Lesson Plan
Class Reader: Babe, the sheep-pig
Target Group
Form One students
Methods/Procedures
Class reader: Babe, the sheep-pig (Chapters 1-4)
A)Motivation (Speaking – sharing ideas)
According to the Chinese Calendar, 2007-2008 is the Year of the Pig.
1. Teacher asks students about the special features of pigs and write some adjectives relating to the pigs on the blackboard.
e.g. fat, lazy, neat, stupid, likes to eat and sleep …..
2. Put students into pairs and ask them to talk to each other and then write down everything they know about pigs.
e.g. Pigs are fat (adj). They live on farms. (place). People eat them. (usefulness)
3. As a class, discuss what you already know about the book.
Have any of you seen the film?
Did you know the film was based on a book?
Did any of you know who the book was written by? (Dick King-Smith)
B)Presentation
(Listen for specific information/ Film watching /Reader’s Theater/Pair Work)
1)Introduce the class reader by asking the students to look at the book cover.
2)Name the animals on the cover.
3)Teacher writes on the blackboard. Students write the correct spelling.
Ogd / Rheso / eheps / Gpi / Osego / Iemc / ocwDog / Horse / sheep / pig / goose / mice / cow
4)Teach students the word ‘favourite’
5)In pairs, students ask each other what their favourite animal is and say why.
e.g. What’s your favourite animals?
My favourite animal is a ______because it is ______.
6)Listening – listen for specific information
Ask students to find out the answers.
a)Who is Babe?
b)What is a sheep-pig?
7) Teacher reads the story aloud and students complete the worksheet while listening.
Listen carefully and then fill in the blanks with the correct words.
Babe was a little pig with no mother. He came to live on Farmer Hogget’s farm. The farmer’s sheepdog, Fly, loved Babe and taught him many sheepdog lessons.
Babe was a clever, polite little pig and all the animals on the farm liked him. But Mrs. Hogget wanted to kill Babe. She wanted to make a Christmas dinner for the farmer.
One day Babe helped his boss, Farmer Hogget – and he learnt to talk to the sheep! Farmer Hogget made a plan. He wanted to take Babe to the British Sheepdog Trials!.
Can Babe learn everything for the trials? The sheep at the trials won’t know Babe – how can he learn to talk to them? Will they help him? Can Babe be the best sheep-pig in Britain?
8)Read chapters 1 and 2.
As a class, decide on four key (important) points which tell the basic story of what you have read so far. Choose two points for each chapter. Copy the four points into your exercise book under the title 'Babe's Diary'.(Story Board) You will be using the points in your next English lesson.
9)Film Watching (Ch.1 P.1-2)
Students watch the beginning of the film and then complete the table.
Main characters in the story
Name / Job / Special Features1) Mr. Hogget / a farmer
2) Mrs. Hogget / farmer’s wife
3) Babe / pig / large, white, fat, quiet, stupid
4) Fly / Sheep-dog / big, clever, black and white, has 4 young dogs
10)Reader’s Theater (Ch.2 P.3-4)
Students continue to watch the film and then form in groups and use Reader’s Theater for interpretive reading.
1 – narrator
1 – Fly (sheepdog)
1 – Babe (pig)
4 – young dogs
A New Mum for Babe
N: Farmer Hogget drove his truck into the yard. He took a box out of the back and carried it across the yard into the stable.
D1:What’s in the box?
F: A pig.
D2: What’s the boss going to do with a pig?
F:Eat it. People eat stupid animals. They don’t eat clever animals. Dogs are clever animals.
D4: So pigs are stupid, right, Mum?
F: Yes, they’re stupid. Now, come on, let’s look in the stable.
* * * * * *
N: In one corner of the stable there was a big box for Fly and her family. Now there was another box next to it. The young dogs looked into the box and saw the little pig.
F: Hello. Who are you?
B:I’m a Large Whit pig.
D: (Laughing) You’re a Large White pig! How big’s a small white pig, then?
F: Be quiet! What’s your name, little pig?
B: I don’t know. My mother called all my brothers and sisters the same name. She called us all “Babe”.
D: laughing
F: Stop that noise! Go outside and play in the yard, I want to talk to this pig.
(young dogs turn back)
* * * * * *
F:Babe’s a lovely name. Can I call you Babe?
B:I want my mum.
F:Listen, Babe. All animals learn to leave their mothers. My young dogs are going to leave me soon. They’re going to work in another village. I’m going to be sad. But you can live here with me. The boss isn’t bad, we can have a good time here together.
B: Thank you, Fly. Perhaps I can be happy here with you.
(When students are watching their classmates’ performance, they write down comments on a ‘post it.’)
11)Read chapters 3 and 4
12)Pair Work (Ch.3 P.5-7)
Babe said, “Why can’t I learn to be a sheep-pig?
Ask students to have this conversation between Fly and Babe. They can then perform it for the class.
C) Consolidation (Story Board/Drawing)
1) Students watch the film and complete the Activities for Ch. 1-4.
Question 2:
With the help of the following words, answer questions a – d.
duck farmer field pig politely sheep
sheep-pen stable truck wolf yard
a)Which four words are places on a farm?
b)Which four words are animals?
Animals / Things found on a farmduck / yard
pig / sheep-pen
sheep / stable
wolf / truck
Put the right words in these sentences.
c)The farmer got into his truck and drove away.
d)“Ask me politelyand I’ll do it for you.”
2) Story Board (Ch. 1-4)
Draw or write the events of the story on the story board. Record them in the correct order.
