ANIMALS
Age: 5-7
Language level: Beginner
School level: Primary
Noise level: Loud: conversation and game
Movement level: lots of movement
How to use these resources
These activities are for young people who are learning English and their families. These activities will help them to practice vocabulary about animals.
Open the activities and use them to practice speaking and performing in English. There are suggestions for further practise and conversation.
This unit requires some support from an adult or older sibling; some activities (marked with an ‘I’) can be done independently.
Animals (I)
Watch this presentation about animals. Listen and repeat the words and sentences.
Online resources: Animals presentation
Animal sounds
Go to YouTube and look for songs about animal sounds. Ask for help if you need to.
Animal dice (I)
Roll the dice and say the name of the animal. Can you also make the animal noise?
Online resources: Colour dice
Musical statues game
Play some music.
Choose an animal and dance around the room like that animal. When the music stops, everyone must freeze!
We suggest: Rabbits, birds, horses, lizards, monkeys, tigers, giraffes, kangaroos and elephants.
Animal mime
Write all the animals you learned on pieces of paper.
Fold them and put them in a bowl or hat.
Each person takes a piece of paper out of the bowl or hat and mimes the animal.
The first person to guess the animal wins!
How animals make us feel
Have a conversation about how different animals make you feel. How do horses make you feel? Happy, surprised, scared or another emotion? What about tigers or lizards?
Act out this feeling. Think about how our bodies and faces change. For example, if you are scared you might freeze and shake.
Now repeat for other animals.
Play a game: shout ‘Surprised!’ or ‘Happy!’ and the others must act out this feeling.
Speaking practice
Have a conversation with someone in your home. Ask them which animals they like and tell them about your favourite animal. Example questions:
‘What is your favourite animal?’
‘What does it look like?’
‘How does it sound?’
‘How does it move?’
‘How does it make you feel?’
Performance
Write a speech about your favourite animal. Think about how it looks and sounds and moves. Think about how it makes you feel. You could record a video of yourself talking about your favourite animal.
Project ideas
• Draw pictures of your favourite animals and write 2-5 sentences about your favourite animal, eg: ‘My favourite animal is a bird.’ ‘Birds can fly.’
• You can use the internet to learn more about your favourite animal.
• Write an article about all the people in your home and their favourite animals.
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