Lesson Four

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Lesson Four
Wisdom of Bear Wood
By Michael Welzenbach
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Discussion
Friendship
1.What is the essence of it? 2.its main
ingredients?
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Robin Hood

• Robin Hood is a legendary hero of a series of
  English ballads, some of which date from at least
  the 14th century. He was a rebel, and many of the
  most striking episodes in the tales about him
  show him and his companions robbing and killing
  representatives of authority and giving the gains
  to the poor. Their most frequent enemy was the
  Sheriff of Nottingham, a local agent of the
  central government. Others included wealthy
  ecclesiastical landowners.

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Structure of the Text

• Part 1 (paras.1-4) The lonely boy found his
  pleasure in Bear Wood.
• Part 2 (paras.5-23) The boy met Mrs.
  Robertson-Glasgow in the Bear Wood and they
  became best friends.
• Part 3 (paras.24-27) Mrs. Robertson-Glasgow
  became sick and dead while their friendship
  flourished more than ever before.
• Part 4 (paras.28-37) The revelation of true
  love.

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Differences

• old
• English
• woman
• lost her husband

• 12
• American
• boy
• separated from friends

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Similarities

• lonely
• 2. common interestnature and knowledge
• 3. true lovegiving not taking
• 4. others

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When I was 12 years old, my family moved to
England, the fourth major move in my short life.

• Question
• What does the author intend to emphasize, using
  this sentence as the opening?

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• Question
• What can you learn from the first 3 sentences of
  Paragraph 2?
• Question
• In the beginning of the story, what did Bear Wood
  mean to the little boy?

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dense a.

• a. closely packed or crowded together
• b. difficult to see through
• c. stupid
• ?a dense crowd ?a dense laurels
• ? a dense metal ? a dense fog
• ? a dense mist ? dense traffic
• ? a man with a dense brain

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impenetrable a.

• a. impossible to go into or through
• b. extremely difficult or impossible to
• understand
• ? the impenetrable forest
• ? impenetrable by a bullet
• ? impenetrable darkness
• ? an impenetrable mystery
• ? a mind impenetrable by/to new ideas

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proceed v.

• a. to begin or continue in a course of
• action or set of actions
• b. to advance move in a particular
• direction
• Examples
• The work is proceeding according to plan.
• He paused to consult his notes, and then
  proceeded with his questions.
• Passengers for the New York flight should now
  proceed to Gate 13.

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as it were

• used indicating not very accurate
• Examples
• I'd understood the words, but I didn't, as it
  were, understand the question.
• He is, as it were, a walking dictionary.
• The English, the Scots and the Welsh are all, as
  it were, members of the same family.

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Theme
True friendship is both rare and precious. It
exists deep in heart and does not change. It is
enduring and rewarding.
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Homework

• Answer the question in about 150 words.
• Why do you think the narrator regards his
  encounter with Mrs. Robertson-Glasgow as a
  legacy?
• What has this cross-age friendship left him?