A. What's the ugliest animal you can think of?
What's ugly about it? Does it have big eyes, lots of legs or something else? Now look at this picture of a spider. Do you think it's beautiful or ugly. Maybe you think it's scary or perhaps you'd like to pick it up. Think about some unusual animals. Do you know their names in English? Which do you think they are beautiful or ugly? How do they make you feel when you see or touch them? |
C. Read the text again and answer these comprehension questions to check that you can understand the text.
1. What is the Ugly Animal Preservation Society trying to do? 2. What did Simon Watt do? 3. Who voted for the animals and how? 4. Which creature was the winner and how many votes did it get? 5. What does Simon Watt mean by, 'For too long the cute and fluffy animals have taken the limelight, but now the blobfish will be a voice for the mingers who always get forgotten'? 6. What does the title A Face Only a Mother Could Love mean? 7. How does the writer describe the blobfish? 8. Why is the kakapo endangered? 9. What's amazing about the axoloti? 10. Do you agree with the writer's final passage? |
Here are the answers:
1. What is the Ugly Animal Preservation Society trying to do? They are drawing attention to animals which need conserving (saving) in nature. 2. What did Simon Watt do? He organized a contest and asked famous people to film short videos showing the world's ugliest creatures. 3. Who voted for the animals and how? People saw the videos and decided which was the ugliest animal. 4. Which creature was the winner and how many votes did it get? The winner was the blobfish and it got 795 votes. 5. What does Simon Watt mean by, 'For too long the cute and fluffy animals have taken the limelight, but now the blobfish will be a voice for the mingers who always get forgotten'? He means cute animals have always been popular and now ugly animals can also be popular because of the blobfish's popularity. 6. What does the title A Face Only a Mother Could Love mean? It means the animal or person is so ugly that only their mother could love them and nobody else. 7. How does the writer describe the blobfish? It's up to 30cm long with no muscles making it able to float. 8. Why is the kakapo endangered? It's endangered because it's an easy target for cats and rats. 9. What's amazing about the axoloti? It can regenerate its limbs. 10. Do you agree with the writer's final passage? Your answer. |
For a writing task, why not think about an animal you like?
It could be an unusual animal or something you'd find in a zoo or at home. Before you start, do some research to find out some interesting facts about the animal. Think about how to make your text interesting and engaging for the reader. Remember, if you take information from a book or online remember to include a link or reference to say where you learned that fact. Also, don't take too much from another piece of writing. I want to see your writing, not what somebody else wrote! |