Objetivos y Estructura del Trabajo

Dolphins are marine mammals that are claimed to have evolved from land mammals some 50 or 60 million years ago! Studies indicate that they are the closely related to hippos, camels, and cows! There has been an unending debate on the exact origin of dolphins and whales that is likely to continue for years to come.

There are 32 types of dolphins that live in salt water. Dolphins eat about 20 to 25 kilos of fi sh per day. Their eating habits vary depending on the area and the time of year. If there is an abundance of fi sh, they will happily consume as much as they need. Interestingly, dolphins regulate their food intake according to the fat content of the fi sh available, and their hunger! In this sense, they can probably control their food intake more effi ciently than humans!

Did you also know that their brains weigh more than ours?

Dolphins can:

• recognize themselves in a mirror

• scan objects in the water using sonar

• sleep with one eye closed

• whistle and recognize each other by their whistles

• go to a depth of about 260 meters

There is mutual interest between dolphins and people. They are as interested in observing us as we are in them.

Dolphins love having fun, communicating, and playing. They are also keen on helping and supporting their own kind and other species that are in danger.

The bottlenose dolphin is the most studied and familiar to people, with a life expectancy of about 40 to 50 years.

Bottlenose dolphins show an extraordinary connection with humans and have rescued injured divers repeatedly.

These wonderful creatures deserve our admiration and respect and need to be protected.

5 Amazing Animals

 8QLW 0* 6$ 6% LQGG B8QLWB0*B6$B7*LQGG   30 3030

Teacher’s Guide

5 Amazing Animals

64

10 ^Writing

A

z Brainstorm on Dolphins. Elicit ideas from the class.

Ask students what they know about dolphins. Hold a brief discussion in class.

z Direct students to A 1. Read the directions with the class.

z Organize students into pairs or groups. Have them write questions they would like to have answered about dolphins.

z Call on a student from each pair/ group to report their questions in class.

z Play the audio and have students listen and make a note of any answers to their questions.

z Read directions for 2. Ask students to compare the points raised with their questions and leave out any points that have already been answered.

z Have students read the text and find out/ confirm the information about dolphins.

Answers

• The origin of dolphins: marine mammals that are claimed to have evolved from land mammals some 50 or 60 million years ago.

• Types of dolphins: 32 types that live in salt water.

• Eating habits: 20 to 25 kilos of fish per day/ they regulate their food intake according to the fat content of the fish and their needs

• Bottlenose dolphins: more familiar to people/ life expectancy:

40 to 50 years/ connection with humans/ rescued divers

• Special abilities: recognize themselves in a mirror, scan using sonar, sleep with one eye closed, whistle and communicate through whistles, go to a depth of 260 meters

• Relationship with people: connection with people, interested in people, have rescued people repeatedly.

z Have a student read 3 aloud. Demonstrate the first point using the first paragraph. Elicit answers about the topic of the paragraph from the class.

Answers

What are dolphins?/ Introduction of dolphins

z Have students work in pairs or groups identifying the topic of each paragraph. Call on a student from each pair/ group to report their answers for the class.

Answers

Paragraph 2: Dolphins and their eating habits/The eating habits of Dolphins/ What Dolphins eat

Paragraph 3/ bullet points: What Dolphins can do/ The incredible abilities of dolphins/ Super dolphins

Paragraph 4/ single line: Dolphins and people.

Paragraph 5: What dolphins like/ The qualities of dolphins Paragraph 6: Conclusion/ The writer’s view and feelings towards dolphins/ The writer’s opinion of dolphins

z Allow students to add to the information in the text if they know about dolphins

z Read directions for 4 and identify all the points that have been answered including student-created questions.

z Have students think about the text in pairs and decide how they might like to change the text. Suggest that they might want to include more information about an area and less about another or change the order, etc.

B8QLWB0*B6$B7*LQGG 30

Teacher’s Guide

5 Amazing Animals

65 B

z Tell students that they will write an essay about a type of animal.

z Read directions for tasks 1 and 2 and have students decide on a type of animal in small groups.

z Have groups decide on an animal and share what they know about it in their group. Tell them to write the information in the K column. Then write what they want to know about the animal in note-form or questions in the W column. Explain to students that they can make notes individually and then share them with the rest of their group.

z Have groups research and fi nd out what they want about the animal in the library or on the Internet.

z Focus students’ attention on the Writing Corner. Have a student read each point aloud and discuss it in class.

Explain to them that it is very important that they select information from the sources that they use and make notes about it. Then set the original text aside and only use their notes to avoid copying the text as it is in the original.

z Explain that sharing opinion, enthusiasm and feelings with the reader makes the text more attractive and prompts the reader to take a position. An essay that is restricted to factual information will read like a dictionary or encyclopedia, which is informative in a neutral manner.

z Regarding reference to the animal, have students go back to the text about dolphins and highlight the way the writer refers to dolphins.

Answers

Dolphins; they; Dolphins (repetition); they (repetition);

the bottlenose dolphin; Bottlenose dolphins; wonderful creatures

z Point out that there is often a tendency to include too much information if one is not confi dent enough to select and leave things out. Tell students to think of what they do when they read something. Do they read parts that list true but generally uninteresting information with interest? Do they remember all the information? Encourage students to be selective.

z Direct students’ attention to the model text. Have them notice the use of I in the fi rst paragraph. Elicit the eff ect this creates from students. Does the use of I and the opening lines make them want to read the essay?

Would they be more interested in an essay that started with “Peregrine falcons are very good hunters. They are fast and …”

z Give the students time to plan and draft their essays.

Then ask them to exchange, read each other’s drafts and comment or suggest corrections.

z Have students rewrite their drafts making changes and corrections.

z Call on some students to read their essays aloud in class. Then have all the students post their essays on the board or the wall for the rest of the class to read.

z Ask students to choose the essays they like best and say why they like them.

Workbook

Assign page 46 for additional writing practice above word and sentence level.

Additional Activity

Ask students to provide clues from diff erent essays for the class to guess which animal is being described. Organize this as a group game in class. Allow students to add more animals if they wish.

B8QLWB0*B6$B7*LQGG 30