The Wife of Bath tale (The Canterbury Tales)

What are the differences between this version of the tale and the one you read?

Literary circle worksheet (3ºESO)

Just a reminder of the outline your literary circle worksheets in 3º ESO must have:

1.Vocabulary: write five words you didn´t know the meaning of. Write the page where the word is to be found and a definition (if several, choose the definition that applies in the context).

2.Summary: no more than 70 words. 

3.Quotation: don´t forget to write the page where it is and explain the reason why you chose it (the quotation should be meaningful and significant).

4.Question about the story and the answer (again, come up with interesting questions that can trigger a discussion, not simple understanding questions such as -in The Gift of the Magi story, for example-:  What did Della sell? or What did Jim buy? but questions like Do you think this is a sad or a happy story? or  Would you be ready to sell your most valuable possession to buy a present for your girl-/boyfriend? ).

5.A piece of writing (70 word min.):

In Singing for Mrs Pettigrew (a compilation of short stories) you can choose ONE of these topics:
-New ending: either develop the story further or think of a new ending.
-Moral of the story.
-Blurb for the story
-Your opinion about it.

In Skellig (one long story):
-Write a prediction: how do you think the story will continue?

Beowulf: your essays (3ºA,B)

Let´s have a look at some excerpts from your compositions:

What is a hero for you? Are heroes still necessary nowadays? Name someone you consider a hero and explain why s/he is a hero for you. 
"Nowadays I think that heroes are the normal people because you can be a hero and you don´t know it, for example you can be walking normally in the street and then something happens and you can help to resolve the problem quickly, people can say that you are a hero. (...) So the conclusion is that you don´t know who heroes are because you can be one of them". (Ángeles E.)

"I think that a hero is someone that steps out of their comfort zone to help someone else. (...) For me my heroes are all those parents that work half a day and the other half are cleaning, cooking, studying with their sons, going with them to their after-school activities, etc." (Inés M.)

"For me a good hero is being the bravest one, so brave that people think he´s stupid, with an imposible dream, but when the action takes place, he convinces you that he can do it. (...) I think everyone needs a hero and a motivation with a dream, so that if we fell down, we would quickly stand up and continue, we must have the idea that it doesn´t matter how many times we fall, if we stand up". (Javier S.)

Is Beowulf a good warrior? And a good King?
"In my opinion, Beowulf has shown the image of a real hero. Without any special powers, he has killed a monster, only with his brave mind of great warrior, and also his strength. The heroes I know have powers and even so it´s difficult for them to kill their enemies but it has more merit to fight monsters without any special powers". (Jose R.)

"Now 50 years have passed and Beowulf is the king. Is he a good king? No he isn´t. He went to fight the dragon alone, without thinking that he wasn´t as strong as he was 50 years ago and could die letting his kingdom without a king and making it very vulnerable, and that is what happened because he died. A very bad decision, don´t you think?" (Alexandru R.)

In your opinion, if Grendel reappeared now, what action should be taken against him? Why?
"(..) I know he is half-human but the other half is an ugly and horrible monster that kills people just because he is jealous. I sometimes feel jealous too, but I don´t go to the street and start killing people. Only monsters do that, and for that reason monsters need to be killed. If one of the persons Grendel has killed is your mother or your father, or a friend, what would you do in that situation? Obviously you will kill him immediately". (María O.)

"We shouldn´t kill Grendel because it´s a unique species that can have the cure for some illnesses and help science. Also by studying Grendel´s brain, we can know lots of things that he knows and we don´t". (Julia J.)

In what way(s) can Grendel and Grendel´s mother be considered human?
"Grendel´s mother showed a great protection instinct when she went to kill Beowulf after he had killed her son.  I think she had a really human feeling, which is revenge, every mother loves their children, so she did too. (...) She knew she may die, but she did it to take revenge on her son". (Eva A.)

"What he does is to destroy and kill everything he sees, and this leads me to think: don´t we, humans, destroy everything? Of course we do, we cut down tres, kill animals, and also people just for our own benefit. To sum up, I think that the only difference between Grendel and his mother and us is our appearance". (Julia del Carmen J.)

Write the story from Grendel´s point of view.
"Today it was a sad day for me, as always. I felt lonely and I could hear Hrothgar and all his people in Heorot. They were having a good time. They were laughing and enjoying life, while I was here, all alone, wondering what to do with mine. I hated all these people for their sefishness, for not accepting me in their society. I was a monster, that´s true, but I was also partly human and I could feel. I was fed up and I couldn´t take it any more. My fury blinded me, and I decided to go to Heorot. I was so angry, that I couldn´t think properly, and I started killing people. When I realised it was enough, I left." (Paula F.)


