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Lesson 1
What is a fantasy story? 1.
Fantastic and Magic • • •
Explore and read fantasy stories. Read stories. Compare similarities and differences between local behaviors, values and settings and those of other countries.
Look at the pictures and the title of the story. As a whole group, discuss and answer the questions. 1. 2. 3. 4.
Group
Who was the king that had the knights of the round table? What do you think is happening in picture a? Look at picture b. What do you think this story is about? Look at picture c. Where do you think this story took place?
The Sword in the Stone
a
2.
c
b
In pairs, read the following summary of the story. Then read the words discuss the kinds of stories where you can see them. Look up their meanings if necessary.
Pairs
Many years ago, a baby son was born to a King and queen in one of the kingdoms of England. There was war in the land and they worried that something could happen to Arthur, their baby. They decided to send the baby to a safe place. The king’s advisor, Merlin the wizard, took him away to his friend William’s family who had a farm. “Don’t pamper Arthur”, he told them. “He needs to grow up strong. Put him to work and I will come by to give him lessons”. And so, year after year, Arthur grew strong. He helped with all the chores and loved his lessons with his dear teacher, Merlin, especially when Merlin used his magic staff to explain something. Years later, when the king died, his last words to Merlin were, “help Arthur become king”. It was decided that the new king would be the winner of a tournament. Merlin sent Arthur to be a squire, he helped the knights with their shields and armour. One day coming back from the river, he saw a sword stuck in a big stone. Thinking it belonged to one of the knights, he pulled it out. Golden letters on the sword said “whoever pulls this sword from the stone is the real king of England. It was a magic sword! Everybody came running but nobody believed that he had pulled it out, so Merlin put the sword back into the stone and invited all the knights and Lords to try again. Nobody could pull it out, so Merlin asked Arthur to try once more. Arthur pulled it out easily and everobody fell to their knees. “Long live King Arthur”, they cried. And so his new journey began. kingdom
3.
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advisor
tournament
squire
staff
In groups, talk about the magical object mentioned in the story. What makes it magical? Do you know other stories with similar magical objects? Share them with your classmates.
Reads fantastic stories