The Gruffalo By Julie Donaldson

Irene Borrego

ActivityName of the activity The Gruffalo

Age of children and level 7 years old / 2nd primary

Skills Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking

Software used Power Point, Slideshare

Description of the activity The students have to read the story with the teacher in class. The text has been adapted from the original one. Then in groups, they need to write an extra animal and write down the dialogue between their animal, the mouse and the Gruffalo. The idea is that the groups are mixed so that they can help each other. However, the patterns and the structures are repeated all over the story and the students can use it as a template too. The most advanced ones can always add more complicated grammar and vocabulary. Once the teacher has revised what they have written, in their groups they practice and act it out in front of the class.

ONCE UPON A TIME…

• A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark woods.

• A fox saw the mouse, and the mouse looked good.

• “Where are you going to, Little Brown mouse?” said the Fox “Come and have lunch with me”.

• “You are very kind, Fox, but I’m going to have lunch with the Gruffalo” –explained the mouse. “It has terrible tusks, terrible claws and terrible teeth and his favourite food is roasted Fox”.

• “I MUST GO! Bye Little mouse!” said the Fox.

• “Doesn’t he know? There’s no such thing as a Gruffalo”.

• On went the mouse, through the deep dark woods.

• An owl saw the mouse, and the mouse looked good.

• “Where are you going to, Little Brown mouse?” said the owl “Come and have lunch with me”.

• “You are very kind, owl, but I’m going to have lunch with the Gruffalo” –explained the mouse. “It has huge toes, knobbly knees and a poisonous wart at the end of his nose. And his favourite food is owl ice-cream”.

• “I MUST GO! Bye Little mouse!” said the owl.

• “Doesn’t he know? There’s no such thing as a Gruffalo”.

• On went the mouse, through the deep dark woods.

• A snake saw the mouse, and the mouse looked good.

• “Where are you going to, Little Brown mouse?” said the snake “Come and have lunch with me”.

• “You are very kind, snake , but I’m going to have lunch with the Gruffalo” –explained the mouse. “His eyes are orange, his tongue is black and he’s got purple spikes all over his back. And his favourite food is scrambled snake”.

• “I MUST GO! Bye Little mouse!” said the snake.

• “Doesn’t he know? There’s no such thing as a Gruffalo”.

• “Oh!” –said the mouse- “What’s this creature? He’s got terrible claws, terrible tusks and terrible teeth. Oh no! He’s got knobbly knees, huge toes and a poisonous wart at the end of his nose. Oh my! He’s got orange eyes, a black tongue and spikes all over his back. It’s a Gruffalo!” – the mouse screamed.

• “My favourite food!” – the Gruffalo said- “you taste good on a slice of bread”.

• “I’m the scariest creature in these Woods” –said the mouse- “Walk behind me and you’ll see”.

• • “All right” –answered the Gruffalo.

• “I can hear a hiss in the leaves ahead” – said the Gruffalo.

• “It’s the snake” –said the mouse- “Hi snake!”

• The snake took a look at the Gruffalo and said: “Goodbye little mouse!” and off he sled.

• “You see! I told you so!” – the mouse said to the Gruffalo.

• “Amazing!” –replied the Gruffalo.

• They walked some more until the Gruffalo said: “I hear a hoot in the leaves ahead”. • “It’s the owl” –said the mouse- “Hi

owl!”• The owl took a look at the Gruffalo

and said: “Goodbye little mouse!” and off he flew. • “You see! I told you so!” – the mouse

said to the Gruffalo.• “Amazing!” –replied the Gruffalo.

• They walked some more until the Gruffalo said: “I can hear some feet on the path ahead”• “It’s the fox –said the mouse- “Hi fox!”• The fox took a look at the Gruffalo and said: “Goodbye little mouse!”

and off he ran. • “Well, you see! Everyone is afraid of me. And I’m starving, my favourite

food is Gruffalo crumble” – the mouse said to the Gruffalo.• “Gruffalo crumble?” –replied the Gruffalo. And quick as the wind, turned

and fled.

• “Well, you see! Everyone is afraid of me. And I’m starving, my favourite food is Gruffalo crumble” – the mouse said to the Gruffalo.• “Gruffalo crumble?” –replied the Gruffalo. And quick as

the wind, turned and fled.

• Always quiet in the deep dark woods. • The mouse found a nut, and the nut was good.

THE END

Conclusion• The students have to practice their Reading and listening skills first. The

teacher will ask questions to make sure they have understood the story.• Afterwards, they have to work in groups to produce their own material

and share it with the class.• The activity has been adapted to make sure the students find the task

motivating instead of doing a Reading from a book and fulfiling some exercises about it.• The idea is that the different formats and parts of the activity allow the

students to work collaboratively and Little by Little they can achieve a better degree of self-esteem and that they trust in their abilities.