Unit 25                                      Story: Why Does the Frog Croak?

Lesson 1

A. Listen and read.

What sound does a frog make? Croak, croak! It isn't a beautiful sound. But, 

a long time ago, frogs had beautiful voices. They could sing more beautiful 

than the birds. This all changed because of one frog named Bluster.

Bluster had the most beautiful voice of all the animals. When he sang, all 

the other animals came to hear him. They enjoyed listening to him. "Please teach 

us how to sing!" the animals asked. But Bluster always answered in the same way. 

"No, no. My voice is mine. I can not share it," he said.

Lessons 2-3

One morning, Moxie the rabbit and Pluck the lizard talked to the fox and the rat. 

"Bluster has such a big, beautiful voice. Surely, he can share it with us," said Moxie. 

They agreed. Bluster should share his voice with them. It was such a big voice. 

Each animal could have just a small piece of it. Bluster could share his voice with 

each animal.

The animals talked and talked late into the afternoon. They made a plan to take 

Bluster's voice. They decided not to tell the birds. But, they didn't have to tell them! 

The birds were sitting in the tree and they heard the animals' plan.

At midnight, Pluck and Moxie quietly went to Bluster's home. Bluster was sleeping 

in his bed, and without making a sound, they took his voice! They put it into a glass jar.

Lessons 4

Pluck and Moxie took the glass jar outside. The other animals were waiting. "Oh, give me my piecel" said the fox. "I want my piece!" said the rat. Suddenly, the jar fell to the ground and it broke. Bluster's voice and the jar were now in a hundred little pieces.

"Oh, no!" cried Moxie. The animals searched, but they couldn't find any of the pieces. 

It was too dark and the pieces were too small. "What are we going to do?" asked Pluck. 

"We will come back in the morning," said Moxie. And, all the animals went home without 

a piece of Bluster's beautiful voice. They were all very tired from looking for the voice, 

so they went to sleep.

Lessons 5-6

In the morning, as the sun came up, the birds went out to have their breakfast. 

With their good eyes, the birds saw the little pieces of the beautiful voice on the 

ground. They carefully picked up the pieces. They didn't leave one piece of the 

beautiful voice behind.

That afternoon, the animals finally woke up. They ran to get the pieces of 

Bluster's voice, but all they found there was broken glass. They searched and 

searched, but there were no pieces of the voice. Then, suddenly, they heard 

a beautiful song coming from the trees. Bluster's voice was coming from the 

trees. They looked up and saw the birds singing!

And to this day, the birds sing with Bluster's beautiful voice, and Bluster, and 

all the other frogs, can only say croak... croak.

Lesson 7-9

B. Read the story again. Complete the sentences.

1 The animals wanted the frog to share ... 

a. his food.                      b. his home.

c. his money.                  d. his voice.

2 The animals met to make a plan to ...

a. take Bluster's voice.             b. teach the birds to sing. 

c. have a party for Bluster.      d. get food for the birds.

3 The jar broke because ... 

a. it wasn't a good jar.               b. the animals weren't careful. 

d. the birds took the jar.           c. Bluster's voice was too big.

4. got Bluster's voice at the end of the story.

a. The other frogs                      b. The other animals

c. The birds                                  d. No one

C. Groupwork. Answer the questions.

     1 How do you feel about Bluster? How do you feel about the 

       other animals? Why?

     2 Do you think this is a true story? Why, or why not?

D. Underline the sentences in the story that use quotation marks. 

     Underline the sentences that use commas.

E. Answer the questions in your exercise book.

     1 What was your favourite story in the book?

     2 What did you enjoy learning about in English class this year? 

     3 What do you want to learn about in English class next year?