Name : ______Date: ______
Book Title : ______
Story Board – Babe’s Diary (Ch.1-4)
1 / 2 / 34 / 5 / 6
3) Draw your favourite character and write a few lines about it.
e.g. Babe / Babe is a little, polite pig. He came to live on Farmer Hogget’s farm.. The farmer’s sheepdog, Fly, loved Babe and taught him many sheepdog lessons. ……D)Extended Practice - Pig Poems(Picture drawing / Double-entry Journal)
Eight Pigs
Two mother pigs lived in a pen, (thumbs)
Each had four babies and that made ten. (fingers of both hands)
These four babies were black and white. (fingers of one hand)
These four babies were black as night. (fingers of the other hand)
All eight babies loved to play. (wiggle fingers)
And they rolled and they rolled in the mud all day. (roll hands)
Exercise 1: Underline the rhyme words
Exercise 2: Read aloud the poem and follow the action
Exercise 3: Draw a picture for the poem
- 2 mother pigs, 8 piglets, color the pigs, draw what the pigs are doing
Eight PigsExercise 4: Choose a line from the poem that you like most and say why.
Double entry journal
Quote from the text / Visual commentary……….. / This line reminds me ……
Worksheet
Babe The Sheep-pig by Dick King-smith
Listen carefully and then fill in the blanks with the correct words.
Babe was a little pig with no mother. He came to live on Farmer Hogget’s farm. The farmer’s sheepdog, Fly, loved Babe and taught him many sheepdog lessons.
Babe was a clever, polite little pig and all the animals on the farm liked him. But Mrs. Hogget wanted to kill Babe. She wanted to make a Christmas dinner for the farmer.
One day Babe helped his boss, Farmer Hogget – and he learnt to talk to the sheep! Farmer Hogget made a plan. He wanted to take Babe to the British Sheepdog Trials!.
Can Babe learn everything for the trials? The sheep at the trials won’t know Babe – how can he learn to talk to them? Will they help him? Can Babe be the best sheep-pig in Britain?
Babe The Sheep-pig by Dick King-smith
Listen carefully and then fill in the blanks with the correct words.
Babe was a _____ pig with __mother. He came to live on ______Hogget’s farm. The farmer’s sheepdog, ___, loved Babe and ______him many sheepdog lessons.
Babe was a_____, _____little pig and all the ______on the farm liked him. But Mrs. Hogget wanted to ___Babe. She wanted to make a ______dinner for the farmer.
One day Babe helped his boss, Farmer Hogget – and he learnt to _____to the sheep! Farmer Hogget made a plan. He wanted to take Babe to the British Sheepdog Trials!.
Can Babe learn everything for the trials? The ____ at the trials won’t know Babe – how can he learn to _____ to them? Will they _____ him? Can Babe be the best ______in Britain?
Babe The Sheep-pig by Dick King-smith
Main characters in the story
Name / Job / Special Features1) Mr. Hogget / a ______
2) ______/ farmer’s wife
3) ______ / pig / ______, white, ____, quiet, ______
4)Fly / ______ / big, ______, black and white, has ___ young dogs
Babe The Sheep-pig by Dick King-smith
Reader’s Theatre
A New Mum for Babe
N: Farmer Hogget drove his truck into the yard. He took a box out of the back and carried it across the yard into the stable.
D1:What’s in the box?
F: A pig.
D2: What’s the boss going to do with a pig?
F:Eat it. People eat stupid animals. They don’t eat clever animals. Dogs are clever animals.
D4: So pigs are stupid, right, Mum?
F: Yes, they’re stupid. Now, come on, let’s look in the stable.
* * * * * *
N: In one corner of the stable there was a big box for Fly and her family. Now there was another box next to it. The young dogs looked into the box and saw the little pig.
F: Hello. Who are you?
B:I’m a Large Whit pig.
D: (Laughing) You’re a Large White pig! How big’s a small white pig, then?
F: Be quiet! What’s your name, little pig?
B: I don’t know. My mother called all my brothers and sisters the same name. She called us all “Babe”.
D: laughing
F: Stop that noise! Go outside and play in the yard, I want to talk to this pig.
(young dogs turn back)
* * * * * *
F:Babe’s a lovely name. Can I call you Babe?
B:I want my mum.
F:Listen, Babe. All animals learn to leave their mothers. My young dogs are going to leave me soon. They’re going to work in another village. I’m going to be sad. But you can live here with me. The boss isn’t bad, we can have a good time here together.
B: Thank you, Fly. Perhaps I can be happy here with you.
(When students are watching their classmates’ performance, they write down comments on a ‘post it.’)
Babe The Sheep-pig by Dick King-smith
Name : ______Date:______
Book Title : ______
Story Board – Babe’s Diary (Ch.1-4)
1 / 2 / 34 / 5 / 6
Draw your favourite character and write a few lines about it.
Babe The Sheep-pig by Dick King-smith
Eight Pigs
Two mother pigs lived in a pen, (thumbs)
Each had four babies and that made ten. (fingers of both hands)
These four babies were black and white. (fingers of one hand)
These four babies were black as night. (fingers of the other hand)
All eight babies loved to play. (wiggle fingers)
And they rolled and they rolled in the mud all day. (roll hands)
Exercise 1: Underline the rhyme words
Exercise 2: Read aloud the poem and follow the action
Exercise 3: Draw a picture for the poem
- 2 mother pigs, 8 piglets, color the pigs, draw what the pigs are doing
Eight PigsExercise 4: Choose a line from the poem that you like most and say why.
Double entry journal
Quote from the text / Visual commentaryThis line reminds me ……
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