M01 HERC REA 05GLB 8719 - venturesbooks.sk · Hercules is the 35th Disney Animated Classic. The movie was released in 1997. The movie was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best

HERCULES LEVEL 51

Teacher’s NotesPearson English Kids Readers

www.pearsonenglishkidsreaders.com

Level 5Suitable for: young learners who have

completed around 250 hours of study in English

Type of English: American

Headwords: 1000

Key words: 20 (see pages 2 and 5 of these Teacher’s Notes)

Key grammar: will with future meaning, common phrasal verbs, comparatives and superlatives, clauses joined with so, when

Summary of the storyHercules is born on Mount Olympus to the Greek god, Zeus and his wife, Hera. They give him Pegasus, a winged horse, as a present.

Evil Hades, god of the dead, wants to take control of the world from Zeus. Hades learns that Hercules can stop him when he turns eighteen. So Hades’ helpers kidnap the baby. They take away his immortality, and Hercules is brought up by farmers on Earth.

At the Temple of Zeus, Hercules learns about his real parents, and that he can be immortal again if he becomes a hero. Pegasus is returned to him, and he trains with Philoctetes (Phil). When he “saves” the beautiful Megara (Meg) from a river monster, he falls in love. He doesn’t know that she is being forced to work for Hades.

Hercules responds to Meg’s plea to save two boys who are trapped. However, it is a trick by Hades, and Hercules is then attacked by the Hydra. When he wins the fight he is finally a hero, but Zeus is still not satisfied with his son’s achievements.

Hades promises Meg her freedom if she destroys Hercules. She encourages Hercules’ love for her, hating the deceit. Then Phil overhears her with Hades and argues with Hercules about her. He no longer wants to train Hercules and so he leaves. Pegasus is also taken from Hercules, seduced by Hades’ pink winged horse.

Hades bargains with Hercules – Meg’s freedom and safety for a day’s loss of his strength. Hercules agrees and Hades unleashes his Titans and takes the gods as prisoners. Meg frees Pegasus and finds Phil to help Hercules, who fights the Titans despite his weakness. Meg throws herself into the fight and is hurt. This sacrifice ends the bargain with Hades, and Hercules regains his strength. He frees the gods, but Meg dies.

Hercules follows Hades to the Underworld and manages to save Meg. Now Zeus considers him a true hero, so he can return to Mount Olympus – but he chooses to stay on Earth with Meg.

Background information Hercules is the 35th Disney Animated Classic. The movie was released in 1997.

The movie was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Original song, Go the Distance.

Disney later made another movie, Hercules: Zero to Hero, and a television series, Hercules: The Animated Series.

Did you know … ?

It took an unusually large team of animators two years to complete the Hydra, spending 6 to 14 hours drawing each frame, depending on how many heads it had, even though the monster’s scene in the movie lasts just five minutes!


HERCULES LEVEL 52



The charactersHercules is born a god, but becomes mortal and has to earn his immortality.

Zeus, the most important of the gods, is Hercules’ father. He controls the world.

Hera, a goddess, is Zeus’ wife and Hercules’ mother.

Hades, the god of death, controls the Underworld. He is hated by the other gods.

Megara, known as Meg, is Hades’ prisoner.

Philoctetes, known as Phil, trains heroes.

Topics and themesAncient legends The story is set in ancient Greece and is based on a Greek legend. Ask the students if they can name any other Greek heroes, for example, Achilles, Theseus, Odysseus, or gods, for example, Apollo, Poseidon, Athena. Do the students know about any legendary heroes or gods from their own culture? What powers did they have? What kind of monsters and mythical creatures did they have to fight? (See also Activity 4 on page 4 of these Teacher’s Notes.)

Love and hate Some of the characters in the story have very strong feelings. Why does Hades hate Zeus? Why does Meg hate Hades? Why does she love Hercules? Why does Zeus love Hercules? Ask the students to think about reasons why people love and hate each other. (See also Activity 3 on pages 3–4 of these Teacher’s Notes.)

Villains As in many stories, there are good characters and bad characters. Who are the villains or “baddies” in this story? You can usually tell the difference between the good and the bad by the way they look, how they are dressed, the colors used to depict them, etc. How are Zeus and Hades depicted at the beginning of the story? Ask the students to look through the pictures and

Key words(see page 5 of these Teacher’s Notes for the Key words in context)

attack (v) lightning bolt (n)

belong (v) medallion (n)

control (n / v) monster (n)

criminal (n) mortal (n / adj)

dead (n / adj) / death (n) prisoner (n)

free (v, adj) strength (n)

god (n) sword (n)

hero (n) temple (n)

immortal (n / adj) train (v) / trainer (n)

kiss (v) weakness (n)

discuss the colors and features used to portray the good characters and the bad characters. What usually happens to baddies in stories / movies? Can students think of baddies from other stories? Who are their favorite villains? What did they do?

