S1E27 - The Safari Park

Objective & content

The Walker family (Paul, Kate, Rosie and George) drive through a safari park near Bristol. A lion comes up to the car, monkeys jump on it, and on foot George thinks an elephant's trunk is a grey snake. They end by spotting zebras and giraffes in a field. The episode teaches has for physical features (The lion has really big teeth!) and be + adjective for descriptions (The giraffes are so tall.). The vocabulary is wild animals: lion, teeth, monkey, elephant, trunk, zebra, giraffe. Learners listen for each animal and how it is described, then check their understanding with the in-app quiz.

Pedagogical guide

Hearing a feature (It has a long trunk) next to a characteristic (The zebras are black and white) lets pupils contrast have and be in one short scene. French pupils may overuse avoir and say The giraffe has tall, and may drop the -s (it have a long trunk). The correction pattern It's not a snake, it's an elephant is useful to practise too.

Suggested procedure

1. (3 min) Warm-up: ask which wild animals pupils know in English; explain that in a safari park you drive past wild animals.
2. (5 min) Meet the family and the setting, and preview the ten words.
3. (4 min) First listen: which animals does the family see?
4. (8 min) Second listen with pauses: have or be for the lion's teeth and for the giraffes, and what did George think the trunk was?
5. (7 min) Grammar focus: two columns (has for a feature, be for a characteristic) and a thumbs up or down drill on four sentences.
6. (6 min) Pupils draw a wild animal and describe it (It has ... It is ...); the partner guesses the animal.

Materials & prerequisites

The episode in the PLAY app (audio, slideshow, text and quiz), a student sheet and a teacher sheet with the answer key. Learners need be with simple adjectives and colours.

Curriculum alignment

Cycle 3 (6e), axis "The child and their close environment": describing wild animals.