The Legend of Sleepy Hollow for ESL

 

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is an 1820 short story by American author Washington Irving. Even though the story is 200 years old, Americans still enjoy telling this story, and there have been popular movies retelling it.

Not only is the story hilarious, but it teaches the concept of ambiguity. Irving leaves it up to the reader to decide what truly happened to Ichabod Crane. Just like a good ghost story, it's up to the hearer to decide what is true and what is not.

Free pdf : Intermediate/adv ESL Student

Grade Level 5: Fluent Reader

The protagonist of the story, Ichabod Crane, is a Yankee schoolteacher who lives in Sleepy Hollow, a Dutch enclave on the Hudson River. A suggestible man, Crane believes the ghost stories and tales of witchcraft he has heard and read. He is particularly impressed by the tale of a spectral headless horseman said to haunt the area. Crane is also a mercenary; he courts Katrina Van Tassel mostly because she is the daughter of a rich farmer and is expected to receive a large inheritance. Abraham Van Brunt (also called Brom Bones) is Crane’s jealous rival, a local favorite, and a rash horseman who often plays tricks on the schoolmaster. Late one night as Ichabod Crane rides home from a party at Katrina’s home, he is suddenly frightened by a ghostlike headless horseman. The ghost pursues him and hurls at him a round object that he takes to be a head but is later revealed to have been a pumpkin. The schoolmaster is never seen in Sleepy Hollow again.

Vocabulary:

https://www.vocabulary.com/lists/206523

Quizlet

https://www.quia.com/jg/962596list.html

Resources:

https://www.eslprintables.com/cinema_and_television/movies/science_fiction_movies/sleepy_hollow/

https://www.liveworksheets.com/w/en/english-second-language-esl/1149546

https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-legend-of-sleepy-hollow-lesson-for-kids.html

lesson plan VOA, Quiz VOA

Full Movie:

The Old Witch and Nothing Gold Can Stay

I. ROOT 詞根 :  “dict” SAY

1. dictate 命令, 決定，規定 or 口述，口授

I dictated my order over the phone. 我透過電話口述了命令。

2. dictionary字典，詞典

3. dictator獨裁者，暴君 or獨斷專行者；專權者

II. IDIOM成語:

1. “good and proper”完全地；徹底地

The table is broken good and proper. 桌子已經完全壞了。

2. “all that glitters is not gold”. 閃光的並非都是金子。

Glitters-閃爍，閃耀，閃光

III. Reading 1 (A Halloween Story): “The Old Witch” by The Brothers Grimm 

Vocabulary
Vocabulary Review Games

1. stubborn 頑固的，執拗的，倔強的

They have massive rows because they're both so stubborn.

他們倆吵得很兇，因為他們兩個人都很固執。

2. obey服從，順從；遵守，遵循

The soldiers refused to obey (orders). 士兵們拒不服從（命令）。

to obey the rules of international law 遵守國際法的規定

Falling objects obey the law of gravity. 自由落體遵循引力定律。

3. elder（尤指在社會上地位高、受人尊敬的）長者，長輩，老年人

You should listen to the advice of your elders. 你應該聽長輩的建議。

They consulted the village elders. 他們向村裡的長輩們諮詢了意見。

 4.evil道德敗壞的；邪惡的，惡毒的；討厭的

an evil dictator 邪惡的獨裁者

These people are just evil. 這些人太惡毒了。

5. wicked邪惡的；壞的；缺德的

It was a wicked thing to do. 那是件缺德的事。

Of course, in the end, the wicked witch gets killed. 當然，最後邪惡的巫婆被殺掉了。

6. pale蒼白的，白的

You're looking pale - do you feel ill? 你看起來臉色蒼白——你病了嗎？

         She has a naturally pale complexion and dark hair. 她天生膚色白皙，頭髮烏黑。

7. peep（通常指透過小孔）窺視，偷看

I saw her peeping through the curtains/into the room. 我看見她透過窗簾／向房間裡偷看。

8. proper適合的；適當的；恰當的；正確的

I've had sandwiches but I haven't eaten a proper meal.

