Lesson plan: The Blue Whale
A lesson plan from www.teflclips.com
A lesson plan from www.teflclips.com
1
Method
1.
Get your students to do Puzzle 1, Puzzle 2 and Puzzle 3 (see pages 4
and 5). Make sure you drill pronunciation of the following potentially
problematic words.
Blood
Height
Tongue
2.
Crustacean
High
Tonne
Diet
Length
Weigh
Heart
Meter
Weight
Heavy
Strength
(Optional) Go to www.wikipedia.org and type in “Blue Whale”. You will
be able to hear some recordings of Blue Whale songs.
Tell your students that you are going to play a song and you want them
to identify the artist.
3.
After a bit of guessing, tell your students that you are going to show
them a video clip in which they will see the singer.
Play The Blue Planet clip. Keep the sound volume low so that attention
is not drawn to the narrator’s voice.
4.
While the clip is playing, ask your students the following questions:
•
•
•
•
Does anyone know what animal this is?
What do you know about it?
Has anyone ever seen a whale (where, when, etc)?
Does anyone know about the series from which the clip is taken?
5.
Give out a sheet of Flashcards (page 9) to each student and get them
to cut them up.
6.
Tell your students that the narrator (David Attenborough) talks about
each of the things on the flashcards. As you play the clip a second time
with the sound turned up full, have your students put the flashcards into
the same order in which they are mentioned.
7.
Let everyone compare their results and play the clip again if necessary.
8.
Once everyone has put their flashcards into the correct order, play the
clip again. This time ask your students to make notes about any of the
things they hear in relation to the blue whale’s size, length, heart,
breeding, etc.
A lesson plan from www.teflclips.com
2
9.
After letting your students compare their results, dictate the following
statements:
1. The blue whale is the biggest animal that has ever lived on
our planet.
2. It is 30 meters long.
3. It weighs over 200 tonnes.
4. Its tongue weighs as much as an elephant.
5. Its heart is the size of a car.
6. Some of its blood vessels are so wide that you could swim
through them.
7. Its tail is the width of a small aircraft’s wings.
8. It is one of the fastest animals in the sea.
9. A single blue whale can consume 40 million krill in one day
(a crustacean which measures just a few centimetres in
length).
10. Blue whales breed in the Arctic.
10.
Let your students compare their dictated sentences with each other
and make sure they have written them correctly.
11.
Tell your students that one of the statements is not true. They may
already have challenged you on this point – it depends how much they
understood during the listening. If not, let them decide which one they
think is false and then let everyone share their ideas.
12.
Play the clip again and let your students identify the incorrect statement
(number 10).
13.
Tell your students to hide all handouts, etc and get them to do Puzzle
4, Puzzle 5 and Puzzle 6 (see pages 6 to 8).
14.
Put your students into small teams and get them to hide / turn over all
of their handouts and dictated sentences. Show a flashcard, one at a
time, and get everyone to reconstruct the corresponding sentence. In
each case, encourage team members to confer and write down their
answer before offering it to you.
NB
The language offered does not have to be exactly the same as
before. For example, either of the following would be correct:
Its heart is as big as a car.
Its heart is the size of a car.
15.
For homework, get your students to find out if marine biologists now
know where the blue whale goes to breed and why this information is
important.
A lesson plan from www.teflclips.com
3
Puzzle 1
On each line, there are two words that sound the same but are
spelled differently. Can you identify them?
______________________________________________________________
a.
Weight
What
Wait
White
b.
Weigh
Why
Way
We
c.
Weighs
Ways
Wise
Where’s
d.
High
He
How
Hi
Puzzle 2
Can you find the word on each line that doesn’t rhyme with the
others?
_____________________________________________________
a.
Weighs
Keys
Days
b.
Weight
Date
Night
c.
Weight
Diet
Late
d.
Month
Strength
10th
e.
Breed
Speed
Read (past) Read (present)
f.
High
My
Pay
Die
g.
Size
Eyes
Dies
Weighs
h.
Nation
Fashion
Crustacean
i.
Tonne
Tongue
Run
j.
Meter
Peter
Letter
Litre
k.
Blood
Mud
Food
Flood
l.
Heart
Part
Bert
A lesson plan from www.teflclips.com
Length
Cry
4
Puzzle 3
Can you pair up the phrases on the left with their synonyms on the
right. Which words are nouns and which words are adjectives?
______________________________________________________________
As big as
the speed of
As heavy as
the size of
As deep as
the width of
As high as
the weight of
As fast as
the depth of
As long as
the height of
As wide as
the length of
A lesson plan from www.teflclips.com
5
Puzzle 4
Circle the correct word in each sentence:
______________________________________________________________
1. The blue whale is the bigger / biggest animal that has
ever lived on our planet.
2. It is 30 meters long / length.
3. It weighs / weight over 200 tonnes.
4. Its tongue weighs as much as an elephant / elephant’s.
5. Its heart is the size / big of a car.
6. Some of its blood vessels are so wide that you can /
could swim through them.
7. Its tail is the wide / width of a small aircraft’s wings.
8. It is one of the fastest / faster animals in the sea.
9. A single blue whale can consume 40 million krill in one
day (a crustacean which measures just a few centimetres
in long / length).
10.We have absolutely no / not idea where they go to breed.
A lesson plan from www.teflclips.com
6
Puzzle 5
Some of the following sentences have missing apostrophes ( ‘ ).
Can you identify which ones they are and where the apostrophes
should go?
______________________________________________________________
1.
Its the biggest animal that
e v e r l i v e d o n o u r p l a n e t.
2.
Its
3.
Its tongue weighs
a n e l e p h a n t.
4.
Its
5.
Its tail is the width
a i r c r a f t s w i n g s.
6.
Its one of the
i n t h e s e a.
30
meters
heart
is
l o n g.
the
A lesson plan from www.teflclips.com
has
as
much
size
of
of
fastest
a
a
as
c a r.
small
animals
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Puzzle 6
Put the words into the correct order:
______________________________________________________________
1.
animal / blue / our / ever / the / has / is / lived / on / planet / biggest / that
/ the / whale
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
2.
is / it / meters / long / 30
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
3.
tonnes / weighs / it / over / 200
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
4.
an / as / as / elephant / its / much / tongue / weighs
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
5.
the / size / is / its / car / of / a / heart
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
6.
could / you / swim / through / its / wide / blood / vessels / so / that / some
/ of / them / are
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
7.
width / is / its / the / aircraft’s / small / tail / of / a / wings
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
8.
one / animals / in / is / it / of / fastest / the / sea / the
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
9.
day / single / consume / million / krill / whale / 40 / one / a / blue / can / in
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
(a / a / centimetres / crustacean / few / in / just / length / measures /
which)
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
10
absolutely / breed / go / have / idea / no / they / to / we / where
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
A lesson plan from www.teflclips.com
8
Heart
Speed
Blood Vessels
Tongue
Breeding
Size
Diet
♥
Weight
A diver
Length
A lesson plan from www.teflclips.com
Tail
9
Heart
Speed
Blood Vessels
Tongue
Weight
Breeding
Size
Diet
Length
Tail
Use these cards if you would rather your
students make their own drawings.
A lesson plan from www.teflclips.com
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