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MultiROM OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
• Interactive activities
www.oup.com/elt
• Audio recording of complete
dramatized story text
 DOMINOES

The Selfish Giant

 DOMINOES
Series Editors: Bill Bowler and Sue Parminter
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The Selfish Giant

Oscar Wilde

Text adaptation by Bill Bowler

Illustrated by Scott Altmann

Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1854, and studied

Greek and Latin at university in Dublin and Oxford. He wrote
short stories for adults, fairy tales for children, and a novel, The
Picture of Dorian Gray {1891). He also wrote popular comedies
for the theatre, including The Importance of Being Earnest
(1895). He is fa�ous too for his clever and funny sayings. He died
in Paris in 1900 at the age of forty-six. Lord Arthur Savi/e's Crime
and Other Stories and The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde are also
available as Dominoes.

OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
 Story Characters

The Selfish Giant The little boy The children

The Snow The Frost The North Wind

The Hail Autumn

 Contents

Before Reading ............................................... vi

Chapter 1 The Giant comes home .................. 1
Act1v1t1es ....................................................... 3
Chapter 2 Always winter .............................. 4
Act1v1t1es ....................................................... 7
Chapter 3 The hole in the wall ....................... 8
Activities .. . ... . ..... . .... . ......... . ......................... 11
Chapter 4 The boy in the tree ...................... 12
Activities . . . . .......... . ................... . . . ................ 15
Chariter 5 The most beautiful flowers ........... 16
Activities .......... . ........ . . ................................ 1 9
Chapter 6 The wounds of love ..................... 20
Activities .. . ... . .............................................. 23
Project A ..................................................... 24
Project B ............ .... . .......... . ..... . ..... . . . ........ . .. 26
Word Work ................................................... 28
 BEFORE READING
This story is about a selfish Giant. What do you think happens in it?
Tick the boxes.

a At first, the Giant is ... when children play in his garden.

1 happy II]
2 angry
3 afraid

b The Giant puts ... around his garden.

1 a wall II]
2 some shops
3 a road

c Aher this, it is always ... in the Giant's garden.

1 autumn
2 spring
3 winter

d Later, the Giant makes friends with ....

1 a little boy � •
2 two more giants
3 a gardener

e In the end, the Giant likes seeing the ... in his garden.
1 birds
2 children
3 cats

vi
 Cl-IAPTER 1
The Giant comes home
Every afternoon, when school finishes, the children
play in the Giant's garden.
. It's a wonderful, big, green garden. There are
beautiful flowers in it, and twelve tall trees. Birds like
sitting and singing in these trees. The children often
stop playing and listen to them. 'We're very happy
here,' they say.
For seven years, the Giant stays away in Cornwall, at
the house of his friend the Cornish Giant. Then, one school students
day, he comes home, and he finds all the children in learn here
giant a very big,
the garden. tall man or woman
'What are you doing here?' he cries angrily, and bird an animal
that can fly
the children run away. through the sky
 'It's my garden,' the Giant says. 'People must
understand! And nobody can play here - only me!'
So he puts a wall around the garden, with a big
notice on it.

wall this stands

between two
gardPns, or around
a garden
around all the
way round
He is a very selfish Giant.
notice writing in
a place that tells Where can the children go now? They don't like
people something
important playing in the road. So after school. they walk around
selfish thinking the wall and they look at it. And they remember the
only about what is
good for you beautiful garden behind it, too.

2
 READING CHECK
Are these sentences true or false? Tick the boxes.
True False
a The children play in the Giant's garden before school. D li2]
b They are very happy there. D D
c The Giant comes home from Cornwall after seven weeks. D D
d When he comes back, he's happy to see the children. D D
e The children run to the Giant when he arrives. D D
f The Giant puts a wall around his garden. D D
g He puts a notice on the wall. D D
h The children like playing in the road. D D
i They forget the Giant's beautiful garden. D D
GUESS WHAT
What does the Giant do in the next chapter? Tick one box.

a He asks the Cornish Giant to his house D b He finds a little boy in his house. D

c He watches his garden for weeks, but it d He puts a door in his garden wall. D
doesn't change. D
b
;J; :7;;� 3
 The Selfish Giant sits at his window. He looks out at
his cold, white garden.
'I don't understand,' he says. 'The spring's very late
this year. When is it coming? And when is this winter
finishing?'

