unit1

·Students should refresh their understanding of the words to copy, to invent, to describe, to create, unlike, correct, and animal.

·Students should understand the usage of the phrases to learn about, their own noun, and use something to do something.

·In order to help the discussion about “communication” and “intelligence” move along, students should quickly review the following vocabulary words: to talk, to write, to tell, to memorize, to remember, to feel, to think, word, meaning, understand, test, successful, grade, smart, and talented.

·Students should understand and correctly use the words human, gorilla, parrot, intelligence, sign language, devil, to communicate and rotten.

·Students should understand and be able to use the new expression to have a sense of humor.

·Students should discuss the concepts of “intelligence” and “communication” using the new and review vocabulary listed above.

·Students should understand that real communication involves listening to others and understanding their meaning. They should understand that memorizing and repeating an answer to a question is different from creating your own answer.

·Students should note the difficulties in learning about animal intelligence. Explain that humans have trouble really understanding what animals feel or think because animals cannot “talk” to humans and “tell” them about their thoughts and feelings.

·Students should understand the concept of animal intelligence. They should understand that Koko and Nkisi are special animals because they can communicate with humans in a special way.

·Students should be able to identify the main idea of the article “Talking Animals.”

·Students should actively participate in a discussion about communication and intelligence. They should discuss the different ways that animals and humans communicate, noting that the spoken language is only one way to communicate. They should also discuss the relationship between communication and intelligence. The students should understand the different ways that Nkisi the parrot and Koko the gorilla communicate with humans, and compare the way these two animals communicate with humans to other animals’ communication skills. The students should understand what it means to have a sense of humor. They should understand that displaying a sense of humor indicates a creative ability. They should also note the other creative ways that these two animals use language.

In this activity, groups of students will use the review vocabulary to write their own short passages. Before class, write each review word and phrase on a scrap of paper and place the pieces of paper in an empty bag. Bring several extra pieces of scrap paper to class for the students. Divide the class into groups of three or four students. Give each group a large piece of scrap paper. Draw a word from the bag. As a class, write the first sentence of a short passage on the board. Draw the next word from the bag and write it on the board. Instruct each group to write the next sentence. Encourage the students to be creative and humorous. Continue to draw words from the bag until the bag is empty. Walk around the class and help the students with grammar and spelling. When the short passages are finished, have each group come to the front of the class and form a line. Have the students take turns reading their story to the rest of the class.

Before class write out the extra review vocabulary words on separate pieces of scrap paper. Make sure there is one word for each student in the class. Review these words as a class, and use several words to make sentences about individual students in the class. Next, give each student a word, and have each student use the word to make a sentence about another student in the class. Call on individual students to read their sentences to the class. The other students must try to guess who they are talking about.

Before class write out a list of questions of varying difficulty based on the reading. See below for examples. As a class, read the article “Talking Animals”. Point out important grammar points, review and new vocabulary words. Have the students close their books, and draw a two-column point grid like the one below on the whiteboard. Divide the class into two teams. Have the first team pick a category and level of difficulty. Ask the question. If the team can answer the question, they get the points in the box. If they cannot answer the question, the opposing team is given the chance to answer the question.

Before class write out the new vocabulary words and expression on pieces of scrap paper and put them in an empty bag. Draw each word from the bag and discuss the word as a class. Write a sentence on the board using the word as a class. Do not write out the new word on the whiteboard. Substitute the new vocabulary word with a blank line. Put the pieces of scrap paper back in the bag. Divide the class into two teams. Have each student come to the front of the class and draw a word from the bag. The student identifies the correct sentence and writes the word in the blank space. Then the student rolls the die for points.

To encourage continuing conversation, follow up students’ initial answers with questions like these:

-- Is memorizing grammar rules the most important part of learning a new language?

·Students should understand that the main idea of the article is people are learning about animal intelligence from two special animals - Nkisi the parrot and Koko the gorilla. They should understand how these two animals communicate with humans and why their communication is special.

Show Flash Card #1. Start a discussion and ask the students: What kind of animal is this? What is this animal doing? Is this animal intelligent? Does the picture have meaning?

Show Flash Card #2. Continue the discussion by asking the class: What kind of animal is this? What is this animal doing? What things can this animal do for people? How does this animal communicate? Is this animal intelligent?

