Welcome to the lesson notes for Golden Boy! In this lesson, you will learn simple words like boy, mountain, and strong. You can click on the highlighted words in the story to see their meanings instantly.
Listen to the audio as you read to hear how each word sounds. Then explore the lesson notes below for vocabulary, grammar, and fun practice activities. Let's begin!
Kintaro is a little boy. He lives in the .
He has many . He rabbits and deer every day.
Kintaro is very . He can big stones.
His best friend is a big brown bear. They .
One day, a sees Kintaro. "What a boy!" he says.
"Thank you!" Kintaro says. "I with my friends."
The samurai says, ". You can be a ." Kintaro goes with him. He and becomes a famous hero. Everyone calls him the Golden Boy.
Kintaro is a young boy living in the mountains.
He has many animal friends and plays with rabbits and deer daily.
Kintaro is very strong and can carry large stones.
His best friend is a big brown bear, and they play together.
One day, a samurai sees Kintaro and exclaims, "What a strong boy!"
Kintaro thanks him, saying he loves playing with his friends.
The samurai invites Kintaro to become a great warrior, and Kintaro agrees, trains, and becomes a famous hero known as the Golden Boy.
Let's look at some friendly words from Kintaro's story. These words will help you talk about people, places, and animals.
- boy — a young male person
- mountain — a very high piece of land
- friend — a person or animal you like and play with
- strong — having a lot of power
- bear — a big wild animal with thick fur
- samurai — a warrior from old Japan
- hero — a person who is brave and good
In the story, we read: 'Kintaro is a little boy' and 'He lives in the mountains.' These sentences use two simple patterns.
Use 'He is + noun' to say who someone is: He is a boy. Use 'He lives in + place' to say where someone lives: He lives in the mountains.
- He is + noun — He is a boy. / He is strong.
- He lives in + place — He lives in the mountains.
- Use 'has' for things: He has many animal friends.
- Use 'can' for ability: He can carry big stones.
Kintaro is strong, but he is also kind. He plays with rabbits, deer, and a big brown bear. His animal friends love him.
The story shows that friendship is important. Kintaro's kindness and his friends help him become a great hero. Think about your own friends. How do they help you?
- Kintaro is strong and kind.
- He loves playing with his animal friends.
- Friendship helps us grow and do great things.
Now it's your turn! Use the words and patterns from this lesson to talk or write about Kintaro.
Say: 'Kintaro is a boy. He lives in the mountains. He is strong. He has a bear friend.' Then describe your best friend. Where does your friend live? What can your friend do? Try saying three sentences out loud!
- Write three sentences about Kintaro.
- Write three sentences about your best friend.
- Read your sentences out loud.
The Golden Boy comes from the Japanese / folk tale tradition and is best known as a folk hero tale. This Yak Yacker article is an original learner retelling based on Traditional Japanese folk hero tale; public domain, so the wording here is simplified for modern learners rather than copied from one old edition.
Older printings, translations, and retellings of this story can vary quite a bit. The original audience was usually kids, but this version is adapted for A1 Beginner learners studying English. Good mountains/animals/strength vocabulary.
If you want to look into the source tradition, start with Wikipedia.
If you want to keep going, browse more in our English section and review the A1 English Vocabulary List. After that, try Best Graded Readers for English for another useful next step.