World Literature (Aesop Fables)｜世界文学（イソップ童話）Lesson36: The Ass and the Load of Salt

PART A_1

Let’s learn vocabulary. Listen and repeat the words and the sentences with your tutor.

PART A_2

1.　merchant	/MUR-chuhnt/
	-a person who buys and sells commodities for profit; dealer; trader
	The market is full of merchants every day.
2.　delight	/dih-LAHYT/
	-something that gives great pleasure
	It was a delight to see the dancers on stage.
3.　burden	/BUR-dn/
	-a heavy load that you carry
	The horse carried a lot of burdens.
4.　purposely	/PUR-puhs-lee/
	-intentionally
	He purposely doesn’t ride trains during rush hours.
5.　shallow	/SHAL-oh/
	-of little depth; not deep
	The pool was too shallow for adults.

PART B_1

Let’s read the story. Please read them aloud, and I will check your pronunciation and intonation.

PART B_2

The Ass and the Load of Salt

A Merchant, driving his Ass homeward from the seashore with a heavy load of salt, came to a river crossed by a shallow ford. They had crossed this river many times before without accident, but this time the Ass slipped and fell when halfway over. And when the Merchant at last got him to his feet, much of the salt had melted away. Delighted to find how much lighter his burden had become, the Ass finished the journey very gayly.

Next day, the Merchant went for another load of salt. On the way home, the Ass, remembering what had happened at the ford, purposely let himself fall into the water, and again got rid of most of his burden.

The angry Merchant immediately turned about and drove the Ass back to the seashore, where he loaded him with two great baskets of sponges. At the ford, the Ass again tumbled over; but when he had scrambled to his feet, it was a very disconsolate Ass that dragged himself homeward under a load ten times heavier than before.

The same measures will not suit all circumstances.

PART C_1

Let’s answer comprehension questions. Please answer them based on the story.

PART C_2

1.	What happened to the Ass and the Merchant while crossing the river?
2.	Why did the Ass feel delighted after the accident?
3.	What did the angry Merchant do after the accident?

PART D_1

Let’s discuss the story. Please answer the questions below and express your opinions.

PART D_2

1.	In your opinion, what did the Merchant do wrong in the story?
2.	How should we practice to become content with what we have?
3.	In your opinion, how can you teach other people to not be greedy?
4.	How do you reflect the story with your life?
5.	Please explain the moral of the story using your understanding.

REVIEW AND FEEDBACK

Now, let us review the things that you learned in this lesson.

ではこのレッスンで学んだことを振り返りましょう。

(Please give a short feedback on how your student did on your class.)

	Grammar 文法	Pronunciation 発音	Vocabulary 単語	Comprehension 理解
GOOD	文法の誤りはほとんどなく、完全な文章で話すことができる	ほとんどの単語をはっきりと正しく発音することができる	習った表現を適切に使うことができる	文章を理解し、質問に正しく答えることができる
FAIR	文法の誤りはあるが、完全な文章で話すことができる	発音の練習が必要な言葉がいくつかある	たまにミスはあるが、習った表現を適切に使うことができる	文章を完全に理解するのは難しく、質問に正しく答えられないときもある
POOR	文章で話すのは難しく、単語だけで話すことができる	発音の練習が必要である	習った単語と表現を少しだけ使うことができる	文章を理解するのは難しく、質問に答えるのは難しい

TUTOR FEEDBACK

GRAMMAR
Good:	Was able to speak in complete sentences with minimal grammatical errors.
Fair:	Was able to speak in complete sentences with evident grammatical errors.
Poor:	Was able to speak using words only.
PRONUNCIATION
Good:	Was able to pronounce most of the words clearly and correctly.
Fair:	Mispronounced a few words.
Poor:	Mispronounced most of the words.
VOCABULARY
Good:	Used appropriate expressions learned in class.
Fair:	Used appropriate expressions learned in class and made a few errors in word choice.
Poor:	Used only a few words and expressions.
COMPREHENSION
Good:	Was able to understand the passages and answer the questions correctly.
Fair:	Had a little difficulty in understanding passages and answering questions.
Poor:	Had a hard time understanding passages and answering questions.

Parts of this lesson material are based on:
An eBook from The Project Gutenberg.
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