Bahasa Inggeris notes, unit 15

The Obedient Son

Textbook English Year 6 SK (Buku Teks Bahasa Inggeris Tahun 6, KSSR), pages 143-154 (English Year 6 SK, Unit 15 The Obedient Son)

What this chapter covers

I can listen to a folk tale dialogue, put the events in order and retell the story in my own words (1.1.3)
I can read a story with a beginning, a middle and an ending and answer questions about its characters and events (2.2.3)
I can guess and use phrasal verbs such as passed on, broke out, set off, look for, came across, ran into and turned down (2.3.1, 2.2.4)
I can show causes and effects in a multiflow map (2.2.3)
I can name the five elements of a plot (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution) and write a story in three paragraphs (3.2.2, 3.3.1)
I can write complex sentences with who, which, whose and whom (5.2.1)
I can write complex sentences with since, before, when, although, if, unless, because and while, and use a comma when the dependent clause comes first (5.2.1)
I can read a scene from a story, explain how a character found out a secret name and say if I like the ending (4.2.1, 4.3.2)

Unit 15 is a folk tale about Chakri, a kind and hardworking boy who looks after his old mother. You will read the story, learn phrasal verbs, the plot structure of a story and two kinds of complex sentence.

15.1Listening and speaking: Chakri's promise

The pupils of 6 Robotics listen to part of an ASEAN folk tale. Chakri and his mother talk in four short scenes.

The dialogue in short (p. 144)

Chakri tells his mother he has promised his father to take care of her, and she is proud of him. A war starts and she tells him to leave the village and save himself, but he asks her to come with him. They have no money and nowhere to go, so they decide to make a hut in the jungle. Chakri goes to find food in the jungle and his mother asks him to take care of himself.

These events, in the correct order, are:

Chakri's father had died.
A war took place.
They left the village.
They had no money and no place to go.
They stayed in the jungle.
Chakri went into the jungle to find food.

When you retell a story, use time words to join the events: first, then, after that, finally. Use the past tense: "A war broke out. Chakri took his mother with him."

Which happened first: the war took place, or Chakri's father had died?

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Chakri's father had died first. He died many years before the war.

15.2Reading: The Obedient Son

A story has a beginning, a middle and an ending. Here is the story in my own words.

BeginningChakri and his old mother live in a small village. His father died years ago. They are poor but Chakri is kind, hardworking and obedient. A war breaks out and they build a hut at the edge of a jungle. Chakri goes to look for food.

MiddleChakri finds a tree full of fruits and picks them. He puts the ripe fruits in one basket for his mother and the unripe ones in another for himself. On the way home, robbers grab him and ask why the fruits are in two baskets.

EndingThe robbers realise he is a good, obedient son. The leader offers him money, but Chakri politely turns it down because he did no work for it. The leader feels remorseful and tells his men to return all the loot.

English Year 6 SK, pp. 146-147.

Obedient: doing what your parents or elders ask. Remorseful: feeling very sorry for what you have done. Devoted: loving and caring very much.

Characters and values

Character	What he or she is like	Evidence
Chakri	kind, hardworking, obedient, honest, polite	He keeps his promise to his late father and refuses money he did not earn.
Chakri's mother	loving, unselfish	She asks him to save himself and leave her behind.
The gang leader	rough at first, then remorseful and admiring	He orders his men to return the loot.

Chakri is not an orphan. His father had passed on, but his mother is alive. An orphan has lost both parents.

Do not say the ripe fruits were for Chakri. The ripe fruits were for his mother; the unripe ones were for himself. That is why the robbers were touched.

Why did Chakri refuse the robbers' money?

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Because he had not done any work for them. He did not think he should take money he had not earned.

Causes and effects (multiflow map)

A multiflow map with three Causes boxes on the left and three Effects boxes on the right around a drawing of Chakri. The first pair says: A war broke out; Chakri and his mother left the village. — Multiflow map: the first cause and effect are given, the others are for you to complete.

English Year 6 SK, p. 148.

Cause	Effect
A war broke out.	Chakri and his mother left the village.
They had no money and nowhere to go.	They built a hut at the edge of the jungle.
They were hungry at lunch time.	Chakri went deep into the jungle to look for food.
The robbers saw how Chakri loved his mother.	They repented and gave back the loot.

Finish the sentence: "Chakri was kind to his mother, so ..."

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for example: so he put the ripe fruits in the basket for her / so the robbers felt sympathy for him.

15.3Phrasal verbs

Phrasal verb: a verb joined with an adverb or a preposition (or both). Together they give a new meaning.

Phrasal verb	Meaning	Example
passed on	died	Chakri's father passed on many years ago.
broke out	started suddenly	A war broke out.
set off	began a journey	Chakri set off to the jungle.
look for	try to find	He went to look for food.
came across	found by chance	He came across a large tree.
ran into	met by chance	He ran into some robbers.
turned down	refused	He turned down the offer politely.

English Year 6 SK, pp. 146-147 (the book asks you to guess the meanings; the meanings above are my own).

The book also gives carry on ("We will carry on the meeting until lunch time") and set off ("They set off for their journey last night"). More to practise: get in, turn off, jot down, dress up, stand up.

Guess a phrasal verb from the whole sentence. "Turned down the offer" must mean refused, because Chakri then explains why he cannot take the money.

The meaning is not the meaning of each word added up. "Look for" is not the same as "look at". Learn the whole phrase.

Use "jot down" in a sentence.

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for example: Please jot down the homework in your book. (jot down = write quickly)

15.4Writing: plot structure

A plot is the sequence of events in a story. It has five elements.

The plot mountain: a flat line for exposition, a line going up for rising action, the peak climax, a line going down for falling action and a flat line for resolution, with a table explaining each element — The five elements of a plot.

English Year 6 SK, p. 149.

Element	What it does	In The Obedient Son
Exposition	introduces the characters and the setting	In a village lived the obedient Chakri and his mother.
Rising action	the main character meets trouble	A war broke out and they fled from the village.
Climax	the most exciting part, a turning point	Chakri was confronted by a group of robbers.
Falling action	events after the turning point	Chakri taught the robbers a lesson and they repented.
Resolution	the final outcome	They repented and looked up to Chakri.

Five pictures from How the Tiger Got Its Stripes with key words: exposition, a proud tiger with a shiny coat; rising action, the tiger meets a mighty buffalo working for man; climax, the tiger asks the man to give him wisdom; falling action, the man tricks the tiger and ties him to a tree; resolution, the tiger is burnt, gets stripes and hides in the jungle in shame — Plot of "How the Tiger Got Its Stripes" with key words.

English Year 6 SK, p. 150.

Writing the story in three paragraphs: beginning (exposition and the start of the trouble), middle (rising action and climax), ending (falling action and resolution).

The climax is the turning point, not the first sad event. The war starts the trouble (rising action); meeting the robbers is the climax.

Which plot element is "Chakri taught the robbers a lesson"?

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Falling action (it happens after the turning point). The final outcome, the robbers looking up to Chakri, is the resolution.

15.5Grammar: complex sentences with who, which, whose, whom

Complex sentence: one independent clause (makes sense alone) and one dependent clause (does not make sense alone).

Word	Used for	Independent clause	Dependent clause
who	people (the doer)	He looked at his parents	who were dirty and dressed in rags.
whom	people (receiver of the action)	They hired the man	whom they interviewed last week.
which	things and animals	She likes the skirt	which is worn by the mannequin.
whose	belonging to someone	That is the boy	whose father is a famous artist.

English Year 6 SK, p. 151 (the examples are from the book).

Test: if you can replace the word with he or she, use who; with him or her, use whom; if it shows something belongs to a person, use whose.

Do not use who for things: "a factory which manufactures tyres", not "a factory who manufactures tyres".

Fill in: "Asin's brother has a friend ____ is working in Penang."

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who (the friend is a person who does the working).

15.6Grammar: subordinating conjunctions

Complex sentences are also made with since, before, when, although, if, unless, because and while.

Order	Sentence	Comma?
Independent first	Asin's father took him to the cinema since it was a holiday.	no comma
Dependent first	Since it was a holiday, Asin's father took him to the cinema.	comma after the dependent clause

English Year 6 SK, p. 152.

Conjunction	Meaning	Example
since, because	reason	Since we had no money, we built a hut.
before, when, while	time	Before leaving for his hometown, Encik Hakimi checked his car.
although	contrast	I am going out although it is raining.
if, unless	condition	You should have a rest if you are tired.

Do not use "although" and "but" together. Say "Although he was poor, he was kind", not "Although he was poor, but he was kind".

Unless means "if not". "He would not attend the party unless he is invited" means he will go only if he is invited.

Join with a comma: "the school bell rang" and "the children left the classroom" using When.

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When the school bell rang, the children left the classroom.

15.7Language arts: Rumplestiltskin

In the story, a strange little man has made a promise with Queen Lisa and says that her child will be his. Her parents follow him into the woods and see him dance round a small fire, chanting his secret name. The next morning at the castle the queen guesses names. She tries Christoph and Nicholas, then says Rumplestiltskin. He cries out in rage, stamps his foot and never returns.

English Year 6 SK, p. 154. Pronunciation: Rum-ple-stil-skin.

Question (p. 154)	Answer in short
How did Queen Lisa discover the man's name?	Her parents followed him into the woods, saw him dancing round a fire and heard his chant. She then used the name from the chant.
Do you like the ending? Why?	Give your opinion and a reason, for example: Yes, because the queen keeps her child.

Name one tricky thing the strange man did in the scene.

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for example: He kept saying "Keep on guessing! You will never guess my name" because he believed she could not find out.

Summary

Topic	Remember
Story	Chakri keeps his promise, cares for his mother and is honest. The robbers repent.
Value	Be obedient, diligent and honest.
Phrasal verbs	passed on = died, broke out = started, set off, look for, came across, ran into, turned down = refused.
Plot	exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution.
who / whom / which / whose	person doer / person receiver / thing / belonging.
Conjunctions	since, before, when, although, if, unless, because, while. Comma after a dependent clause at the start.