ELEMENTS AND

THEME OF A
LITERARY TEXT
 BE POLITE

When someone gives you something

It’s good to say “Thank you”
Say “Thank you, thank you”
“Thank you very much”
 Chorus:
Be polite, be polite
Have good manners and be polite
Be polite, be polite
Have good manners and be polite

When you want something

It’s better to say “Please”
Say “Please, please, please, please”
“Pretty, pretty please”

Repeat Chorus
 When you want something
It’s good to wait your turn
Be patient, patient
And wait your turn

Repeat Chorus

When you do something by accident

It’s good to say “Sorry”
Say “Sorry, sorry”
“I’m very, very sorry”

Repeat Chorus
What was the song about?

What polite words where in the

song?
Why should we use polite
words?

Do you use polite words?

 crook
“The crook is stole the lady’s bag.”

What do crooks steal?

Why do they steal things?
argue

“Don’t argue over who little things.”

“Why do people argue?”

 deaf

“The two girls are deaf.”

“Why do some people cannot hear?”

Read the story carefully.

A Letter Soup
By Pedro Pablo Sacristan

Once upon a time there was a very evil

and unpleasant crook who only ever thought
about how to get money. Seeing anyone happy
bothered the crook enormously. What he
hated most was when people were polite and
courteous to each other, saying things like
please and thank you, and don't mention it. It
annoyed him even more if they were smiling
when they said these things.
 The crook thought all those kinds of
words were a useless waste, and
weren't good for anything. So what
he did was spend a lot of time
inventing a machine which could steal
words. With this machine, he planned
to steal 'please', 'thank you', 'don't
mention it', and similar words people
used to be polite.
 He was convinced that no one
would notice if those words were to
suddenly disappear. When he had
stolen these words, he intended to
take them apart and sell the letters
to book publishers.
After he started up his
machine, people would open their
mouths, intending to say kind and
polite things, but nothing came
out. All those words ended up
inside the big machine.
 Just as the crook had hoped,
in the beginning nothing
happened. It looked like people
really didn't need to be polite
after all.
 However, after a while, people started
to feel like they were always in a bad
mood, doing everything reluctantly, and
feeling like everyone else was being
forever demanding of them. So, within a
few days, everyone was angry and
arguing over the slightest little thing.
 The crook was terribly happy with his
success, but he didn't count on a couple
of very special little girls. Those girls
were deaf, and had to communicate using
sign language.
 Now, because the machine couldn't steal
gestures, these girls continued being
kind and polite. Soon they realised what
had been happening to everyone else, and
they found out about the crook and his
wicked plan.
 The girls followed him to his hideout on
the top of a hill next to the sea. There
they found the enormous machine busy
separating all the words into letters. The
crook had gone to take a nap, so the girls
crept up to the machine and started
being polite and courteous to each other.
Try as it might, the contraption couldn't
steal those words, and it started to
suffer a power overload, which got more
and more serious as the girls went on
communicating.
 Finally, it exploded; sending all the
letters it had gathered flying into the
sky. These letters started coming down,
like rain, and most ended up in the sea.
After that, everyone could be polite and
thoughtful again. The anger and the
arguments stopped, proving that good
manners are very useful for keeping
people together in a spirit of happiness.
 Seeing all those letters fall into the
sea gave those two little girls an idea. A
little while later they opened a factory.
Making alphabetti spaghetti soup!
oWho was very evil and
unpleasant?
oWhat did he hate so
much?
oWhat was his plan?
oWhat did he invent?
Did his machine work?
oWhat happened to the
people?
oWho were not affected
by the machine?
oWhere was the crook’s
hideout located?
oWhat did the girls do
to stop him?
o If you were the girls,
would you have done
the same? Why?
• “What should you remember when
listening to a story?”

• “What are the things we should

know about the story?”

• “What elements did you

remember from the story we
read?”
Read the story and write the
elements of the literary text.
 THE FOX IN THE WELL
One day a fox fell into a well. He
jumped and jumped but he could not get
out. The well was too deep. Soon he began
to feel cold and hungry.
 Suddenly there was a noise from
above. A goat had come to drink from
the well. It looked in and saw the
fox. “Why, what are you doing down
there, Mr. Fox?” asked the goat.
 The fox was very cunning. Quickly,
he thought of a way to trick the
goat. “Oh, I’m drinking,” he said.
“Down there? But there’s water in
the bucket up here.”
“Yes, I know,” said the fox. “But the water down here
is much sweeter.
Why don’t you come down and taste it for yourself?”
“I think I will do that.” And the silly animal jumped
into the well.
At once the fox leapt on to the goat’s
back. And from there he soon jumped out
of the well.
“Hey! Where are you going?” cried the
goat. “What about me? How am I going to
get out of here?”
“Ah-ha, you silly goat,” laughed the fox. “Don’t you
think you should have thought of that before you
jumped in?”
And still laughing to himself he ran off, leaving the
poor goat in the well.
Basing from the story read, answer the
following questions.

1. Who was trapped in the well?

2. Who came passing one day?
3. What convinced the goat to go down
the well?
4. How did the fox get out of the well?
5. What is the moral of the story?
 Remember

When listening to story being read,

we should listen carefully and pay
attention to the details of the story.
In this way we can identify the
elements of a literary text.

We could also take down notes while

listening and reading.
The elements of a literary text are
the character, setting, and plot,
conflict, and theme.

The theme is the subject of the

story and what the author wants to
convey to the readers.
The plot is made up of events that
happened in the story. It consists of
the beginning, the middle, and the
ending.
Beginning – It gives the problem
faced by the main character.
Middle – It presents the actions
made by the character to solve the
problem.
Ending – It gives the solution
to the problem.
 Read the story “Inside the Canteen” and
identify the elements of the literary text.

Inside the Canteen

by Jean Paul V. Banay

It was 9:30 in the morning at Labuin

Elementary School. It was already break time for
Grade V-Coral. Children line up in a queue to go
the canteen to have their recess.
At the canteen, the children lined up in a
queue waiting for their turn to buy their food.
Luke, a Grade 3 pupil rushed in front of the queue
and shouted at the canteen manager for food.
 Calmly, the canteen manager said to
Luke “Luke, it is not nice to shout at
people, especially when you’re at the
canteen. And we should observe the rules
inside the canteen. Look at these
children, they line up in a queue and wait
for their turn. You should do the same.”
said the canteen manager.

After that day, Luke lined up in the

queue and asked politely for food.
Identify the element of the literary text from
the story you just read. Choose your answer
from the boxes below.

character setting conflict

plot theme

1.It was 9:30 in the morning at Labuin

Elementary School.

2.Luke, a Grade 3 pupil

character setting conflict
plot theme

3.Luke rushed in front of the queue

 character setting conflict
plot theme

4.The canteen manager told Luke about the

rules inside the canteen.

5.Following rules inside the canteen is the

right thing to do.