Teacher's Notes: Prisoner of the Monkeys
This story is quite a bit longer than the others have been. While many new words are introduced, a considerable number of words are reviewed from the beginning section – especially basic verbs and adjectives.
Many words can be taught by showing a picture or an example and then talking about it. “This is a feather. Birds have feathers.” Try saying something silly like “Cats have feathers, too,” pause, and watch their faces. To teach “cage,” try describing what it is. “I have a bird. My bird has lots of feathers. He lives in a cage. It is a place where he stays when I am gone. He eats and sleeps in his cage, too. It’s like a big box. It has bars. What else lives in a cage?” You could draw an example on the board as you talk. Then to teach “prison,” you can relate it to “cage.” For example, “Do people live in cages? No, people don’t live in cages. But some people do bad things and then the police will put them in a something like a cage. We call it a prison. A person in a prison is a prisoner. Is my bird a prisoner? No, his cage is not a prison. His cage is a safe place for him. He can come out. A prisoner can not come out of prison. Well, maybe after a long time!” When you teach “capture,” you can relate it to both “cage” and “prison.” You can act it out, pretending to sneak up on a student and capture him or her. You can talk about capturing insects and putting them in a cage. You can say the police captured a prisoner and put him in a prison. When the students start reading the story, they will read about a pack of monkeys that captured my sister. That’s how she became the "Prisoner of the Monkeys." If someone is a prisoner, they might need to be rescued. You can think of many interesting ways to teach “rescue.”
There are several worksheets for this story. The worksheets emphasize the new words through pictures, fill-in sentences, and ridiculous true/false questions.
New Words
insect
fur
cage
branch
prisoner
parrot
feather
serpent
jaguar
path
hole
mumble
arrive
remove
bright
receive
notice
jungle
decide
thirsty
escape
advise
capture
save
continue
force
scream
finally
hide
hang
respond
noise
peaceful
disappear
crawl
imagine
suddenly
behind
edge
sound
darkness
enter
hope
whisper
shout
put
leave
believe
give up
appear
exit
wish
explain
exclaim
yell
Worksheet Answers
Match with pictures: (left to right) jaguar, insects, serpent, fur, hole, parrot, prisoner, branch, cage, feather, path
Match with definition: mumble – to speak unclearly; arrive – opposite of leave; remove – to take out; bright – opposite of dim, dark; receive – opposite of give or send; notice – to see; thirsty – to want to drink something; decide – to choose; escape – to run away, be free; save – to help, rescue; advise – to tell someone what to do; capture – to catch, take prisoner; continue – to go farther, keep going; force – strength
Sentences: 1. responds, 2. imagine, 3. hang, 4. finally, 5. crawl, 6. peaceful, 7. screamed, 8. noise, 9. disappear, 10. hide
Opposites: behind – in front; edge – center; sound – silence; darkness – light; enter – exit; hope – despair; whisper – shout
Sentences (second set): 1. give, 2. remove, 3. put, 4. received, 5. captured, 6. escaped, 7. decide, 8. leave, 9. stopped, 10. continue, 11. arrived, 12. believe, 13. hope, 14. imagines, 15. asked, 16. gave up hope, 17. responded, 18. screamed, 19. disappeared, 20. exit, 21. appeared, 22. entered, 23. save, 24. bright, 25. insects, 26. thirsty, 27. hole, 28. edge, 29. cages, 30. prisoner, 31. serpent, 32. parrot, 33. darkness, 34. explain, 35. advise, 36. shout, 37. understand, 38. wish, 39. should, 40. crawl, 41. hide, 42. mumbles, 43. yells, 44. whisper, 45. notice, 46. hang
True or False? 1. F, 2. F, 3. T, 4. T, 5. F, 6. F, 7. T, 8. F, 9. T, 10. T, 11. F, 12. F, 13. T, 14. F, 15. F, 16. T, 17. T, 18. F, 19. F, 20. T, 21. F, 22. T, 23. F
PICTURE REVIEW:
Set I: (left to right) darkness, lost, find, money, whisper, receive, climb, hug, throw, hide, noise, edge, thirsty, carpet, prisoner
Set II: (left to right) helmet, capture, fall in love, straight, advise, respond, hole, fur, fail, look for, cage, jump, crawl, scream, audience
RIDDLE REVIEW: Answers to the pictures: jungle, strong, magic wand, invitation, basement, beard, feather, prisoner, stairs, castle. Riddle answer: the letter m.