.__ _____ _____ __ ___ __ __ ___ __c____

 After many years, the Giant is old and weak. He
cannot play any more. So he sits in a nice big chair,
and he watches the children's games. He looks at his
weak not strong
garden happily, too.
game something
that you play; 'I have many beautiful flowers,' he says. 'But the
tennis and football
are games children are the most beautiful flowers of all.'
 GRAMMAR CHECK
Present Continuous: affirmative and negative
We use the Present Continuous to talk about things happening now. We make the Present
Continuous affirmative of most verbs with the verb be+ the -ing form of the verb.
The Giant is standing next to the tree.
When a verb ends in consonant+ -e, we take away the e and add -ing.
smile - The boy is smi/1119 now.
When verbs end in a stressed short vowel+ consonant we double the final consonant
and add -ing.
run - The children are run ninq away.
We put n't ( not) with the verb be to make the Present Continuous negative.
The children aren'1 ( are nor) walking.

3 Complete the text about the picture with the verbs in the correct form.

The little boy is a) ...i.�. st.C?i.DOi.DS .. (stand) in the tree and he b) .......................
(look) at the Giant. The Giant c) ....................... (smile). Some children
d) ....................... (come) back into the garden through the hole in the wall. They
e) ....................... (not cry) and they f) ....................... (not laugh). They
g) ....................... (watch) the Giant carefully. Some birds h) ....................... (sit)
in the tree with the boy in it. They i)....................... (sing) happily. The tree
j) ....................... (blossom) and the snow k) ....................... (go) quickly from
the ground. It I) ....................... (not rain). It's warm and the sun is in the sky.
33
Dominoes is an enjoyable series of illustrated classic and modern stories in four
carefully graded language stages - from Starter to Three - which take learners from
beginner to intermediate level.

Each Domino reader includes:

� a good story to read and enjoy
!"' integrated activities to develop reading skills and increase active vocabulary
� personalized projects to make the language and story themes more meaningful
contextualized grammar practice.
Each Domino pack contains a reader, plus a MultiROM with:
a complete audio recording of the story, fully dramatized to bring it to life
, interactive activities to offer further practice in reading and language skills
and to consolidate learning.

If you liked this Quick Starter Level Domino, why not read these?
The Little Match Girl
Hans Andersen
It's a cold winter's day, and a poor little girl can't sell any of her matches to
people in the street. She can't go home with no money. But how can she stay
warm7That 31st December, the little match girl sees rich people's homes,
Christmas trees, and wonderful things to eat. She sadly remembers her kind
grandmother - now dead and up in heaven. Can the New Year make things
any better for the poor young girl7
Book ISBN: 978019 4249409
Multi ROM Pack ISBN: 978019 4249386

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

retold by Janet Hardy-Gould
After Ali Baba finds a thieves' treasure cave, he is suddenly rich. Then his brother
Kasim visits the cave, and things go wrong. The forty thieves find Kasim there,
kill him, and cut him into four pieces. What can Ali Baba do? He wants to bury
his brother quietly. But how can he 7 Morgiana, his servant-girl, has the answer.
But what can she do when the thieves find Ali Baba and want to kill him, too 7
Book ISBN: 978019 424934 8
Multi ROM Pack ISBN: 978019 424932 4

You can find details and a full list of books in the Oxford Graded Readers catalogue and Oxford
English Language Teaching Catalogue, and on the website: www.oup.com/elt
Teachers: see www.oup.com/elt for a full range of online support, or consult your local office.
Cambridge
Exams TOEFLiBT
PET 57-86
KET-PET
YLE Flyers/KET
YLE Movers
 '.It's my garden,' says the Giant. 'People must
understand� Nobody can play here - only mel'
So the children leave, .and the Selfish Giant puts
a wall around his garden. After that, it's always
winter there.
· Later, the Giant feels sorry for a young boy in the
snow. He knocks down the garden wall - and the
children, and the spr,ing, tome back. But where is
the young boy now? And how can the Giant find.,
him again?

Text adaptation by Bill Bowler

Illustrated by Scott Altmann
· QThis book Is supported by • MultlROM, containing I complete
v dramatized audio �cording of the story plus Interactive activities..
Series Editors: Bill Bowler and Sue Parminter

ISBN 978-0·19-424929-4