Breaking News English Lesson on Fairy Tales

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Fairy tales could be 6,000 years old (24th January, 2016)

The Reading / Listening - Level 6

The famous 19th-century fairy tale collector Wilhelm Grimm suggested fairy tales dated back thousands of years. Scientists now support his theory and claim that many of the fairy tales we know and love could be over 4,000 years old. Anthropologist Jamshid Tehrani and folklorist Sara da Silva say the oldest known fairy tale dates back over 6,000 years to the Bronze Age. This is a time between the Stone Age and Iron Age when humans first started making tools from metal. Dr Tehrani studied the evolution of our early languages. He found strong links between a tale called "The Smith and the Devil" and the Proto-Indo-European language - an ancient common language that dates to around 6,000 years ago.

The two scientists analysed 275 tales for elements of culture that existed before modern languages like English, French and Italian. They say well-known tales like "Beauty and the Beast" and "Rumplestiltskin" are at least 4,000 years old. Dr Tehrani said: "It's remarkable that these stories have survived so long without being written down. They are older than the English language and would have been first told in a language that is now extinct." Many of the fairy tales we know today were first written down in the 17th century. Dr Tehrani says the new findings suggest that: "A substantial number of magical tales have existed in Indo-European oral traditions long before they were written down."

Try the same news story at these easier levels:

Level 4 or Level 5

Sources

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/fairy-tales-could-date-back-thousands-of-years-research-says-a6822021.html
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/no-fairy-tale-origins-some-famous-stories-go-back-thousands-years
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-35358487

Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice, drag and drop activities, crosswords, hangman, flash cards, matching activities and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

The 40 Lesson Activities on the PDF Handout

WARM-UPS

1. FAIRY TALES: Students walk around the class and talk to other students about fairy tales. Change partners often and share your findings.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, talk about these topics or words from the article. What will the article say about them? What can you say about these words and your life?

famous / collector / theory / fairy tale / Stone Age / tools / metal / evolution / links / elements / culture / remarkable / survived / language / extinct / substantial / oral

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. MODERN FAIRY TALES: What fairy tale could you write about these topics? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners often and share what you wrote.

	Characters	Story	Message
The Internet
Global warming
Immigration
Terrorism
Living on Mars
Mobile phones

4. CHILDREN: Students A strongly believe fairy tales are only for children; Students B strongly believe they are just as good for adults. Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

MY e-BOOK

ESL resource book with copiable worksheets and handouts - 1,000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers / English teachers

See a sample

5. ESSENTIALS: Rank these with your partner. Put the most essential things for a fairy tale at the top. Change partners often and share your rankings.

• a fairy godmother

• a topical world issue

• love

• an evil person

• a happy ending

• a moral message

• possibility for a Disney film

• a talking animal

6. FAIRY: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word "fairy". Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if a-h below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	A man called Wilhelm Grimm said fairy tales were 20,000 years old.	T / F
b.	Scientists say the oldest fairy tale is around 6,000 years old.	T / F
c.	The Bronze Age is before the Iron Age and after the Stone Age.	T / F
d.	The world's oldest known fairy tale is about the devil.	T / F
e.	Scientists looked at 2,750 fairy tales in their research.	T / F
f.	The fairy tale 'Beauty and the Beast' is less than 4,000 years old.	T / F
g.	The earliest fairy tales were told in English.	T / F
h.	Most fairy tales were written down before they were spoken.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

1.	suggested	a.	traces
2.	support	b.	development
3.	theory	c.	considerable
4.	evolution	d.	back
5.	common	e.	extraordinary
6.	elements	f.	widespread
7.	remarkable	g.	proposed
8.	extinct	h.	spoken
9.	substantial	i.	vanished
10.	oral	j.	hypothesis