"I´m Grendel, the antagonist of the story. My life wasn´t easy. All the people judge me for my appearance and not for my personality. I had never got any friends. I was lonely all my life. The time passed and I became more and more evil because no one accepted me. I decided to start eating people although I´m half human. One day a man called Beowulf decided to find me and kill me. I was very jealous of him because he was so popular and so loved by people... I wanted to be like him. So handsome, so clever, so popular... At last he killed me. Later, my mother decided to kill him because he had killed me, but he killed my mother too. I reunited with her in hell, the place I´m writting now. (...) Now in hell, the place I wanted to be, I have made new friends that understand me. I don´t see Beowulf here. He probably is in heaven. Better...". (Simina D.)

"Hello, I´m Grendel. I´m writting this letter to the Danes to explain the reasons of my attacks. But first of all I want to say I´m sorry for all the pain I´ve caused. (...) I am a strange creature born by a mixture of sea monster and human. And now you will be wondering: where is his human part? It is a very normal question. As a little "kid" I asked my mom that question every day. And the answer was always the same one: 'My sweet Grendel, don´t think that being human means being nice and perfect. of course humans can be good but every single human has a dark side. Do you think being human means being perfect? You are wrong, Grendel. Humans are cruel, jealous, avaricious, but they have pretty envelopes. Just like candy. But you and I, Grendel, don´t have that pretty wrapping. We are ugly and consequently considered monsters. No matter if we have the human capacity to love, laugh or just being happy. Our wrapping is a monster and we are treated as such, my darling'". (Irene L.)

"I´m Grendel, well, I was Grendel. Now, as you may know, I´m dead. Finally I reached heaven. I was considered a monster for lots of years but that was never my intention, I wanted to be accepted, to be one more, but oh, I was so different and you know, humans do not like difference, they punish difference just because they don´t understand it, and they don´t give it a try either. (...) I couldn´t stop my instinct, it controlled me. I reached a point in which I wanted them to kill me but their weapons didn´t hurt me at all, I wanted to escape from all the destruction I had caused, I wanted to give back the lives I took off, but it was too late. After all, I want to thank Beowulf, because of him I´m free now. Humans call me monster for killing and they want to solve this by killing me, and not only me but my mother. Isn´t it ironic?" (Lucía R.)

More about Beowulf comic by Santiago García and David Rubin  here.  

The Canterbury Tales: an introduction

Listen, watch and complete the questions in the quiz.

Beowulf: topics for your composition (Nov. 7). 3ºA, 3ºB

For November 7 (Monday) You have to hand in a 150 word composition on ONE of the topics below (you can mix several if you want). Use the information and handouts provided by me to do it. Write three paragraphs:
-Introduction (mention the topic you have chosen and why you chose it).
-Body (main ideas, include examples to support your points).
-Conclusion (recap of the most important idea(s)).
Don´t forget to use connectors and show off your use of English (use varied tenses in the past: Past Simple+ Past Continuous, Past Perfect+Past Simple, Present Perfect -Simple and Continuous- + Past Simple, etc).

Topics (choose one):

1. What does Heorot (Hrothgar´s meadhall) symbolize in the novel?  Does this make Grendel’s choice to specifically attack people in Heorot more understandable?

2. In many ways, Beowulf is the precursor of a modern superhero in later stories.  What modern stories do you think reflect the same mythological elements used in Beowulf?

3. Is Beowulf a good warrior? And a good king?

4. In what way(s) can Grendel and Grendel´s mother be considered human?

5. What is a hero for you? Are heroes still necessary nowadays? Name someone you consider a hero and explain why s/he is a hero for you.

6. In your opinion, if Grendel reappeared now, what action should be taken against him? Why?

7. Write the story from Grendel´s point of view. (In this case you don't have to follow the outline above, anyway use paragraphs to separate different events or situations in the story). 

More kennings

Do you remember what a kenning is? Yes, a figurative, usually compound expression used in place of a name or noun, especially in Old English and Old Norse poetry; for example, sword storm is a kenning for battle. It´s basically a two-word metaphor. Let´s see some kennings other classmates came up with in past courses. Can you guess what they refer to?

Red heaven:
Soul food:
Frozen memories:
Car sea:
Chalk-owner:
Students relief :
Knowledge-giver:
Ambitious leaves:
Human book: 
Moving cage:
Monster-maker:
Earth´s veins: 
Car-paradise:
Power-giver:
Drop machine gun:
Teenagers´ jail:
Intelligence-enhancer:
Information box:
Poverty-killer:
Dream-factory:
Modern scop:
Golden happiness:
Soul-rhyhtm:
Insects heaven: