Penguin Young Readers Factsheets

Penguin Young Readers Factsheets

Town Mouse andCountry Mouse

Level 1

© Pearson Education Limited 2002. Visit our website at www.penguinreaders.com

Summary

Town Mouse and Country Mouse are good friends although they live in very differentplaces. When Town Mouse visits Country Mouse for lunch, he sees fruit trees and farmanimals for the first time and he eats home-grown food. When Country Mouse goes tothe town for lunch, Town Mouse introduces him to parks, buses and a food store. Theyeach prefer their own homes, but remain the best of friends.

Background to the story

The first known appearance of the story of the town mouse and the country mousewas in Scotland in the 15th century, when Robert Henryson (c.1425–c.1508) firstwrote the story in verse, inspired by the moral fables told by Aesop. The story hassince become a children’s classic. Aesop (c.620-560 BC) was a Greek writer believed to havebeen a freed slave. He wrote numerous moralistic beast fables and these were largely transmitted orally for many years.

Topics and themes

Animals Mice are animals found everywhere, bothin the wild (in towns or countryside) and as pets. Thetopic can therefore be used for factual information.Mice are also very popular in stories. Town Mouse,Country Mouse can also be used for work oncomparative adjectives by asking the pupils to thinkof animals that are ‘bigger than’ or ‘smaller than’mice, for example.

The country and the town Town Mouse andCountry Mouse discover new things when they visiteach other. What are town/country differences thatthe pupils can think of? Perhaps the pupils couldhave a class vote to find out who would rather live inthe country and who would rather live in a town andthen justify their decisions based on the merits ordisadvantages of each. Using the illustrations in theReader, ask the pupils to think also of the differencesbetween their countryside and towns and thosefound in other countries.

Food Country Mouse eats the food that is producedin or near his home, but Town Mouse buys his food

in a large town store. Several topics can be developedfrom this, including how food (either in general, orkeeping to cheese and apples) is made, how is itbrought to stores from farms around the world.Pupils may like to research what mice eat in the wildand say what their pets eat. Are there other storiesabout cheese that the pupils know? Penguin YoungReaders Aesops Fa b l e s has one story about a foxwho likes cheese.

World/environment Food from around the worldis one topic that can be worked on. Also for discussionis the one of mice as spreading disease, and beingpests in people’s homes. The Penguin YoungReaders Pied Piper of Hamelin (actually on rats) is astory on this theme.

Friendships Town Mouse and Country Mouse havevery different lifestyles but they are still the best offriends. The pupils may like to describe their ownfriends, perhaps focusing on similarities anddifferences or discussing trips to friends’ homes.

Making use of the Reader

Finger Puppets (About 20 minutes) Cut out asemi-circular piece of card (around 20 cm indiameter) for each pupil. Tell the pupils they willmake either a Town Mouse or a Country Mouse andto illustrate the card as appropriate, based on theillustrations in the book. Collect the cards and jointhe ends, securing with a staple, or tape, beforeredistributing the finger puppets.

These can then be used as props in a small playbased on the Reader. Here are two suggestions:

Mice on vacation (About 30 minutes or overseveral lessons) Pre-prepare some large pieces of

cardboard (around 35cm sq) with flaps on thebottom to ensure they stand up. These will be madeinto small backdrops for the puppet play. With thewhole class, brainstorm town and countryvocabulary, beginning with the vocabulary from theReader and progressing to less familiar words.Divide the pupils into pairs with their finger puppets.In each pair there should be a Town Mouse and aCountry Mouse. Distribute the backdrop cards, onefor each pair. The pupils then work together in pairsto decorate their backdrop, either as a countryscene or a town scene, illustrating it with as manyof the brainstormed items as possible. When theseare completed, the pupils re-enact the Town

Teacher’s Notes

Using the accompanying audio cassette

Teacher’s Notes


Town Mouse andCountry Mouse

During listening The pupils can completephotocopiable activity number one while listening tothe cassette. Alternatively, play sections of thecassette at random, isolating phrases such as ‘it’s abus’, or ‘it’s an apple tree’ and ask the pupils torespond ‘town’ or ‘country’.

As there are so few words in the Reader, pupils maylike to work together to add more script. There couldbe a narrator, who speaks between pages 2-3 forexample: ‘Town mouse goes to see his friend,Country Mouse on Thursday. Country Mouse showshim the farm.’ The tape can be re-recorded.