3. PHRASE MATCH: (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.	fairy tales dated back	a.	survived so long
2.	the fairy tales we know	b.	language
3.	when humans first started making	c.	is now extinct
4.	Dr Tehrani studied the evolution	d.	magical tales
5.	an ancient common	e.	tools from metal
6.	culture that existed	f.	known tales
7.	well-	g.	thousands of years
8.	It's remarkable that these stories have	h.	before modern languages
9.	first told in a language that	i.	of our early languages
10.	A substantial number of	j.	and love

GAP FILL

The famous 19th-century fairy tale (1) ____________ Wilhelm Grimm suggested fairy tales (2) ____________ back thousands of years. Scientists now support his theory and claim that many of the fairy tales we know and (3) ____________ could be over 4,000 years old. Anthropologist Jamshid Tehrani and folklorist Sara da Silva say the oldest (4) ____________ fairy tale dates back over 6,000 years to the Bronze Age. This is a time between the Stone Age and Iron Age when humans first started making (5) ____________ from metal. Dr Tehrani studied the (6) ____________ of our early languages. He found strong (7) ____________ between a tale called "The Smith and the Devil" and the Proto-Indo-European language - an ancient (8) ____________ language that dates to around 6,000 years ago.

tools
dated
links
collector
known
common
love
evolution

The two scientists analysed 275 tales for (9) ____________ of culture that existed before (10) ____________ languages like English, French and Italian. They say well-known tales like "Beauty and the Beast" and "Rumplestiltskin" are at (11) ____________ 4,000 years old. Dr Tehrani said: "It's remarkable that these stories have (12) ____________ so long without being written down. They are older than the English language and would have been first told in a language that is now (13) ____________." Many of the fairy tales we know today were first written down in the 17th century. Dr Tehrani says the new (14) ____________ suggest that: "A substantial (15) ____________ of magical tales have existed in Indo-European (16) ____________ traditions long before they were written down."

survived
modern
number
elements
oral
extinct
least
findings

LISTENING - Guess the answers. Listen to check.

1)	19-century fairy tale collector Wilhelm Grimm suggested fairy ______ thousands of years
	a. tales date it back b. tales dated backed c. tales dated backs d. tales dated back
2)	many of the fairy tales we ______
	a. no and love b. now and loved c. know and love d. known and love
3)	Anthropologist Jamshid Tehrani and ______ Sara da Silva
	a. florist b. folk florist c. folk law wrist d. folklorist
4)	a time between the Stone Age and Iron Age when humans first started making ______
	a. tools from metal b. tools from metals c. tools for metal d. tool from metal
5)	an ancient common language that dates to ______
	a. abound 6,000 years ago b. around 6,000 years ago c. around 60,000 years ago d. abound 60,000 years ago
6)	The two scientists analysed 275 tales for ______
	a. elementals of culture b. elements of culture c. elements for culture d. elements of cultures
7)	It's remarkable that these stories have survived so long without ______
	a. been written down b. being writing down c. being written dawn d. being written down
8)	older than the English language and would have been first told in a language that ______
	a. is now extinction b. is now extinct c. is know extinct d. is known extinction
9)	Many of the fairy tales we know today were first written down ______
	a. in the 17th century b. in the 18th century c. on the 17th century d. on the 18th century
10)	A substantial number of magical tales have existed in Indo-European ______
	a. aural traditions b. or all traditions c. oral traditions d. awe all traditions

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

The famous 19th-century (1) ___________________ Wilhelm Grimm suggested fairy tales dated back thousands of years. Scientists now support his (2) ___________________ that many of the fairy tales we know and love could be over 4,000 years old. Anthropologist Jamshid Tehrani and folklorist Sara da Silva say the oldest known fairy tale (3) ___________________ 6,000 years to the Bronze Age. This is a time between the Stone Age and Iron Age when humans first started making (4) ___________________. Dr Tehrani studied the evolution of our early languages. He found strong (5) ___________________ tale called "The Smith and the Devil" and the Proto-Indo-European language - (6) ___________________ language that dates to around 6,000 years ago.

