5-animal-stories-american-english-student-A2-B1
5-animal-stories-american-english-student-A2-B1
5-animal-stories-american-english-student-A2-B1
ANIMAL
STORIES
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1 Warm up
Part A: make a list of animal characters that you know from movies, books, songs or poems.
ANIMAL STORIES
Part B: work in groups and try to summarize an animal story that you all know.
2 As busy as a bee
Part A: complete each sentence with the correct adjective.
2. The youngest brother was . He got up early and worked in the fields all day.
4. The people asked the old, man for advice. He always knew what to do.
Part B: animals in stories often have specific personalities. For example, a fox is clever and an ant is
hard-working. What animals are usually described with the adjectives above?
ANIMAL STORIES
Part C: in many languages, there are phrases comparing people to animals. Link the words in the two
columns to make eight English phrases. Do you have similar phrases in your language?
1. as busy as a. a mouse
2. as gentle as b. a mule
3. as proud as c. a fox
4. as quiet as d. an owl
5. as sly as e. an ox
6. as strong as f. a lamb
7. as stubborn as g. a bee
8. as wise as h. a peacock
Glossary:
sly – clever and not always honest
Part A: a traditional story often teaches a lesson, called a moral. Read and listen to the stories. Then,
match a moral to each story.
ANIMAL STORIES
1. The ants and the grasshopper It was a nice summer day. The grasshopper was
playing his guitar. He spent every day like that.
He never did any work. One day he saw a
group of ants. The ants were working very hard.
They were gathering food for winter. The
grasshopper asked them to stop working and
listen to his music, but they were too busy. The
grasshopper didn’t think about winter. It was
summer and there was plenty of food around.
After a few months, winter came. The ants
were warm in their home with plenty of food
for everyone. The grasshopper was hungry and
cold.
2. The crow and the bottle It was a hot day and the crow was very thirsty.
Suddenly, she saw a bottle under a tree. She sat
on the ground and looked at the bottle. There
was only a little water at the bottom. The crow
tried to reach the water, but she could not. Her
beak was too short. At last, she had an idea.
She collected some stones. Then, she dropped
the stones one by one into the bottle with her
beak. Soon the water came up to the top of the
bottle. Now the crow was able to drink it.
3. The lion and the mouse The lion was sleeping. Suddenly, he woke up
and saw that a mouse was running over his
face. The lion caught the mouse and wanted to
kill her. The mouse said, "Please, don’t kill me, I
am sure I can help you in the future". The lion
laughed at this idea, but let the mouse go. A
few days later, the hunters caught the lion and
tied him to the ground with thick ropes. The
mouse was walking by and saw the lion. She
came and cut the ropes with her sharp teeth.
"Now you can see that even a mouse can help a
lion sometimes."
ANIMAL STORIES
4. The tortoise and the hare The tortoise wanted to race the hare. The hare
laughed because the tortoise had short legs and
walked very slowly. The race began. The
tortoise walked slowly and didn’t stop for a
moment. The hare ran very fast. Soon he was
far ahead, so he stopped for a rest. It was a nice
day, and the hare fell asleep. When the hare
woke up, he ran quickly to the finishing line.
However, the tortoise was already there.
5. The fox and the stork One day, the fox invited the stork to dinner. The
fox served some soup on a plate. She ate the
soup quickly, but the stork couldn’t eat from the
plate with his long beak. The stork was angry
and decided to play a trick on the fox, too. He
invited the fox to dinner the next day. When
she arrived, she saw that the food was served
in a tall, narrow jar. The stork ate the food with
his long beak, but the fox went home hungry.
6. The ant and the dove The ant was walking by the river one day. He
decided to have a drink of water. But when he
was drinking, he fell into the river. A dove was
sitting in a tree. She saw him and threw him a
leaf. The ant climbed on the leaf and floated on
it to the bank. He was safe. A few days later,
the dove was building a nest. The ant was
walking by. He saw a man under the tree. The
man was getting ready to shoot the dove. The
ant ran quickly and bit the man’s leg very hard.
The man cried and dropped his gun. The dove
heard the noise and flew away. She was safe.
ANIMAL STORIES
ANIMAL STORIES
The ant was walking by the river one day. He decided to have a drink of water. But when he was
drinking, he fell into the river. A dove was sitting in a tree. She saw him and threw him a leaf. The ant
climbed on the leaf and floated on it to the bank.
Part B: read about the two tenses in the table below and put in the missing verbs.
English has more than one past tense which can be used to tell a story. Past simple is
used to talk about the main events of the story. The actions are completed.
Past continuous is used to talk about things that were going on at a specific time in the
past. We don’t know if they were completed or not, or if it is important.
Using different tenses makes the story more interesting. The past simple tense moves the
story forward and the past continuous slows down the action, makes us focus on details,
or describes the situation.
The past continuous uses the auxiliary verb ‘be’ in the past form and the main verb with
the ending –ing.
ANIMAL STORIES
5 Practice
Part A: choose a verb and complete the sentences using the past continuous form. Then, compare
your answers with the texts.
4. The lion .
1. What were the ants doing when the grasshopper saw them?
2. What was the mouse doing when the lion woke up?
4. What was the man doing when the ant bit his leg?
5. What did the man do when the ant bit his leg?
6. What was the dove doing when the ant bit the man’s leg?
6 Tell a story
Work in groups. Imagine you are an animal. Describe an interesting day in your life. Use both past
tenses.
ANIMAL STORIES
7 Homework: part 1
Write a diary for one day. Write down what you did or were doing at the following times.
Date: ............
7 am - I was sleeping/I woke up/ I was lying in bed, but I wasn’t sleeping.
8 am -
1 pm -
2 pm -
6 pm -
8 pm -
10 pm -
8 Homework: part 2
Watch ONE of the videos and describe what happened. Use both past tenses and some adverbs of
manner.
Goat
Whale
Crab