8th Grade Honors English

March 20, 2015 – St. Patrick’s Day

(a few days late. . .)

Bellringer Use the KWL chart at your desk

to make a list of what you know about the Legend of St. Patrick of Ireland, about the day celebrated in his honor, about the Leprechaun, or anything else associated with St. Patrick’s Day.

Word O’the Day blarney flattering or wheedling

talk; cajolery; deceptive or misleading talk; nonsense; hooey

Mr. Walker said a lot of nice things about my paper, but I think he was full of BLARNEY.

Word O’the Day Origin

Late 18th century Irish: named after Castle Blarney, an ancient castle near Cork in Ireland, where there is a stone said to give the gift of persuasive speech to anyone who kisses it.

The Blarney Stone

Go on, kiss the Blarney Stone, if you dare!

Lines We Love “Thankfully the rest of the world assumed

that the Irish were crazy, a theory that the Irish themselves did nothing to debunk. They had somehow got it into their heads that each fairy lugged around a pot of gold with him wherever he went. While it was true that LEP had a ransom fund, because of its officers' high-risk occupation, no human had ever taken a chunk of it yet. This didn't stop the Irish population in general from skulking around rainbows, hoping to win the supernatural lottery.” ~Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl

Objectives O’the Day

We will continue our study of the Folktale genre of literature. We will understand the characteristics of Folktales, and each of its sub-genres. We will learn the meanings of foreign words commonly used in these stories. We will understand the cultural influences and importance in Folktales. We will make inferences and draw conclusions about theme, plot, character, point of view, setting, and conflict. We will identify the author’s purpose in writing the texts.

(TEKS 8.1; 8.2A, B, D, E; 8.3A, B, C; 8.6A, B, C; 8.8; 8.9)

The Legend of St. Patrick of Ireland

• Born in the year 387 A.D. near Kilpatrick, Scotland.

• Died March 17, 461 A.D. at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland.

• Ordained a Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church in 433 and sent to Ireland to preach the Gospel.

• Converted thousands during his 40 year ministry, built many churches, performed many miracles.

The Legend of St. Patrick of Ireland

The Legend of St. Patrick of Ireland

The Legend of St. Partick of Ireland

• What characteristics of the story of St. Patrick make it a legend?

• What does the information presented in this summary suggest about how the Irish people feel about St. Patrick?

• Which idea from the selection does the image of the postage stamp support?

• Why is the Shamrock symbol important to the story?

• What themes might be present in the Legend of St. Patrick of Ireland?

The Magical Legend of The Leprechaun

• They are cobblers – shoemakers• They are tricksters• Also referred to as fairies (Irish: Faeries, or

Fae)• Leprechaun are only male• Live in the forest making shoes and

guarding their treasure.• If you catch a Leprechaun, he must tell

you where he hides his gold

The Legend of The Leprechaun

The Irish Harp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFlKx3YPL5I

The Irish (Tin) Whistle

The Legend of The Leprechaun

• Given what we learned about the characteristics of the various sub-genres of folktales, is this story a legend? Why or why not?

• The authors of both selections (St. P & Lep’s) probably intend for the reader to learn what?

• Using context clues, what is the meaning of the word odd in paragraph 3 of “Who Are the Leprechauns of Ireland?”

• The poem by William Allingham is mostly about a speaker who. . .?

• What does the word plies mean in line 19?• The words “tip-tap”, “tick-a-tack-too” and “rip-rap” are

examples of what poetic device? What does they mimic?

You be the author!

Now, young lads and lasses, it’s time to ply your trade! Take the information you’ve been given in the informational texts and write a short narrative version of some aspect of either the Legend of St. Patrick or the Leprechaun. Be sure to use specific nouns, vivid adjectives, strong verbs, and informative adverbs. Make use of sensory language to create imagery for your readers. Be sure to use appropriate conventions in your writing.

Today We. . .

• Continued our study of folktale (folklore) by looking at two legends from Ireland. We learned about their importance to the Irish culture and drew conclusions about how the Irish people feel about both stories.

• We synthesized information presented in non-fiction texts and created narrative versions of both stories.

Next Week We Will. . .

• Continue reviewing for the upcoming STAAR Reading Test (March 31st).

• Continue our close study of folktale.

• Continue working on our Awesome Author’s projects by learning about how to evaluate the effectiveness and appropriateness of our sources.