ORIGIN OF STRAWBERRIES
Level: Upper Intermediate
Target Audience: Adults
Language / Skills Focus: Listening, Speaking & Writing / Collective Nouns
Materials: Photocopies of the worksheets to hand out after the storytelling.
IN CLASS
While-listening: Make a note of how many different types of berry are named in the story.
Post-listening: Hand out the worksheets. The learners can work on the activities individually, and then pair up or get into groups to compare their answers.
Reconstruct the story by putting the following sentences in the correct order: 1-i / 2-h / 3-c / 4-g / 5-a / 6-d /7-f / 8-e / 9-b
Match the collective nouns on the left with what they refer to on the right: 1-f or 1-d / 2-c / 3-i / 4-b / 5-l / 6-k / 7-d or 7-f/ 8-e / 9-j / 10-g / 11-h / 12-a
COMMENTS
The Cherokee (who call themselves the Tsalagi) originally occupied a large portion of the Alleghany mountains. Their territory covered the present-day states of Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. In 1839, after a long series of conflicts with the US Government during which they were pushed westward towards the Mississippi, the Cherokees were forcibly evicted from their land and marched to Oklahoma in the dead of winter by the US Army. This is today known as the "Trail of Tears", one of the most shameful actions ever taken by the Unites States government, and possibly for this reason, the Cherokee tribe has become a focal point for a lot of white guilt.
The Myths of the Cherokee, excerpted from the 19th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, is a nineteenth century collection of Cherokee myths, legends and folklore by the noted anthropologist James Mooney (1861-1921), who lived for several years with the Cherokee.
THE STORY
When the first man was created and a mate was given to him, they lived together very happily for a time, but then began to quarrel, until at last the woman left her husband and started off toward Nûñâgûñ'yï, the Sun land, in the east. The man followed alone and grieving, but the woman kept on steadily ahead and never looked behind, until Une'`länûñ'hï, the great Apportioner (the Sun), took pity on him and asked him if he was still angry with his wife. He said he was not, and Une'`länûñ'hï then asked him if he would like to have her back again, to which he eagerly answered yes.
Reconstruct the story by putting the following sentences in the correct order:
a. Farther on he put a clump of blackberries, but these also she refused to notice.
c. He said he was not, and Une'`länûñ'hï then asked him if he would like to have her back again, to which he eagerly answered yes.
h. The man followed alone and grieving, but the woman kept on steadily ahead and never looked behind, until Une'`länûñ'hï, the great Apportioner (the Sun), took pity on him and asked him if he was still angry with his wife.
i. When the first man was created and a mate was given to him, they lived together very happily for a time, but then began to quarrel, until at last the woman left her husband and started off toward Nûñâgûñ'yï, the Sun land, in the east.
1. a bank of a. coastline
3. a carpet of c. flowers
4. a clod of d. fog
5. a cloud of e. fruit trees
6. a dune of f. grass
7. a patch of g. hills
8. an orchard of h. ice
9. a puddle of i. leaves
10. a range of j. rainwater
11. a sheet of k. sand
12. a stretch of l. smoke
1 ___ 2 ___ 3 ___ 4 ___ 5 ___ 6 ___ 7 ___ 8 ___ 9 ___ 10 ___ 11 ___ 12 ___
Sometimes arguments can lead to positive results if we learn something from them – either about ourselves or about the people we argue with. When has something like this happened to you? Tell the person next to you about it, and / or write an account of the argument and what happened as a result of it for homework.
Alternatively, you might like to rewrite the story, giving it a different ending in which the woman keeps on walking and perhaps meets someone else!