Show Flash Card #3. Ask the students: What kind of animal is this? What is this animal doing? Where do you usually see this animal? What things does this animal do for people? Is this animal intelligent?

Show Flash Card #4. Conclude this part of the discussion and ask: What kind of animal is this? What is it doing? What does this animal do for people? Do you have a dog or cat? Can you communicate with your dog or cat? Are dogs and cats intelligent?

After showing each of the flash cards, ask the following questions to compare each picture:

You can share the following information with the class (and further the discussion).

Nonja, a female orangutan, paints pictures in Vienna’s Schoenbrunn zoo. Nonja is famous as a painter. Her paintings have been sold for more than 10,000 U.S. dollars in Austria.

A French man shakes hands with a dolphin in Marineland Antibes. Dolphins are famous entertainers in aquariums around the world. They also have been employed by the U.S. Navy to locate underwater mines.

An American man named Richard Lair conducts an elephant orchestra at an elephant conservation park in Lampang north of Bangkok. Lair has taught elephants to play football, paint and play music for tourists and students. It is said that when an elephant is about to die, it will go in search of a special ancestral graveyard. Although, there is no proof that this story is true, many researchers have observed a special awareness among elephants of death.

This Jack Russel terrier boogie boards in Kona, Hawaii. The Jack Russel terrier is a very intelligent animal. It is a hunting dog that uses its intelligence to predict the path of the fox.

Quote: “Fine animal gorilla.” - Koko the gorilla

According to Koko’s handlers, Koko signed this statement when asked whether she was an animal or a person. There is now a music CD with songs about Koko entitled “Fine Animal Gorilla”.

Frontpage picture: Nkisi the parrot is pictured on the front page. This parrot is considered to have the most highly developed language skills of any animal in the world.

The subject of animal communication is controversial. Some researchers believe that animals can be taught to creatively use language to convey information and meaning to people, while others disagree, saying that animal communication with humans is merely a series of trained responses. At the center of this controversy are two highly communicative animals - Koko the gorilla and Nkisi the parrot.

Since 1972, Koko the gorilla has been using a modified form of American Sign Language - a method of communication utilized by the deaf - to communicate with people. Koko is a Western Lowland gorilla who has been raised by Dr. Francine "Penny" Patterson. According to Dr. Patterson, she started by teaching Koko a few simple signs that were soon utilized to converse about food, games, and the surrounding environment.

Koko is said to know over 1000 signs and able to understand spoken English. According to researchers, this gorilla has a sense of humor, uses language creatively and invents new signs to convey ideas and words.

For example, her handlers claim that Koko used sound-loan to create a sign to identify a snack food that they give her between meals. The handlers call the snack food “browse”, so when Koko pointed to her “eyebrows”, her handlers determined that she was making a sign for the snack food. Of course the problem here is their subjectivity. These handlers assumed that Koko wanted this snack food, and subsequently fed it to her. This creates positive reinforcement. Since Koko was rewarded with the snack food for making that particular sign, one could assume that in the future she may make it again to get the food.

However, even rudimentary communication between Koko and humans has allowed a glimpse into the emotions and perceptions of this gorilla. In 1984, Koko is said to have used sign language to ask Dr. Patterson for a cat. Koko was subsequently presented with a litter of kittens and allowed to pick one. She chose a tailless gray male and named it All Ball.

Koko proved a wonderful pet owner. She was very gentle with the kitten and treated him much like a baby gorilla, carrying him on her back and trying to nurse him. When she was in a playful mood, she would dress All Ball up in napkins or sign to him suggesting that they tickle each other, her favorite game.

Unfortunately, their relationship ended abruptly in December of 1984, when All Ball escaped from the gorilla cage and was killed by a car. Koko was extremely distraught over the death of All Ball and spoke of it soon after with Dr. Patterson, using words that indicated sadness and disappointment.

Nkisi the parrot is another special animal at the center of the animal communication controversy. A captive bred, hand raised Congo African Gray Parrot, Nkisi is considered one of the world's top "language-using" animals, with an apparent understanding and appropriate usage of over 700 words.

