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The!Lady!of!Shalott!
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Intermediate!–!Advanced!(B1!–!C1)!
Teens;!Adults!
90!minutes!+!follow!up!
Dictogloss!(Listening;!Writing;!Speaking)!
Art;!Stories;!Love!
Past!narrative!tenses;!Linkers!
Images;!Text!!
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!!!!!!THE!LADY!OF!SHALOTT!!(by!Jamie!Keddie)!
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Preparation, materials and equipment 1. 2. 3. For this activity, you will need images of three paintings by John William Waterhouse. The paintings depict scenes from the Tennyson poem, The Lady of Shalott. You can download the images from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shalott Make a copy of the Lady of Shalott text on page 6 for each student. The activity involves students working together to reconstruct the text. The collaborative writing works well if you can supply poster paper (from a flip chart, for example) and marker pens. Decide how you are going to display the images in class. Possibilities include: • Mobile device (For one-­‐to-­‐one situations) • Laptop, desktop, tablet computer (For small groups) • Computer, projector + screen (For larger classes) THE LADY OF SHALOTT (by Jamie Keddie) 2 !
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Lesson!plan!
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On!the!board,!write!the!following:!
Ask!your!students!if!they!know!anything!about!the!characters!and!how!
they!connect!with!each!other.!
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! Answers:!
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! King!Arthur:!A!legendary!British!leader!from!the!late!5th!/!early!6th!
centuries.!
Camelot:!
King!Arthur’s!legendary!castle!and!court.!
Guinevere:! King!Arthur’s!queen.!She!was!said!to!have!had!a!love!
affair!with!Sir!Lancelot!(see!below).!
Merlin:!
A!wizard!who!is!often!associated!with!King!Arthur.!
Excalibur:! King!Arthur’s!legendary!sword.!
! Sir!Lancelot:!King!Arthur’s!most!trusted!knight.!
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Show!students!the!Waterhouse!painting,!The$
Lady$of$Shalott!(see!Preparation,!materials!
and!equipment!on!page!2).!Tell!them!that!it!
depicts!a!scene!from!a!story!from!Arthurian!
legend.!Tell!students!that!the!story!also!
involves!the!following:!
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A$grey$tower$
An$evil$curse$
A$knight$in$shining$armour$
A$mirror$
Tapestries$
Put!students!into!pairs!and!ask!them!to!guess!what!the!story!is!about.!
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!!!!!!THE!LADY!OF!SHALOTT!!(by!Jamie!Keddie)!!
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Invite!students!to!share!their!ideas.!Have!a!vote!to!see!who!thinks!the!
story!will!have!a!happy!ending!and!who!thinks!it!will!have!a!sad!ending.!
Use!the!text!on!page!6!to!tell!students!the!story!of!The$Lady$of$Shalott.!
Refer!to!the!three!Waterhouse!paintings!as!you!do!so!(see!Preparation,!
materials!and!equipment!on!page!2).!
Tell!students!that!they!are!going!to!hear!the!story!again.!This!time!they!
should!make!notes!of!words!or!phrases!that!are!key!to!the!story.!Read!the!
story!a!second!time.!
Let!students!compare!the!words!and!phrases!that!they!wrote.!
Tell!students!that!they!are!going!to!reconstruct!the!story!in!their!own!
words.!
Note!that!this!can!be!done!collaboratively:!
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• Put!students!into!small!groups.!
• Ask!students!to!work!together!to!reconstruct!the!story!of!
the!Lady!of!Shalott.!
• Students!should!compare!their!understanding!of!the!story,!
decide!how!they!are!going!to!organise!ideas!and!events,!and!
consider!the!most!suitable!grammar!structures!and!
discourse!devices!to!link!them.!
• If!possible,!give!out!flipPchart!paper!and!marker!pens!(see!
Preparation,!materials!and!equipment!on!page!2)!for!
students!to!write!their!final!texts!on.!
Ask!students!to!stick!their!texts!
on!the!wall.!Invite!students!to!
browse!the!gallery!and!read!
each!other’s!texts.!
Give!out!copies!of!the!Lady!of!
Shalott!text!on!page!6!and!let!
students!compare!it!with!their!
own.!
!!!!!!THE!LADY!OF!SHALOTT!!(by!Jamie!Keddie)!!
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Follow up 1 Give students any of the following tasks: • Investigate the allegory in the story. • Write a story which explains how Elaine came to be cursed. • Find out about Waterhouse, the artist who painted the three images. Follow up 2 Ask students to look over the Lady of Shalott text on page 6 and underline ten items (words, phrases, expressions, idioms, structures, etc.) that they like. Once they have done this, ask them to write their chosen items on the reverse side of the sheet in the same order that they appear in the story. Finally, put students into pairs and ask them to recount the Lady of Shalott story to each other, referring only to these ‘crib sheets’ that they have just created. Importantly, they should incorporate all ten of their chosen language items into their stories. Follow up 3 •
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Refer students to the Tennyson poem for their own reading. You can find many copies of it online (Type: Tennyson Shalott poem into any search engine). Canadian musician Loreena McKennit used excerpts from the poem for a song which you can also share with students. It can be found on YouTube. THE LADY OF SHALOTT (by Jamie Keddie) 5 !
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The!Lady!of!Shalott!
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Once!upon!a!time,!in!a!grey!tower,!on!an!island,!in!the!middle!of!a!
river!which!flowed!to!Camelot,!there!was!a!prisoner.!Her!name!was!
Elaine.!For!years!Elaine!had!been!trapped!in!the!tower!by!an!evil!
curse.!Not!only!was!she!unable!to!leave!the!tower,!she!couldn’t!even!
look!out!of!the!window.!In!fact,!her!only!connection!with!the!outside!
world!was!through!the!reflections!in!a!mirror!which!hung!on!her!wall.!
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Elaine!spent!her!days!singing!and!weaving!tapestries!of!the!things!she!
saw!through!the!mirror:!the!moon!above;!the!barley!fields;!the!red!
cloaks!of!market!girls;!people!in!love.!
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No!one!knew!she!was!there.!No!one!even!knew!she!existed.!Those!
who!heard!her!song!thought!that!the!castle!was!haunted.!But!of!
course,!it!wasn’t.!Elaine!was!very!much!alive.!
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And!then!one!day!everything!changed:!Elaine!caught!an!unexpected!
glimpse!of!a!particular!knight!in!shining!armour.!Captivated,!and!
forgetting!the!curse,!Elaine!took!three!steps!towards!the!window!and!
looked!out!directly!at!the!back!of!Sir!Lancelot.!
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The!mirror!cracked!from!
side!to!side.!Elaine!ran!down!
the!spiral!staircase!and!left!
the!tower.!She!got!into!a!boat!
and!went!down!the!river!
towards!Camelot.!As!she!got!
closer,!she!sang!her!last!song.!
The!curse!started!to!work!its!
magic.!The!boat!landed!on!
the!banks!of!Camelot.!The!
people!rushed!to!see!the!
sight!of!this!young!woman!–!
beautiful!yet!lifeless.!Lancelot!stepped!forward!and!was!struck!by!her!
beauty.!He!said:!“God!have!mercy!on!her!soul.”!
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!!!!!!THE!LADY!OF!SHALOTT!!(by!Jamie!Keddie)!!
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