Unit 2: Demeter and Persephone--4 teaching ideas

I came back from Canada five days before school started. Then, I was too busy to prepare for the new lessons except the two learning activities for the first two periods. Luckily, Rainbow had got some materials ready; therefore, I borrowed her warn-up activity (a Chinese creation myth) and the PPT slides she created for my new lesson. I had a good start thanks to her.

Then, in the process, I came up with 4 different ideas about how to teach the Greek myth from hers. However, in the end, I only used two of them. The ideas are listed below:

IDEA ONE: The origins of some modern English usages
Skills involved: Reading, Writing and Arts
Process: Work in groups of three/four. Each group chooses a different word from the list below. Research its origin and story. And create a poster with a brief explanation (about 40-50 words) that covers the current usage of this word.
1. Atlas
2. Achilles
3. Hercules
4. Labyrinth
5. Midas
6. Procrustes
7. Pan
8. Sisyphus
9. Tantalus
10. Titans
Resources:
1. http://www.mythweb.com/encyc/contents.html
2. http://www.mythweb.com/today/today01.html
3. Other print resources such as encyclopedia or books

IDEA TWO: The origins of some modern English usages
Skills involved: Reading, Writing, and Role Play
Procedure: Work in groups of three/four. Each group chooses a different sentence from the list below. Research its origin and story. And create a short dialogue (about 1-2 minutes) that explains the current usage of this phrase.
1. This is a Herculean task. (Hercules)
2. This is a Sisyphean task. (Sisyphus)
3. He’s got a Midas touch. (Midas)
4. That is a titanic building. (Titans)
5. That is a Procrustean effort. (Procrustes)
6. He’s got my Achilles’ heel. (Achilles)
Resources:
1. http://www.mythweb.com/today/today01.html
2. http://www.mythweb.com/encyc/contents.html
3. Other print resources such as encyclopedia or books

IDEA THREE: Creating dialogues
Skills involved: Writing and Role Play
Procedure: (work in groups of 7)
Individually, design a dialogue based on one of the following scenes:

Scene One: Two farmer meet Demeter and Persephone in the field. They were thankful for Demeter’s kindness and generosity. They also praised the beauty of Persephone. (Paragraph 2-3)
Scene Two: Hades ran into Persephone and was attracted to her immediately. He asked her to marry him but Persephone refused. (Paragraph 3)
Scene Three: Hades kidnapped Persephone and took her into the Underground. Persephone was sad in the dark and shadowy place. (Paragraph 4)
Scene Four: After Demeter noticed that her daughter was gone, she searched for her everywhere, but in vain. Apollo told her what he saw. (Paragraph 5)
Scene Five: Zeus saw what had happened after Demeter lost her daughter. He had a plan in mind. (Paragraph 6-7)
Scene Six: In order to keep Persephone, Hades had an idea. (Paragraph 8)

Choose the best writing in your group, and perform the dialogue.

IDEA FOUR: Creative writing (a review writing exercise)
Skills involved: Reading and writing
Procedure: Work in a group of five. Each member in the group chooses a character from the story of “Demeter and Persephone” (Characters: Demeter, Persephone, Hades, Zeus, and Apollo). Based on the myth, write a report to narrate what you have experienced, seen or heard. There are three paragraphs in your story.

Paragraph one covers a brief introduction of yourself.
Paragraph two tells the story from your own perspective.
Paragraph three expresses your feelings or lessons you learn from this experience.

After finish the writing, share it with your group members.