The two scientists analysed 275 tales (7) ___________________ culture that existed before modern languages like English, French and Italian. They say well-known tales like "Beauty and the Beast" and "Rumplestiltskin" are at least 4,000 years old. Dr Tehrani said: "It's (8) ___________________ stories have survived (9) ___________________ being written down. They are older than the English language and would have been first told in a language that (10) ___________________." Many of the fairy tales we know today were first written down in the 17th century. Dr Tehrani says the new (11) ___________________: "A substantial number of magical tales have existed in Indo-European (12) ___________________ long before they were written down."

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1.	When was Wilhelm Grimm alive?
2.	What field of study / research is Jamshid Tehrani in?
3.	What is between the Stone Age and Iron Age?
4.	What did Jamshid Tehrani study the evolution of?
5.	When does the Proto-Indo-European language date back to?
6.	How many fairy tales did scientists analyse?
7.	How old is the fairy tale 'Beauty and the Beast'?
8.	What did Dr Tehrani say the fairy tales were older than?
9.	When were today's fairy tales first written down?
10.	How many magical tales existed before they were written down?

MULTIPLE CHOICE - QUIZ

1.	When was Wilhelm Grimm alive?	6.	How many fairy tales did scientists analyse?
	a) 1767-1829 b) 1922 c) some time between 1900-1999 d) the 19th century		a) 274 b) 276 c) 275 d) 277
2.	What field of study / research is Jamshid Tehrani in?	7.	How old is the fairy tale 'Beauty and the Beast'?
	a) archaeology b) anthropology c) literacy d) English literature		a) over 4,000 years old b) exactly 4,000 years old c) around 4,000 years old d) just under 4,000 years old
3.	What is between the Stone Age and Iron Age?	8.	What did Dr Tehrani say the fairy tales were older than?
	a) the Fairy Tale Age b) the Copper Age c) the Digital Age d) the Bronze Age		a) language b) Stone c) English d) metal
4.	What did Jamshid Tehrani study the evolution of?	9.	When were today's fairy tales first written down?
	a) humans b) Rumpelstilskin c) our early languages d) metal		a) 1752 b) the 17th century c) 4,000 years ago d) 6,000 years ago
5.	When does the Proto-Indo-European language date back to?	10.	How many magical tales existed before they were written down?
	a) 1901 b) 4,000 years ago c) 3,000 BC d) around 6,000 years ago		a) a substantial number b) just a few c) 275 d) over 10,000

ROLE PLAY

Role A – Fairy godmother

You think a fairy godmother is most important for a fairy tale. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their things aren't as good. Also, tell the others which is the least important of these (and why): a happy ending, a moral message or a topical world issue.

Role B – A happy ending

You think a happy ending is most important for a fairy tale. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their things aren't as good. Also, tell the others which is the least important of these (and why): fairy godmother, a moral message or a topical world issue.

Role C – A moral message

You think a moral message is most important for a fairy tale. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their things aren't as good. Also, tell the others which is the least important of these (and why): a happy ending, fairy godmother or a topical world issue.

Role D – A topical world issue

You think a topical world issue is most important for a fairy tale. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their things aren't as good. Also, tell the others which is the least important of these (and why): a happy ending, a moral message or fairy godmother.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words 'fairy' and 'tale'.

fairy

tale

Share your findings with your partners.

Make questions using the words you found.
Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:

famous
claim
known
metal
early
ago

modern
least
without
extinct
17
number

FAIRY TALES SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about fairy tales in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper.

When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.

Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.

Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

FAIRY TALES DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1)	What did you think when you read the headline?
2)	What springs to mind when you hear the term 'fairy tale'?
3)	How important are fairy tales?
4)	What fairy tales are important in your culture?
5)	What fairy tales did you like as a kid?
6)	What do you think about what you read?
7)	What do you think that fairy tales are over 4,000 years old?
8)	Do you think it's OK that Disney makes movies of fairy tales?
9)	Are fairy tales still being written? Do you know any modern ones?
10)	What are the similarities between many fairy tales?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

11)	Did you like reading this article? Why/not?
12)	How important are fairy tales to you?
13)	What do fairy tales teach us?
14)	Why are the same fairy tales told in many different cultures?
15)	What do you know about the fairy tale 'Beauty and the Beast'?
16)	Why are fairy tales good for people?
17)	What do you know about the early history of your language?
18)	At what age should people stop reading fairy tales?
19)	Who is your favourite fairy tale character and why?
20)	What questions would you like to ask the scientists?

DISCUSSION (Write your own questions)

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
1.	________________________________________________________
2.	________________________________________________________
3.	________________________________________________________
4.	________________________________________________________
5.	________________________________________________________
6.	________________________________________________________

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
1.	________________________________________________________
2.	________________________________________________________
3.	________________________________________________________
4.	________________________________________________________
5.	________________________________________________________
6.	________________________________________________________

LANGUAGE - CLOZE

The famous 19th-century fairy tale (1) ____ Wilhelm Grimm suggested fairy tales dated back thousands of years. Scientists now support his theory and (2) ____ that many of the fairy tales we know and love could be over 4,000 years old. Anthropologist Jamshid Tehrani and folklorist Sara da Silva say the oldest known fairy tale dates (3) ____ over 6,000 years to the Bronze Age. This is a time between the Stone Age and Iron Age when humans first started (4) ____ tools from metal. Dr Tehrani studied the (5) ____ of our early languages. He found strong links between a tale called "The Smith and the Devil" and the Proto-Indo-European language - an (6) ____ common language that dates to around 6,000 years ago.

The two scientists analysed 275 tales for elements (7) ____ culture that existed before modern languages like English, French and Italian. They say well-known tales like "Beauty and the Beast" and "Rumplestiltskin" are (8) ____ least 4,000 years old. Dr Tehrani said: "It's remarkable that these stories have survived (9) ____ long without being written down. They are older than the English language and would have been first told in a language that is now (10) ____." Many of the fairy tales we know today were first written down in the 17th century. Dr Tehrani says the new findings suggest that: "A (11) ____ number of magical tales have existed in Indo-European (12) ____ traditions long before they were written down."

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	collect	(b)	collective	(c)	collection	(d)	collector
2.	(a)	claims	(b)	claimed	(c)	claiming	(d)	claim
3.	(a)	past	(b)	back	(c)	before	(d)	gone by
4.	(a)	made	(b)	makes	(c)	making	(d)	make
5.	(a)	evolution	(b)	devolution	(c)	revolution	(d)	convolution
6.	(a)	ancient	(b)	prehistoric	(c)	elderly	(d)	out-of-date
7.	(a)	at	(b)	on	(c)	by	(d)	of
8.	(a)	at	(b)	by	(c)	to	(d)	for
9.	(a)	very	(b)	such	(c)	so	(d)	last
10.	(a)	forever	(b)	evermore	(c)	extinct	(d)	perpetual
11.	(a)	consequence	(b)	standards	(c)	substantial	(d)	escalating
12.	(a)	voiced	(b)	oral	(c)	by mouth	(d)	aural

SPELLING

Paragraph 1
1.	The famous 19th-century fairy tale letoorclc
2.	Grimm tsdeggeus fairy tales
3.	Scientists now support his oyhetr
4.	gptsohaintlroo Jamshid Tehrani
5.	the loouitevn of our early languages
6.	an ncitnea common language
Paragraph 2
7.	The two scientists seldaayn 275 tales
8.	neeltesm of culture that existed before
9.	It's aarbrlmkee that these stories have survived
10.	first told in a language that is now ctxinet
11.	A tiaubltasns number of magical tales
12.	existed in Indo-European oral insartiodt

PUT THE TEXT BACK TOGETHER

Number these lines in the correct order.

( )	of magical tales have existed in Indo-European oral traditions long before they were written down."
( )	The two scientists analysed 275 tales for elements of culture that existed before modern languages
( )	back over 6,000 years to the Bronze Age. This is a time between the Stone Age and Iron Age when humans first
( )	long without being written down. They are older than the English language and would have been first told in a
( )	languages. He found strong links between a tale called "The Smith and the Devil" and
( )	language that is now extinct." Many of the fairy tales we know today were first written
( )	started making tools from metal. Dr Tehrani studied the evolution of our early
( )	down in the 17th century. Dr Tehrani says the new findings suggest that: "A substantial number
( )	like English, French and Italian. They say well-known tales like "Beauty and the Beast" and "Rumplestiltskin" are at
( 1 )	The famous 19th-century fairy tale collector Wilhelm Grimm suggested fairy tales dated back thousands of
( )	years. Scientists now support his theory and claim that many of the fairy tales we know and love could be over
( )	4,000 years old. Anthropologist Jamshid Tehrani and folklorist Sara da Silva say the oldest known fairy tale dates
( )	least 4,000 years old. Dr Tehrani said: "It's remarkable that these stories have survived so
( )	the Proto-Indo-European language - an ancient common language that dates to around 6,000 years ago.

PUT THE WORDS IN THE RIGHT ORDER

1.	and Many fairy know the we love of tales .
2.	tale oldest years dates known back fairy The 6,000 over .
3.	first metal started making When tools humans from .
4.	the our studied of languages Tehrani evolution early Dr .
5.	that language ago Common 6,000 years around to dates .
6.	existed Elements before of modern culture languages that .
7.	long remarkable stories so It's these survived that have .
8.	told language now First a is in that extinct .
9.	first know fairy Many written today tales of down were we the .
10.	have number existed of magical A tales substantial .

CIRCLE THE CORRECT WORD (20 PAIRS)

The famous 19th-century fairy tale collective / collector Wilhelm Grimm suggested fairy tales dated / dating back thousands of years. Scientists now support his theorise / theory and claim that many of the fairy tales we know and love / loving could be over 4,000 years old. Anthropologist Jamshid Tehrani and folklorist Sara da Silva say the oldest knowing / known fairy tale dates back over 6,000 years to the Bronze Age. This is a time / timely between the Stone Age and Iron Age when humans first started made / making tools from metal. Dr Tehrani studied the evolutionary / evolution of our early languages. He found strong links / link between a tale called "The Smith and the Devil" and the Proto-Indo-European language - an ancient commonly / common language that dates to around 6,000 years ago.

The two scientists analysed 275 tales for elementary / elements of culture that existed before modern languages like English, French and Italian. They say well-known tales like / similar "Beauty and the Beast" and "Rumplestiltskin" are at last / least 4,000 years old. Dr Tehrani said: "It's remarkable that these stories have survival / survived so long without being / been written down. They are older than the English language and would have been first / fast told in a language that is now extinct / extinction." Many of the fairy tales we know today were first written down in the 17th century. Dr Tehrani says the new finds / findings suggest that: "A substantial / substance number of magical tales have existed in Indo-European aural / oral traditions long before they were written down."

Talk about the connection between each pair of words in italics, and why the correct word is correct.

INSERT THE VOWELS (a, e, i, o, u)