Heroism Hercules has to work hard to be a hero. Ask the students what he has to do in the story. Of course, you do not have to be a god to be a hero. Ask the students who their heroes and heroines are. Why do they admire these people? (See also Activity 3 on pages 3–4 of these Teacher’s Notes.)

Lies and deceit Meg has to deceive Hercules. Ask the students why, and how it makes her feel. Ask the students to tell each other about a serious lie that they might have told. Do they regret it now? Why / Why not?

Celebrity Hercules becomes a celebrity in Thebes, but he does not like it. Why not? Ask the students about the advantages and disadvantages of being famous. Would they like to be celebrities?

HERCULES LEVEL 53



Class Activities (After Reading)

Here are some activities to do with your class after reading Hercules.

1. Create a mythical creatureMaterials: sheets of paper (white or colored); colored pens / pencils / paints; pictures of mythical creatures from the internet (optional)

• Ask the students to look through the pages of the book and point out the mythical creatures they see, such as Pegasus, the river monster, Philoctetes, the Hydra, the Titans, etc. Discuss the various characteristics of the creatures with the students.

• Ask the students if they know of any other mythical creatures, and to describe their particular characteristics. You could show some pictures of mythical creatures downloaded from the internet.

• The students are now going to imagine and create their own mythical creature. Give out the materials and have the students draw their creatures and color them. They should think of a name for their creature.

• The students show their finished pictures to the class and talk about them. What is the name of their creature? What does it look like? What body parts does it have? What can it do? Where does it live?

• The students could also write a few sentences about their creature.

• Display the pictures in the classroom.

2. Make a comic stripMaterials: sheets of white paper; pencils; thin black marker pens; colored pens / pencils

• If possible, before the session, create a model comic strip for the students to look at before they create their own. It should have about six frames and include speech bubbles from the characters.

• Ask the students to choose and tell you the part of the story that they liked best. Explain to the students that they are going to make a comic strip based on their favorite scene.

• Show the students how to divide their piece of paper into six frames – either three frames above and three frames below for a landscape comic strip, or three rows of two frames for a portrait comic strip.

• Ask the students to plan and roughly draw their comic strip first. The students should refer to the book to help them.

• Go around helping the students with their scenes and deciding what dialogue to put in the speech bubbles.

• The students then use a new piece of paper, again dividing it into frames, and draw the characters and background in pencil using the book as a guide. They neatly copy their speech bubbles and dialogue in pencil before going over all the lines in thin black marker pen. They can then color the frames.

• Variation: allocate a scene from the story to each student, and then put all the comic strips together at the end to tell the whole story.

3. Character role-playMaterials: printer paper; card in three different colors; safety scissors; glue

• Before the session, make up several sets of the three prompt cards a–c so that the students have one card each. Type out or copy the text of the prompt cards and then cut out and stick onto the colored card. The prompt cards for each character should be on a different colored card.

a You are Hercules. You wanted to become a true hero on Earth. Why? What problems came from this? Are you sorry you tried to become a true hero? Are you happy now?

HERCULES LEVEL 54



• The students can use the internet or reference books to do their research in pairs and make notes. (This research could be done individually as homework.) Tell each pair to also find out at least one interesting fact about the Ancient Greeks.

• The students then write or type out their information neatly onto large sheets of paper and draw and color pictures to illustrate, and / or print out pictures from the internet to stick on as part of their project.

• Display the information around the classroom. Discuss the interesting facts with the students.

• Variation: you may want to allocate a key area for each pair to research.

5. Interview with Hercules• Divide the class into pairs. Tell the students that

they are going to perform an interview with Hercules at the end of the story.

• Ask the students to decide who will be Hercules and who will be the interviewer. The students then write their script of questions and answers.

• Explain to the students that the interviewer should ask questions, such as how Hercules feels about saving Meg, what it was like to lose his strength, how he feels about Hades, what it is like to be immortal again, why he prefers to live on Earth, etc. The students in the role of Hercules should be prepared to answer these questions.

• Allow the students to interview each other. Go around the class and monitor their work.

• Students can then swap roles, and work with another pair to carry out the same task.

• Ask some volunteers to perform their interviews in front of the class.

b You are Megara. In the beginning, you helped Hades. Why? What problems came from this? Are you sorry? Are you happy now?

c You are Hades. You tried to kill Hercules. Why? What problems came from this? Are you sorry? Are you happy now?

