Teacher’s notes
LEVEL 2
Sharks
Izabella Hearn with Alex Hearn
About the authors
Izabella Hearn is a teacher, teacher trainer and
author of numerous ELT text books including Fun
English (2002), English Adventure (2004), Discover
English (2008), Comet (2012) and Oxford
International English (2013), as well as Penguin
Readers, The Galapagos (2010) and African Safari
(2012). Her work as a teacher trainer, running
training sessions and workshops, has taken her all
over Europe, Africa, the United States, and Latin
America. Izabella has also worked on the
development of primary material for Uganda, and
writes educational material for schools in Kenya.
Dr. Alex Hearn is a marine biologist who has spent
the last ten years studying the migration patterns of
sharks. He developed the shark research program at
the Galapagos Islands, and has also been on research
expeditions to study the sharks in the marine reserves
at the Cocos, Malpelo and Revillagigedos islands.
His work on hammerheads, whale sharks, and tiger
sharks has featured in several documentaries, books
and scientific articles. He is currently the Director of
Conservation Science at the Turtle Island Restoration
Network in California.
Summary
island things begin to change. She sees the potential
the island has to attract tourists interested in ocean
life. The islanders realize the sharks are far more of
an asset alive than dead and a prosperous community
is created. The end of each chapter contains
information about the lifecycles, hunting techniques
and distribution of different kinds of sharks.
Chapter 1: Freddy comes home with an important
letter offering him a place at Northcoast College for
the following year. His parents are initially very
happy until he reminds them that he will have to pay
to attend the college. His mother says that the family
could get the money. Freddy knows she is talking
about going shark finning and this makes him angry.
Freddy’s father is a fisherman on a small island and
doesn’t earn a lot of money. He sometimes has to
supplement his income by catching sharks, a
lucrative activity that many of the other fishermen
engage in. The fins are sold and used to make soup in
several countries. Later, Freddy goes to the Birdsong
Hotel to talk to his friend Pam, the daughter of the
owner. He meets an American girl called Kristin in
the hotel. She is very interested in sharks and Freddy
promises to take her to see some.
Chapter 2: Freddy and his dad are arguing about
shark finning. Freddy realizes his dad is only trying
to get some money to help him get into college but
he insists there must be a better way. He leaves his
dad and goes to look for Kristin. He finds her outside
the store and they go for a coffee. He recounts the
story of when he was a boy he met a famous
scientist, Clare Shepherd, and some of her
colleagues. They had come to his island to make a
movie called “Ocean Life.” This had inspired him to
become a scientist.
Chapter 3: The next day, as Kristin is running, she sees
a group of women on the beach. Near the women is a
group of fishermen in a boat. They throw something to
the women and Kristin realizes it is a shark fin. Freddy
appears and explains shark finning is one of the few
ways people can make money on the island. Later,
Kristin tells Freddy she has an idea about how to solve
the money problem. She knows many people love to
dive and watch sharks in all parts of the world. Freddy’s
island is beautiful and there are sharks in the sea around
it. So why couldn’t the islanders attract people there?
The hotels and restaurants would be full of tourists and
the fishermen could take them on day trips to see the
sharks. So, there would be no need to kill them.
This book is divided into two parts. At the beginning
of each chapter, we follow the story of a family who
live on a small island. They earn their living by
fishing but often this does not bring in enough
money. So, they have to resort to the illegal and cruel
practice of shark finning, that is, cutting the fins off a
live shark and throwing the shark back into the sea.
When a young American woman arrives on the
Chapter 4: In the hotel that evening, Kristin tells Pam
about her idea and her vacation to the island of Palau.
She had gone there with a group of people of different
ages and professions. All of them had a love of the
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Sharks – Teacher’s notes
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Teacher’s notes
LEVEL 2
Sharks
ocean and sharks and they had a great time. During the
day they went diving and at night they sat and talked
or watched shark movies in a restaurant. But most
importantly, the sharks are protected which means
nobody can kill them. Pam is impressed and believes
the same thing could be done on her island, although
she admits it will be difficult.
Chapter 5: Rod, a police officer, receives a phone call.
It is from a man informing him that he has seen dead
hammerhead sharks near Barras beach and a boat about
a kilometre from the shore. He and his colleague go in
pursuit in their boat. He is a bit worried that the shark
finning boat may belong to his friend, Ed, Freddy’s
dad. He sees Ed in his boat and questions him but he
insists he knows nothing. Ed wants to tell Rod about
the new plan to save the sharks and the island and Rod
agrees to meet them in the hotel that night. The people
in the shark finning boat are arrested and taken to the
police station that afternoon. Happy with this result,
Rod goes to the hotel. He listens to the plan to turn the
island into a shark lovers’ paradise. Everybody is very
excited. Freddy because of the money it will bring in,
and the fact he will meet new people; and Freddy’s
mother because her schoolchildren can design books
about sharks for the tourists.
Chapter 6: A year on and the islanders are celebrating
the end of their first Shark Week. It has been a great
success and attracted a lot of media attention. The
island’s future as a destination for shark tourists seems
assured. A party has been organized in the hotel and a
group of important people from the organization “Protect
Sharks Now” are going to give a talk. When they arrive
at the hotel, Freddy recognizes one of the women as the
famous scientist Clare Shepherd, who he had met many
years ago as a child. After she finished giving her talk,
Freddy reminds her of this meeting all those years ago.
She remembers him and invites him to come on a trip
with her and some other scientists. He is overjoyed,
accepts the invitation and announces the start of the party.
Background and themes
The preservation of the natural world: The book is
principally about the characteristics of sharks and the
need to protect these creatures. However, the main
character, Freddy, is concerned about nature in
general and is worried that it is being destroyed.
