Lesson Plan – Language and Irony in Roald Dahl’s “The Pig”
Objective: Students will identify different characteristics of poetry in the selection, and through completing the KWL chart and analyzing the text, will infer the definition of irony.
NCSCOS: Competency Goal 5.02 – Study characteristics of literary genres, and 6.01 – Model understanding of conventional written and spoken expression
Marzano Strategies: Nonlinguistic representation, cooperative learning, generating & testing hypotheses
Time: 90 minutes
Materials:
- Copies of poem, “The Pig,” by Roald Dahl
- Copies of literary term identification worksheet
- KWL chart – either on chart paper or white board – use to hypothesize and learn about “irony”
- Index cards (3 per group), markers for comic strip panel activity
Vocabulary:
Rhyme – the matching of vowels and the coupling of vowel sounds
Meter, or Rhythm – a recognizable pulse, or "recurrence," which gives a distinct beat to a line and also gives it a shape.
Imagery - language that evokes one or all of the five senses: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching.
Irony – incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result (Merriam-webster.com)
- Most obvious in this example: situational irony (relationship of contrast between what an audience is led to expect during a particular situation within the unfolding of a story's plot and a situation that ends up actually resulting later on).
- Other kinds of irony: verbal irony (when the author says one thing and means another), and dramatic irony (when the audience perceives something that a character does not know
Time / Activity / Assessment10 minutes / Bell Work w/ Journal / Take roll; collect homework
10 mins / Introduce Day’s objective
Recitation of Poem
10 mins / Small Groups w/ guided worksheet
10 mins / Large group – compare & contrast
10 mins
KWL Chart – First pass
10 mins
Mini-lecture: Irony
10 mins
Small group – identification & comic strip / Comic strip to demonstrate understanding
10 mins
10 mins / KWL – second pass, questions, homework / Informal – questions for understanding
Activity Outline:
1. Bell Work 10 MINUTES
– Journal Prompt: “Describe an experience in which things ended up differently than you expected.” (10 minutes)
Teacher takes roll, collects homework in class basket.
2. Introduce day’s objectives. 5 MINUTES
Introduce day’s selection and pass copies to students.
Student language objective: “Today we are going to examine the poem, “The Pig” by Roald Dahl to pick out the different literary concepts that Dahl uses. We will also analyze the poem to critique Dahl’s use of irony to express a hidden truth about the subject of the poem.”
“QUESTIONS? DOES EVERYONE UNDERSTAND OUR OBJECTIVES FOR THE DAY?”
3. Teacher recitation of poem. 5 MINUTES
4. Small groups 10 MINUTES
Identify different core aspects of selection (rhythm, rhyme, imagery, characters) using guided worksheet.
Students should work in their table groups to complete the worksheet – one per table. Assign sections to each table before giving instructions.
Suggested script: In your table groups, I would like you to analyze the poem and look for how the poem has rhyme, rhythm, and imagery. Use the worksheet to guide your discussion. As a group, you should elect a Scribe to write down your answers, a Speaker to present your answers to the class in the next activity, a Reader to read aloud your section, and a Timer to keep you on task. The Scribe, Speaker, Reader, and Timer should not be the same people as they were during our last small group work activity.
You have ten minutes to complete the worksheet. Does everyone understand? Any questions? READY – GO!
5. Each group presents their findings to the class. 15 MINUTES
Compare and contrast examples as a class.
Teacher leads discussion using worksheet as template, and each group will discuss their answers to each question. All groups answer one question before moving to the next question.
Leading Questions for discussion:
- Do you think Roald Dahl’s poem has vivid imagery? Why or why not?
- How does the strong rhythm of the poem affect how you read it? Can you sing or rap this poem? Anyone want to try?
- What is the message of the poem? Did anything surprise you about the story?
6. As a large group, complete K-W of KWL chart about “irony.” 10 MINUTES
Ask for single volunteer to be scribe for this activity. Students should shout out answers, and teacher should pace discussion so that scribe can keep up with ideas.
Suggested Script: Now, I’d like to move our discussion to talk about the concept of irony. We’ve probably all heard this word before, but sometimes we have a hard time trying to define exactly what it means. I’d like to work through this KWL chart with you so that we can all share ideas about what we think irony is. Please raise your hands to tell us your ideas.
Firstly, what do we KNOW about irony?
Secondly, what do we WANT to know about irony?
Okay, now we’ll save the last section of the chart for after we complete this next activity. Thank you, ______for being our scribe. Have a seat.
7. Teacher leads discussion of irony. 10 MINUTES
Incorporate what students know already about irony, and align that pre-existing knowledge with an actual definition.
Identify each kind of irony and give an example.
- Situational Irony – You study all night for a test that is worth a lot of points, and get all stressed out and exhausted. When you get to the class the next day, the teacher is out sick and the test is cancelled.
- Dramatic Irony – when a friend is playing a joke on someone, and the person who is being joked about doesn’t know, but you do. Not always nice, sometimes related to misfortune or tragedy.
