Unit 4 Wildlife protection

Period 1: Warming up and reading

Aims

To talk about endangered species and enable the students to say something about wildlife protection and environmental protection.

To read about wildlife protection and help the students to get to know “how to help wildlife and how to protect the environment” by reading and guessing.

Procedures

I. Warming up by learning about animals

Look at the photos below and listen to me telling you about the animals, the endangered animals.

The Giant Panda is a mammal now usually classified in the bear family, Ursidae, that is native to central China.

The Giant Panda lives in mountainous regions, like Sichuan and Tibet. The Giant Panda is the symbol of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a conservation organization. Toward the latter half of the 20th century, the panda also became somewhat of a national emblem for China, and is now used in Chinese gold coins.

Giant Pandas are an endangered species, threatened by continued loss of habitat and by a very low birthrate, both in the wild and in captivity. About 1,600 are believed to survive in the wild.

Milu deer is a Chinese deer. It has a long tail, wide hooves, and branched antlers. Another Chinese name for it is “four unlikes,.” because the animals were seen as having the horns of a stag, the neck of a camel, the foot of a cow, and the tail of an ass.

These animals were first made known to Western science in the 19th century, by Father Arm and David, a French missionary working in China. At the time, the only surviving herd was in a preserve belonging to the Chinese emperor. The last herd of Milu deers that remained in China were eaten by Western and Japanese troops that were present at the time of the Boxer Rebellion.

These deer are now found in zoos around the world, and a herd of Milu deer was reintroduced to Dafeng Reserve, China in the late 1980s. They are classified as “critically endangered.” in the wild, but do not appear to have suffered from a genetic bottleneck because of small population size.

A tiger is a large cat famous for its beautiful fur of orange striped with black. Tigers live in Asia and are becoming very rare. This is due to people hunting them for their fur and destroying the forests they live in.

II. Pre-reading

1． Defining wildlife

What does the world wildlife mean?

The term wildlife refers to living organisms that are not in any way artificial or domesticated and which exist in natural habitats. Wildlife can refer to flora (plants) but more commonly refers to fauna (animals). Needless to say, wildlife is a very general term for life in various ecosystems. Deserts, rainforests, plains, and other areas-including the most built-up urban sites-all have distinct forms of wildlife.

Humankind has historically tended to separate civilization from wildlife in a number of ways; besides the obvious difference in vocabulary, there are differing expectations in the legal, social, and moral sense. This has been reason for debate throughout recorded history. Religions have often declared certain animals to be sacred, and in modern times concern for the environment has provoked activists to protest the exploitation of wildlife for human benefit or entertainment.

2. Reading to the recording

Now turn to page 26, listening and reading to the recording of the text. Try to keep pace with the native reader, making your reading resemble that of the reader, in speed, in intonation and in pronunciation.

3. Reading and transforming

Now you are to read the text for information to fill in the form.

What did Daisy see where she was?

In Tibet in China Zimbabwe In thick rain forest

4. Reading and underlining

Next you are to read the text and underline all the collocations at the same time.

HOW DAISY LEARNED TO HELP WILDLIFE

not long ago, wake up, find…by one’s side, a flying chair, get dressed, put on one’s jeans, fly away to…, turn around, with a sad face, use…to make…, kill…for…, take…from under…, take one’s picture, become endangered, destroy the farm, take photos, apply to, hunt…for…, make money for…, as a result, in thick rain forest, protect…from…, rub…over…, a powerful drug, pay attention to…, take…home

III. Closing up by matching animals to five risk categories

Different endangered species appear on different endangered species lists. And people who are trying to protecting animal use the following five risk categories to group the unlucky animal.

Now in groups of four try to group all the unlucky animals found in China.

List of Unlucky animals found in China

中國不幸動物分類名錄

EXTINCT(滅絕動物)-A species formerly indigenous to Canada that no longer exists anywhere.

EXTIRPATED（根絕動物）-A species no longer existing in the wild in Canada but occurring elsewhere.

ENDANGERED（瀕危動物）-A species threatened with imminent extinction or extirpation throughout all or a significant portion of its Canadian range.

THREATENED（危急動物）-A species likely to become endangered in Canada if the factors affecting its vulnerability are not reversed.

VULNERABLE（弱勢動物）-A species particularly at risk because of low or declining numbers, small range or for some other reason, but not a threatened species.

Period 2: Learning about Language

(The Present Progressive Passive Voice)

Aims

To learn about The Present Progressive Passive Voice

To discover useful words and expressions

To discover useful structures.

Procedures

I. Warming up by acting a text play

Good morning class. To begin with we shall put our text HOW DAISY LEARNED TO HELP WILDLIFE on stage, that is, to act out our story. Now the class acting team with their text play of HOW DAISY LEARNED TO HELP WILDLIFE!

II. Discovering useful words and expressions

1. Doing vocabulary exercises

Turn to page 28 and do the vocabulary exercises 1, 2 and 3. You can simply write your answers in the blanks on the very page of 28.

2. Playing a game

Let’s go on to play the game described on the top of the page 29. The following sentences are to be passed on.

▲ Plant native plants in your backyard.

▲ Do not dump weeds in the bush.

▲ Build a frog pond in your backyard.

▲ Put your rubbish in the bin.

▲ Leave your pets at home.

▲ Do not take anything out of the park.

▲ Encourage your friends to keep patches of bush as wildlife habitats.

▲ Join a community group and offer to do voluntary work.

▲ Find out about conservation activities happening in your local area.

▲ Participate in local clean-up, tree planting and weed control activities.

▲ Learn About Threatened Species

▲ Look out for wildlife

▲ Refuse to buy any rare or endangered plant or animal product.

▲ Be alert and drive slowly at dawn and dusk in rural areas where wildlife may be active.

III. Studying The Present progressive Passive Voice

1. Passive Voice

The passive voice is used when focusing on the person or thing affected by an action.

The Passive is formed: Passive Subject + To Be + Past Participle

It is often used in business and in other areas where the object of the action is more important than those who perform the action. For Example: We have produced over 20 different models in the past two years. Changes to: Over 20 different models have been produced in the past two years.

If the agent (the performer of the action) is important, use “by.” For Example:

Tim Wilson wrote The Flight to Brunnswick in 1987.

The Flight to Brunnswick was written in 1987 by Tim Wilson.

Only verbs that take an object can be used in the passive.

The following chart includes sentences changed from the active to the passive in the principal tenses.

Active Passive Time Reference

They make Fords in Cologne. Fords are made in Cologne. Present Simple

Susan is cooking dinner. Dinner is being cooked by Susan Present Continuous

James Joyce wrote Dubliners. Dubliners was written by James Joyces. Past Simple

They were painting the house when I arrived. The house was being painted when I arrived. Past Continuous

They have produced over 20 models in the past two years. Over 20 models have been produced in the past two years. Present Perfect

They are going to build a new factory in Portland. A new factory is going to be built in Portland. Future Intention with Going to

I will finish it tomorrow. It will be finished tomorrow. Future Simple

2. Passive Verb Formation

The passive forms of a verb are created by combining a form of the “to be verb.” with the past participle of the main verb. Other helping verbs are also sometimes present: “The measure could have been killed in committee.” The passive can be used, also, in various tenses. Let’s take a look at the passive forms of “design.”

Tense Subject Auxiliary Past Participle

Singular Plural

Present The car/cars is are designed.

Present perfect The car/cars has been have been designed.

Past The car/cars was were designed.

Past perfect The car/cars had been had been designed.

Future The car/cars will be will be designed.

Future perfect The car/cars will have been will have been designed.

Present progressive The car/cars is being are being designed.

Past progressive The car/cars was being were being designed.

IV. Reading and identifying

Since you are clear about Passive Verb Formation, go back to page 26 and scan the text for all the examples of The Present Progressive Passive Voice.

Our fur is being used to make sweaters like yours.

She was being watched by an excited elephant.

…

Now try to put the following sentences into The Present Progressive Passive Voice.

▲ They are producing this new drug.

▲ Antelope is looking at her.

▲ They are killing us for the wool.

▲ They are destroying the farm.

V. Discovering useful structures

To consolidate your learning of The Present Progressive Passive Voice, turn to page 29 and do the grammar exercises 1, 2 and 3, also on the very page of 29.

VI. Closing down by playing a game

To end this period go to page 29 and play the game called “Tell me what is happening?” Ask questions containing The Present Progressive Passive Voice.

Period 3: Using Language

(ABOUT DINOSAURS)

Aims

To read and listen about dinosaurs

To speak about helping the dodo

To write to the dodo

Procedures

I. Warming up by reading to the tape

Let’s warm up by reading aloud to the recording of the text

ABOUT DINOSAURS on page 30.

II. Listening about DINOSAURS

Now I’d like to tell you something about DINOSAURS

■In formation about Dinosaur

Dinosaur means terrible lizard in Latin. They were called that because people used to think dinosaurs were lizards, but they were not. Dinosaurs first appeared about 200 million years ago. 65 million years ago, many kinds of dinosaurs became extinct. Birds are a special type of dinosaur and they were the only kind to live until today.

There were many kinds of dinosaurs. Some ate plants and some ate meat. The largest dinosaurs were plant-eaters like apatosaurus and brachiosaurus. They were the largest animals to ever walk on dry land.

Other plant-eaters had special weapons to help them fight off the meat-eaters. For example, triceratops had three horns on its face, ankylosaurus was covered in boney plates, and stegosaurus had spikes on its tail.

The meat-eaters all ran around on their back legs like people do. Some were very large, like tyrannosaurus, and some were small, like compsognathus. It was the smaller sized meat-eaters that evolved into birds. One of the first birds was archaeopteryx, but it looked half like a dinosaur.

There were large flying reptiles that lived at the same time as dinosaurs called pterosaurs, but they were not closely related to dinosaurs. There were also many kinds of large reptiles that could swim, like ichthyosaurs and pleisiosaurs, but they weren’t closely related to dinosaurs either.

III. Reading and copying

Next we shall go back to the text ABOUT DINOSAURS on page 30 again to read it and copy down all the expressions into your notebook.

Useful phrases from ABOUT DINOSAURS

During the history of the earth, live on the earth, tens of millions of years ago, came into being, eggs of five species, a rare new species, a bird-like dinosaur, climb tree, tell…from…, die out, hit the earth, put…into the air, get hot, live on, know for sure, in the same way, listen to the story about…, disappear from…

IV. Reading to answer questions

Read the questions in the table below and scan the text to answer them.

When did dinosaurs live on earth?

When did dinosaurs die out?

How did dinosaurs die out?

V. Listening about the dodo

Have you ever heard of the dodo, an animal that has also disappeared from the earth?

The Mauritius Dodo (Raphus cucullatus, called Didus ineptus by Linnaeus), more commonly just Dodo, was a metre-high flightless bird of the island of Mauritius. The Dodo, which is now extinct, lived on fruit and nested on the ground.

Next we are going to listen to the tape and do exercises 1 and 2 on page 30 on dodo.

VI. Speaking in pairs about helping the dodo

Zhao Yannan: The Dodo was driven to extinction by sailors when they discovered the island of Maritius in the 17th century. It is one of the first documented human induced extinctions.

Zhao Yanfei: What a pity that we can not find any dodo now. Imagine we are with the dodo, Yannan, what could we do to help it?

Zhao Yannan: Then I would intend to hide it in a cave, so that sailors could not find it.

Zhao Yanfei: If I were there, I would try to trap them as they were catching and killing the dodo. Putting man who is harmful to the dodo in a cage and attacking him is the best way to protect and save the dodo.

Zhao Yannan: I’d like to and I’m ready to, teach man how to be friends with animals, including the dodo. The man and the dodo can be living side by side on the earth. They can be happy together.

ZhaoYanfei: I would rather not tell you what I think of man. He is selfish and cruel. He cares only for himself and that is why so many animals have disappeared from this earth. Putting the bad men in a cage is the only way out, I am sure.

VII. Closing down by writing to the dodo

All right now, boys and girls, to end this period next you are to write a letter or an email to the dodo telling him what you are going to do to save him.

By 1681, the last dodo died, and the species became extinct. After hundreds of years, no one recalled what a dodo bird was, and it was regarded as a myth invented by imaginative sailors. It wasn’t until the 1900’s when the bones were found that the dodo was believed to be real.

Today, the dodo bird is a symbol of the harm humans can bring to other living things if we are irresponsible.