One woman’s quest: The main female character,
Kristin, has a passion for sharks and wants to stop the
practice of shark finning. However, she is not an
idealist and realizes that to achieve her goal, the
islanders will have to benefit economically from any
solution she suggests. Her plan is to turn live sharks,
rather than dead ones, into a source of income.
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A life changing experience: Very often an experience
in early life can affect the way a person’s life will unfold.
In the case of Freddy, a chance encounter with a famous
natural scientists, influences his future choice of career.
Discussion activities
Before reading
1 Discuss: Put the following on the board: panda, tiger,
and polar bear. Remind the students that these and many
other animals are dying and that in the future some animals
will disappear from the world. Put them in small groups
and ask them to discuss the following questions: Can you
think of any other animals that have the same problems?
Why are they dying? Do you think people are dangerous
for these animals? What can we do to help these animals?
Chapter 1
While reading (p. 5, after “Sometimes, but not
often, sharks attack people.”)
2 Write and say: Put the following names of
animals on the board: snake, lion, shark, bear,
crocodile, lion, mosquito, dog, elephant, jellyfish,
scorpion. Tell them these animals can be dangerous.
Allow them time to think of any other animals they
could add to the list. Then put them in pairs and tell
them to choose five of the animals. They then have to
put them in order: “5” most dangerous and “1” least
dangerous. Then they tell the class the order they
have put the animals and why.
After reading
3 Game: Tell the students that there are seven words
in Chapter 1 that are words for parts of the body. Put
the students in pairs and tell them they have to find the
words as quickly as possible. The fastest pair wins.
Chapter 2
While reading (p. 9, after “Tell me about you
first,” said Kristin after they sat down.)
4 Role play: Put the students in pairs and tell them they are
going to act out a conversation between Kristin and
Freddy. Student A (Kristin) prepares questions for Student
B who can invent answers. See discussion activities key for
an example of a start to the conversation.
After reading
5 Write and guess: Write Freddy remembered
photos of scientists in the streets, in newspapers. on
the board. Elicit which word is wrong from the
students (students not scientists.) Now students
Sharks – Teacher’s notes
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Teacher’s notes
LEVEL 2
Sharks
choose a sentence from Chapter 2 and rewrite it
changing one word. They walk around the classroom,
reading out their sentences and the other students
correct the mistake.
Chapter 3
While reading (p. 16, after “In China, some
people have shark fin soup at big family parties.”)
6 Discuss: Put the students in small groups and ask them to
discuss the following questions about food: What is the
best food from your country? Do you think your country’s
food is the best in the world? Is there any food you hate? Is
there any food you cannot eat? Do you like fast food like
hamburgers and pizzas? What are the good and bad things
about eating in a restaurant and eating at home?
After reading
7 Pair work: Write the following words on the
board: tree, vacations, babies, meat, accidents, nose,
heavy, eight. Ask the students to talk and write in
pairs to say how these words were used in Chapter 3.
Chapter 4
While reading (p. 20, after “Tell me more about
your vacation there,” Pam said.)
8 Discuss: Put the students in groups and ask them to
talk about the following questions about vacations:
Where did you go on your last vacation and who did
you go with? Where did you stay? What did you do?
What is the best/worst vacation you had? Is it better
to go on vacation with your family or friends?
After reading
9 Write: Ask the students to write a summary of Chapter
4. Tell them the summary must be exactly 50 words long,
not one more or less. They then read out their stories to
the rest of the class who vote for the best summary.
10 Research and say: Put the following names on the
board: Brook Watson, Rodney Fox, Bethany Hamilton,
Barry Wilson, Lloyd Skinner, Henri Bource. Tell the
students that these people were attacked by sharks. Put the
students in pairs and give each pair a name of one of the
people. Tell them to research the attack on the Internet and
to prepare a presentation to the rest of the class.
Chapter 5
While reading (p. 28, after “Rod went into the
office next door and shouted to another policeman.”)
their suggestions on the board, adding some of your
own. Then play a game of twenty questions. One person
in the group chooses a particular job but doesn’t tell the
group what it is. The group then has to ask questions to
guess what job the student has chosen. They have
twenty questions to do this, and the student can only
answer “yes,” “no,” or “sometimes” to the questions.
See discussion activities key for example questions.
After reading
12 Write, ask, and answer: Write When did a man call
the police office? on the board and elicit the answer (In
the morning). Now tell students to write similar questions
about Chapter 5. Students then walk around the
classroom, asking and answering each other’s questions.
Chapter 6
While reading (p. 36, after “A year later there
was a big party in the town.”)
13 Discuss: Put the following types of party on the
board and explain what they mean: birthday party,
graduation party, wedding party, bachelor party,
bachelorette party, costume party, surprise party,
dinner party, housewarming party.
Put the students in small groups and ask them to discuss
the following questions about parties: Do you like going
to parties? Do you like parties with a lot of people or
not many people? Do you understand why some people
don’t like parties? What is the best/worst party you
went to? Do you think music is important at a party?
After reading
14 Quote Quiz: Put the students in pairs and tell
them you are going to read out some quotes from the
book and in pairs they have to guess who said them.
1 “Listen to me! I’m doing this for you. Don’t you
understand?”
2 “We made friends, and one day they took me on
the boat with them.”
3 “My friend Gemma watches hours and hours of TV
that week.”
4 “Never give food to sharks.”
5 “I had a call about dead sharks in the ocean.”
6 “The children can make a book about the different
sharks for the tourists.”
7 “Oh, yes, of course I remember. You were very young.”
11 Game: Put the students into groups of four and ask
them to think of all the jobs they can in English. Put
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Sharks – Teacher’s notes
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