Lesson Plan: Animals

Lesson Level: Junior 1 and 2  (Grade 7 and 8)   Lesson Duration: 45 minutes 

Lesson Title:Animals 

Grammar/Vocabulary 

Names of animals.

The structure "My favourite __________ is __________."
Use of "because"

Lesson Objectives 

To develop animal vocabulary.

To practice pronunciation

My favourite__________ is __________because __________. 

Resources 

One sponge ball.

A set of small cards with animal names written on them.

Cat, Dog, Horse, Cow, Mouse, Spider, Snake, Kangaroo, Crocodile, Sheep, Panda, Rabbit, Fish, Bird, Monkey, Elephant, Giraffe, Lion, Zebra, Pig

A set of seven posters containing modified lyrics to “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly.¹” Each poster contains three lines written large enough to be read from back of class. It helps if all first lines are in one colour, all second lines in a different colour and all third lines in another different colour.

Poster 1

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly.

I don’t know why she swallowed a fly².

I think she’ll die.

Poster 2

There was an old lady who swallowed a spider

That wriggled and wriggled and wriggled inside her.

She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.

Poster 3.

There was an old lady who swallowed a bird.

Haven’t you heard, she swallowed a bird.

She swallowed the bird to catch the spider.

Poster 4.

There was an old lady who swallowed a cat.

What about that? She swallowed a cat.

She swallowed the cat to catch the bird.

Poster 5

There was an old lady who swallowed a dog.

Isn’t that odd? She swallowed a dog.

She swallowed the dog to catch the cat.

Poster 6

There was an old lady who swallowed a cow.

I don‘t know how she swallowed a cow.

She swallowed the cow to catch the dog.

Poster 7

There was an old lady who swallowed a horse.

A horse?

She’s dead. Of course.

Preparation 

Prepare materials.

Practice drawing some animals. Quick line drawings (a few seconds each) are best. They do not need to be works of art – just guessable.

Practice singing the song.  

Procedure 

1   

Tell class that today’s lesson is all about animals.

Put the students into groups of six or eight depending on the class size. There should be no more than ten groups. 

2 

Toss the sponge ball to a student.

Student stands.

Ask student for favourite animal. Ask why it is the favourite.

Repeat for four or five students. 

3  

Tell students that you will all learn a song now.

Mime each of the animals from the song in turn to elicit animal names from class. Write them on board.

Ensure that class know lady/swallowed/wriggled/odd.

Explain and write on board.  

4 

Put poster one on board (bottom right.)

Sing the lines one at a time with students copying you.

Repeat.

Add poster two above it.

Sing poster two lines one at a time with students singing after you.

Sing poster 1 lines 2 and three.

Add other posters one at a time, each time singing the whole song until first six posters have been added.

Add poster seven. This verse is sung alone – not followed by others. 

5 

Sing whole song again from the beginning.

Depending on level of class you can lead them in singing, sing with them or just point at the lines for them to sing alone. 

6 

Tell all students to write down their favourite animal. (This is just to allow checking and stop cheating in the next activity.)

While students are writing, remove posters from board.

Monitor and check that all students understand and have written one animal.

Tell all students to stand up.

Toss ball to a student.

Ask for favourite animal. Ask why it is favourite.

Tell all students with same animal to sit down.

Repeat with another student.

Repeat until all students are sitting again.

7³ 

Ask class who is the best artist for drawing animals. Select a student to be first in art game.

Student comes to board.

You will show the artist an animal name on a card

The artist will draw it.

The class must guess what it is.

They must NOT speak.

If they know they must raise their hand.

Show the artist an animal card. Allow substitutions if the animal is not familiar.

When animal is guessed the student who guessed it becomes the next artist.

Notes 

1.   The lyrics have been modified to simplify them for lower level classes.

2.  I vary the way I sing this verse - sometimes singing it as high or low as I can manage., sometimes extending the “why” for as long as I can hold the note. The class invariably copy it exactly as I sing it and seem to find it great fun.

3  In some classes I have found it better to switch the drawing activity to an earlier position in the lesson, before the song.