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English week 7

Reading comprehension

Ananse the Forgetful Guest -Part 1 This is a West African story about Ananse. The mythical half-spider/half-man character. Ananse had journeyed for miles and miles.

Now, after several days of tracking through the forest, his

journey was almost at an end. Ananse could think only of

one thing—food. On the nights he had spent in the forest,

he had dreamed of food—hot steaming rice and spinach

sauces, or crab and palm nut soup.

Now he was at last in the great town of Po-Ano, a guest

of none other than the king of the coast lands.

The king was a kind man, and after making sure that

Ananse had been given a room, water to bathe and a

change of clothes, he instructed his servants to prepare a

meal for him. Imagine the pleasure Ananse felt as the

smell of cooking food filled his nostrils.

"Let me guess," he chuckled to himself. "This will be rice

and chicken stew that's cooking." Unable to wait any

longer, Ananse dressed quickly and followed his nose to

the kitchen.

"Ah, Mr. Ananse, you are most welcome," said the

servants.

"You must be very hungry after your long journey."

"Yes, indeed," replied Ananse. "Right now, with the smell of

your food filling this room, it is my pleasure to be hungry."

With a flourish, the servants lifted the lid off Ananse's bowl.

But at the sight of the food, Ananse collapsed, for in the

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bowl was the most despised of foods—dried cassava

mash. He couldn’t face eating it! He pretended to faint

and the servants called for help.

By the time help arrived, Ananse had emerged from his

sudden faint. "It is nothing," said Ananse weakly. "It’s just

that I’m allergic,” he lied. “Cassava is forbidden to me.

Even the sight of it affects me.”

“Oh, dear,” said the king. "I am afraid this is going to be a

difficult visit for you. In this town we eat cassava at every

meal."

Impossible, thought Ananse. This must be a trick to test

me. Why would people eat cassava at every meal? But

they did! In the mornings they ate cassava porridge, in

the afternoons they ate cassava mash, and in the

evenings they ate their cassava roasted. Ananse had to

go out each day to find moist leaves and bugs to eat, for

the news had spread that cassava was forbidden to him.

Is there any new vocabulary in this text?

Were there any words you particularly liked or which

interested you?

Cassava is a root vegetable.

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Questions about the text Answer in full sentences, use the question to help

you do so.

1. What food had Ananse dreamt about?

2. If you had spent a long time without food like

Ananse, what food would you dream of?

3. How do we know that Ananse thought he would

like the food the servants were bringing?

5. What food had been prepared for him?

6. What does the phrase most despised of foods tell

us about how much Ananse liked Cassava?

7. Why did Ananse pretend to faint?

8. What lie did he tell?

9. What problem did this leave Ananse,?

10. If you did not know that this story was set in West

Africa, what clues are there in the text about where

it is set of this story?

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Questions – Possible Answers 1. Ananse had dreamt about eating rice and spinach sauce

and crab and palm-nut soup.

2.

3. Ananse hoped he would be well fed in this city. He was the

king’s guest.

4. We know that Ananse thought he would like the food for

several reasons. He felt pleasure at the smell of the cooking, he

couldn’t wait and went quickly to the kitchen and said that it

was his pleasure to be hungry.

5. The servants had prepared cassava/ roat cassava mash.

6. The phrase most despised of foods tells us that Ananse really

did not like cassava, because despised means hated.

7. Ananse pretended to faint because he hated cassava and

did not want to eat it.

8. Ananse lied and said that he was allergic to cassava.

9. The problem was that cassava was the only thing eaten in

this kingdom so Ananse had to go and eat leaves and bugs.

The name of the town, Po-Ano is also a clue about the

setting of the story.

10. The text mentions the forest and many foods that are

not familiar to us, for example cassava and palm nut soup.

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Story Summary and Predictions Use the first three boxes to tell the story so far. Use the bottom three boxes to show what you think

might happen. (or draw your own grid in your book)

1 2 3

4 5 6

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PART 2 Read Part 2 of the story Ananse the Forgetful Guest.

How does the ending compare to the ending you

thought of?