Th_ f_m__s 19th-c_nt_ry f__ry t_l_ c_ll_ct_r W_lh_lm Gr_mm s_gg_st_d f__ry t_l_s d_t_d b_ck th__s_nds _f y__rs. Sc__nt_sts n_w s_pp_rt h_s th__ry _nd cl__m th_t m_ny _f th_ f__ry t_l_s w_ kn_w _nd l_v_ c__ld b_ _v_r 4,000 y__rs _ld. _nthr_p_l_g_st J_msh_d T_hr_n_ _nd f_lkl_r_st S_r_ d_ S_lv_ s_y th_ _ld_st kn_wn f__ry t_l_ d_t_s b_ck _v_r 6,000 y__rs t_ th_ Br_nz_ _g_. Th_s _s _ t_m_ b_tw__n th_ St_n_ _g_ _nd _r_n _g_ wh_n h_m_ns f_rst st_rt_d m_k_ng t__ls fr_m m_t_l. Dr T_hr_n_ st_d__d th_ _v_l_t__n _f __r __rly l_ng__g_s. H_ f__nd str_ng l_nks b_tw__n _ t_l_ c_ll_d "Th_ Sm_th _nd th_ D_v_l" _nd th_ Pr_t_-_nd_-__r_p__n l_ng__g_ - _n _nc__nt c_mm_n l_ng__g_ th_t d_t_s t_ _r__nd 6,000 y__rs _g_.

Th_ tw_ sc__nt_sts _n_lys_d 275 t_l_s f_r _l_m_nts _f c_lt_r_ th_t _x_st_d b_f_r_ m_d_rn l_ng__g_s l_k_ _ngl_sh, Fr_nch _nd _t_l__n. Th_y s_y w_ll-kn_wn t_l_s l_k_ "B___ty _nd th_ B__st" _nd "R_mpl_st_ltsk_n" _r_ _t l__st 4,000 y__rs _ld. Dr T_hr_n_ s__d: "_t's r_m_rk_bl_ th_t th_s_ st_r__s h_v_ s_rv_v_d s_ l_ng w_th__t b__ng wr_tt_n d_wn. Th_y _r_ _ld_r th_n th_ _ngl_sh l_ng__g_ _nd w__ld h_v_ b__n f_rst t_ld _n _ l_ng__g_ th_t _s n_w _xt_nct." M_ny _f th_ f__ry t_l_s w_ kn_w t_d_y w_r_ f_rst wr_tt_n d_wn _n th_ 17th c_nt_ry. Dr T_hr_n_ s_ys th_ n_w f_nd_ngs s_gg_st th_t: "_ s_bst_nt__l n_mb_r _f m_g_c_l t_l_s h_v_ _x_st_d _n _nd_-__r_p__n _r_l tr_d_t__ns l_ng b_f_r_ th_y w_r_ wr_tt_n d_wn."

PUNCTUATE THE TEXT AND ADD CAPITALS

the famous 19th-century fairy tale collector wilhelm grimm suggested fairy tales dated back thousands of years scientists now support his theory and claim that many of the fairy tales we know and love could be over 4000 years old anthropologist jamshid tehrani and folklorist sara da silva say the oldest known fairy tale dates back over 6000 years to the bronze age this is a time between the stone age and iron age when humans first started making tools from metal dr tehrani studied the evolution of our early languages he found strong links between a tale called "the smith and the devil" and the proto-indo-european language - an ancient common language that dates to around 6000 years ago

the two scientists analysed 275 tales for elements of culture that existed before modern languages like english french and italian they say well-known tales like "beauty and the beast" and "rumplestiltskin" are at least 4000 years old dr tehrani said "it's remarkable that these stories have survived so long without being written down they are older than the english language and would have been first told in a language that is now extinct" many of the fairy tales we know today were first written down in the 17th century dr tehrani says the new findings suggest that "a substantial number of magical tales have existed in indo-european oral traditions long before they were written down"

