Reading and writing activity in Interactive groups. Primary 6th.

1. FACT OR FANTASY: Mythic Creatures
1) INTERACTIVE GROUP WORKING:
The class will be divided into three groups. Each interactive group will be
working on one of these texts. The adult (teacher or volonteer) in each
group will help the students remember parts of the text that afterwards
they will explain to the rest of the class. Timing 15 minutes.
MEDUSA:
According to one version of the story, Medusa was a beautiful maiden* of
Athena who was raped by Poseidon while in the shape of a horse in Athena’s
temple. Athena, enraged by the fact that she could not confront Poseidon
directly, took it out on poor Medusa and transformed her into an unattractive,
hateful monster with a head full of snakes rather than hair. Medusa’s ugliness
was so hideous that whoever looked at her face turned to stone. Eventually
Perseus killed Medusa with the help of Athena who had transformed her once
beautiful, virgin maiden in the worst possible way.
*donzella
DRAUGR:
A draugr, according to Norse folklore and mythology, is a zombie that has the
putrid smell of the dead and is amazingly powerful. It was believed that they
could eat humans, drink blood, and had the power to play mind-games and
drive people insane. A typical draugr could also enter a mortal’s dreams just to
warn their victims of what would soon follow. Basically, a draugr was as Freddy
Krueger, a well-known horror film character from the ’90s, whose creation
seems to have partial origin in the Nordic monster’s tales.
KODAMA:
According to Japanese legend, a kodama is a peaceful spirit that lives inside certain
kinds of trees. Those who have claimed to have seen a kodama describe it as a
small white and peaceful ghost that syncs perfectly with Mother Nature.
Nevertheless, according to legend, when someone tries to kill a kodoma (or cut down
the tree a kodama lives in), the aggressor will be cursed and many bad things will
happen to him. There are also claims of human blood coming out of trees inhabited
by kodomas if its cut down but none of these rumours have ever been verified.

2. 2) WHOLE GROUP WORKING:
Each interactive group will explain its mythic creature to the rest of the class,
with the aim of identifying the creature among different pictures. Timing 15
minutes.

3. 3) INTERACTIVE GROUP WORKING:
Each group will go back with its teacher or volunteer and will make a text
about one of the three mythic creatures (the creatures will be chosen before
going back to their group and start working on the text). Timing 30 minutes.
The teacher or the volunteer will help them guiding in the writing task.
FACT OR FANTASY: MYTHIC CREATURES
SOURCE: http://list25.com/25-mythic-creatures-that-never-existed-but-people-
believed-in-anyway/
COURSE: This text will be read in 6th grade Primary in the English class.
LESSON TIMING: 1 hour.
TEACHING STRATEGIES:
• Interactive group working: The class is divided into three working groups,
each group has got an adult (teacher or volunteer) that guides the students
during the learning process and helps them interact.