how are you? Are you ready to start a year of games and reading with me in English? It will be fun! To begin, I want to introduce our friends from Forest Farm. Today, we’ll see them sitting at the breakfast table. What do you think they like to eat? We’ll find out in the story corner.
And since Halloween is around the corner, we’ll talk about the spider Anansi, a folk-tale hero and I’ll teach you a game to play with friends called “Wicked witch, what time is it?”. I’m excited to get to know you, so let’s get started!
Alice
What do you eat on your bread? Butter? Honey? Maybe jam? Here’s a knife so you can spread. Good morning, all! Here I am!
Mom has fruit with cereal. Dad eats yoghurt with a spoon. They know it’s an important meal, Last sip, last bite, school starts soon!
Which of these foods are often part of a “continental breakfast” and which are not?
Bread, butter and jam yes no
Milk and coffee yes no
Ice cream yes no
Sausage, bacon and eggs yes no
In which of these countries is a “continental breakfast” traditional? I’ll give you a hint: there is only one. In the other three, the traditional breakfast is a more substantial meal with meat, fish or beans.
Italy
United Kingdom
Mexico
New Zealand
Mini dictionary
Read the words aloud.
Breakfast
Illustrator: Laura Deo
honey chocolate spread cereal yoghurt she eats jam he drinks
1
3 What do our Forest Farm friends have for breakfast? Solve the anagram puzzles and find out!
The Giant’s Causeway
Use the words below to fill in the blanks in the legend about the Giant’s Causeway.
BABY | FIONN | AGAINST | ENORMOUS
According to legend, the Giant’s Causeway was built by an Irish giant called who wanted to fight a Scottish giant named Benandonner. Fionn got scared and decided to try to fool his enemy. So, his wife put him in a cradle, disguised as a baby. When Benandonner arrived and saw the baby, he thought: “If that is his , then Fionn must be !” He ran back home, destroying the causeway behind him.
Answers on page 11.
Look at these amazing rock columns! They look like a construction made with building blocks or hexagonal bricks. Actually, the Giant’s Causeway is an absolutely natural rock formation caused by volcanic activity 50 to 60 million years ago. Its 40 thousand basalt columns lead out to the sea.
The Giant’s Causeway got its name from a legend. Long ago, before people had science, people told stories to answer questions about the world and the past. This legend involves a battle between two Giants (Fionn Mac Cool and Benandonner) on opposite sides of the sea separating Northern Ireland from Scotland.
A causeway is something like a bridge because it’s a path or road to cross water or lowland. It’s different from a bridge in that there is little or no space underneath it. It’s a raised path.
A Special Breakfast!
It’s Sunday morning. Robbie, Gracie and Charlotte are still in bed. They love sleeping in on Sundays!
Come on, sleepyheads!
Wake up, everyone, it’s late! And there’s a surprise!
It’s time to wake up our sleepyhead friends! It’s 11 o’clock and the sun is high in the sky! Charlotte opens the door.
Will you ring the bell, Charlie?
I bet they are still sleeping!
And we’re going to wake them up!
Charlie and Hattie are early risers. They’ve been awake for at least two hours!
Oh! This is delicious!
Please pass the chocolate spread.
I prefer strawberry jam! I’m so sad the jar is empty!
It’s finally breakfast time. Hattie and Charlie have just bought fresh bread from the bakery. It’s warm and delicious!
Here, Gracie! Freshly made jam just for you!
Dylan! It’s so kind of you!
Surprise! Dylan is kind and has prepared homemade jam from strawberries from the garden.
Charlie is such a bore when he is Mr. know-it-all!
My dear friends, never forget the importance of eating breakfast... blah blah blah…
Charlie remids everyone that breakfast is an important meal for growing youngsters. He’s always wise but...
Charlie, have some cereal! and here’s some yoghurt for you! Ha ha ha!
And here’s the jam, the chocolate spread, the butter…
And don’t forget the honey!
They must find some way to make Charlie stop talking. Dylan has an idea!
Charlie is buried under a mountain of breakfast foods. Didn’t he say that a hearty breakfast is good for your health?
Illustrator: Laura Deo
Culture
Anansi or the Spider Tales
Do you know any stories about Anansi, the clever spider? He’s a hero in West African, Caribbean and African American folk tales. He’s a wonderful character who uses his intelligence to get out of sticky situations.
The stories are sometimes funny, sometimes moral and touch on all kinds of situations. In the older stories, Anansi tries to find solutions to illness in the village, or famine. He might be the hero who spreads wisdom throughout the world, or who rebels against an unfair king. In other stories, we see a character who is a trickster, who is greedy, selfish or lazy. Sometimes he does good, sometimes bad, but he’s always cunning and clever. This spider hero was invented in Ghana, a country in West Africa. At first, the stories were
never written, they were memorized and told or invented. The stories became known in America because of the terrible time of the slave trade. People in Ghana and neighbouring countries were kidnapped and taken to work as slaves in North and South America. The folk-tales were a part of their culture that those people remembered and continued to Ghana is a country with many different ethnic groups and languages. The official language is English. It’s the language that is taught in schools.
Would you like to read an Anansi story? Read “Anansi the spider. A tale from Ashanti”, written by Gerald McDermott, or listen to the story online!
tell in the countries where they were forced to work as slaves. One day, anthropologists started to collect the stories by asking people to tell them. They wrote them down in books and illustrators drew the characters. In the drawings, sometimes Anansi is a man who looks like a spider, other times, he is a spider who acts like a human.
After reading the story, you can now do the following activities.
1 True or false?
1 It’s a rainy Saturday morning.
2 Hattie is an early-riser.
3 Charlie and Hattie bring a freshly baked cake.
4 Gracie loves strawberry jam.
5 Dylan prepares some delicious cherry jam.
6 Charlie is a bore when he acts like a Mr. Know-it-all.
7 Breakfast is not a very important meal.
8 Dylan is buried under breakfast foods.
2 Breakfast can be sweet or savory. In some cultures, it resembles a hearty lunch! Let’s take a look at what are favourite breakfast drinks in different countries in the world. Try to connect the breakfast drink to the country. If you’re not sure what the drink is, try to look it up. I’ve tried them all, they are delicious!
1 MINT TEA
2 CHAI TEA
3 LASSI
4 MILK
5 SKYR 6 COFFEE
Answers on page 11.
A Game
“Wicked witch, what time is it?”
Here’s a game that is perfect for playing in the yard or the park. Happy Halloween!
One player stays at one end of the play area, turning his or her back to the other players. It’s the Wicked witch. All the other players are behind a starting line at the other end of the play area.
The players call out: “Wicked witch, what time is it?” The witch answers, for example: “It’s 6 o’clock”. The players then take six steps towards the witch. The steps can be big or small. They call out again. The Witch answers and they move forward according to the answer. The game continues in this way until someone reaches the witch and touches
the shoulder. But, look out! The witch can answer: “It’s midnight!” at this moment, the witch turns to face the other players and tries to catch someone. The one who gets caught is the new witch.
