English Grade 8 Lesson Plan 2
Literary Texts– Short Story 2.
Key Idea
Key elements of Literary Texts that tell a story – genre, purpose, structure, plot, theme, character, and
literary devices – Short Story 2
Most Essential Learning Competencies and English Curriculum (2016):
● Recognize positive and negative message conveyed in a text (Q2)
● Determine various social, moral, and economic issues discussed in the text listened to (Q3) (EN8LCIII-
7.4).
EN8RC-Ig7.1 2 Read intensively to determine the author’s purpose.
Component 1: Short review
Time: 7 minutes
▪ Teacher: In our last lesson we read a story about Juan and the trick he played on his father. We
looked for clues from the author about how we should respond to Juan. We are going to look at
another Filipino folk tale in this lesson but this time we are going try to work out if there is a moral
(or maybe several morals) to the story.
Individually write your answers to Questions 1, 2 and 3 in the Workbook.
Questions
Q1. Where would you expect to find a ‘moral or message’ of a story?
Q2. What is the difference between the ‘plot’ and the ‘moral’ of a story?
Q3. With a partner, think of 3 stories that you can remember from your childhood that had strong
morals – name the stories and their morals.
[Teacher Notes: Consolidation students may need some help with Qs 1 and 2 – feel free to do them as
a class Discussion.]
Suggested Answers:
Q1. At the end.
Q2. Plot is the events that happen while moral means the significance of the events or the message
the author is trying to get across by telling the story.
Q3. As this is a personal response question, expect a variety of answers here.
▪ Teacher seeks answers from students and provides feedback.
Component 2: Purpose of the lesson
Time: 2 minutes
Teacher: In this lesson we are going to read folk tale from Japan and apply our knowledge of stories
to work out what it means and see if it has a moral.
We are going to look at words and expressions that you need to know to be able to understand this
story.
Component 3: Language Practice
Time: 5 minutes
Teacher: Here are some key words from the text that you may not know or remember.
Let’s say each word together.
Vocabulary
Shogun – a military ruler of a part of Japan a long time ago
widowed – a woman whose husband has died.
province – a state or region within a country
proclamation – an announcement by a government that affects the citizens.
the kindest mode of death – a way of dying that involves the least suffering.
the summit of the mountain – the top of the mountain
the shogun and his officials – the leader of a province and the people who help him.
to carry out his tasks.
Now let’s go over what each word means.
Teacher writes each word on the board and asks class to volunteer answers and writes.
each definition on the board. Students write each definition in their Workbooks.
Component 4: Lesson Activities
Time: 25 minutes in total
Component 4A Reading the text [5 minutes]
Teacher reads the text, drawing attention to the words listed in Component 3.
Teacher asks if there are any questions about the text or any words that the students did not
understand.
The Aged Mother2
A long time ago at the foot of a mountain in Japan there lived a poor farmer and his aged,
widowed mother. They owned a bit of land which supplied them with food, and they were
humble, peaceful, and happy.
Unfortunately, they lived in a province ruled by a shogun who made a proclamation that all
aged people were immediately to be put to death. The farmer loved his mother but no one in
this province ever disobeyed the shogun. So, he strapped his mother to his back and took her
up the mountain called Obatsuyama, the mountain where the aged were often left to die. This
was considered the kindest mode of death.
There were many paths up to the summit of the mountain and it was easy to get confused.
Unknown to the farmer, his mother carefully pulled twigs from the bushes and threw them on
the ground so that her son would know the way back down. When they reached the top, he laid
her down carefully and was about to leave her when he realized he did not know the way back.
“Follow the twigs I laid down for you,” his mother said. It was then he knew that he could not
leave her there to die alone. Once again, he strapped his mother to his back and together, they
went back down the mountain. Once home, he decided to hide his mother from the shogun and
his officials.
One day the shogun visited the province and demanded that the people give him a rope made
from ashes. No-one knew how to make one. However, the farmer’s mother found the solution.
“Make a rope of twisted straw, “she said, “then stretch it out on a row of flat stones and burn it
on a windless night.”
When the shogun arrived to claim his rope of ashes, he asked who had been able to make one.
The farmer admitted that it was his aged mother.
The shogun was surprised and said, “My country needs more than just the strength of youth.
How could I have forgotten the well-known saying, ‘with the crown of snow there comes
wisdom’?” At that very hour, the cruel law was abolished.
(Resource: Philippines Department of Education (nd). Quarter 2: Module 5. Discovering One’s Role in Nation Building, p.4-5.)
Component 4B Questions [10 minutes]
Teacher reads questions and asks students to answer them in the Workbook.
Questions
Q1. What event causes the farmer to take his mother up the mountain?
Q2. Find evidence of the mother’s love for her son.
Q3. Find evidence that the mother is very wise despite her age.
Teacher samples answers from students to each question and provides feedback.
Suggested Answers:
Q1. The shogun’s proclamation that all aged people will be put to death and his visit to the town
were the
farmer and his mother live means that his mother will be killed soon.
Q2. She makes a trail of twigs for him to follow down the mountain.
Q3. She is the only one in the village who knows how to make a rope made from ashes.
Component 4C Questions [10 minutes]
Teacher reads Questions 4-6 and asks students to write answers in their Workbooks.
Questions
Q4. What reason does the shogun have for ordering all aged people to be killed?
You will have to look very closely at the text to find the answer.
Q5. Write the meaning of ‘with the crown of snow there comes wisdom’ in your own words.
Q6. What is the moral of the story. Give your reasons.
Students write answers in Workbook.
Teacher samples answers to the questions from the students.
Teacher provides feedback to answers.
Suggested Answers:
Q4. He thinks that his country needs only ‘the strength of youth’.
Q5. Snow refers to how old people’s hair goes grey and then white – but age also brings knowledge.
and wisdom that would be lost without the presence of old people.
Q6. Be prepared for a range of answers here, including that age and wisdom go together; that.
youth need aged people because of their experience and knowledge; a mother’s love is.
important; that children need to take care of their parents. Answers may vary in quality too –
see Teacher Notes below.
[Teacher Notes: Q6 is not an Open or Personal Response question and even though different answers are
possible, the quality of answer is related to the extent to which it can be justified from the text. Feel free to do
Questions 4 and 5 as class discussions to give time for Q6 especially for Consolidation students. Feel free to allow
students at both Enhancement and Consolidation to do Q6 in pairs or groups. Evaluate answers to Q6 on the
extent to which the morals given are based on evidence from the text.]
Component 5: Lesson Conclusion
Time: 5 minutes
Teacher displays the questions:
Q1. The focus of this lesson was to apply our knowledge of stories to work out deeper meanings or
themes. 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?
[Teacher Notes: It would be worthwhile to do this by getting students to write on the Workbook.
so, you have some feedback on the effectiveness of the lesson and how they feel about.
their learning experience. However, if pressed for time, you may want to do this section.
as a class discussion.]
Segue to next lesson: In the next lesson we will look at another type of text that can be used to tell a story – a
poem.
REMINDER: Collect student Workbooks to review and analyze students’ learning – focus on answers to Question
6 for quality and clarity of writing and understanding of the content.