ANIMALS LESSON PLAN Advance Lesson Two - Day Lessons VOCABULARY: Beginner Words animals rabbit tiger elephant snake horse bird mouse pig dog cat bear frog duck sheep lion chicken cow fish frog Intermediate Words donkey zebra owl turkey bee wolf deer fox buffalo rat ox walrus goose butterfly, monkey rooster dragon Introduction: Write the word ANIMALS on the board. Tell the students that you are going to leave the room for 5 minutes. While you are gone they have to fill up the whole board with words connected to this theme. They can use their dictionaries if they like. Nominate a student as the secretary; give them the board marker or chalk and leave. Come back after 5 minutes (or before if you think it s too long!) and go over what they have written. OR Animal Alphabet Relay Test your ESL class on how well they know the English names of different animals with this fun classroom activity. Begin by writing each letter of the alphabet on the whiteboard/blackboard and splitting the class into groups of 4 to 6 students. Explain that one member of each team will come to the front and say the name of an animal while erasing the letter it begins with. Write down a list of the animals they come up with. For example, if the first team says "tiger" then they erase the letter t and other animals beginning with 't' such as turtle can't be chosen. A member of the next team will then do the same, and so on until a team can't think of the name of an animal that begins with one of the remaining letters. The last team remaining wins! Make sure as many students as possible have a turn coming to the front and saying the name of animal and keep an eye out for students using books or other resources who are trying to get an unfair advantage. Go over the animals they have written on the board checking for meaning and pronunciation.
Session 1 INSTRUCT AND MODEL 1. Talk about the characteristics or symbols associated with certain animals. (Show pictures of animal as you discuss the characteristic. 2. Compare and contrast between cultures. Owl = wise fox = sly pig = lazy, sloppy Eagle = strength black cat = bad luck bee = busy Raven = death ant = industrious cat = curious PRACTICE 1. Have group form a circle sitting in chairs. One person is to stand in the middle as the "ring master". Everyone is to choose an animal name (dog, cat, eagle, fox, owl...). 2. Ask students to share with the class why they chose a particular animal (encourage to share characteristic of animal). 3. Continue with game: The person in the middle is to have a wadded up newspaper to hit the animals... (make sure it is taped up well because it will fall apart)! You start with one person asking them to call out one of the animal names in the circle. The person whose name was called must call out another name before he/she is swatted by the ring master. This goes on until someone is swatted before another name is called or they call out the ring master s animal name. Once a person has been swatted, they are to become the ring master and the former ring master takes that person s seat. As the game is played, talk with the students about the characteristics of the animals called. INDEPENDENT: 1. In pairs or groups, have students make a list of animals they have seen in China. 2. What characteristics would they assign to them. Share these with the class. (Could have class guess the animal as each group or pair describes the animal(s) they have chosen. Could be made into a riddle.) Session 2 INSTRUCT AND MODEL: 1. Go over the characteristics of the following animals: monkey, rat, cat, dog, cow, beaver, pig/hog, sheep, cat, bee, bear 2. Explain what an idiom is. Give a few examples. Sacredy cat, busy as a bee, to pig out. See if they can explain them. If not you can.
3. Ask if there are any Chinese idioms related to animals.(chinese idioms/sayings Killing a mosquito with a cannon; making a mountain out of a mole hill making a fuss over a trifle or giving too much importance over something small. A dog catching a mouse poking one s nose into other people s business it is a cat who catches mice, not a dog. A frog in the well, never having seen the whole sky used to ridicule short-sighted, narrow minded people. Pulling a tiger s whiskers-only to court death taking a great risk by offending an authority or someone much more powerful than oneself. A mouse in an ox horn-meeting a dead end an idea or method is not feasible or someone is in a tight spot with no way out.) PRACTICE: 1. Give clues one at a time for one of the idioms written on the board. Ask students to raise their hand if they know which idiom you are describing. (You may choose to do this in teams if you wish). 2. After you have done a few, ask if there are students who would like to describe an idiom for the class to guess. Bear hug, monkey business, rat race, cat burglar, top dog, eager beaver, road hog, black sheep INDEPENDENT: Divide students into pairs. Make up animal idiom(s) as a pair. After each pair has made up an idiom(s), share verbally with the class. OR Select one of the idioms presented during the instruction and act it out before the class, have the class guess the idiom. Session 3 INSTRUCT AND MODEL: 1. Show a book and tell students there are many stories written about animals with the intent of teaching a lesson. 2. Tell them that today you are going to read a story and they are to see if they can tell you the lesson the story is trying to teach. Introduce any new vocabulary. Be careful not to choose a story with too many new words (no more than 10-15). (Read a story such as The Tortoise and the Hare, The Lion and the Mouse, Little Red Riding Hood, or The Three Little Pigs) PRACTICE: 1. Read the story and ask questions as you go to be sure that the students understand what you are reading. Have the questions written out before class.
