questions              The teacher presents a few questions related to the passage to the students and asks them to find out the answers in order to prompt the discussion and clarify the area.      1)      What kind of a village was it?       (It was a ruined village)      2)      Who were the old settlers in the village?       (Mice)      3)      Where did they occupy?       (The chinks in the floors of houses and temple)

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4) Who came into the scene?           (An elephant king) 5)  As they marched, what did the elephants do?           (They crushed the faces, eyes and neck of the mice)       Teacher helps the learners establish, predict and build up thought. Students discuss what they have understood Discourse Based Construction           Teacher asks the students to wrote a small story with animals as characters. Teacher makes the students write it individually. Presentation, Editing and Refinement           Teacher asks few students to present their answers.           Teacher edits it with the teacher’s version and then group editing is done.          THE SNAKE AND THE PEACOCK             Once there lived a boastful snake in a forest. It always boasted of its power to kill all the animals and birds around. One day it happened it meet a peacock on its way. The peacock did not see the snake. The snake came down from a tree and stood in front of the peacock and said that no animal in this world can kill me. I am the most powerful. It tried to attack the peacock, but the peacock pecked the snake with its beak hardly and it died. Thus came the end of the boastful snake. Assignment          Based on any story that you have read or heard, prepare a write-up on the moral that you have learnt from it.