- Verbal Irony – sometimes part of sarcasm – when you respond to your mom’s question about if you completed your chores, and even though you have, you still say no just to annoy her.
Recognize the students’ major questions from the W section of the chart and suggest that we might find some answers in the next activity.
8. Small groups identify the main kind of irony in poem 15 MINUTES
Each group will create a three-panel comic strip using three index cards, depicting the situational irony of the poem. Comics will be turned in at the end of the activity and posted in class.
9. Closure – Complete last section of KWL chart as a class. 10 MINUTES
In large group, class volunteers ideas about how to fill out the “What Did We Learn” column.
Suggested Script:
- So what did we learn today about irony? Can someone give me a general definition?
- What is situational irony?
- Why is the poem an example of situational irony?
- Can someone give me another example of something that is IRONIC?
- Any other questions?
Homework: Please read “Ghost House” by Robert Frost, and circle five lines that have very distinct imagery in them. Where in the poem does Frost write something that helps you “see” the ghost house?
DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT IRONY? DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE HOMEWORK?
10. Dismissal
“The Pig”
by Roald Dahl
(1)
In England once there lived a big
And wonderfully clever pig.
To everybody it was plain
That Piggy had a massive brain.
He worked out sums inside his head,
There was no book he hadn't read.
He knew what made an airplane fly,
He knew how engines worked and why.
(2)
He knew all this, but in the end
One question drove him round the bend:
He simply couldn't puzzle out
What LIFE was really all about.
What was the reason for his birth?
Why was he placed upon this earth?
His giant brain went round and round.
Alas, no answer could be found.
(3)
Till suddenly one wondrous night.
All in a flash he saw the light.
He jumped up like a ballet dancer
And yelled, "By gum, I've got the answer!"
“They want my bacon slice by slice
“To sell at a tremendous price!
"They want my tender juicy chops
(4)
"To put in all the butcher's shops!
"They want my pork to make a roast
"And that's the part'll cost the most!
"They want my sausages in strings!
"They even want my chitterlings!
"The butcher's shop! The carving knife!
"That is the reason for my life!"
Such thoughts as these are not designed
(5)
To give a pig great piece of mind.
Next morning, in comes Farmer Bland,
A pail of pigswill in his hand,
And piggy with a mighty roar,
Bashes the farmer to the floor…
Now comes the rather grizzly bit
So let's not make too much of it,
Except that you must understand
(6)
That Piggy did eat Farmer Bland,
He ate him up from head to toe,
Chewing the pieces nice and slow.
It took an hour to reach the feet,
Because there was so much to eat,
And when he finished, Pig, of course,
(7)
Felt absolutely no remorse.
Slowly he scratched his brainy head
And with a little smile he said,
"I had a fairly powerful hunch
"That he might have me for his lunch.
"And so, because I feared the worst,
"I thought I'd better eat him first."
From: http://www.poemhunter.com
Poem divided into sections for purpose of activity – original poem did not have stanzas.
ROALD DAHL – “THE PIG” DATE: ______
Group Members: ______
______
Section: ______
Terms:
1. Rhythm – a repeating pulse that gives the line a beat
2. Rhyme – the matching of vowels or pairs of vowel sounds, like “cat” and “rat”
3. Imagery - language that evokes one or all of the five senses: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching.
1. What are some examples of rhyming from the poem? Please list three pairs of rhyming words in your group’s section.
______
______
______
______
______
2. Does the poem have a rhythm? How? Please mark with an “X” at the place in each of these lines where you feel the pulse. Don’t be afraid to clap out the lines or say every syllable.
✕✕✕✕
Example: “He ate him up from head to toe,”
· He worked out sums inside his head
· His giant brain went round and round.
· Such thoughts as these are not designed
· Slowly he scratched his brainy head
Is there a pattern that is the same for every line? Can you clap it out?
3. Can you list three or four images that Dahl creates in his poem in your section? Do his words help you to picture, smell, or hear something in your imagination? Please write down the exact line from your group’s section of the poem.
______
______
______
______
“Ghost House” by Robert Frost
I dwell in a lonely house I know
That vanished many a summer ago,
And left no trace but the cellar walls,
And a cellar in which the daylight falls,
And the purple-stemmed wild raspberries grow.
O'er ruined fences the grape-vines shield
The woods come back to the mowing field;
The orchard tree has grown one copse
Of new wood and old where the woodpecker chops;
The footpath down to the well is healed.
I dwell with a strangely aching heart
In that vanished abode there far apart
On that disused and forgotten road
That has no dust-bath now for the toad.
Night comes; the black bats tumble and dart;
The whippoorwill is coming to shout
And hush and cluck and flutter about:
I hear him begin far enough away
Full many a time to say his say
Before he arrives to say it out.
It is under the small, dim, summer star.
I know not who these mute folk are
Who share the unlit place with me--
Those stones out under the low-limbed tree
Doubtless bear names that the mosses mar.
They are tireless folk, but slow and sad,
Though two, close-keeping, are lass and lad,--
With none among them that ever sings,
And yet, in view of how many things,
As sweet companions as might be had.