Urban legends

Pre-task

1) Look at the picture:

·         Do you know this person?

·         if not..who do you think this person is?

·         What is his profession? 

·         What kind of music does he play?

2) Read the information about This person below. Try to see if you guess.

This is Jacinto Piedra, a folk musician from Santiago del Estero.
He died many years ago, in 1991, when he was 36 in a terrible accident
with his car. People who used to visit his grave in the cemetery said that they
could hear him singing.

·    3)    Let´s share your opinions

What do you think of this story?
Could it be possible?
Stories like this  are called urban legends

An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true.^[1] As with all folklore and mythology, the designation suggests nothing about the story's veracity, but merely that it is in circulation, exhibits variation over time, and carries some significance that motivates the community in preserving and propagating it.

Despite its name, an urban legend does not necessarily originate in an urban area. Rather, the term is used to differentiate modern legend from traditional folklore in pre-industrial times. For this reason, sociologists and folklorists prefer the term contemporary legend. (from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

4) One of the most popular songs of Jacinto Piedra called "Te voy a contar un sueño" says things like:  

 they come at night, distant shouts
Breaks to the moon trembles with fear some “chango”From Salamanca, call bells…… Shut the doors that outside are screaming the grey soulsThey want to take a soul…….

4.1)Could you understand what it says? Work in pairs. Try to recognize two important words in each line and try to see guess the meaning of these lines.

It is creepy, 

isn´t it?!!

4.3)Then listen to the song and read the lyrics, the song is in spanish, highlight the part of the song where the lines above are mention.

 Te voy a contar un sueño

Letra y Música: Jacinto Piedra
Llegan de noche gritos lejanos
rompe la luna, tiembla de miedo algún chango
de Salamancas, llaman campanas
los hombres quieren matarse empuñando un arma.

Ya no se ríen, venden su leña
ya no agradecen que el río les de su arena
solo los niños, pan de la tierra, 
son las semillas pa' hacer las nuevas cosechas.

Tranquen las puertas, que afuera gritan
las aves grises buscando llevarse un alma
sobre los techos, ya han hecho nido
triste está el cielo, la paz del pueblo se ha ido.

Angel del agua dame tu espejo
donde la lluvia de magia prende su vuelo
de Salamancas, llaman campanas
los hombres quieren matarse empuñando un arma.

Pucha que sueño fiero he tenido
nubes de humito a mi pago se han subido
silba una pava, cantan rubialas, 
el monte ríe le da ojos a mi esperanza.
Fin (x 3)

• Let´s discuss the following questions orally

• What is the verb tense in the song?
• When did this episode, the singer is telling, happened?
• Why didn´t  the author use past simple to tell the story?
• When do we use simple present?

CORE TASK

11)  Let´s read about one of the most popular urban legends

Buried Alive

Antoine Wiertz's painting of a man buried alive

The Legend: 

Some poor schmuck is committed to his or her eternal resting place, even though they aren’t quite ready to take that final dirt nap. Scratch marks are later found on the coffin lid along with other desperate signs of escape.

The Truth: 

This not only happened, but  it happened with alarming regularity. In the late 19th century, William Tebb tried to compile all the instances of premature burial from medical sources of the day. He managed to collect 219 cases of near-premature burial, 149 cases of actual premature burial and a dozen cases where dissection or embalming had begun on a not-yet-deceased body.

The concern over being buried alive  then was so real that the must-have hot-ticket item for the wealthy and paranoid were "safety coffins" that allowed those inside to signal to the outside world (usually by ringing a bell or raising some type of flag) should they awake 6-feet under. Though, answering that bell sounds like a good way to get ambushed by a zombie if you ask us. (http://cdn-www.cracked.com/articleimages/wong/buriedalive3.jpg)

 <a href="http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/5204214/scary" title="Wordle: scary"><img src="http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/5204214/scary" alt="Wordle: scary" style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd"></a>

·        This Urban legend is usually told in this way

Students watch the story performed by some actors

2)      Could you give an opinion about this urban legend?

Look at the adjectives from the box below to help answering the question and write an opinion about the urban legend “Buried alive” (look them up in dicionary http://dictionary.cambridge.org/ or in babiloo in your netbook if you do not know some of the words.)

In my Opinion It is......................because.............

This story is..........................and.............................because..............

I believe in......../ I don´t think................................

1)    Use Cmap to present the urban legend “Buried alive” Summarize it and divided it into “urban legend” and “The truth”, Include your opinion. Look at the example below to help you beginning.

jjj(The teacher draw the map on the board and elicit ideas from the students who have to read the story again in order to help the teacher write the ideas in the map.)

FINAL TASK

1)     Watch the following video about some urban legends

Work in pairs:

•   Choose one and write about it. If you know the story better, if not try to think what the story is about. Then look for the story on the internet and read about it, was the story as you imagine? Students share the ideas within the group and with the teacher (who help them read the story)
• Read the story you have chosen again and try to highlight the most important lines or words.
• Use Cmap to present your story, you may just write some sentences to describe it. Divide your work into: “the story” , “the truth” and “your opinion”. Use present simple. You may use Gym 2 from your netbook for some pictures if you want.
• Share the story with your companions; see if they know that story or if they agree with your wrinting.
• Students share their work and the other groups watch the video again in order to guess what is the story their companions have chosen.