Ananse the forgetful guest – Part 2 This is the end of the story about Ananse - the half-spider/half-man character. The last day of Ananse's visit fell on the harvest celebrations. A great feast was anticipated. By now Ananse wished strongly that he could be allowed just a small bite of cassava, which the people of Po-Ano cooked in so many delightful ways. There were spicy cassava fries, cassava and vegetable stir-fry, not to mention the soups and stews with which cassava was served. That night, he hatched a plan. The next day dawned bright. Everywhere, people bustled about preparing food and preparing themselves for the feast in the public square where the king would be in attendance. Early that afternoon the people of Po-Ano gathered and the king made his entrance. But Ananse was nowhere to be found. Then in the lull before the dancing started, a very odd figure in the rough clothes of a farm labourer appeared. "Ananse!" the king thundered. "What is the meaning of this...this insult! Why aren’t you wearing proper clothes?" "I beg your pardon, sir, but I thought we were going harvesting today," said Ananse. "No!" shouted the crowd. "Today is the harvest celebration!"

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"Oh, no," said Ananse, hanging his head in apparent shame. "You must think I'm crazy but really I'm not. It is just this awful forgetfulness that comes over me occasionally. It is the same forgetfulness that made me say cassava was forbidden to me when actually it is one of my favourite vegetables!" The king was pleased to forgive him and pleased that he did eat cassava. The people of Po-Ano were pleased to share their feast with him. Many secretly thought that Ananse was kind of strange, but since his visit people sometimes plead his kind of forgetfulness whenever they are caught in a sticky situation.

Grammar

Read the reminder page about adverbials.

Complete Ananse Adverbials. Underline the main

verbs and highlight the adverbials.

Now try rewriting these sentences using different

adverbials from the Adverbial Bank.

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Ananse Adverbials

Underline the main verb and highlight the

adverbial. (or write into your book)

Write whether it is answering WHEN, WHERE or HOW.

1. Ananse had journeyed through the forest

lands.

2. After several days of tracking through the

forest, his journey was completed.

3. On the nights spent in the forest, he had

dreamed of food.

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4. At last, he was in the great town of Po-Ano.

5. In the palace, Ananse could smell delicious

food.

6. Ananse dressed excitedly.

7. With a flourish, the king’s wife lifted the lid.

8. Ananse collapsed in shock.

9. In the forest lands, this was called Face-the-

Wall.

10. Thinking quickly, Ananse made a plan.

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Ananse Adverbials - ANSWERS

1. Ananse had journeyed through the forest lands.(WHERE)

2. After several days of tracking through the forest, his journey was

completed. (WHEN)

3. On the nights spent in the forest, he had dreamed of food.

(WHEN)

4. At last, he was in the great town of Po-Ano. (WHEN)

5. In the palace, Ananse could smell delicious food. (WHERE)

6. Ananse dressed excitedly. (HOW)

7. With a flourish, the king’s wife lifted the lid. (HOW)

8. Ananse collapsed in shock. (HOW)

9. In the forest lands, this was called Face-the-Wall. (WHERE)

10. Thinking quickly, Ananse made a plan. (HOW)

Use the Adverbial bank below, rewrite the sentences above with

different adverbials.

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Adverbial Bank Adverbials often start with prepositions or

conjunctions

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Writing

You are going to write a story about Ananse

There are 3 steps –planning, writing and editing.

(you could spread this over 2 days)

Look at Ananse. How could you describe this character?

What is special about him? What sort of things does he

do? What words would fit his personality?

Write your ideas carefully around the picture of Ananse.

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Plan a story

• Look at the illustration below. Imagine what might be happening here.

• Answer the Story Prompt Questions using your imagination.

• Now plan out a story based on your ideas. Use words

and pictures on a story planning grid to show how you will

tell your story.

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Story Prompt Questions

Why do you think that Ananse is up in the air?

What might he be saying?

What might the bird be thinking?

What do you imagine happened to Ananse just before

this picture?

What might happen to him next?

Draw a grid to help you plan your story.

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Write your story about Ananse.

Aim to use some of the adverbials you used in the

grammar activity to make your story writing more

interesting.

Use the Writing Checklist to help you edit and

improve your writing:

Illustrate your story.

Some Extra Ideas

Can you write a playscript for this part of the story?

You could act it out with other people in your house,

or with toys.

Write a letter to Ananse, what would you ask him?

Makes sense, no missing words

Punctuation

Paragraphs

Spelling

Adverbials (commas after fronted

adverbials)

WOW vocabulary