The weekly column
Article 64, June 2001
TAHOTAHONTANEKENTSERATKERONTAKWENHAKIE
By Michael Berman
Editor's Note: Unfortunately, this will be the final article of Michael Berman published by the ELT Newsletter. Michael has now started his own website at www.thestoryteller.org.uk, where you will be able to read a new article every month. Thank you for all your contributions, Michael, and good luck with your new website!
Level: Intermediate
- Advanced
Target
Audience: Secondary
/ Adults
Language
/ Skills Focus:
Listening, Speaking & Writing
Materials: Photocopies
of the worksheet – enough
IN
CLASS
1
The pre-listening tasks can be found on the worksheet. The learners
can work on these in pairs or small groups.
2
As a post-listening activity, ask the learners to work in small
groups and to write a story about someone with an unusual name, explaining
how he or she got it. It could be a true story or an imaginary one.
3
Elicit or explain what a tongue twister is (a word or a phrase
that is difficult to speak quickly or correctly - like the title of this
story) Ask the class if they know any other examples and then invite them
to practise the following or any other that you know: Betty
Boater bought some butter but she said this butter's bitter and a bit
of better butter will make my batter better so she bought a bit of butter
better than the bitter butter and it was better Betty Boater bought a
bit of better butter!
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This
American Indian tale was written by Salli Benedict and is taken from the
collection Earth Power Coming – published by Navajo Community College Press 1983.
TAHOTAHONTANEKENTSERATKERONTAKWENHAKIE:
WORKSHEET
Here
are some English names. Which ones do you like?
Which
names have equivalents in your own language?
Which
one would you like to choose for yourself?
BOYS
NAMES:
Adam, Brian, Charles, David, Edward, Frank, George, Harry, John, Kevin,
Laurence, Michael, Neil, Oliver, Peter, Rodney, Stewart, Thomas, Vincent,
William
GIRLS
NAMES:
Angela, Bridget, Christine, Diana, Emily, Fiona, Gina, Hannah, Ingrid,
Jacqueline, Kim, Louise, Mandy, Nicola, Paula, Ruth, Sharon, Tracey, Victoria,
Wendy
How
do you address the following people in your country - by their first names
or their family names?
Work
in pairs. Take it in turns to ask each other the following questions:
a.
What do you know about the origin of your own name?
b.
Have you got a nickname? If so, what is it and how did you get it?
c.
Have you ever had any interesting experiences because of your name?
d.
If you had children of your own, what would you name them and why?
e.
If you had children of your own, would you like them to call you mummy
or
TAHOTAHONTANEKENTSERATKERONTAKWENHAKIE
Deep
in the woods, there lived a man and his wife, and their newborn baby boy.
The baby was so young that his parents had not yet given him a name. Hunting
was very bad that winter and they had very little to eat. They were very
poor.
One
day around suppertime, a little old man came to their door. He was selling
rabbits.
"Do
you wish to buy a rabbit for your supper?" he asked.
The
woman who met him at the door replied that they were very poor and had
no money to buy anything.
It
was growing dark and the man looked very tired. The woman knew that he
had travelled very far just to see if they would buy a rabbit from him.
She invited him to stay for supper and share what little they had to eat.
"What
is your name?" the husband asked as he got up to meet the old man.
"I
have no name," the little man replied. "My parents were lost
before they could name me. People just call me Tahotahontanekentseratkerontakwenhakie
which means, 'He came and sold rabbits.' "
The
husband laughed. "My son has not been named yet either. We just call
him The Baby."
The
old man said, "You should name him so that he will know who he is.
There is great importance in a name." The old man continued, "I
will give you this last rabbit of mine for a good supper, so that we may
feast in honour of the birth of your new son."
In
the morning, the old man left. The parents of the baby still pondered
over a name for the baby.
"We
shall name the baby after the generous old man who gave him a feast in
honour of his birth. But he has no name," the mother said.
"Still,
we must honour his gift to our son," the husband replied. "We
will name our son after what people call the old man, Tahotahontanekentseratkerontakwenhakie
which means, 'He came and sold rabbits.'"
"What
a long name that is," the mother said. "Still, we must honor
the old man' s wish for a name for our son and his feast for our son."
So
the baby's name became Tahotahontanekentseratkerontakwenhakie which means,
"He came and sold rabbits," in honour of the old man.
The
baby boy grew older and became very smart, He had to be, to be able to
remember his own name. Like all other children he was always trying to
avoid work. He discovered that by the time his mother had finished calling
his name for chores, he could be far, far away.
Sometimes
his mother would begin telling him some thing to do, "Tahotahontanekentseratkerontakwenhakie
. . . hmmmm . . ." She would forget what she wanted to have him do,
so she would smile and tell him to go and play.
Having
such a long important name had its disadvantages too. When his family
travelled to other settlements to visit friends and other children, the
other children would leave him out of games. They would not call him to
play or catch ball. They said that it took more energy to say his name
than it did to play the games.
News
of this long, strange name travelled to the ears of the old man, Tahotahontanekentserakerontakwenhakie.
"What a burden this name must be for a child," the old man thought.
"This name came in gratitude for my feast for the birth of the boy.
I must return to visit them."
The
old man travelled far to the family of his namesake, Tahotahontanekentseratkerontakwenhakie.
The parents met the old man at the door and invited him in. He brought
with him food for another fine meal.
"You
are very gracious to honour me with this namesake," he said. "But
we should not have two people wandering this world, at the same time,
with the same name. People will get us confused, and it may spoil my business.
Let us call your son Oiasosonaion which means, 'He has another name.'
If people wish to know his other name, then he can tell them."
Oiasosonaion
smiled and said, "I will now have to call you Tahotahontanekentseratkerontakwenhakie
tanon Oiasahosonnon which means, 'He came and sold rabbits and gave the
boy another name.'"
Everyone
laughed.
About the author
Michael Berman is a teacher, a writer and a Core Shamanic Counsellor. Publications include the Build Your Vocabulary series for LTP and A Multiple Intelligences Road to an ELT Classroom for Crown House Publishing, available online via www.crownhouse.co.uk or www.accelerated-learning.co.uk . His most recent book, ELT through Multiple Intelligences, was published in January 2001 and is available electronically only (to download, for example) from www.netlearnpublications.com . Michael has his own website featuring a new article every month - please visit www.thestoryteller.org.uk .
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