Level 1


Answers to the activities

In the back of the Reader

2. There are 38 apples on the tree.

In the FactsheetActivity 1 1. TM, 2. CM, 3. TM, 4. TM, 5. CM.

Activity 2The town: bus, train, stores

The country: apple tree, sheep, hen, horse, duck

Activity 3 1. 1, 2. 2, 3. 2, 4. 2, 5. 7, 6. 1.

Notes on the activities in the Factsheet

1 The pupils write either TM (Town Mouse) or CM (CountryMouse) next to the sentences.

2 First the pupils write the words next to the pictures in thespaces provided. Then they cut out (or you can do this forthem) the pictures and stick them either in the town or thecountry scene below.

Mouse’s visit to the country or vice versa, speakingthe words ‘what’s this?’ .… ‘it’s a …’ and so on.

Alternatively, begin the lesson by brainstorming otherenvironment vocabulary, focusing on either ‘thebeach’ or ‘the mountains’ or ‘a safari’. The pupilsthen decorate their backdrops and take the mice onvacation together!

Listen and color (20 minutes) Usingphotocopiable activity number 2. When the pupilshave completed the photocopiable exercise, askthem to cut out the town scene and the countryscene. One partner should then secretly color thetown scene and the other should color the countryscene, making sure they cannot see each other’swork. When they have finished, explain to the pupils

that they must dictate to their partner the way theunfinished scenes should be colored (‘the bus is red’,for example) and that the aim is to have matchingpictures in the end.

Questionnaire: Are you a Town Mouse or aCountry Mouse? (About 15 minutes) Pre-prepare asmall collection of multiple choice questions. Forexample: ‘Do you like (or prefer) a) animals, b)shops’/ ‘Do you like (prefer) a) climbing trees, b)riding on buses’. Make sure that if the answers aremostly ‘a’ the pupil will be a ‘Country Mouse’ andmostly ‘b’, the pupil will be a ‘Town Mouse’. Handout the questionnaires and ask the pupils tointerview each other in order to find out theirpreferences. Collect the questionnaires and give thepupils the results.

Chants

Chants help pupils becomefamiliar with the sounds andrhythm of English. The languagein each chant recycles languagefrom the Reader.

Suggested procedurePupils listen to the chant oncassette one or two times,clapping their hands or tappingtheir desks in time with therhythm.Pupils then say the chant, verseby verse, together with thecassette, beating the rhythm asthey speak, until they are familiarwith the words and the rhythm.

You can then split the class into 2or 3 groups and each group cansay one verse of the chant in turn.

Chant 1What’s this?

It’s a cow

What’s this?

It’s an apple tree

Milk and cheese are from…..

The cow

Apples are from…..

The trees

What’s this?

It’s a cow

What’s this?

It’s an apple tree

Chant 2Come to the country for lunch!

Thank you

What shall we have?

Cheese and apples

I’m hungry.

Let’s have lunch!

Chant 2Are the milk and cheese from the cow?

Are the apples from the trees?

Country mouse asks

Milk and cheese are not from the cow

And apples are not from the trees

Town mouse says

Where in the town is the cow?

Where in the town are the trees?

Country mouse asks

Pupils’ Activities

Activity 2

Level 1

Town Mouse andCountry MouseName.............................................................................................................

Activity 1

P H O T O C O P I A B L E

Write these words next to the pictures.

Bus apple tree stores sheep hen horse duck train

_____ _____ _____ _____

_____ ______ ______ ______

Now cut them out and put them in the town or in the country.

The town The country


What does Town Mouse do? And what does Country Mouse do? Write TM or CM.

1. He travels on a bus. TM2. He eats apples from his garden.

3. He goes to the park.


4. He goes to the food store.

5. He sees cows every day.

Bus

Color the picture and answer the questions.

1. How many cows are there?

There is one cow2. How many hens are there?

_________

3. How many mice are there?

_________

4. How many trees are there?

_________

5. How many windows are there?

_________

6. How many chairs are there?

_________

Activity 3

Level 1

Town Mouse andCountry MouseName.............................................................................................................

P H O T O C O P I A B L E



Pupils’ Activities

Activity 4

Draw a picture of your friend. Does your friend live in the town or the country?What does your friend like to eat? Write the answers next to the picture.

My friend lives in the_____________________

_____________________

_____________________

_____________________

_____________________

_____________________

_____________________

Documents

Penguin Young Readers Factsheets