Start with who, what, when, and where questions. You may increase difficulty as you see that the students understand the story. 2. When you are finished, ask some students to share the lesson (moral) of the story. INDEPENDENT: Divide students into groups or pairs. Have students write questions about the story you read, give the students a story to read and write questions, or have students write a story about an animal that has a lesson to be learned. OR Break students into groups and have them come up with a skit about animals that teaches a lesson. Lesson 4 1. Draw and animal that represents them: Tell the students to choose an animal that you think is most like you, in other words if you could be any animal what would you be. Then tell the students that they are going to draw a picture of this animal and then write five sentences using descriptive adjectives to explain why they chose the animal they did. Show an example about yourself. Individually students will draw the animal that they feel represents them on the piece of paper. Next they will write their five sentences, using at least one adjective in each, explaining how the animal represents them. During the project the teacher will walk around and answer any questions. Break into groups and share the pictures and share the five sentences. 2. I Know An Old Lady: Go over vocabulary that might be unfamiliar. Read the story to them and discuss vocabulary and meaning. Read it together as a class. If time they can break into partners and come up with change of verse for the story, then have them present it to the class. Session 5 Tell Story of Noah s Ark INSTRUCT AND MODEL THE VOCABULARY: Choose which words you will need to teach your students as vocabulary words. Try not to have too many more than ten new words. Have the students write them and their definitions in their notebooks. These may be taught before the story or as you tell or explain the story. Write the words on the board in groups of five or six. Point to the word and teach the pronunciation. Teach the meaning by showing pictures, drawing pictures, acting it out, explaining in synonyms, or as a last resort getting it in Chinese. Review the pronunciation and the meaning of the words.
INSTRUCT AND MODEL THE STORY : The teacher can present the story in various ways. #1 Tell the story as you act it out or draw pictures on the board to help with understanding. Try to be very animated and entertaining while you do this. The pictures might be how you introduce the vocabulary also as you tell the story. As you are telling the story continually ask questions to check understanding. #2 (Very popular with the students) Tell the story as you bring students up front to play the various parts (people and animals) in the story. When you say that a character says something have the student repeat it. As you are telling the story continually ask questions to check understanding. This method gives them a visual as well as auditory for understanding the story. It also is very entertaining to see the students being various characters. #3 You may read the story to the students a couple of times, asking them questions about the content. This method tests their auditory skills and can be difficult for the lower ability classes. Session 6 INSTRUCT AND MODEL: 1. During the break between classes you, one of your artistic helpers or students draw simple pictures to retell the story. These should be draw in sequential order. If you have absolutely no talent in your class, you may use phrases under your stick figures. 2. Model retelling the story using the pictures. (With beginners one sentence for each picture and add sentences and details as the class level goes up) Point to the picture and say a sentence. You can have the class repeat it for pronunciation. Ask questions about different pictures. PRACTICE: Point to the pictures and have various students help you retell the story using the pictures. (If your class would need to write the sentences down to be able to do this, let them) INDEPENDENT: Retell story to partners or in small groups using the pictures or phrases that they have come up with. Take turns so that both get a chance to retell the story. If time present retelling to the class. CLOSURE: Break the class into small groups. These groups are to plan a skit that retells the story. If the class is capable they could also choose to do a news report, song, original stories with similar theme, commercials, TV shows, etc. instead of an ordinary skit.