His owner claims to have taught this parrot to speak, as one would teach a child, by explaining things to him in context. Nkisi has been allowed to develop his own creative relationship to language as a means of self-expression.

Nkisi speaks in sentences, showing a grasp of grammar in formulating his own original expressions. He is capable of actual conversations. He often initiates comments about what the people around him are doing, feeling, or looking at. Nkisi is also said to have special telepathic abilities. His handlers claim that this parrot often comments on thoughts that they are having while in his presence.

In this “Now Do This” activity, the students work in pairs to try to express the words at the bottom of page 13 by only using their hands. Each pair will create their own signs for two words, and then present their signs to the class.

First, write the six words on the bottom of page 13 on the whiteboard, and number them 1 through 6. See below for the list of words. Discuss the meaning of each word with the class. Next have the students find a partner. Secretly assign each student a number from the whiteboard. Have the partners try to communicate their secretly assigned words to each other using only their hands. Give them time to try to guess the word without verbal cues. Next, pick individual students to come to the front of the class and try to communicate their secretly assigned words to the class. Have them compare the ways that different people try to sign the same word.

Write two lists of words on the whiteboard that can be used to form compound words. See the list below for ideas. As a class, create special signs for each word. Divide the class into two teams. Have a student come to the front of the room and roll the two dice in the cup to form a compound word. The student signs this word for the class. The team that guesses correctly must also try to make a sentence with the compound word – whether or not it is actually a word. The team that guesses correctly and makes a sentence gets the value of the dice as points.

·Students should understand the meaning and usage of instead and instead of.

·Students should be able to write grammatically correct sentences using of instead and instead of.

·Review to replace and to choose as well as noun, clause, and gerund with the class. Write examples of clauses and gerunds on the whiteboard as a class.

·Introduce instead and instead of to the class. Explain that we use instead and instead of to describe that one person, thing, or action is being replace by another.

·Explain that instead of is usually followed by a noun or a gerund to show the person, thing, or action being replaced.

·Ask the students questions that involve choices. Ask them questions such as these: Do you want to study Chinese instead of English? Do you want to eat fried chicken instead of vegetables? Write the answers on the whiteboard without using instead of. For example, write “You don’t want to study English, but you want to study Chinese.”

·Rewrite the above examples using instead of. Note that instead of makes the meaning clearer.

·Explain that instead is used at the beginning or the end of a clause to say what will be done.

·Write examples on the board that use instead. Compare the structure of these sentences with examples that use instead of.

·Have the students turn to page 14 and read the “Remember” note at the top of the page. Review the examples at the top of page 14 as a class.

Write two lists on the whiteboard containing nouns, gerunds, and clauses. The students should be able to form sentences using instead (of) with the items in these two lists. See below for an example. Call on individual students to come to the front of the class and select items from each list to form sentences. Correct any mistakes as a class.

Before beginning this “Now Do This” activity, discuss the two pictures as a class. Ask the students these questions about the first picture: What does the boy see? What is the boy thinking? What are the boy and girl looking at? What fruit does the boy want to buy? What is the dog looking at? What does the dog want to do? Where is the girl? What is she thinking about? Next ask the students these questions about the second picture: What does the boy do with the money? What fruit are the boy and girl eating? What is the dog doing? Where is the girl going? After discussing the pictures, have the students work individually to finish the sentences at the bottom of page 14. When they are finished, take up the answers as a class.

Before class write out sample sentences on pieces of scrap paper. See below for examples. Cut the sentences up into three pieces. One piece should contain instead (of), while the other two pieces should contain each of the two nouns, gerunds, or clauses that make up the sentence. Make sure to have equal pieces of paper for the number of students in the class. Give each student a piece of a sentence. Have students find their partners and reassemble the sentences. Make sure they have used instead (of) correctly.

Unit 1

·Students should understand how to use even though. They should note the differences between even though, though and although.

·Students should be able to make grammatically correct sentences using even though.

·Review though and although. Note that though and although can be used to join two related clauses. As a class, write examples on the whiteboard.

·Introduce even though. Explain that we can use even though as an alternative to though or although when we talk about a fact that makes the main idea of a sentence seem a little surprising.

·Have the students turn to page 15 and read the examples at the top of the page as a class. Read the “Remember” note as a class.

