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- Kangaroos can't move backwards, and adult kangaroos can live for months without drinking anything at all;
- The Red Kangaroo is the largest marsupial in the world. It can leap as far as 8m and 3m high.
- A Major Mitchell Cockatoo can be trained to say basic words. They can also impersonate alarm and whistle sounds;
- Major Mitchell Cockatoos will find a large hollow in a tree to nest.
- Rainbow Bee-eaters are very clever and squeeze out the venom and stingers on bees and wasps before they eat them. This saves them from being poisoned;
- Rainbow Bee-eaters have a very big appetite! They eat around 300 bees and wasps every day.
- Tassie devils can eat up to 40% of their body weight in a day.
- Adult male Tasmanian devils are usually bigger than females. They are about 30 centimetres tall and weigh up to 14kg.
- Koalas sleep for around 18-20 hours a day.
- An adult koala can eat between half a kilogram and one kilogram of leaves each night.
SOME OF THE TOPICS COVERED IN MY LESSON:
1. Brainstorm of Australian animals
How many Australian animals and birds can you name?
Discussion may indicate a few pronunciation problems which will be acknowledged and rectified through pronunciation practice sessions.
How many Australian animals and birds can you name?
Discussion may indicate a few pronunciation problems which will be acknowledged and rectified through pronunciation practice sessions.
2. Pronunciation
You will be able to improve your pronunciation of challenging words, including through tongue twisters.
Tongue Twisters are great for pronunciation, stress, fluency, intonation and fun.
Here is an example:
Kangaroo
Cockatoo
Wallaroo
Didgeridoo
How do you do?
I’ve lost my shoe!
What can I do?
3. Questions?
Question formation is important and what better way to initiate this than with an animal-based activity.‘What’s its name? Where does it live? What does it eat? How big does it grow? How does it move?’
Newspaper or magazine articles about animal issues for reading/conversation can occur. Such articles are informative, topical, stimulating and sometimes controversial.
4. Who am I?
‘Who am I?’ game, where you guess an animal’s name using a picture or a word.
This is good fun and involves an amazing amount of speaking practice. ‘Platypus males have a poisonous spur on their hind legs. What other animals are poisonous?’
5. Colours and patterns
Colours and patterns can easily be taught using the animal and bird theme.
Australian animals are so vibrant and different from those in your own country, that there is a lot you will want to discover about them.
- What colour is their beak/ nose/ fur/ feather/ ears?
- Are they all the same colour or do the colours change?
- Do they have patterns on their skin or fur?
- Does their covering have a special name?
6. Vocabulary
Increasing your vocabulary in various topic areas improves fluency and understanding, and builds confidence.
Increasing your vocabulary in various topic areas improves fluency and understanding, and builds confidence.
- How does this animal move?
- Which verbs can you use when discussing this animal?
- Does it make a noise?
- Does that noise have a name?
- Can you make that noise?
- What are the names of the animal’s body parts?
- Does it have any special features?
- To which group of Australian animals,birds, sea creatures or reptiles does this creature belong?
- Is it a marsupial or a monotreme?
- How many monotremes are there? What are their differences?
- What is camouflage? Why do they need to be camouflaged?
- What is the habitat in which they live?
- What dietary requirements do they have?
- Are they carnivores, herbivores or omnivores?
- Are they dangerous or poisonous?
- Are they predators or prey?
- How do they hunt?
- Are they nocturnal? Are they diurnal?
- What is their life expectancy?
- How does it compare with another animal from your country?
If you'd like to learn more about an Australian animal, please book a lesson (or a lesson pack). I have 25 minute lessons or 50 minute lessons available. I have created a discount coupon for this lesson type to go with this blog post. I look forward to meeting you.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my very first Cafetalk tutor column blog post!
Note: A discounted rate is already applied to all lesson packs. Current prices are valid until 28 February 2023. Lesson rates may be updated on 1 March 2023.
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