Kenya: The Maasai Mara

Objective & content

This Look Closer episode (Kenya mini-series, episode 5) starts from a word: mara means "spotted" in the Maa language, like the small trees dotted over the grass of the Maasai Mara. The narrator presents the Maasai as the people who live there today: many Maasai families own the land around the park and share it with the animals, the money paid by visitors goes to the families, and many use it to pay for school. Maasai guides grow up in the Mara and know every track and every bird; a guide can tell you what animal walked there last night. The language is present simple, can and one regular past form (walked), with vocabulary for family, jobs, school and the environment. Learners listen, then answer the 10 questions in the app. The closing question is "Would you like to walk with a guide?"

Materials & prerequisites

The folder holds the audio, the slideshow, the script, a pupil sheet with the 10 questions (7 on facts, 3 on vocabulary) and a teacher sheet with the answer key (PDF); it has no lesson plan. A short episode works well as a lesson opener: play it twice, hand out the pupil sheet, then use the closing question for class discussion. Learners should know family and school words. The episode presents the Maasai as a living people with their own language and land, so it is best used to talk about how people and wildlife share a place.

Curriculum alignment

Tagged countries-and-landscapes (6e, "Pays et paysages"; study topic: Kenya's national parks). The episode also fits the themes of world cultures and protecting nature. The episode targets CEFR level A1+.