Myths and Legends:The Twelve Labours of

Heracles

Monday 1st March 2021

You must submit work to your Monday English teacher today.

Dr Dennant: ldennant@ttsonline.net

Dr Murray: pmurray@ttsonline.net

Miss Couzens: acouzens@ttsonline.net

Miss Quinton: lquinton@ttsonline.net

Miss Price: rcprice@ttsonline.net (make sure to include the ‘c’)

Mr Jones: sjones@ttsonline.net

Mr Wright: hwright@ttsonline.net

Ms Wright: cwright@ttsonline.net

Learning Purposes

• Identify key information and ideas and select evidence from the text.

• Develop understanding of mythical heroes.

• Continue to improve analytical writing skills.

Previous learning:1. What was the moral of

the Arachne myth?2. What did the myth

explain the existence of in the world today?

Future learning:Continue to develop a knowledge of various myths and legends, inferring information from them and writing analytically about them.

Starter

• What qualities do we expect a hero to have?

• Are there any heroes that do not meet our expectations of what a hero should be like?

• Create a mind map that details your ideas. Give specific examples of heroes who you are aware of. An example has been provided.

HeroesIron Man – not a typical hero as he is quite vain

Heroes

Heracles was one of the greatest heroes in Greek mythology. With this in mind, respond to the following:

1. Who is your favourite superhero?

2. Why do you like this superhero?

3. What physical traits and abilities does your hero possess?

4. How do their physical/personality traits make them heroic?

Heracles

• Heracles was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus. He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, an exemplar of masculinity. In Rome he is known as Hercules.

• Extraordinary strength, courage, ingenuity, and attractiveness were among the characteristics commonly attributed to him.

• Heracles used his wits on several occasions when his strength did not suffice. He is known for the lion skin that he wears and the club that he wields.

• Heracles was the son of the affair Zeus had with a mortal woman.

Reading

Read through the myth twice: once to understand the plot, and then again so that you can consider how Heracles has been presented.

EXT: Answer the following questions:

1. Which of the Labours seemed like the most difficult and why?

2. Could you find a better way to solve one of Eurystheus’ problems?

3. How would you solve the Labours using modern solutions?

Comprehension

Answer the following questions in full sentences, with quotations, to test your understanding:

1. How long was Heracles a slave for?

2. Where did the Hydra live?

3. How did Heracles defeat the Hydra?

4. Which simile is used to describe the boulders that Heracles moves?

5. How did Heracles cross the sea?

6. What was Atlas’ responsibility?

7. Why was it easier for Atlas to retrieve the apples than Heracles?

8. How does Heracles trick Atlas?

Key word

Perseverance (abstract noun) –

persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.

Copy out the above definition and write your own sentence explaining how Heracles shows perseverance within the myth.

Synonym challenge!

• List 5 adjectives describing Heracles.

• Look up the word ‘hero’ and find synonyms.

• Then use Google to find synonyms for each of these adjectives.

Example:

• My adjective = Brave

• Synonyms for brave are: courageous, fearless, audacious

1. Jot down all the synonyms that are given for it, leaving a line between each one in your book.

2. Now, look up each of these synonyms in Google and write down the definition. Some may have multiple definitions, but which connects to most appropriately to Heracles?

3. Can you think of and write your own sentence that would include some of these words?

Heracles and the Hydra

There are numerous ‘versions’ of these myths and legends.

Compare what happens in in our tale and Disney’s portrayal of Hercules vs. Hydra https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec7lVvv0LYc

Our version Disney’s interpretation

Writing task

• What are the five main features that we need to include in our analytical writing?

1. T____ ________

2. E_______

3. E_________

4. C____ ____ _______

5. C________

opic sentence

vidence

xplanation

lose word analysis

onclusion

Recap: embedding quotations

• When writing a piece of analytical writing, is important for you to be able to embed you quotations so that your writing sounds more sophisticated and articulate.

• Quotes needs to be blended into your work writing and not simply tacked on after your first sentence.

✓ Heracles’ strength is shown when he suggests that he could ‘hold the sky’ for Atlas.

× Heracles is strong. This is shown in the quote ‘I could hold the sky for you’.

Recap: Close word analysis

• When you are analysing the language in your quotation, you should select one word to explore.

• Using your knowledge from your literacy lessons, define and provide three examples of the following:

1. Abstract noun2. Concrete noun3. Verb4. Adjective5. Process adverb6. Temporal adverb7. Spatial adverb

What are some other literary

techniques that we could

consider? e.g. metaphors

Writing task

• For your writing task today, you will be considering how Heracles has been presented within the myth.

• You have already considered a variety of ways to describe him, along with researching synonyms to develop your vocabulary.

• Using the structure that we have been following throughout the unit, you must develop your own response. Copy out the following question:

How has Heracles been presented within the myth of the Twelve Labours?

Writing task

It is always advisable to plan your response before you actually write it.

1. Pick 3-5 adjectives that you could use to describe Heracles throughout your response.

2. Decide how you want to describe Heracles in your topic sentence and then find a quotation that supports your idea.

3. Consider if you can confidently analyse a word from your quotation, as well as identify its word class. If you cannot, you may want to find a different quotation.

4. Think about what you learn about Heracles from your quotation. Can you explain this idea to support your topic sentence?

5. How are you going to summarise your ideas without repeating the same adjectives that you have used throughout your response?

Using these points, plan your response now. Do not write out your response yet, you are just planning it.

Model response

Within the myth, Heracles is presented as a brave, determined and persistent hero. His endurance is demonstrated by the writer during the fight with Hydra, in which ‘the struggle only became more difficult.’ Despite this, Heracles succeeded which highlights how he is not only physically strong, but mentally strong as he did not let the seemingly impossible task stand in his way. The abstract noun ‘struggle’ indicates that this was not an easy fight for Heracles and that he would have to use his wits as well as his power to succeed. Overall, Heracles’ perseverance is rewarded when he finally vanquishes the Hydra and is able to carry on with the rest of the Twelve Labours.

❑ A topic sentence that introduces your idea❑ Evidence from the text (your embedded quotation)❑ An explanation of what your evidence shows❑ Close language analysis (pick a specific word to analyse)❑ Concluding sentence

What you need to do now

• You need to put all of your practice sentences into one full paragraph for your teacher.

• It is important that you follow the structure that you are being taught – it is how we expect you to write analytically.

• If you want to challenge yourself, you might want to write a completely fresh response.

• Spend no longer than five minutes doing this.

Directed reading

• In a moment, your Zoom teacher will dismiss you from the call.

• Only submit your paragraph to your Monday teacher, not all of today’s work.

• For the rest of session, complete directed reading.