PUT A SLASH ( / ) WHERE THE SPACES ARE

Thefamous19th-centuryfairytalecollectorWilhelmGrimmsuggestedf
airytalesdatedbackthousandsofyears.Scientistsnowsupporthistheo
ryandclaimthatmanyofthefairytalesweknowandlovecouldbeover4,0
00yearsold.AnthropologistJamshidTehraniandfolkloristSaradaSilva
saytheoldestknownfairytaledatesbackover6,000yearstotheBronze
Age.ThisisatimebetweentheStoneAgeandIronAgewhenhumansfirst
startedmakingtoolsfrommetal.DrTehranistudiedtheevolutionofoure
arlylanguages.Hefoundstronglinksbetweenatalecalled"TheSmithan
dtheDevil"andtheProto-Indo-Europeanlanguage-anancientcom
monlanguagethatdatestoaround6,000yearsago.Thetwoscientistsa
nalysed275talesforelementsofculturethatexistedbeforemodernlang
uageslikeEnglish,FrenchandItalian.Theysaywellknowntaleslike"Bea
utyandtheBeast"and"Rumplestiltskin"areatleast4,000yearsold.DrT
ehranisaid:"It'sremarkablethatthesestorieshavesurvivedsolongwit
houtbeingwrittendown.TheyareolderthantheEnglishlanguageandw
ouldhavebeenfirsttoldinalanguagethatisnowextinct."Manyofthefair
ytalesweknowtodaywerefirstwrittendowninthe17thcentury.DrTehr
anisaysthenewfindingssuggestthat:"Asubstantialnumberofmagical
taleshaveexistedinIndoEuropeanoraltraditionslongbeforetheywere
writtendown."

FREE WRITING

Write about fairy tales for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

ACADEMIC WRITING

Some people think fairy tales are important, while others don't. Discuss both sides and give your opinion.

_____________________________________________________________________________

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find out more about fairy tales. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. YOUR CULTURE: Make a poster about fairy tales specific to your culture. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. FAIRY TALES: Write a magazine article about how important fairy tales are. Include imaginary interviews with people who think they are very important, and with people who think they are not so important.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s).

5. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? Write a newspaper article about the next stage in this news story. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your articles.

6. LETTER: Write a letter to an expert on fairy tales. Ask him/her three questions about fairy tales. Give him/her three reasons why they are so important. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

A Few Additional Activities for Students

Ask your students what they have read, seen or heard about this news in their own language. Students are likely to / may have have encountered this news in their L1 and therefore bring a background knowledge to the classroom.

Get students to role play different characters from this news story.

Ask students to keep track of this news and revisit it to discuss in your next class.

Ask students to male predictions of how this news might develop in the next few days or weeks, and then revisit and discuss in a future class.

Ask students to write a follow-up story to this news.

Students role play a journalist and someone who witnessed or was a part of this news. Perhaps they could make a video of the interview.

Ask students to keep a news journal in English and add this story to their thoughts.

Also...

Buy my 1,000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers eBook. It has hundreds of ideas, activity templates, reproducible activities for:

News
Warm ups
Pre-reading / Post-reading
Using headlines
Working with words
While-reading / While-listening
Moving from text to speech
Post-reading / Post-listening
Discussions
Using opinions
Plans
Language
Using lists
Using quotes
Task-based activities
Role plays
Using the central characters in the article
Using themes from the news
Homework

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ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE (p.4)

a

F

b

T

c

T

d

T

e

F

f

F

g

F

h

F

SYNONYM MATCH (p.4)

1.	suggested	a.	proposed
2	support	b.	back
3.	theory	c.	hypothesis
4.	evolution	d.	development
5.	common	e.	widespread
6.	elements	f.	traces
7.	remarkable	g.	extraordinary
8.	extinct	h.	vanished
9.	substantial	i.	considerable
10.	oral	j.	spoken

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS (p.8)

1.	In the 19th-century.
2.	Anthropology.
3.	The Bronze Age.
4.	Our early languages.
5.	Around 6,000 years ago.
6.	275.
7.	At least 4,000 years.
8.	English.
9.	The 17th century.
10.	A substantial number.

MULTIPLE CHOICE - QUIZ (p.9)

1.

d

2.

b

3.

d

4.

c

5.

d

6.

c

7.

a

8.

c

9.

b

10.

a

ALL OTHER EXERCISES

Please check for yourself by looking at the Article on page 2.
(It's good for your English ;-)

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Breaking News English Lesson on Fairy Tales

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Fairy tales could be 6,000 years old (24th January, 2016)

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