Additional Activities There was an Old Woman There was an old woman. She swallowed a fly. There was an old woman. She swallowed a spider. It squirmed and squirmed and wiggled insider her. She swallowed the spider to catch the fly. There was an old woman. She swallowed a bird. How absurd to swallow a bird. She swallowed the bird to catch the spider. She swallowed the spider to catch the fly. There was an old woman. She swallowed a cat. Imagine that, to swallow a cat. She swallowed the cat to catch the bird. She swallowed the bird to catch the spider. She swallowed the spider to catch the fly. There was an old woman. She swallowed a dog. What a hog to swallow a dog. She swallowed the dog to catch the cat. She swallowed the cat to catch the bird. She swallowed the bird to catch the spider. She swallowed the spider to catch the fly. There was an old women. She swallowed a cow. I don t know how she swallowed the cow. She swallowed the cow to catch the dog. She swallowed the dog to catch the cat. She swallowed the cat to catch the bird. She swallowed the bird to catch the spider. She swallowed the spider to catch the fly. There was an old women. She swallowed a horse. She died of course. Compare and Contrast various animals: Birds and dragonflies Fish and lizards Elephants and walruses ANIMAL JOKES: Why do bees hum? Because they don t know the words. Why do birds fly south for the winter? Because it s too far to walk. What goes up slowly and comes down quickly? An elephant in a lift. Why is there a crab in prison? Because he kept pinching things! What do you call a brainy insect? A spelling bee. Why did the man throw the butter out the window? Because he wanted to see butterfly. What happened to the cat that swallowed a ball of wool? She had mittens. How do porcupines kiss each other? Very carefully. What do you give an elephant with big feet? Plenty of room! Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side. What do you call a fish with no eyes? A fsh.
Why does everyone love cats? Because they re purr-fect! Where do cows go with their friends? The moooovies! How do you keep an elephant in suspense? I ll tell you tomorrow. What do you call a fly without wings? A walk. Sing animal songs (see beginner and intermediate lessons for the words) Conversation Starters and Questions: Do you have any pets? If so, tell about them. Are cats better pets than dogs or are dogs better pets than cats? Why? If you could be any animal in the world, what would you be and why? Do you think it's morally acceptable for scientists to do genetic experiments on animals? Why or why not? What about other types of medical research? What wild animals do you find most interesting? Why? Which animals do you think dream? Why? What pets are most popular in your country? If you could observe an extinct animal for an afternoon, which one would you choose and why? What's the most interesting animal you've ever eaten? Would you like to go on an African safari? Why or why not? In your country, do dogs usually sleep inside or outside? How are humans like other animals? How are they different? How many different pets have you had over your lifetime? Which was your favorite? Do you consider yourself an adventurous person? Why or why not? What do you like most about going to the zoo? What about least? Can pets become part of a human family? What was your first pet and how did you get it? How can pets help people emotionally? Do you have a pet? How old is it? Where did you get it from? Who takes care of it? What does it look like (color, breed, etc.)? What do you feed it? Do you play with it? What is it's name? How did you choose this name? Does it know any tricks or understand any words? If you don't have a pet, why not? Would you ever consider getting a pet? Did you grow up with pets in your home? What are the pros and cons of keeping a pet? What is the best pet to own?
What are some animals that live in your country? Are you afraid of snakes? What is the biggest snake you have seen? Are there any poisonous snakes in your country? Are you frightened of spiders? What do you do if you see one? Can you name some endangered species? Have you ever ridden a horse? Are there birds or squirrels in your neighborhood? Do you know someone who owns an unusual pet? Do you think it is acceptable to test cosmetics on animals? How do you feel about the use of animals for medical research? Do you think it is okay to eat meat? Do you know any vegetarians? Is there any kind of meat you would not eat? What kind of meats have you eaten? Have you ever been to a zoo? Are there laws about hunting in your country? What do you think of hunting? Would you eat an animal that you killed yourself? Have you ever seen a dog that helps people, such as one to assist a blind person or a policeman? If so, what did you notice about the dog? How do you think that dog was trained? What animals do you think are cute? What animals do you think are ugly? What can children learn by having a pet? What is the largest animal you have ever seen? Why do some people not like pets? What can people learn from animals? Does feeding an animal bring you happiness? If you saw a stranger drowning, and you also saw your pet drowning, and you could only save one, who would you save? What would most people choose? Can people be too attached to their pets? What animal do you think is the funniest? What animal do you think is the strangest-looking? What animal do you think makes the best pet? Why? What animal would you like to be? (Which animal...?) What animals are symbols of your country? What animals are you afraid of? (...scared of?) What animals do you think are cute? What animal do you think is the cutest? What is the difference between a pet and a wild animal? What is the most unusual pet you have ever seen? What is your favorite animal?
VOCABULARY: animals rabbit tiger elephant snake horse bird mouse pig dog cat bear frog duck sheep lion chicken cow fish frog donkey zebra owl turkey bee wolf deer fox buffalo rat ox walrus goose butterfly monkey rooster dragon Animal Characteristic spots stripes wings fins scales gills claws fur antlers tusks hooves paws horns
Idioms Bear hug Monkey business Rat race Cat burglar Top dog Eager beaver Road hog