Exploring wildlife
Lesson 1
Before reading
- Look at the photos
- Name the animals.
- Where do they live? In the North and South Poles
- The Answers: a-polar bears b-penguins
-The key words
|
The word / phrase |
The meaning |
The part of speech |
|
Snowstorm |
a heavy fall of snow that is blown by strong winds |
Noun |
|
Iceberg |
a very large mass of ice that floats in the sea |
Noun |
|
Wildlife |
animals and plants that grow independently of people, usually in natural conditions |
Noun |
|
Seal |
a large mammal that eats fish and lives partly in the sea and partly on land or ice |
Adjective |
|
Sole |
the bottom part of the foot that touches the ground when you stand or walk, or the bottom part of a shoe that touches the ground, usually not including the heel |
Noun |
|
Nostril |
either of the two openings in the nose through which air moves when you breathe |
Noun |
|
Polar |
relating to the North or South Pole or the areas around them |
Adjective |
|
Ice floe |
a large area of ice floating in the sea |
Noun |
|
Webbed |
if a bird or animal has webbed feet, its toes are connected by skin to help it when swimming |
Adjective |
*These are some pictures to make it clearer.
ice floe seal iceberg
nostril boat trip sole
webbed
Exercise: 4
-Choose the words that refer to animals from the table above. Some words don’t refer to animals, so don’t choose them.
wildlife, seal, nostril, webbed.
While reading
Polar Bears and Penguins
Not many people have the chance to visit the North and South Poles. However, if you had the opportunity to visit the Poles, they would appear similar – both are places of extreme cold. If you went there in winter, you would probably experience severe snowstorms. However, both are also places of spectacular beauty, with their frozen landscapes of snow, ice and icebergs. If you went on a special adventure boat trip when you visited, you would be able to observe the unique wildlife of these places, like polar bears, penguins and seals. You would be unlucky if you didn’t see any seals.
The polar bear lives in the cold, snowy Arctic lands in the North Pole. It has a thick layer of fat underneath its skin and this helps to keep it warm. It also has a thick layer of fur all over its body, including the soles of its feet, which allows it to swim in the coldest seas without feeling the cold. Beneath the fur the skin is black, so it absorbs heat. Polar bears are excellent swimmers. Their nostrils can close so they can swim underwater and between the ice floes to look for seals, their favourite food.
Unlike polar bears, penguins live in Antarctica. Penguins keep warm with thick skin and lots of fat under the skin. Penguins have dark coloured feathers on their back, which absorb heat from the sun to keep them warm. Like polar bears, penguins are excellent swimmers. They have webbed feet and streamlined bodies for powerful and fast swimming. They have different diets, but in general, they all eat a variety of small fish.
-The main ideas:
1- The writer mentioned the the coldest regions on the Earth (the North and South Poles).
2- The writer mentioned the animals that live there (polar bears, penguins and seals).
3- The writer mentioned some similarities between the North and South Poles.
4- The writer mentioned how do animals there survive and eat.
After reading
- Fill in the table from the text:
| Details | Polar bears | Penguins |
| food | seals | a variety of small fish |
| similarities | excellent swimmers | |
| place | in the cold, snowy Arctic lands in the North Pole | in Antarctica |
Exercise: 5
- Read the following words, and pay attention to the letters /p/ and /b/.
Polar bears Penguins
/b/ is a voiced sound ………… book, baby, buy.
/p/ is produced by the puff of air ………. pen, pie, play.
-Think of any other words that have this sound /p/. pen, please
-Think of any other words that have this sound /b/. boy, board
-Find words from the text that have these sounds /b/ or /p/ and there is a word that has both sounds.
|
bear |
penguin |
|
both, probably, icebergs, boat, be, able, obsreve, body, beneath, black, absorb, between, back, webbed, but |
people, pole, opportunity, appear, places, probably, experience, spectacular, landscapes, special, trip, polar, helps, keep, powerful |
The word that has the two sounds is probably.
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