ESL WORKSHEET - Animals

LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS

ANIMAL STORIES

LinguaHouse
Feb. 19, 2023

Level: Pre-Intermediate (A2-B1)
Type of English: English for Teenagers
Tags: Animals; Beliefs, Religion and Superstition; Storytelling; Adjectives; Phrasal Verbs; Past Tenses; 10-12 Years Old; 13-15 Years Old; 16-18 Years Old; Article Based; Video Talk; Vocabulary and Grammar
Publication date: 02/19/2023

In this lesson, the students look at the way animals are presented in traditional literature. They start by recollecting familiar animal characters and stories. Then, they learn adjectives describing personality and some animal similes (e.g., as busy as a bee). They will read six simplified fables, in which they are exposed to the past continuous tense. They use the context of the fables to practice this tense in contrast with the familiar past simple. Finally, they create their own story (by I. Rybak).

• CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in American English.
• CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in American English.
• CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in British English.
• CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in British English.
• CLICK HERE to download/listen to the audios (Am/Br English).

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

1. The ants and the grasshopper: It was a nice summer day. The grasshopper was playing his guitar. He spent every day like that. He never did any work. One day, he saw a group of ants. The ants were working very hard. They were gathering food for winter. The grasshopper asked them to stop working and listen to his music, but they were too busy. The grasshopper didn’t think about winter. It was summer and there was plenty of food around. After a few months, winter came. The ants were warm in their home with plenty of food for everyone. The grasshopper was hungry and cold.
2. The crow and the bottle: It was a hot day and the crow was very thirsty. Suddenly, she saw a bottle under a tree. She sat on the ground and looked at the bottle. There was only a little water at the bottom. The crow tried to reach the water, but she could not. Her beak was too short. At last, she had an idea. She collected some stones. Then, she dropped the stones one by one into the bottle with her beak. Soon the water came up to the top of the bottle. Now the crow was able to drink it.
3. The lion and the mouse: The lion was sleeping. Suddenly, he woke up and saw that a mouse was running over his face. The lion caught the mouse and wanted to kill her. The mouse said, "Please, don’t kill me, I am sure I can help you in the future". The lion laughed at this idea, but let the mouse go. A few days later, the hunters caught the lion and tied him to the ground with thick ropes. The mouse was walking by and saw the lion. She came and cut the ropes with her sharp teeth. "Now you can see that even a mouse can help a lion sometimes."
4. The tortoise and the hare: The tortoise wanted to race the hare. The hare laughed because the tortoise had short legs and walked very slowly. The race began. The tortoise walked slowly and didn’t stop for a moment. The hare ran very fast. Soon he was far ahead, so he stopped for a rest. It was a nice day, and the hare fell asleep. When the hare woke up, he ran quickly to the finishing line. However, the tortoise was already there.
5. The fox and the stork: One day, the fox invited the stork to dinner. The fox served some soup on a plate. She ate the soup quickly, but the stork couldn’t eat from the plate with his long beak. The stork was angry and decided to play a trick on the fox, too. He invited the fox to dinner the next day. When she arrived, she saw that the food was served in a tall, narrow jar. The stork ate the food with his long beak, but the fox went home hungry.
6. The ant and the dove: The ant was walking by the river one day. He decided to have a drink of water. But when he was drinking, he fell into the river. A dove was sitting in a tree. She saw him and threw him a leaf. The ant climbed on the leaf and floated on it to the bank. He was safe. A few days later, the dove was building a nest. The ant was walking by. He saw a man under the tree. The man was getting ready to shoot the dove. The ant ran quickly and bit the man’s leg very hard. The man cried and dropped his gun. The dove heard the noise and flew away. She was safe.

Adapted from: https://www.linguahouse.com/esl-lesson-plans/english-for-teenagers/animal-stories. Accessed on January 23, 2024. © 2008–2024 LinguaHouse.com. All rights reserved.