r’s sNotes

Teacher’sTeNacohete

Level 1
Suitable for: young learners aged 5–7
years who have completed
up to 100 hours of study in
S

English
am

Type of English: American

Headwords: up to 300
Words per page: up to 5
pl

Key grammar: present simple, present

continuous, simple
questions, adjectives.
e
M

My house Different kinds of beds. How do the

pupils sleep: on their back, side, curled up etc?
at

Summary of the story Making use of the Reader

In Sleeping Beauty the baby princess receives The story is useful as an introduction to reading
er

presents from the good fairies. Then the bad fairy fairy tales in English. It is a classic tale of good
comes. Her present (though this is not in the versus evil with a touch of romance. It contains
ia

story) is a curse that is fulfilled many years later all the traditional elements of a fairy tale, a castle
when the princess is a young woman. She goes with a king and queen, a beautiful princess, a
into a strange room in the castle. The bad fairy is handsome prince and good and bad fairies all
l

disguised as a lady who is spinning. She pricks the located in the traditional fantasy world. The
©

princess with a poisonous needle which sends the characters form a family and everyday things
princess and everyone else in the castle to sleep. occur, such as a wedding and the birth of a baby.
The spell is broken when the prince comes. There are few characters and locations. The
P

ending is predictably happy and satisfying. It

ea

Background to the story contextualizes several common adjectives, happy,

sad, beautiful, handsome, bad. It can be used as
Sleeping Beauty has been written and rewritten in
a springboard to descriptive speaking or writing
many languages and has been the inspiration for
activities.
rs

paintings, opera, ballet and films. The film version

most suitable for the 5–7 age-group is, perhaps, The story makes it ideal for dramatization as the
basis for drama / puppet work in the class.
on

the Walt Disney cartoon version.

Pre-reading
Topics and themes Statues The pupils can pretend they have fallen
Celebrations These family events could be the asleep standing too. What were they doing when
20

focus for talking about the pupils’ own birthday it happened? They have to freeze in whichever
experiences. position they are when the teacher calls out.
Memory / Pelmanism Game This is best played
Fairy tales Good fairies and bad fairies. Which do
23

in pairs or groups of 3. You need two copies

the pupils like? Or want to be? What else might
(which could be enlarged) of the pictures from
the good and bad fairies do that is opposite?
photocopiable Activity 1 (see page 3 of these
The body How long do people normally sleep? Teacher’s Notes) for each per pair / group.
Could be the basis for a discussion.

1 www.english.com/englishreaders SLEEPING BEAUTY LEVEL 1

 Teacher’s Notes

Pre-teach the words CASTLE, KING, QUEEN, and cut out a picture representing that word.
PRINCESS, PRINCE, FAIRY by drawing them on Help them to make them more or less the same
the board or pointing to them on the page. Ask size. Stick the pictures on sticks with scotch tape.
the pupils to color in the pictures and cut along the Narrate the story while the pupils act it out with
S

lines. Sort the pupils into groups and ask them to their puppets.
place their squares face down on the table / floor.
am

To play the game, the pairs or groups take turns Using the accompanying audio
to turn up two squares and say the name of what Listening for specific information / post-reading /
they see. If both cards are of the same picture, whole class activity. After each page, ask the
they win them. If they don’t match, they turn them question: ‘is the story happy here?’ is the story still
pl

face down again. Those with the most pairs wins happy or is it sad now? From the few words per
the game. page, can any pupil pick a word they recognize?
e

Coloring dictation Prepare a line drawing of the Ask the pupils to put their hand up when they hear
main characters and objects in the story – prince, certain words, e.g. standing, sleeping, beautiful.
M

castle, fairy etc. (use the pictures in the book to Before listening, elicit the main characters from
help you or take them from the photocopiable the story and write them on the board. For
at

activity pages). Give each pupil a blank copy and example, tell the students to stand up when they
some crayons. Ask the pupils to color according to see Sleeping Beauty, or when her name appears, to
your instructions. For example, ‘Color the castle clap when they see the wicked witch.
er

brown. Color the fairy blue.’ Gap-filling / whole class listening or self-study.

Prepare separate pictures that are a summary
Extension work These activities are best done
ia

of the story. Play the whole audio once. Play

once the pupils have read the story several times. the audio again, stopping it at the appropriate
moments to allow time for the pupils to put the
l

Ordering the story Write the sentences from the

pictures in the right order.
story on long strips of cards. If you are working
©

with a large group of pupils, you may need more Listening for gist / predicting / whole class use
than one set so that pupils can work in groups. or self-study. Stop the audio just as something
dramatic is going to happen, (for example on the
P

Ask the pupils to listen to the story again and put

the sentences in the correct order. arrival of the prince). Ask the pupils to finish the
ea

story. Play the final part of the audio and compare

Acting out the story Narrate the story to the
the different versions.
pupils. Ask volunteers to come out and play the
parts, you may need to show them what to do. Simultaneous reading and listening. Use the
rs

