GP Home Based Learning

Myths and Legends

Lesson Overview

•Myths vs. Legends

•Why do you need to know about these myths and legends?

•Your Task

Myths vs. Legends• What’s the difference?Legend – “A very old and popular story that may or may not be true”.Myth – “A story people made up in the past in order to explain how the world and mankind began or to justify religious beliefs and social customs”Definitions taken from Collins Cobuild English Language Dictionary

Why do you need to learn these?

• There are some myths and legends that have worked their way into our collective consciousness and have had an impact on our language and thinking.

• Often, writers assume that their readers are knowledgeable about various cultural references and expect them to be familiar with them.

• Thus, to understand their writing, you need to have a basic knowledge of the more well-known legends and myths.

Here’s an example…• ‘Myth has it that Morocco’s Atlas Mountains were formed when the

hero Perseus turned the eponymous Titan to stone by forcing him to look at the head of Medusa the Gorgon. A visit to the town of Ouarzazate, on the mountains’ edge and 400 km outside the Marrakech, might lead to you to believe that the Atlas survived and that the giant is now amassing a collection of supersized toys. Roman amphitheatres, Tibetan temples and Egyptian sphinxes tower over the arid terrain, left behind at the appropriately named Atlas Studios by crews working on films including Kingdom of Heaven, Kundun and Gladiator. Moroccan entrepreneur Mohamed Belghmi had a hunch that the ethereal light quality in Ouarzazate would appeal to filmmakers, so he founded the film studio in 1983. Since then, the sets and natural landscape have provided the stunning backdrop to actors Orlando Bloom, Gérard Depardieu, Russell Crowe and Halle Berry, among others.”

Excerpt from Time February 27, 2006, Titanic Souvenirs by Brooke Carnot

Your task

• Now that you’ve understood the importance of knowing of these myths and legends, it’s time to do some research to learn more about them.

• To facilitate your learning, download Exercises 1 and 2 from the ISP workbin and print them. Alternatively, you can also find these 2 exercises on Pg 20-22 of Time Tunnel I. You need to complete these two exercises.

Your Task

• Exercise 1 is designed to help you learn about some personalities from Greek mythology. Match the name and description in the table.

Your Task

• For some help, you may refer to the following websites:

Who’s Who in Greek Legendhttp://ancienthistory.about.com/od/heroes/tp/Who-Is-Who-in-Greek-Legend.htm

Roman Mythological Figureshttp://www.dl.ket.org/cgi-pub/foxweb.exe/Gods@/db/pub/pub?by=romanname

Note that you can refer to other websites for more information on these legends and myths.

Your task

• Exercise 2 is based on some idioms in the English language that are derived from Greek myths.

• Complete Exercise 2.

End of your task

• Once you’ve completed the exercises, remember to bring them to class. Your teacher will go through the answers with you during the next GP lesson.