Listen&Learn: The Hobbit

Posted by: Jaksyn Peacock

One of the most well-known books of the fantasy genre.

Pre-listening vocabulary

fantasy: a fiction genre that involves magic
protagonist: the main character of a story
recruit: to convince someone to help with an important task
quest: a journey to accomplish a specific goal
defeat: to beat someone in a battle
trilogy: a series made up of three books

Listening activity

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Gapfill exercise

The Hobbit is a classic fantasy children’s novel by English author J.R.R. Tolkien. The novel was published in 1937, and over 100 million copies have been sold since then. The protagonist of the book is named Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo is a hobbit – a small, human-like that lives underground. One day, a wizard called Gandalf recruits Bilbo to go on a quest to find some valuable treasure. This treasure once belonged to a group of dwarves, who are determined to get it back. Together, Bilbo and Gandalf set out to help the dwarves find their treasure – but first they have to defeat Smaug, the dragon who guards it. Tolkien originally wrote this story for his own children, but it quickly became a huge . This inspired Tolkien to write a sequel trilogy: the famous Lord of the Rings , which takes place 60 years after the events of The Hobbit.

Comprehension questions

[wp_quiz id=”19473″]

Discussion/essay questions

Many of the imaginary elements that Tolkien used in his books, such as wizards, dwarves, elves, and dragons, are common across the fantasy genre. Some fantasy books with similar elements (like the Harry Potter series) have been just as successful as Tolkien’s stories. Why do you think books with these themes are so popular?

Transcript

The Hobbit is a classic fantasy children’s novel written by English author J.R.R. Tolkien. The novel was published in 1937, and over 100 million copies have been sold since then. The protagonist of the book is named Bilbo Baggins. Bilbo is a hobbit – a small, human-like creature that lives underground. One day, a wizard called Gandalf recruits Bilbo to go on a quest to find some valuable treasure. This treasure once belonged to a group of dwarves, who are determined to get it back. Together, Bilbo and Gandalf set out to help the dwarves find their treasure – but first they have to defeat Smaug, the powerful dragon who guards it. Tolkien originally wrote this story for his own children, but it quickly became a huge success. This inspired Tolkien to write a sequel trilogy: the famous Lord of the Rings series, which takes place 60 years after the events of The Hobbit.

Written and recorded by Jaksyn Peacock for EnglishClub

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16 comments

abdolmonem says:

People like fantasy
Prasad Indulkar says:

I like this lesson so much
Nisha Dabhi says:

It was great learning something new and adventure series..
English Club Indonesia says:

Fantasy and magical stories bring forth elements beyond imagination. Everything is so surprising and unexpected. This attracts people to read them.
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kaci says:

thank you so much for this lesson i think it is easy to understand and to improve our listening, reading and writing!
Luis Jiménez says:

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claudia Marty says:

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Tom xiao says:

I like this lesson so much
Enriqueta Alicia Martínez. says:

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Tai says:

Good
Sandra Bello says:

The read was very interesting and all exercise, for me is very important a lot of practice because I need improve my English.

Thanks,

Sincerily

Sandra Bello