around English

A long way from Dragonball and Pokemon...

Wolves, Bandits, Trolls and Strange White Lines...

It is quite a collection. Where can you find such a strange group of characters? What can they all have in common? Well, all of them have delighted children for many years - and are still popular today, even though some of them are old enough to have retired long ago!

A Hoj!

One of the oldest children's cartoons is The Little Mole, which was first made in 1957 in Czechoslovakia. The mole and his friends (a small mouse, a hedgehog and a hare, amongst others) have adventures in their forest and outside it, but everything always ends happily, of course.

A Forest Bandit

With his wild black hair, bushy black beard and gruff manner, you could be forgiven for thinking that this character was not suitable for little children. In fact, though, Rumcajs the Bandit was a very helpful character who lived

quietly in the woods with his wife Hanka and their son Cypisek. Like Krecik, this cartoon was made in Czechoslovakia, but it was made a decade later.

“I'll show you...”

We're all familiar with Tom and Jerry's mad chases, where the poor cat never quite manages to catch the little mouse. Well, in The Soviet Union in 1969 an Eastern Bloc version was made: The Wolf and the Hare. It was very similar: the poor wolf tried everything to catch the hare, but never did. Ever the optimist, the wolf ended each episode with “Nu, Zajec! Pogodi!” He never did, though.

Busy as a...

...bee, of course. In this case, a bee called Maja. Maja the Bee was first seen in an old German book, written in 1912, but the Japanese cartoon version was not made until 63 years later. Little Maja and her friends, Gucio, Filip, Bzyk, amongst others, will soon be celebrating their one hundredth birthdays!

Balum Balum!

Balum balum is not the name of the cartoon, or even a character from the cartoon, but it is the thing many people best remember about it. The cartoon was La Linea from Italy, first produced in 1972, and balum balum is the music which accompanied it. Now the little man, made up of just a single white line, is more famous for appearing in a telephone company's advertisements than for the original cartoon, but if you hear the music once it will stay in your head forever.

Brotherly Love

Two little brothers exploring the world, sometimes as friends, sometimes fighting, Bolek and Lolek was first made in 1963 and is still the most popular Polish children's cartoon. The little boys have been to the Arctic, to jungles and to mountains - and they're still going strong today!

around English

A long way from Dragonball and Pokemon...

Wolves, Bandits, Trolls and Strange White Lines...

It is quite a collection. Where can you find such a strange group of characters? What can they all have in common? Well, all of them have delighted children for many years - and are still popular today, even though some of them are old enough to have retired long ago!

1. ____________________

One of the oldest children's cartoons is The Little Mole (Krecik), which was first made in 1957 in Czechoslovakia. The hero of the stories and his friends (a small mouse, an owl and a hare, amongst others) have adventures in their forest and outside it, but everything always ends happily, of course.

2. ____________________

With his wild black hair, bushy black beard and gruff manner, you could be forgiven for thinking that this character was not suitable for little children. In fact, though, Rumcajs was a very helpful

character who lived quietly in the woods with his wife Hanka and their son Cypisek. Like Krecik, this cartoon was made in Czechoslovakia, but it was made a decade later.

3. ____________________

We're all familiar with Tom and Jerry's mad chases, where the poor cat never quite manages to catch the little mouse. Well, in The Soviet Union in 1969 an Eastern Bloc version was made: The Wolf and the Hare. It was very similar: the poor wolf tried everything to catch the hare, but never did. Ever the optimist, the wolf ended each episode with “Nu, Zajec! Pogodi!” He never did, though.

4. ____________________

...bee, of course. In this case, a bee called Maja. Maja the Bee was first seen in an old German book, written in 1912, but the Japanese cartoon version was not made until 63 years later. The little bee and her friends, Gucio, Filip, Bzyk, amongst others, will soon be celebrating

their one hundredth birthdays!

5. ____________________

Balum balum is not the name of the cartoon, or even a character from the cartoon, but it is the thing many people best remember about it. The cartoon was La Linea from Italy, first produced in 1972, and balum balum is the music which accompanied it. Now the little man, made up of just a single white line, is more famous for appearing in a telephone company's advertisements than for the original cartoon, but if you hear the music once it will stay in your head forever.

6. ____________________

Two little brothers exploring the world, sometimes as friends, sometimes fighting, Bolek and Lolek was first made in 1963 and is still the most popular Polish children's cartoon. The little boys have been to the Arctic, to jungles and to mountains - and they're still going strong today!

around English activities sheet

Discussion

What were your favourite cartoons when you were a child? What can you remember about them?

First reading - for gist

Read the text quickly and try to match the titles to the correct paragraphs.

A hoj! Balum Balum Brotherly Love

Busy as a... A Forest Bandit I'll show you

Second Reading - for specific information

Try to complete the table without checking with the text, first, and then check to see how much you remembered.

Title	Country	Date	Characters
Rumcajs
Bolek and Lolek
Maja the Bee
The Little Mole
The Line
The Wolf and the Hare

Vocabulary 1

Find words or phrases which mean the same as these:

Paragraph 1 make someone very happy... finished working because of your age...	Paragraph 3 not controlled, not civilised... sticking out like a brush... unfriendly-sounding or -looking..
Paragraph 6 go with something...	Paragraph 7 not finished yet...

around English activities sheet

Vocabulary 2 - character adjectives

Match the words on the left to the definitions on the right:

1. retiring	a. good at finding ways of dealing with practical problems
2. resourceful	b. think or worry about them all the time and you cannot think about anything else
3. inquisitive	c. providing useful help in making a situation better or easier
4. helpful	d. someone who is cunning is clever and good at deceiving people in order to get what they want
5. hopeful	e. always thinking of the things you can do to make people happy or comfortable
6. obsessed (by)	f. someone who is... does not want to be with other people
7. cunning	g. believing that what you hope for is likely to happen
8. imaginative	h. determined not to change your mind, even when people think you are being unreasonable
9. thoughtful	i. good at thinking of new and interesting ideas
10. stubborn	j. interested in a lot of different things and wanting to find out more about them

(all definitions from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English)

Practice

Work with a partner. Think of a character from one of the cartoons in the text and describe that character to your partner without giving the name away, of course. Try to use some of the adjectives above.

Writing

Work in small groups. You're going to create your own cartoon. Think about the characters, the story, the setting, the music and, perhaps, which actors you might choose to play your characters.

© Pearson Education Polska 2007 PHOTOCOPIABLE

© Pearson Education Polska 2007 PHOTOCOPIABLE

How well do you know your cartoon characters?

Try to match the characters to the right cartoons >>>>

Humpal Tola Tekla

Hippopotamus The Hedgehog

How well do you know your cartoon characters?

Try to match the characters to the right cartoons >>>>

Humpal Tola Tekla

Hippopotamus The Hedgehog

Peter moran

MaY 2007

Peter moran

MaY 2007

---