List the following six animals on the whiteboard: gorilla, parrot, dolphin, elephant, cat, and dog. Write this sentence above the list: “Even though ____s are intelligent animals … “. Select an animal, and complete one sample sentence as a class. For example, select gorilla and write the sentence: “Even though gorillas are intelligent animals, they cannot read books.” Divide the class into two teams. Call a student to the front of the class. Have the student roll one die to select an animal and finish the sentence pattern. When the student correctly completes the sentence, have the student roll two dice to get points for the student’s team.

For this “Now Do This” activity, students will join the sentences at the bottom of page 15 to create new sentences using even though. They will write the new sentences on page 6 of their activity books. Before starting the activity do the first one as a class, and then ask students to work individually. When everyone has finished, take up the answers as a class.

Before class write out pairs of sentences on scrap pieces of paper similar to those found at the bottom of page 15. See below for examples. Make sure there is one piece of paper for each student. Give students each a piece of paper, and have them find their partners to form a new sentence using even though. Ask the partners to come to the front of the class to write the sentence on the whiteboard. Make sure that the students have used even though correctly.

Unit 1

Objectives

·Students should be able to make grammatically correct sentences using appear to be + V-ing.

·Review the following words and phrases: appear, seem, believe, think, look like, act like, and know for sure.

·First, introduce appear to be (noun). Explain to the students that we use appear to be (noun) when we think something is true but we are not sure. Write the following sentences on the whiteboard: “John looks like he is Joe’s brother”; “Jill is acting like she is sick”; “I think that man is Bob’s father”. Discuss the meaning of each sentence, and then rewrite using appear to be (noun).

·Next, introduce appear to be V-ing. Explain that we use this pattern to say what we think is happening. Write the following sentences on the whiteboard: “It looks like Sherry is studying hard”; “Bob acts like he is working hard”; “Bob seems to be having fun”. As a class, rewrite these examples using appear to be V-ing.

·Have the students turn to page 16 and read the examples at the top of the page. Next read the “Remember” note as a class.

List the following six activities on the whiteboard: washing dishes, playing basketball, communicating with sign language, stealing money, shearing sheep, and serving breakfast. Have a student come to the front of the class, and roll the small die in the cup to select on of the six activities. The student then acts out the activity, while the other students attempt to guess using the sentence pattern appear to be + V-ing. After a student gives the correct answer verbally, have the student come to the front of the class and write the sentence correctly on the whiteboard using the sentence pattern appear to be + V-ing.

For this “Now Do This” activity, the students will look at the pictures at the bottom of page 16 and write sentences in the space provided using appear to be + V-ing and the verb in each box. Before starting the activity, discuss the pictures as a class, and review the following words: snake, koala, cow, glass, twist, shear, steal, serve, and eat. Have the students work on their own, and then take up the answers as a class.

Materials: Whiteboard, markers, two different colored small dice, and a small cup or bowl

Make two lists on the whiteboard like the ones below. The first list should contain six people and things, and the second list should contain six verbs. Write the following sentence pattern at the top of the whiteboard: “A appears to be V-ing”. Have a student come to the front of the class and roll the two different colored dice in the cup. One of the die will indicate a selection from List A , while the other will indicate a selection from List B. The student then draws what A is doing on the whiteboard. The other students try to guess using the sentence pattern “A appears to be V-ing”. If they guess correct, the student drawing the picture answers: “Yes, A is V-ing”.

Lesson 4 Focus on Writing Writing a Descriptive Paragraph -- Intelligence

.·Students should understand the meaning of and be able to use the following adjectives: smart, clever, bright, quick, sharp, and brainy,

·Students should be able to write a descriptive paragraph about intelligence using the following words: smart, clever, bright, quick, sharp, and brainy.

·Students should be able to write complex sentences that describe the reasons why a subject is intelligent.

·Review the following words with the class: intelligence, smart, clever, bright, quick, sharp, and brainy.

·Review these grade words: very, quite, extremely, and really. Write several examples using these words on the whiteboard.

·Explain that, when describing people’s intelligence, we often use the above adjectives. Also note that when writing about intelligence we often use the grade words like very, quite, extremely, and really.

