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-NiE ,
9 AUGUST 2017
INTERMEDIATE Poem
Facing your fears My Hero My dad’s as brave as a dad can be, I rate him Number One, He’s not afraid of the dead of night, Or anything under the sun. He’s not afraid of a late-night film, Full of horrors on the telly, And is he afraid of skeletons? Not dad, not on your Nelly! He’s not afraid of meeting ghosts, He’d even smile and greet ‘em, And things that scare most dads the most, My dad could just defeat ‘em. He’s not afraid of vampires, Or a wolf-man come to get him, If Frankenstein’s monster knocked on our door, He wouldn’t let that upset him.
THE dad in Willis Hall’s My Hero seems to be a real hero in the eyes of his child. He is not at all afraid of things that would scare most people, especially kids. He is not in the least bit fearful of ghosts, monsters, vampires, skeletons or late-night horror films. There is one thing, though, that is puzzling. Whenever there’s a spider in the bath, why does he call for Mum to come and deal with it? The things that people are fearful of are not always the
My dad’s as brave as a dad can be, And he’s always ready to prove it. So why, when a spider’s in the bath, Does Mum have to come and remove it? – Willis Hall
same. In fact, some people seem to be afraid of many more things than others. The dad in the poem is not afraid of the things that seem really scary to his child, like ghosts and vampires. But he seems to be afraid of spiders in the bath, which can be quite a nasty experience. Having spiders or other bugs crawling in your tub is definitely not very pleasant but we can get rid of them rather easily if we want to.
Activity Critical thinking ● Identify ● Organise
NiE Activity 2 A phobia is an extreme and unreasonable fear of something. To some people, the fear of spiders can become so intense that it becomes a phobia, known as arachnophobia. In the table below, you will find a list of phobias. Match the phobias with their meanings correctly.
Problem solving ● Question ● Research
Phobia
Meaning
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
a. Fear of speaking in public b. Fear of flying c. Fear of enclosed spaces d. Fear of blood e. Fear of being out of mobile phone contact f. Fear of fire g. Fear of foreigners h. Fear of heights i. Fear of darkness j. Fear of thunder
NiE Activity 1 Critical thinking ● Identify ● Reason
Creative thinking ● Brainstorm ● Connect
A hero is someone we admire or look up to for many reasons. The child’s dad is his hero in the poem because he seems to be totally unafraid of anything (except for spiders in the bath). In groups of four, think of 15 words that can be associated with heroes. At least five of these words must come from The Star. Cut out these words and paste them on one half of a sheet of A4 paper. Exchange your list with another group. Using the list that you now have, look for someone in The Star (in the form of a picture or name) whom you think fulfils the criteria for at least seven words from the list.
Problem solving ● Question ● Recreate
● Identify ● Reason
Creative thinking ● Imagine ● Brainstorm ● Connect ● Invent
Problem solving ● Recreate ● Present
Communicating ● Oral ● Written ● Aural
Collaborating Imagine if a ghost or monster knocked on your door, what would your reaction be? Also, how would you react if you saw a cockroach ● Listen ● Contribute in your bathtub? In groups of four, look for pictures of four people respectfully from The Star to represent a family (mum, dad, brother and sister). ● Attain goal Cut them out and paste them on a sheet of A4 paper. In the column on the right, write down what they would say if a monster knocked on the front door. In the column on the left, write down what they would say if they saw a cockroach in the bathtub. When you are done, display your work on the classroom walls and do a gallery walk.
EXAMPLE
ANSWERS 1. j 2. g 3. c 4. i 5. a 6. d 7. h 8. b 9. e 10. f
Tonitrophobia Xenophobia Claustrophobia Lygophobia Glossophobia Haemophobia Acrophobia Aviophobia Nomophobia Pyrophobia
Critical thinking
Communicating ● Oral ● Written ● Aural
Paste the Collaborating picture or name ● Listen on the same ● Contribute paper. Then, respectfully write a brief ● Attain goal description of the person, including reasons why you see him as a hero. Your description must include the seven words you have chosen from the list. When you are done, exchange papers again and comment on the work done by the other group.
Cockroach in the bathtub
Family member
Monster at the front door