A small hobbit must destroy a powerful, evil ring — and the writer who made this world was once a real soldier in a real war.
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These are the new words. Match each word (1–8) to its meaning (A–H). Say your answers out loud — "I think 1 is A" — then check.
1 = A (a ring) · 2 = E (a hobbit) · 3 = H (a journey) · 4 = F (a wizard)
5 = B (an enemy) · 6 = D (a friend) · 7 = G (a battle) · 8 = C (a mountain)
Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings films (2001–2003), based on the book by J.R.R. Tolkien. Read each part. Then try the questions from memory, and talk about the last one. (There are spoilers — that is fine, we want to talk about it.)
A long time ago, an evil lord called Sauron made a powerful ring. Many years later, a hobbit called Bilbo found the ring by accident. Bilbo gave the ring to his young cousin, Frodo, who lived in a quiet, peaceful place called the Shire.
A wizard called Gandalf came to see Frodo. He had bad news: the ring was very dangerous, and Sauron was looking for it again. Frodo had to leave the Shire immediately, before Sauron's enemies found him.
While Frodo was walking to a safe place called Rivendell, dark riders chased him. He escaped, just in time. At Rivendell, a group decided the ring must go to a mountain called Mount Doom and be destroyed there. Nine people — hobbits, a wizard, an elf, a dwarf, and two men — started the journey together.
1. Who gives Frodo the ring, and what does Gandalf tell him?
2. What must the group do with the ring?
1. His cousin Bilbo gives him the ring; Gandalf tells him it is very dangerous and Sauron is searching for it.
2. They must carry it to Mount Doom and destroy it there.
While the group was walking through some old mines, a terrible monster attacked them. Gandalf fought the monster alone so the others could escape, and he fell into a deep hole. The group was very sad.
Later, one man in the group, Boromir, tried to take the ring from Frodo. The ring's evil power was changing him. Frodo understood the danger and decided to continue the journey alone with his friend Sam. Bad soldiers attacked and took two of the hobbits, Merry and Pippin.
Three friends — Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli — went to save Merry and Pippin. They found new friends: a giant talking tree, and a king called Théoden. Together, they fought a huge battle against an army of evil soldiers, and they won.
1. What happens to Gandalf?
2. Why does Frodo decide to continue the journey with only Sam?
1. He fights a monster alone to save the others, and falls into a deep hole.
2. Because Boromir tried to take the ring from him — the ring's power was too dangerous to stay with the whole group.
Frodo and Sam walked toward Mount Doom with a strange guide called Gollum, who wanted the ring for himself. While they were climbing the mountain, Gollum attacked Frodo. He bit off Frodo's finger to get the ring back — but then Gollum fell into the fire by accident, and the ring was destroyed with him.
At the same time, other friends fought a huge battle far away, to keep Sauron's army busy while Frodo climbed the mountain. When the ring was destroyed, Sauron was defeated, and his army fell.
Everyone went home. But Frodo was never quite the same again. Later, he left the Shire — and Middle-earth — for ever, to find peace somewhere else.
1. How is the ring finally destroyed?
2. What happens to Frodo at the end of the story?
1. Gollum bites off Frodo's finger to take the ring, then falls into the fire by accident, destroying the ring with himself.
2. He goes home, but he is changed by everything that happened. Later, he leaves Middle-earth for ever to find peace.
This story is full of one action happening suddenly in the middle of another. English uses two easy past tenses to show this.
Read the meaning in brackets and complete the sentence.
1. Frodo (walk) to Rivendell when the dark riders chased him. (action already in progress)
2. Gandalf (fall) into the deep hole after he fought the monster. (one finished action)
3. While the friends (fight) the big battle, Frodo climbed the mountain alone. (action in progress at the same time)
1. was walking (in progress when something else happened)
2. fell (one finished action)
3. were fighting (in progress at the same time)
Put the verb in the correct form. Then read it out loud.
1. Bilbo (find) the ring by accident, many years ago.
2. Boromir (try) to take the ring when Frodo ran away.
3. While Sam (carry) his tired friend, orcs attacked them.
1. found (past simple)
2. was trying (past continuous)
3. was carrying (past continuous)
Fill each gap with the past simple or past continuous. Read it aloud when you finish.
Frodo and Sam (climb) Mount Doom when Gollum suddenly (attack) them. While they (fight), Gollum fell into the fire, and the ring was destroyed.
were climbing (in progress) · attacked (the short, sudden event) · were fighting (in progress)
Use past continuous for the longer background action, and past simple for the short, sudden event that interrupts it.
The man who wrote this story, J.R.R. Tolkien, said it was not a secret message about a real war. But his own real life clearly helped him write it.
Tolkien was a soldier in the First World War. In 1916, he fought in a huge, terrible battle called the Battle of the Somme. Two of his closest friends from school died in that war. Tolkien became very ill and went home — but the sadness of the war stayed with him for the rest of his life, and it helped shape the story he later wrote.
Tolkien was also a university professor. He studied very old languages and very old stories from England and the North of Europe. He loved these old stories so much that he used real ideas from them in his own book — even some of the names in his story, like the wizard Gandalf's name, come from a real, very old poem.
So the story is not a secret code about the war. But a man who lost close friends in a real war, and who loved very old stories, could not help putting some of that truth and sadness into the world he created.
Do all three tasks out loud. Use the timer to keep talking.
Tell the story of The Lord of the Rings in your own words. Use these steps to help you: Bilbo finds the ring → Frodo must leave home → the group forms and travels together → Gandalf falls, and the group breaks apart → the big battle → Gollum, the fire, and the end of the ring.
Try to use some key words (ring, hobbit, journey, wizard, enemy, friend, battle, mountain) and the past simple / past continuous.
The ring changes Boromir, a good man, into someone who tries to steal it. Do you think power can change anyone? Would you resist something this tempting, or do you think everyone has a limit?
Frodo is small and not very strong, but he is the hero of the story. Talk about "small heroes" — ordinary people who do something big.
Not sure what to say? Choose one: