Oxford Dolphin Readers
Level Four
Go, Gorillas, Go
Fiona Kenshole Illustrated by Jackie Snider
DESCRIPTION A gorilla takes us to his home in the rainforest and tells us all about his family. We see where they live, who is in the family, what they eat, and what they like to do. We also meet other members of the ape family. CROSS CURRICULAR Science: Wild animals and their habitats, endangered animals. VALUES Respect for living things and conservation of endangered animals and their habitats. LANGUAGE Vocabulary: ant, beat, belong, bushes, chest, chimpanzee, continent, cute, desert, female, forest, fruit, gorilla, grasslands, great, high, intelligent, introduce, knee, leaves, might, mountain, nest, orangutan, peaceful, protect, rainforest, recognise, relative, silver, swing, tail, teeth, thick, tropical, volcano, weigh, welcome, worm, young. Structures: comparative adjectives, have/ havent got, possessive pronouns (his, her, its, my, their) present simple, too + adjective. Expressions: good with, most ofright in
Level Four
Lesson Plan
BEFORE
1 Ask the students questions like What do you know about gorillas? Where do they live? What do they eat? What do they look like? Make notes on the board with the information students have given you. Ask How are gorillas similar/ different to people? Elicit answers. 2 Tell the children We are going to read a book about gorillas. I want you to think about these questions while you are reading: How are gorillas similar and different to humans? What do gorillas like to do? How many members are in a gorilla family?
DURING
1 Give out the books and read the title with the children. Let them read the story on their own while you help any students who might have difficulty. Fast finishers can work on pages 17 and 18. When the others have finished, go back to the questions on the board to see what answers they have found, and to check the information they said about gorillas before reading. 2 Read the story aloud while the students follow along, asking questions like Why are the mountains a good place for gorillas to live? How many gorillas can live in a family group? How do baby gorillas get around? How old is an adult gorilla? How old are human adults? Is a gorilla a vegetarian? How do you know? Do you know any other animals that make nests?
AFTER
1 Students can read together in groups or pairs while you listen to them read. Pages 17, 18 and 24 can be done by students on their own to review vocabulary. 2 Page 19: Students can read page 9 again, and then do the page, or try to do the page first and check their answers on page 9. 3 Page 20: On the board, write some jumbled sentences like: sleep/ gorillas/ to/ sleep/ like and family/ live/ groups/ they/ in. Identify which word should be the first word in each sentence, then get the students to work in pairs to put them in order. Write the sentences correctly on the board with the students help. Ask What is they talking about in the second sentence? Remind them that they is talking about the gorillas. Review it, he, she and we if necessary. Look at page 20, number 1 and do number 2 together before the students do the rest of the page alone or in pairs. 4 Page 21: Ask the students to read the words at the top of the page, and to try to guess why the words are in different groups. For example, some are things animals do (verbs), some are nouns, adjectives or family words. Tell students to remember these groups and to use these words to help them fill in the blanks. 5 Page 22: Before students do the page, write this and these on the board. Ask students to tell you the difference between these words. Then look at page 22 and ask this or these? for each picture before the students write the sentences. If necessary, get the children to say the sentences as a class before they write them on their own. 6 Page 23: Student should complete the sentences with the correct word, then go back to the story to check their work.
7 Page 25: Make cards with one noun or adjective on each, such as (long/ arms, silver/ hair, cute/ face, clever/ chimpanzee, delicious/ fruit, strong/ teeth and other adjective-noun combinations your students know). Make one copy for each group of four students. Students must match the pairs together and try to invent a sentence for the pair. For example, The father gorilla has silver hair on his back. Ask the groups to read the sentences out one by one to check their work. Students then go on to do page 25. They can also write sentences with the words to extend the page.
EXTRA PROJECT IDEA
Animal interview: Students work in pairs to find out about an animal. They need to find out: Where does the animal live? (continent and habitat) What is its habitat like? Does it live in a family group or alone? What does it do during the day/ at night? Is it endangered? Why? Students find answers and write an interview that they will perform for the class. They must write the questions and answers. For example: What is your name? I am a giant panda. What continent do you come from? I am from China, in Asia. What is your home like? I live in a bamboo forest in the mountains. What do you eat? I eat bamboo from the forest. What do you like to do? I like to eat. I spend most of the day eating. I am shy. I dont like to be around people. Who do you live with? I live alone, but when I was a baby I lived with my mother. Are you safe or in danger? I am an endangered animal. People cut down bamboo trees, so some pandas dont have enough food. Sources for information about animals: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/ http://www.enchantedlearning.com/coloring/ Compare humans and gorillas: Venn Diagram 1 Draw a Venn Diagram on the board. Write these phrases on strips of paper: are intelligent adults are 11 some hurt gorillas adults are 18 babies ride on mothers backs make nests live in families live in houses like to play both Humans Gorillas
Get students to copy the Venn Diagram, or give them a copy, and ask them to work in pairs to decide where the phrases should go. Remind them that the middle part tells about humans and gorillas. When most of the students have finished, have students come to the front and place the cards with the phrases in the correct part of the diagram. This diagram can be used to write sentences such as: Humans and gorillas like to play. Gorillas are adults when they are 11 years old, but human adults are 18.