• Divide the class into three groups. Give all the

students in each group the same prompt card.

• In pairs within these groups, the students discuss the situation and discuss answers to the questions.

• Take one student from each group to form a new group of three students with different prompt cards. Form other groups of three in the same way.

• The students pretend to be the character on their card and talk about their situation. All the groups should start with Hercules.

• You could encourage the students to ask each other questions beyond those on the cards.

4. Project: Ancient Greece• Explain to the students that the story of

Hercules comes from Ancient Greece. (You may want to point out the position of modern Greece on a world map.)

• Tell the students that they are going to do a project on Ancient Greece and ask them to tell you what they might know about this era of history. Ask the students how we know information about Ancient Greece (from ancients scripts and pictures that have been discovered, and from objects uncovered by archaeologists that have survived over the years, such as ruins of buildings, pottery, bits of clothing, etc.).

• Make a word map on the board of possible key areas for the students to find out about, e.g. Ancient Greek clothes, food, houses, schools, toys, everyday life, Greek gods, sports, etc.

HERCULES LEVEL 55 PHOTOCOPIABLE Text copyright © Pearson Education. Disney material © 2013 Disney.


Key words

attack ................... “In eighteen years,” they told him, “you will attack Zeus and you will win.” (p. 4)

belong ....................“I don’t belong here.” (p. 7)

control ....................“I want to take control of the world from Zeus,” Hades said to them. (p. 4)

criminal ..................The people of Thebes were very unhappy. Criminals took their money. (p. 13)

dead / death ..........Hades was the god of the dead and the other gods hated him. (p. 3)

free ..........................“You give me Hercules – and then you can be free.” (p. 19)

god ...........................Zeus was the greatest of the gods, … (p. 3)

hero .........................“But you can be a god again – after you become a true hero on Earth.” (p. 8)

immortal ................“You can’t kill gods because they’re immortal,” Hades told his two helpers. (p. 5)

kiss ...........................He wanted to kiss her. (p. 21)

lightning bolt .........Then a lightning bolt came down from Mount Olympus. (p. 9)

medallion ...............The farmer’s wife read the name on the medallion around the baby’s neck. (p. 5)

monster ..................The monster held a young woman in its hand. (p 10)

mortal ....................Hercules was a mortal but he was still very strong, and year after year he grew stronger. (p. 6)

prisoner ..................“You’re my prisoner, remember?” Hades said. (p. 19)

strength ..................“I can’t control my strength,” Hercules told his parents. (p. 7)

sword ......................With his sword in his hand, Hercules fell down, down inside the Hydra’s long neck. (p. 15)

temple .....................“I’ll go to the temple of Zeus.” (p. 7)

train / trainer ........“I wanted to train the greatest hero of all time.” (p. 9)

weakness ................“Every man has a weakness. You must find his for me.” (p.19)



While-Reading activities

Activity 1 (pages 3–7)

Write the places.

the Underworld Mount Olympus Earth

1 Where Hercules was born:

2 Where the farmer and his wife lived:

3 Where Hades lived:

4 Where Hercules grew up:

5 Where Zeus and Hera stayed when their son was growing up:

6 Where Hades met the three Fates:


Match the questions and answers. Draw lines.

1 Why did Hercules go to the Temple a He sent a lightning bolt down from of Zeus? Mount Olympus.

2 How could Hercules become a god b He told Hercules not to make so

again? many mistakes the next time.

3 How did Zeus tell Phil that he was c She was a prisoner of Hades.

Hercules’ father? d It was a city with a lot of problems,

4 Why did Phil want to take Hercules and Hercules could help.

to Thebes? e To find out who he was.

5 Why did Hercules attack the river f To help the woman, and to show

monster? that he was a hero.

6 What did Phil do after the fight g He thought Hercules was dead.

between Hercules and the monster? h He had to train to become a true

7 Who was Meg? hero on Earth.

8 Why was Hades surprised when

Meg talked about Hercules?




Circle the correct words.

1 Hercules and Phil traveled to Thebes on a winged horse / river monster.

2 The people of Thebes were unhappy because heroes / criminals stole

from them.

3 Hercules showed the people of Thebes his weakness / strength when he

helped two little boys.

4 A terrible monster called the Hydra attacked / killed Hercules.

5 Hercules cut through the Hydra’s head / neck with his sword.

6 Hades was unhappy / happy about the fight between Hercules and

the Hydra.

7 Hercules hit the mountainside for medallions / rocks to fall down and kill

the Hydra.


Write T (True) or F (False).

