Micro Lesson Preview
Lesson Plan
Level: Beginner
Business/Materials
- Aesop Fable: The Lion & The Mouse
- Four pictures from the story
- Whiteboard
- Links to Aesop Congress:
https://read.gov/books/pageturner/aesops_fables/#page/4/mode/2up - PowerPoint with list of 4 morals, each with its own story on a separate slide
Lesson Objectives
- Students can define a fable
- Students can understand the moral of a fable in English and compare it to a fable in their native language
- Students can write a summary of a fable/moral
Warm-Up and Objective Discussion
Go over the difference between a mouse and a lion. Write on the board what words we associate with each animal. Compare one to the other. Ask if there are any stories from students’ home countries about mice or lions.
Instruct and Model
Instruct:
Introduce Aesop, fables, and morals. Show a picture of The Lion and The Mouse (e.g., lion stuck in a trap). Go over vocabulary relevant to the picture: rope, trap, hunter, big, small, chew, etc.
Ask students to guess what they think the story is about.
Model:
Divide students into four groups. Each group gets a role (sentence maker, scriptwriter, etc.). Show four pictures from the story (not in order). Students write what they think is happening in each picture. Afterward, come together as a class to decide on a possible moral.
Guided Practice
Open the Aesop Fable book from the Congress Library:
https://read.gov/books/pageturner/aesops_fables/#page/4/mode/2up
Flip through the book and show various stories, noting that some of the language is old.
A version of The Lion & The Mouse can be found on archive page 32 (book page 20).
Open the PowerPoint with 4 morals (without showing the stories):
- Look before you leap (The Frogs and The Well, The Two Frogs)
- Birds of a feather flock together (The Farmer and the Stork)
- Don’t count your chicken eggs before they hatch (The Milkmaid and Her Pail)
- Appearances are deceptive (The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing)
Ask students to guess what each moral means. Clarify complex vocabulary.
Next, show one of the stories. Students read it line by line.
From the four morals, students guess which one matches the story.
Repeat for the remaining stories.
(The Milkmaid includes the moral in the story—use this one last.)
Independent Practice
In groups, students choose a different Aesop fable from the website.
They write a summary of the story and the moral.
Then, students write a brief version of a fable from their own country that shares either the same moral or features similar animals.
Assessment
Students present both their chosen Aesop fable and their home-country fable to the class.