我吃了三明治，但還沒有好好吃一頓飯。

She likes everything to be in its proper place.

她喜歡所有東西都各有其所，放置妥當。

Reading 1 (A Halloween Story): “The Old Witch” by The Brothers Grimm

There was once a little girl who was very stubborn and who never obeyed when her elders spoke to her - so how could she be happy? One day she said to her parents, "I have heard so much of the old witch that I will go and see her. People say she is a wonderful old woman, and has many interesting things in her house, and I am very curious to see them."' But her parents forbade (禁止, 不許) her going, saying, "The witch is an evil old woman, who does many wicked things - and if you go near her, you are no longer a child of ours." The girl, however, would not turn back at her parents' command (命令, 指示), but went to the witch's house. When she arrived there the old woman asked her: "Why are you so pale?" "Ah," she replied, trembling (顫抖, 發抖) all over, "I have frightened myself so with what I have just seen." "And what did you see?" asked the old witch. "I saw a black man on your steps." "That was a miner (煤礦工人)," replied she. "Then I saw a gray man." "That was a hunter (獵人)," said the old woman. "After him I saw a blood-red man." "That was a butcher (肉商)," replied the old woman. "But, oh, I was most terrified," continued the girl, "when Ithrough your window, and saw not you, but a creature (生物, 動物) with a fiery head." "Then you have seen the witch in her proper dress," said the old woman. "For you I have long waited, and now you shall give me light." So saying the witch changed the little girl into a block of wood, and then threw it on the fire. When it was fully alight, she sat down on the hearth and warmed herself, saying: "How good I feel! The fire has not burned like this for a long time!"

Extra: Kingdom of the Witches 
(animation)

                                            Another witch story with English subtitles

Reading 2: Nothing Gold Can Stay (a poem) by Robert Frost

This is traditionally a spring poem, but because its about the cycles of the seasons, I think anytime, especially fall is also appropriate. Incidentally, this one poem could be read at my funeral.

Vocabulary:

1. nature大自然，自然界

2. hue - color

3. subside/to sink – to go down in strength, or go down to a lower level

Eventually the flood waters began to subside. 洪水終於開始消退了。

       The police are hoping that the violence will soon subside.  警方希望暴力事件會很快平息。

       As the pain in my foot subsided, I was able to walk the short distance to the car.

       我的腳沒那麼痛了，我能夠勉強走一小段路，走到車旁。

4. Eden（《聖經》中描述的）伊甸園 (Chinese video)

5. grief（尤指某人之死引起的）悲痛，悲傷，悲哀

Her grief at her son's death was terrible. 喪子之痛使她肝腸寸斷。

Newspapers should not intrude on people's private grief.

報紙不應再去侵擾那些正承受喪親之痛的人們。

5. dawn拂曉，破曉，黎明

We woke at dawn. 天一亮我們就醒了。

We left at the break of dawn.  我們是在天剛破曉時離開的。

Nothing Gold Can Stay  Nature's first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf. So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay.

黃金事物難久留 自然的初綠是為金， 她這種色彩最難存。 她的新葉像朵花； 但也只能保剎那。 之後葉復褪為葉。 同理伊甸淪悲切， 同理清晨沉為晝。 黃金事物難久留。

黃金時代不久留 大自然的新綠呈金黃色， 這是最不能持久者。 她初生的樹葉像花兒一朵； 何奈其瞬息即過。 然後是落英的繽紛。 伊甸園淪為愁城， 黎明降成了白晝。 黃金時代不久留。

1. This poem is to say:

a. nothing good will last     b. life is a cycle      c. life is sad            d. nothing

2. Green  means   _________ .     a. trees        b. Spring       c. money

3. Eden is about the “fall of man”, so in this poem man, is also like_______

          a. green        b. gold          c. nature       b. the witch

4. What are the rhyming words?

5. Write a small poem in AA/BB format:

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Reading 3: Peeping Tom Caught in the Act