If there are a lot of pupils in the class, you can audio alongside the text. This will be useful for
involve some of them in minor roles, for example, pronunciation and intonation and will help pupils
to develop their own reading-aloud skills. The
on

as trees that grow around the castle, the prince’s

horse, the other people in the castle who go to pupils could speak with the audio if they wish.
sleep and so on. Repeat the narration several The pupils may like to provide a sound track
times until the pupils understand what they have themselves, drums for the bad fairy, triangle for
20

to do and when. the good fairies, for example. Make music for
sleeping, and for waking up? Those pupils who
Puppets Write up on the board or on a piece of
are reluctant to take part might be happy making
paper all the major nouns from the story. PRINCE,
noises: the king crying, the ‘ooh’ when the bad
23

PRINCESS, KING, QUEEN, CASTLE, HORSE, BAD

fairy walks for example.
FAIRY, GOOD FAIRY WOODCUTTER, BABY. Ask
pupils to choose one word each, or assign one
word to each pupil. Ask each pupil to draw, color,

2 www.english.com/englishreaders SLEEPING BEAUTY LEVEL 1

 Teacher’s Notes

Sleeping Beauty
Name ...........................................................................
Activity 1
S

Look in the book to find the words.

am
pl
e
M

a  _ _ _ _ b  _ _ _ _ c  _ _ _ _ _
at
er
ia
l

d  _ _ _ _ _ _ e  _ _ _ _ _ f  _ _ _ _ _ _
©

Activity 2
P

1 7
Read the numbers
ea

5
and color the 5
5
1 5
picture.
rs

8 7
4
1 = black
on

2 = red
3 = yellow 7
4
20

4 = green 2
3
3
5 = brown 3
23

6 = purple
7 = white 2
8 = blue 6

3 PHOTOCOPIABLE Text copyright © Pearson Education. SLEEPING BEAUTY LEVEL 1

 Teacher’s Notes

Activity 3
The numbers make a picture. Start with number one and
draw a line to make the picture. What can you see?
S
am
pl
e
M
at

_  _ _ _ _ _ _
er

Activity 4
ia

Look at the pictures and find the words.

l ©

1 house castle tree man

P
ea

2 king queen baby dog

rs
on

3 prince fairy mouse princess

20
23

4 fairy horse king castle

4 PHOTOCOPIABLE Text copyright © Pearson Education. SLEEPING BEAUTY LEVEL 1

 Teacher’s Notes

Sleeping Beauty Chant 2

Chants help pupils become familiar with the Oh no, the bad fairy!
sounds and rhythm of English. The language in She gives a bad present
S

each chant recycles language from the Reader. Sleeping Beauty’s sleeping
Sleeping Beauty’s sleeping
am

Suggested procedure
Pupils listen to the chant one or two times, She hurts the young princess
clapping their hands or tapping their desks in time
with the rhythm. Pupils then say the chant, verse It puts her to sleep
pl

by verse, with you, beating the rhythm as they Sleeping Beauty’s sleeping
speak, until they are familiar with the words and
Sleeping Beauty’s sleeping
e

the rhythm.
You can then split the class into 2 or 3 groups and Chant 3
M

each group can say one verse of the chant in turn.

‘Everyone is standing and sleeping
at

Chant 1 Wake up Sleeping Beauty!

Look at the baby princess Wake up Sleeping Beauty!
er

She’s a beautiful baby

Oooh she’s small! She’s beautiful, he touches her
Sleeping Beauty wakes up!
ia

Aaaah she’s beautiful!

She’s a beautiful princess Sleeping Beauty wakes up!
l

She’s gets many presents Hello, hello!

©

Oooh she’s small! Hello, hello!

Aaaah she’s beautiful!
P

Look at the baby princess

ea

The fairies give her presents

Oooh she’s small!
rs

Aaaah she’s beautiful!

on
20
23

5 PHOTOCOPIABLE Text copyright © Pearson Education. SLEEPING BEAUTY LEVEL 1

 Teacher’s Notes

Answer Key
In the back of the Reader
Before you read
S

1 A baby is on pages 1, 3, 4
am

2 A horse is on page 9.
3 A princess is on pages 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13,
14.
pl

4 A fairy is on pages 2–3, 4, 5.

5 A castle, indoors and out, is on pages 1, 4, 6, 7,
e

9, 10, 13.

After you read

M

The princess is sleeping. (b) a c

at

The princess is happy. (c)

The king is sad. (d) b d
er

The fairy is bad. (a)

ia

In the photocopiable activities

Activity 1
l

a baby b king c queen d castle e hurts

©

d prince.

Activity 2
P

The colors are approximately the same as the

ea

illustration on page 11 of the book.

Activity 3
rs

The finished picture should show a castle.

Activity 4
on

Castle, baby, prince, king.

20
23

6 www.english.com/englishreaders SLEEPING BEAUTY LEVEL 1