·Using the conversation posters, write sentences as a class on the whiteboard about these five animals. Structure the sentences as follows: “This animal is grade word adjective because … “.

·Review sentence patterns such as the following: “Subject is so adjective that subject …”; “Subject is grade word adjective, so subject … “; “Although subject is/was grade word adjective, subject … “; “As a grade word adjective noun, subject was/is … “.

·Rewrite the above conversation poster examples using these more complex sentence patterns.

As a class look at the list of adjectives and example sentences on page 17. Explain that bright, quick, and sharp have other meanings that are not related to intelligence. Write sample sentences on the whiteboard using the other meanings of these words as a class. Proceed to the “Now Do This Extension” activity.

Materials: Whiteboard, markers, two different colored magnets, and dice

Draw a ladder with 9 steps. On each step write each of the following words: smart, clever, bright, quick, sharp, brainy, bright2, quick2, and sharp2. The number 2 denotes the second usage of each of these words. At the bottom of the ladder draw a shark under the water. At the top of the ladder draw an airplane. Divide the class into two teams. Assign each team a different colored magnet. The students on each team take turns rolling the die and moving the team’s magnet along the ladder. They must make a sentence using the word that they land on. The first team to make it to the airplane wins the game. The losers are eaten by the shark.

For this “Now Do This” activity, the students will write six sentences about people that they know using the words smart, clever, bright, quick, sharp, and brainy. They must give reason why they think these people are smart, clever, bright, quick, sharp, and brainy. Walk around the class and help students with their answers. Help them use various sentence structures to express their meaning.

Before class, write the names of the following animals on pieces of scrap paper: gorilla, parrot, dolphin, elephant, and dog. Make sure to have one animal for each student. Give each student a piece of paper with an animal name, and have each student write a descriptive sentence about the animal on the piece of scrap paper. Walk around the room and help the students with spelling and grammar. Collect the pieces of paper and put them in the empty bag. Divide the class into two teams. Students come to the front of the room and draw a piece of paper from the bag. They read the descriptive sentence replacing the name of the animal with “this animal”. The other students must guess which animal the sentence is describing. The team that guesses correctly rolls the die for points.

For this “Now Do This” activity, have the students work in pairs. First, write the following words on the whiteboard: smart, clever, bright, quick, sharp, and brainy. Tell the students that they are to listen to their partner read and identify which of these words is mentioned in the passage. Then, have each student in the pair take a turn reading to the other student. The partner who is listening must keep their book closed, while noting which words are mentioned in the passage. After the pairs are finished, read the passage as a class, noting which words were mentioned in the reading. Ask the students these questions: Do you agree with the opinion that Mr. Egghead is smart? Why do you agree or disagree?

For this “Now Do This” activity, the students must bring a photo from a magazine or newspaper of someone they think is very smart to class. Bring some extra magazine and newspaper clippings to class for students that forget to bring a picture. The students are to work individually. Each student is to write a paragraph describing why the student thinks the person in the picture is intelligent. Walk around the room while the students work, and help them with grammar and spelling. When they finish, ask several students to come to the front of the class and read their paragraphs. Discuss these paragraphs as a class. Ask the other students whether or not they agree with their classmates’ opinions.

·Remind students to review Unit 2 vocabulary and grammar rules. They should preview the next unit.

Koko	Nkisi
500	500
400	400
300	300
200	200
100	100

Koko	Nkisi
Is Koko an intelligent animal?	How is Nkisi’s use of language different from other parrots?
How does Koko creatively use language?	Why are these mistakes interesting?
What does Koko call people when she is angry?	What grammar mistakes has Nkisi made?
How many signs does Koko know?	How many words does Nkisi know?
How does Koko communicate with humans?	How does Nkisi communicate with humans?

Jill did well on the test.	She didn’t study.
The dog and cat like each other.	Dogs usually chase cats.
My teacher yelled at me.	I was still happy.

List A	List B
gorilla	swimming
dog	climbing a tree
teacher	eating a snake
cat	speaking English
parrot	stealing a pizza
student	twisting a sweater

Unit 1

Lesson 1 Focus on Reading

Sample List A

Sample List B

Sample Sentences

Unit 1

Unit 1

Objectives

A picture of Albert Einstien