1 Hercules became famous in Thebes because he showed the people

his strength.

2 Hades was angry and wanted Meg to help him.

3 Zeus thought that his son was now a true hero.

4 Hercules was happy that all the women in Thebes loved him.

5 Hercules only loved Meg.

6 Meg told Hades what Hercules’ big weakness was.




Check 4 the correct answer.

1 Hercules was angry with Phil because …

a Phil said that Meg didn’t really love him.

b Phil wasn’t a very good trainer.

c Phil wanted to be strong, too.

2 Hades said Meg could be free if …

a Hercules was a hero.

b Hercules worked for him.

c Hercules lost his strength.

3 Zeus and the other gods …

a burned and killed everything on Mount Olympus.

b attacked Hades.

c attacked the Titans.

4 Meg found Phil and …

a asked him to help Hercules.

b told him to fight the one-eyed monster.

c asked him to free Pegasus.

5 Hercules got his strength back because …

a Hades threw a stone at him.

b Meg was hurt.

c Phil came back to help him.




Copy the sentences under the correct pictures.

a Hades told Hercules that he had to stay in the Underworld and then Meg

could leave.

b Hercules jumped into the River of Death to save Meg.

c Hercules was so angry with Hades that he threw him off the mountain.

d Hercules and Meg chose to live on Earth, in the city of Thebes.

1 2

3 4



After-Reading activities

Activity 1

Who said it? Match the names to the descriptions. Draw lines.

1 “I want to take control of the world from Zeus.”

2 “But you can be a god again – after you become a true hero on Earth.”

3 “Who am I?”

4 “But all my heroes had weaknesses.”

5 “Leave town, Hercules! Tomorrow will be too late.”

6 “Don’t choose your bed yet, Hades!”

a b

c d

e f



Activity 2

What did they say? Complete the sentences with the words in the box.

believe brave die dreamed Earth famous home love monsters saved strength weakness

1 Hercules: “Did you see me with the ? I’m the most

person in Greece now!”

2 Meg: “You’re a , strong man. Do you have a

?”

3 Phil: “You don’t me? Fine. I’m going .”

4 Meg: “Stop! Without your , you’ll !”

5 Meg: “And I you because I you. Now go!”

6 Hercules: “I of this time. But I belong with Meg, on

.”

Activity 3

Write the answers in the squares. What name appears?

1 was a winged horse.

2 The grew new heads.

3 Hercules gave Meg a flower and he wanted to her.

4 Baby Hercules had a around his neck.

5 Meg was a of Hades.

6 Hades wanted to the world.

7 Hercules fought dangerous .

8 Hercules became immortal when he was a true .

9 Hades and the Titans the gods.

10 When Hercules freed the gods, Meg was already .

11 Hercules cut through the Hydra’s neck with his .



1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

Activity 4

Imagine you live in Thebes. Write a story about when Hercules arrived in your city.

HERCULES LEVEL 513



Answer Key

In the back of the Reader

Before You Read1 Students’ own answers

2 a god b monster c winged horse d lightning bolt e sword f temple

After You Read1 a Zeus b Hades c a farmer and his wife

d Philoctetes / Phil e Hades f Megara / Meg g Megara / Meg h Hades

2 Students’ own answers

3 Students’ own answers

In these Teacher’s Notes

While-Reading activities

Activity 11 Mount Olympus 2 Earth 3 the Underworld 4 Earth 5 Mount Olympus 6 the Underworld

Activity 21 e 2 h 3 a 4 d 5 f 6 b 7 c 8 g

Activity 31 winged horse 2 criminals 3 strength 4 attacked 5 neck 6 happy 7 rocks

Activity 41 T 2 T 3 F 4 F 5 T 6 F

Activity 51 a 2 c 3 c 4 a 5 b

Activity 61 b 2 a 3 d 4 c

After-Reading activities

Activity 11 b, Hades 2 e, Zeus 3 f, Hercules 4 a, Phil 5 c, Meg 6 d, Hercules

Activity 21 monsters, famous 2 brave, weakness 3 believe, home 4 strength, die 5 saved, love 6 dreamed, Earth

Activity 3

1 P E G A S U S

2 H Y D R A

3 K I S S

4 M E D A L L I O N

5 P R I S O N E R

6 C O N T R O L

7 M O N S T E R S

8 H E R O

9 A T T A C K E D

10 D E A D

11 S W O R D

Activity 4Students’ own answers

Documents

M01 HERC REA 05GLB 8719 - venturesbooks.sk · Hercules is the 35th Disney Animated Classic. The movie was released in 1997. The movie was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best