may 2007 uppersecondary students

PHOTOCOPIABLE

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

the

cartoon,

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,

jungles

and

to mountains - and they’re still
going strong today!

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

PHOTOCOPIABLE

around

English

A long way from Dragonball and Pokemon...

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

It is quite a collection. Where

1. ____________________

One of the oldest children’s

cartoons is The Little Mole
(Krecik), which was first made
in 1957

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

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

the

cartoon,

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,

jungles

and to mountains - and they’re
still going strong today!

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

PHOTOCOPIABLE

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.

HOJ

ALUM

ROTHERLY

OVE

USY AS A

...

OREST

ANDIT

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...

PHOTOCOPIABLE

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.