Endangered animals

Endangered animals

A listening comprehension activity with oral mediation

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Photo credits

By Marisa Castilla and Mª José Díaz, CC BY-NC-SA

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We are going to watch a TED talk about an animal that is disappearing off the face of the Earth.What vocabulary do you associate with animals disappearing?

Write words that occur to you under each category.

Categories: click for a printable version

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Some examples of animals that are dying out: can you match the animal with its name?

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Here’s the pronunciation of the names of the animals in Step 2. Do you remember the spelling?

PRONUNCIATION ON AUDIO

MOUSE OVER

/əʊˈkɑːpi//sləʊθ/ /səˈlenədən//ˈsʌðə(r)n ˈrɒkˌhɒpə(r)//ˈteɪpə(r)/

/ˈaɪˌaɪ //ˈduːgɒŋ//’kɑːkəpəʊ//ˈkiːwi//ˈmɑː(r)kɔː(r)/

Have you heard about any of the animals?

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In groups: Choose one of the animals, find information about it and write it down in the chart.

Join people from the other groups and tell them what you have found out; use your own words. Complete the chart together.

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There was another animal in the list: the tapir. In the following TED talk, Patricia Medici talks about tapir conservation.

WATCH THE VIDEO

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Opinions about saving endangered species:

“Extinction is the engine of evolution, the mechanism by which natural selection prunes the poorly adapted and allows the hardiest to flourish. Species constantly go extinct, and every species that is alive today will one day follow suit. [...] Within a few million years of the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, the post-apocalyptic void had been filled by an explosion of diversity — modern mammals, birds and amphibians of all shapes and sizes.” R. Alexander Pyron, “We don’t need to save endangered species. Extinction is part of evolution”. The Washington Post, 22 November 2017.

“While it may seem unimportant if we lose one salamander or rat species, it matters because all species are connected through their interactions in a web of life. A balanced and biodiverse ecosystem is one in which each species plays an important role and relies on the services provided by other species to survive. Healthy ecosystems are more productive and resistant to disruptions.” Renee Cho, “Why Endangered Species Matter”. State of the Planet, 26 March 2019.

continue to next part

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Discuss in groups: Are all the efforts to save endangered animals worth it? Give arguments, considering both sides of the debate. Try to use vocabulary from Step 1.

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Photo credits

Vijay Phulwadhawa, "Tiger sighting in Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary". CC BY 3.0

Marisa Castilla, "Mª José's animal matching". CC0

Charles J Sharp, "South American tapir (Tapirus terrestris)". CC BY-SA 4.0

Canon EOS 5d Mark II, CC0

Fiver Löcker, "Gorilla Tracking". CC BY-SA 2.0

Pixabay License,

Bernard Dupont, "Lowland Tapir (Tapirus terrestris) male". CC BY-SA 2.0

From Genially's image repository