National Learning Camp Grade 7 Lesson 3

2. In our last 2 lessons we read folk
tales and fables which fit under the
type of text known as narrative.
The Hare and the Tortoise is a
famous fable written in Ancient
Greece by Aesop.

3. The text we do today, The Carabao
and the Shell, is very similar to The
Hare and the Tortoise but was
included in a book of Folk Tales
from the Philippines.

4. Motive Questions:
Q1. How can you tell from the title that The
Carabao and the Shell is fictional rather than
factual?
Q2. Knowing that The Carabao and the Shell
is a folk tale like The Hare and the Tortoise,
what do you expect it to be about?
Q3. Knowing that The Carabao and the Shell
is a Philippines version of The Hare and the
Tortoise, what do you expect to be different
about it?

5. In this lesson, we are going to look at a
different version of the same sort of
plot, firstly to see what it says and then
to think about how it is similar and
different to The Hare and the Tortoise.

6. Key Words
 carabao
 bank
 determined
 bathe

7. The Carabao and the Shell
One very hot day, when a carabao
went into the river to bathe, he met a
shell, and they began talking together.
"You are very slow," said the carabao
to the shell.
"Oh, no," replied the shell. "I can beat
you in a race."
"Then let us try and see," said the
carabao.

8. So they went out on the bank and started to
run.
After the carabao had gone a long distance
he stopped and called, "Shell!"
And another shell lying by the river
answered, "Here I am!"
Then the carabao, thinking that it was the
same shell with which he was racing, ran
on.
By and by he stopped again and called,

9. And another shell answered, "Here I
am!"
The carabao was surprised that the
shell could keep up with him. But he
ran on and on, and every time he
stopped to call, another shell answered
him. But he was determined that the
shell should not beat him, so he ran
until he dropped dead.
[Cole, M. C. (1916/2008). The Carabao and the Shell. Philippine Folk Tales. A.C.
McClurg & Co.]

10. Questions:
Q1. What sets off the sequence of
events?
Q2. How does the shell beat the
carabao in the race?
Q3. Find evidence that the shell is
smarter than the carabao.

11. It is common for there to be many
slightly different versions of the same
folk tale in different countries. For
example, for Cinderella, according to
the Eden Valley Enterprises website,
“Scholars disagree as to exactly how
many versions of the popular tale exist,
with numbers ranging from 340 to over
3,000 versions, including picture books

12. The tale of The Carabao and the
Shell is very similar to The Hare
and the Tortoise that we read in
Lesson 1.
Let’s re-read The Hare and the
Tortoise. Look out for similarities
and differences between the 2
tales.

13. Look at Question 4 on your worksheet. It
asks you to List the similarities and
differences between The Carabao and the
Shell and The Hare and the Tortoise. Let’s
do the differences together – write them on
your Worksheet as we talk about them.
What is the first difference you notice
between the 2 tales? Who is involved in the
2 tales? What about other differences? Now
list the similarities on your Worksheet.

14. Process Questions
Q1. On the Worksheet, list the
similarities and difference between The
Carabao and the Shell and The Hare
and the Tortoise.
Q2. What difference does it make in
changing the ending of the tale from
the tortoise living to the carabao dying?
Q3. Which version did you prefer?
Give reasons for your answer.

15. Process Questions:
Q1. The focus of the lesson was on
learning about how information is
presented in an Expository text like an
Information Report. How has the lesson
helped you to understand this?
Q2. Which questions were easy to
answer? Why?
Q3. What strategies did you use to
answer the harder questions?