Guess an animal!
Warm-up
Animal Guessing Game
(5 minutes)
Read the description of the animals below and guess what they are.
- It is big. It lives in Africa. It’s grey. It has big ears and very long nose. It eats plants and fruit. What is it?
- It can be big. It lives in rivers in America and Africa. It is green. It eats meat. It is ugly and scary.
Now your turn. Think of any animal. Describe it in the same way, and I will guess.
Learn the rules: singular and plural nouns with animals
(5 minutes)
- A zebra + s – zebras
- A lion + s – lions
- An elephant + s – elephants
Exceptions
- Some animal names don’t change in the plural form. For example: Sheep → One sheep / Two sheep; Deer → One deer / Three deer.
- Some animal names change completely in the plural: Mouse → One mouse / Two mice; Goose → One goose / Two geese.
Practice
Answer the questions: “What is this?” and “What are these?”. E.g.: What is this? This / It is a cat. What are these? These / They are cats.
Pronounce the words
(5 minutes)
Practice /d/ and /g/ sounds (important for common animal names like dog and goat).
Tongue Twister: “Dogs dig deep holes.”
- Let’s break it down slowly at first: “Dogs… dig… deep… holes.”
- Try to say it faster each time.
- Add fun challenges: Can you say it like a lion?
Speaking Patterns and Vocabulary
(5 minutes)
Let’s remember some speaking patterns and vocabulary related to animals.
Here you need Key Phrases:
- “It is a…” (e.g., “It is a dog.”) for a singular noun.
- “They are…” (e.g., “They are dogs.”) for a plural noun.
- “The animal is big/small…” (e.g., “The lion is big.”) to describe it.
Activity
- Remember one animal from Australia. Describe it. E.g.: It is a snake. The snake is long. It is yellow and brown.
- Remember two animals from Africa. Describe them. E.g.: They are … They live in …
Practical Speaking Exercise
(10 minutes)
Task 1. Describe Your Favourite Animal
These questions and examples will help you.
- What is your favourite animal? What color is it? Where does it live?
- Describe it like this: It is a tiger. It is big. It has stripes. It lives in India and Russia. It likes meat. It doesn’t eat grass.
- What animal would you like to see in the zoo?
- What animal would you like to have as a pet? Why?
- What animal is kind? Angry?
Task 2. What do they eat?
Look at the pictures. Do you remember the animals? Choose the animals which eat grass and the animals which eat meat. Say like this: Cats and dogs eat meat. Sheep and cows eat grass.
Can you say what mice, geese and deer eat?
Animals
A crocodile, a kangaroo, a zebra, a monkey, a flamingo, a camel, a dinosaur, a penguin.
Homework
Watch and describe
Task 1
Watch the video. What animals can you see there? You need to translate the names of the animals you don’t know. You can use Translate Yandex to help.
Task 2
Choose 3 animals from the video whose names are new to you and describe them. Write at least 5 sentences about each: say their name, what they are like (big, small, beautiful, ugly, etc.), what colour they are, where they live, what they eat.
You can write in the form below.
Task 3
What does the camel say? Look at the list of how animals speak. Find the animals from the video and see the name of their sound. Check their meaning and pronunciation in the dictionary. Write them down and say loudly.
List of animal sounds
Alligators – hiss, grunt, roar, quak
Antelopes – snort
Anteaters – hrow,
Badgers – growl
Bats – screech
Bears – growl, groan, moan, roar
Bees – hum, buzz
Beetles – drone, click
Birds – chirrup, chirp, twitter, tweet, sing, whistle
Bitterns – boom
Blackbirds – whistle
Bonobos – chirp, squeal, screech, shriek, squeak, hoot
Calves – bleat
Camels – grunt
Capuchins – chirp, chatter, trill
Cats – mew, purr, meow, miaow, hiss, yowl, screech, caterwaul
Chaffinch – ow
Chickens – cluck, cackle, bock, chirp, crow, screech, peep, cockadoodledoo
Chimpanzees – pant-hoot, grunt, scream, chatter, screech, bark
Chinchillas – squeak
Cicadas – chirp
Cows – moo, low, bawl (calf), bellow
Coyotes – yelp, cry, snarl
Crickets – chirp, creak
Crows – caw, cah
Cuckoos – coo, cuckoo
Curlews – pipe
Deer – bell
Dingos – bark, cry
Dogs – bark, woof, arf, bay, bow-wow, howl, yap
Dolphins – click
Donkeys – bray, hee-haw
Doves – coo-coo
Ducks – quack
Eagles – scream
Elephants – trumpet, roar, moan, rumble
Emus – drum
Falcons – chant
Ferrets – dook
Flies – buzz, hum
Foxes – bark, yelp, simper
Frogs – croak, ribbit, gribbit
Geese – cackle, gobble, hiss, honk, quack
Gibbons – whoop, chirp, screech, wail
Giraffes – bleat
Goats – bleat, baa
Gorillas – hoot, bark, grunt, whine, pock, pant
Grasshoppers – chirp
Guinea pigs – squeak
Hamsters – squeak
Hares – squeak
Hens – cackle, cluck
Hermit crabs – chirp
Hippopotamuses – bellow, rumble, roar, growl
Hogs – grunt, snor
Horses – neigh, snort, whinny, nicker, sputter
Humans – whisper, hum, whistle, cry, scream, sing, talk, moan, laugh, sputter, mimic other animals, coo
Hummingbirds – hum, twitter
Hyenas – laugh, scream, whoop
Jackals – gecker, howl
Jays – chatter, screech
Kangaroos – chortle
Koalas – scream, bellow, wail
Komodo dragons – growl, snarl, hiss
Lambs – bleat, baa
Larks – sing, warble
Linnets – chuckle
Lions – roar, growl
Llamas – maw
Magpies – chatter
Mice – squeak and squeal
Monkeys – chatter, gecker, gibber, whoop, screech
Moose – bellow
Mosquitoes – whine
Narwhals – squeal
Nightingales – pipe, sing, warble
Okapis – cough, bellow
Orangutans – Groan, grunt, smooch, wheeze, chirp, squeal, sputter
Ostriches – chirp, bark, hiss, low hum
Owls – hoot, scream, screech, shriek
Oxen – bellow, low
Parrots – mimic a variety of sounds, screech, squawk
Peacocks – scream
Peafowls – scream
Pigs – snort, grunt, squeal, oink
Pigeons – coo
Porpoises – whistle, click
Prairie dogs – bark
Puffins – chirp
Queleas – chatter
Rabbits – squeak, drum, growl (when cornered)
Raccoons – trill
Rats – squeak, eek, brux
Ravens – croak
Rhinoceros – bellow
Robins – chirp
Rooks – caw
Roosters – crow
Seagulls – scream, squawk, mew
Seals – bark
Sheep – bleat, baa
Snakes – hiss
Sparrows – chirp, twitter
Squirrels – squeak, chatter, click
Stags – bellow
Swallows – twitter, squeal
Swans – cry
Tapirs – whistle, squeak
Tigers – growl, roar, snarl
Thrushes – whistle, sing
Tokay Geckos – croak
Turkeys – gobble
Vervets – chirp, chatter, grunt, bark, coo, sputter
Vultures – scream
Walruses – groan
Whales – sing
Wolves – howl, cry, yell
Wrens – trill, warble
Yaks – low, moan
Zebras – whinny, whoop