Butterflies

Butterfly - a flying insect with a long thin body and four large, usually brightly coloured, wings.
Butterflies undergo complete metamorphosis. Four stages make up the full life cycle:
egg,
caterpillar
chrysalis
adult butterfly

EXERCISE A
Complete the diagram with the name of each of the 4 stages of the full life cycle of a butterfly

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EXERCISE 2
Read the text and answer the questions below in note form:
Adult butterflies feed on a wide variety of substances: nectar, pollen, rotting fruit, leaves and other liquids
from plants and animals. Most species actively seek nectar from flowering plants; effectively carrying
pollen from plant to plant and helping in plant reproduction.
The most common families of butterflies are: blues; browns; whites, which includes the cabbage
butterflies; brush footed butterflies, which includes the red admiral; swallowtails; and milkweed butterflies,
which includes the monarch butterfly.

1. What do butterflies eat?

2. Why are they important?
3. Can they be harmful to plants? Why? /Why not?

EXERCISE 3
The short story you are going to read was written by Patricia Grace. Read the interview and fill in the table in
note form.

Interviews with
children
Hi, my name is Patricia Grace; I was born in Wellington New Zealand on 17 th August 1937.
What is your favourite food?
Fish
What were you like at school?
I liked learning and was very active in playground games and sports. Rather quiet in the classroom.
What was your favourite/most hated subject at school?
I liked Mathematics and English.
I didn't like sewing.
What was the book you most loved as a child?
The Adventures of Pinocchio.
If you weren't a writer, what would you like to be?
A saxophone player.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Write, write, write - and read, read, read.
Name
Age
Place of birth
Nationality
Personality
Favourite food
Favourite subjects
Favourite book

Butterflies: a short story by Patricia Grace

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The grandmother plaited her granddaughters hair and then she said, Get your lunch. Put it in your
bag. Get your apple. You come straight back after school, straight home here. Listen to the teacher, she
said. Do what she say.
Her grandfather was out on the step. He walked down the path with her and out on to the footpath.
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He said to a neighbour, Our granddaughter goes to school. She lives with us now.
Shes fine, the neighbour said. Shes terrific with her two plaits in her hair.
And clever, the grandfather said. Writes every day in her book!
Shes fine, the neighbour said.
The grandfather waited with his granddaughter by the crossing and then he said, Go to school.

10 Listen to the teacher. Do what she say.

When the granddaughter came home from school her grandfather was hoeing round the cabbages.
Her grandmother was picking beans. They stopped their work.
You bring your book home? the grandmother asked.
Yes.
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You write your story?

Yes.
Whats your story?
About the butterflies.
Get your book, then. Read your story.

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The granddaughter took her book from her schoolbag and opened it.
I killed all the butterflies, she said. This is me and this is all the butterflies!
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And your teacher like your story, did she?

I dont know.
What your teacher say?
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She said butterflies are beautiful creatures. They hatch out and fly in the sun. The butterflies visit all
the pretty flowers, she said. They lay their eggs and then they die. You dont kill butterflies, thats what
she said.
The grandmother and grandfather were quiet for a long time, and their granddaughter, holding the
book, stood quite still in the warm garden.

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Because you see, the grandfather said, your teacher, she buy all her cabbages from the
supermarket and thats why.

Vocabulary
Line
1
4
4
5
7
9
11
12
25
26
29

Word
plaited
path
footpath
neighbour
clever
crossing
hoeing
picking
hatch out
lay (eggs)
stand still

Definition

Translation

Activity 1
Read the story and then find out:
1. The number of people mentioned in the story and their relationship:
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
2. Where the story takes place and how many places are mentioned. Give details.
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______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
Activity 2
A. Line 1 to 3
1. Find out where the little girl is going. Do you think this is a special day? Why? /Why not?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
2. What time of day is it?
______________________________________________________________________________________
3. Find what the grandmother wants her daughter to do at school.
She tells her granddaughter to __________________________________________
She wants __________________________________________________________
B. Line 4 to 8
1. Select the adjectives the adults use to describe the girl:
_______________________________________________________________________________________
2. Give your conclusion about the grandfathers feelings towards his granddaughter.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
C. Line 9 to 10
1. Find what the grandfather wants his granddaughter to do at school.
He tells her to ______________________________________________________
He wants __________________________________________________________
2. Give your conclusion about the grandfathers attitude to school. (Does he care or not?)
______________________________________________________________________________________
Activity 3
Go on reading from line 11 to 24:
1. What time of day is it now?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
2. Who is talking? About what?
________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Find what the grandmother asks her granddaughter and what she tells her to do:
She asks her granddaughter if ________________________________________________
Then she tells her granddaughter _______________________________________________
4. Give your conclusion about the grandmothers attitude to school (Does she care or not?)
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_______________________________________________________________________________________
5. Find what the girls story is about.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
6. Answer the last question. Imagine the teachers point of view on the one hand, the little girls on the other.
The teachers point of view: __________________________________________________________
The girls point of view: _____________________________________________________________
Activity 4
Read the last sentence of the story.
1. Find all you can about the butterflies and what they mean to the different characters:
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Give your conclusions about the grandfathers remark.
The grandfather grows his own cabbages, so _____________________________________________
The teacher does not grow her own cabbages, so _________________________________________
Activity 5
1. Complete the sentences.
The grandfather explains __________________________________________________________
Unlike the grandfather, the teacher __________________________________________________
If the teacher ___________________________________________________________________
2. Finish the last sentence of the story.
She buys her vegetables at the supermarket, thats why ____________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
FOLLOW-UP
A. LANGUAGE
1. Correct the following sentences taken from the short story:
1.1. Do what she say.
1.2. Writes every day in her book!
1.3. Do what she say.
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1.4. You bring your book home?

1.5. You write your story?
1.6. Whats your story?
1.7. And your teacher like your story, did she?
1.8. What your teacher say?
1.9. your teacher, she buy all her cabbages from the supermarket()
2. MATCHING
Match each vegetable with its translation:
Key
1. onion
2. tomato
3. cabbage
4. cauliflower
5. mushroom
6. Brussels sprouts
7. broccoli
8. garlic
9. potato
10. asparagus
11. beans
12. peas
13. carrot
14.green beans
15. turnip
16. chickpeas
17. cucumber
18. peppers
19. radishes
20. lettuce
21. pumpkin
22. sweet potato
23. broad bean
24. leek

a) gro
b) batata doce
c) feijo verde
d) rbano
e) alho Francs
f) ervilhas
g) favas
h) cebola
i) alface
j) abbora
k) couve de Bruxelas
l) pepino
m) tomate
n) couve
o) gro
p) couve-flor
q) pepino
r) batata
s) espargos
t) alho
u) brcolos
v) cogumelo
w) cenoura
x) rabanete

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B. RESEARCH WORK
Conduct a research to learn more about
1. Patricia Grace, the New Zealander author who wrote this story;
2. The Maoris the native people of New Zealand.

Ana Costa 2006/2007

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(based on an idea published in NEW STANDPOINTS Class Files Issue 3 February/March 2005)