Mythology is to be introduced to the students in January when they have become more familiar with the English language. Sentences used should be simple but without losing the essence of what is being presented, By January, beginning ESL students are familiar with basic sentence patterns, and the present and past tenses of many common verbs, and are ready to add new vocabulary for everyday usage. The material can be adapted into levels of difficulty in the different levels of ESL. The teacher is free to add. or delete work for his or her students.
In this lesson as well as the other lessons, the information about the month will be made up of two or three paragraphs, Beginning ESL Students will study the first paragraph, intermediate ESL students will study two paragraphs, and the advanced ESL students will study the whole selection.
Vocabulary lists will be made for the students. with at least ten words from each paragraph. Vocabulary is to be studied in context and later used in a sentence or a rewriting of the given information. After copying the paragraph(s) from the chalkboard, the students will circle on their papers and on the board the words that they are not familiar with. All words or phrases should be explained orally and then written in their notebooks.
Example:
January, the first mont of the year, is
named after
the Roman
god
of doors, Janus.
named after—in honor of
god—a supernatural being with many powers, something or someone invisible one prays to or asks for guidance.
Other new words in the first paragraph can be protector, gateway, heaven, statues, coins, forward, backward, distinctive, equivalent.
Other possible activities in January are to have the students draw %heir conception of a two-faced god, and to discuss the term ‘two-faced‘ or Janus-faced‘ and its meaning today.
This first lesson is quite extensive but it provides plenty of information for both teacher and students about Greek and Roman creation myths. Since the lesson starts with the beginning of the year, as an extension the beginning of the Earth and of Man can follow. Each story should take a day or two to complete. These stories can be told orally or in written form. The students can be asked to find books on mythology in the library and to report on one of the gods in the myths they read. They can draw illustrations of the articles and animals sacred to the gods and a bulletin board or boards can be used to display their art. The students can also write their own versions of the creation of the world and of man.