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| 3/15/2010 |  | |||||
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Everybody Needs a Pet
This unit should take 1-3 hours, depending on time, interest, and extension activities. It is designed for intermediate level students age 12 and above. Objectives Students will: Materials to Print
Activities Activity I: Warm-up (10 minutes) Ask students whether or not they have any pets. Encourage the ones that do to share information about their pets, such as what kind(s) they have, their names, and how old they are. Then ask students to guess the four most popular kinds of pets in the United States (dogs, cats, birds, and horses according to http://www.infoplease.com/). Discuss other common pets the students might be familiar with such as goldfish, hamsters, and turtles. Do any students have a different kind of pet? Introduce less common pets such as snakes, ferrets, and rabbits. Activity II: Vocabulary (10 minutes) Have students think about why some people like to have pets. Why do some people prefer certain kinds of pets to others? (size, cleanliness, friendliness, ease to take care of) What are some factors you must consider before getting a pet? (adequate living space, time to care for the pet, cost of caring for a pet) Together, make a list and have a student write it on the board. Then hand out copies of Printout I, and go through the words on the list. Explain words students are not familiar with. Have some students create sentences with some of these words. Activity III: Reading (20 minutes) Hand out Printout II and have students read the text. If necessary, introduce words and phrases that students may be unfamiliar with, such as: companion, playful, purpose, blood pressure, property, livestock, and exotic. After students have read the text, encourage them to discuss important things to consider before getting a pet. Expand the list on the board with new information from the text. Activity IV: Our pet (20 minutes) Divide the class into groups. Have each group pick an animal they would like as a pet and prepare a short essay detailing why they chose that particular animal and what makes them good owners. They should all agree on a name for the pet, and list all the items they are going to purchase to take care of it. Finally a spokesperson from each group should present the information to the class. Activity V: Verbs and prepositions (15 minutes) Introduce the grammar topic by saying a sentence in which the preposition is missing. It should be a preposition that follows a verb. Instead of the preposition, make some sort of sound or clap your hands. For instance, "I take care __ my pet." Students should conclude that the preposition of is missing. Other examples are "I look __ my pet. (after) Sometimes neighbors complain __ the noise. (about) My dog looks __ (like) a lion." If students need help, write a list of prepositions on the board (for, after, under, to, about, in). Explain that prepositions are commonly used after verbs. Provide students with some examples (to complain about, to depend on, to happen to, to work for, to rely on, to look like/after, to take care of). Call on students to make sentences using the examples you provided or others they can think of. Once students are familiar with using prepositions in this manner, explain that, with some verbs, an object can be inserted between the verb and preposition. Provide examples of this usage (to prefer something to, to provide someone with, to warn someone about): "I prefer dogs to cats. She warned me about parrots!" Ask students if they can think of any other examples. Then hand out copies of printout III and have students do the activity. Activity VI: An Exotic Pet (10 minutes) Ask students to think about what an exotic pet is. Brainstorm in class and complete the list of pets with some very exotic pets, such as chinchillas, frogs, salamanders, degus, gerbils, hermit crabs, tarantulas, scorpions, prairie dogs, monkeys, lizards, etc. If you don't know what some of these pets are, you can check the following site about Exotic Pets. Have students write a pro and con list of having an exotic pet (pros: you can learn a lot about an animal you may have been unfamiliar with, exotic animals are popular, etc.; cons: you need to spend a lot of time caring for an exotic pet; you have to spend a lot of money; you have to do a lot of research on how to take care of it; you must find out if it's legal to have it; neighbors may complain about unfamiliar animals). Encourage them to use verbs and prepositions in their lists. Activity VII: Scavenger Search (20 minutes) If you have Internet access, you can do this activity in class using the same web page mentioned on the previous activity. If not, have students guess the answers or give this activity as homework. (We provide you with the answers.) Hand out copies of Printout IV and have students decide whether the statements are true or false. (Answers: 1. true 2. true 3. false--Prairie dogs look like rabbits with no ears 4. true 5. false--Chinchillas look like guinea pigs 6. false--Pets like dogs and cats need water all year round--especially in summer 7. true 8. false--you should take it to a veterinarian 9. true 10. false--People keep fish in aquariums.) Activity VIII: Cyberpets (20 minutes) Ask students whether they can think of any type of pet that has not been mentioned yet. Begin a discussion about cyberpets by asking students to describe how cyberpets are similar or different to real pets (similar: cyberpets can be fun to have just like real pets; different: cyberpets don't need food or water). Then hand out Printout V and read the text in class. Have students underline the prepositions which follow a verb or an object. Optional homework: Have students find out the following information using the Internet. If you have a computer in class, this information can help you to adopt a cyberpet for the class. Some sites that may have useful information are www.neopets.com, http://www.virtualpuppy.com/ and http://www.virtualdog.com/. 1. What types of cyberpets or virtual pets can you get? 2. Do they cost anything? If yes, how much? 3. Do you have to take care of them? What do they need? 4. How long do they live? 5. What do they do all day? Activity IX: Writing (20 minutes - 2 days) This activity can be done in class or can be given as homework. Have students pick an animal for a pet. They may choose the animal they picked in Activity IV if they would like to. Have them write an essay about why they chose that pet, what name they would give it, how they would care for it, and what activities they would do with it. Encourage students to include other information as well that may be unique to the pet they selected. |