Animal Noises

In many of my classes the teachers ask me to have the students practice their speaking. So we look at a few pictures and describe them. This usually takes 15 minutes, and the remainder of the class is the animal noises lesson.

Describing Pictures Write at least one sentence for each picture. After 5 minutes, we will go over the answers as a class.

Animal Noises

Warm-Up - Each row starts with a piece of paper with any word written in a vertical line. For this lesson I wrote “animals”. The first student writes a word that begins with “a” and then passes it back to the student behind them. That student then writes a word that begins with “n”. Once they write down a word then they pass it back to the student behind them who writes down a word that begins with “i”. The same word cannot be written twice. The first team to finish wins. Extra points are also awarded for longer words.

A - apple N - never I - interesting M - mother A - ankle L - leprechaun S - simple

Write the word “animals” on the board and then circle it. Then have the students yell out as many animals as they know.

Show the students pictures of animals. Ask them what animals they see in the pictures. Once they say what the animal is, write it down on the board in English and Chinese. *optional: For each animal go through a description of it. What is its size, color, habitat ( 栖息地 ), etc. Then tell them that today we are going to talk about what sound it makes.

Vocabulary jungle – 丛 habitat - 栖息地

What animals in the jungle ( 丛 ) do you see?

What animals do you see on this farm?

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Explanation Now it is time for the frog and the animals. Before I start the animal noises I say that we are going to do something pretty silly. I tell them that animal noises in America are different from in China. When I show them a frog, I ask them what a frog says in China. The answer is “gua gua”. I tell them that in America frogs say “ribbit, ribbit.” I then have them repeat after me.

Explanation Continued I get really into it when I am saying the animal noises (especially the monkey sound) and they think it is hilarious. If some of them get into it, I point at them and have them show the class their good frog, or monkey, or rooster sound. The kids seem to laugh the whole time.

What sound does a frog make? A frog says, “ribbit, ribbit.”

What sound does a monkey make? A monkey says, “oooo ahhh ahhh ahhh.”

What sound does a rooster make? A rooster says, “cockadoodledoo.”

What sound does a hen make? A hen says, “cluck.”

What sound does a pig make? A pig says, “oink!”

What sound does a duck make? A duck says, “Quack!”

What sound does a dog make? A dog says, “woof!”

What sound does a cat make? A cat says, “meow.”

What sound does a snake make? A snake says, “Ssssssssss.”

What sound does a sheep make? A sheep says, “baa.”

Partner Work Practice asking your partner what a certain animal sounds like and then have them answer. For example: –A: What does a dog sound like? –B: A dog sound like this (make the sound a dog makes). –B: What does a monkey sound like? –A: A monkey sounds like this (make the sound a monkey makes).

Guess the animal Listen to my descriptions and see if you can guess which animal I am describing. For example I might say, “I live on a farm, I am a male, and people like to eat me. What am I?” Answer: I am a rooster.

Animal Grammar Practice Give students some sentences that have errors in them and see if they can correct the mistake.

#1 I very like to listening to animals in the jungle. I like listening to animals in the jungle.

#2 Have you ever saw a monkey? Have you ever seen a monkey?

#3 What does a dog looks like? What does a dog look like?

#4 I am at my friend’s farm when I saw a chicken. I was at my friend’s farm when I saw a chicken.

#5 I like to playing with a puppies. I like playing with puppies.

Everyone is an Artist Choose a few students to go up to the board (maybe 3 or 4). Then make an animal sound and have them draw the animal that you are imitating.

Animal Noises Worksheet The following slide is a worksheet I gave the students to do during the lesson. As I went through each animal I would have what that animal says. For the second part I just had them talk with their partners to practice speaking a little. The third part was more challenging. I told them I would describe one of the 7 animals and they would have to guess which one it was. For example I would say, “I live on a farm, I am a male, and people like to eat me.” The answer is rooster.

I. Write the noise the animal makes: Frog: A frog says __________ Monkey: A monkey says __________. Rooster (male chicken): A rooster says _____________. Hen (female chicken): A hen says _____________. Pig: A pig says ____________. Duck: A duck says _______________. Dog: A dog says ______________. Partner Work Choose one person to be Person A and one person to be person B. Have a dialogue with your partner. A: What does a ___________ sound like? B: A ____________ sound like this _____________. B: What does a ______________ sound like? A: A ____________ sound like ____________. Listen to my descriptions and write down the name of the animal