The story is about…
1. killing whales.
2. the largest animals.
3. what whales eat.
4. dangerous animals in the sea.
5. laws against whales.
Vocabulary
Find words in the story that have these meanings.
a. an animal that lived in the past
b. a person who works on a ship
c. up to but not more than
d. uses (time or money)
Complete the sentences using words from the box.
Biggest whale talk tell still yet perhaps unlike left
a. We think that whales can____________ to each other.
b. The____________ animal in the world is the Blue Whale.
c. Whales cannot____________ us about their lives.
d. A large____________ can weigh 1,000 kilos.
e. There are not many large whales____________ in the seas.
f. There is____________ time to save the whales from being killed.
g. ____________ we shall be able to talk to whales in the future.
h. Whales are____________ all other sea animals, except other cetaceans.
Choose and write the correct word.
a. A boy in our class____________ 80 kilos. holds/weighs
b. The cat____________ a bird in the garden yesterday. killed/opened
c. Elvis Presley was a____________ singer. old/famous
d. There are____________ against stealing in our country. laws/whales
Looking for detail
Answer these questions about the story.
a. What is the name of the biggest whales?
b. In what way are whales different from fish?
c. Who was Moby Dick?
d. Why aren't there many whales left?
e. What may we be able to do to whales in the future?
f. What are cetaceans?
g. In what way is a whale like a cow?
h. How much bigger can a Blue Whale be than a dinosaur?
i. What does 'themselves' refer to in paragraph 2?
j. Do you think there will be more whales in the sea in the future? Give a reason for your answer.
Complete the following sentences. Your answers must come from the story.
a. The biggest animal that ever lived is not____________, it is the Blue Whale.
b. Whales are not only very big, they are also____________.
c. Cetaceans are different from fish because____________.
d. Herman Melville wrote a story about____________ and____________.
e. If we do not stop killing whales there soon won't____________.
Picture comprehension
Make a tick under the picture that shows the correct size of the largest whale. Say why you think this picture is correct.
Organizing ideas
Put these sentences into the correct order by writing the numbers 1-7 next to each letter.
a. ___ Whales are large animals that live in the sea.
b. ___ This means that they are not fish but animals that have babies.
c. ___ They are much larger than the dinosaurs were.
d. ___ They can speak to each other and are part of the family of 'cetaceans'.
e. ___ They can be as long as 30 meters and can weigh as much as 1,000 kilos.
f. ___ Moby Dick was a famous whale in a story by an American writer.
g. ___ There are not many whales today because people have killed them, but now we have laws against killing whales.
Writing
Write sentences about the story by putting these words in the correct order.
a. animal The is world's the biggest whale.
____________________________________________________
b. Whales clever. are very also
____________________________________________________
c. them. speak to other speak but They cannot to can each we
____________________________________________________
d. do. Whales like have we live babies
____________________________________________________
e. a story. whale A in called was Moby Dick
____________________________________________________
f. whales left them. Today not because there men many have are killed
____________________________________________________
UNIT 6
Annette Kellerman
Pre-reading activity
1. Do you like swimming?
2. Have you ever swum in a race?
3. Can you name a famous swimmer?
Annette Kellerman was born in Australia in 1887. For many years she was a very sick child. She had polio and could not walk easily. She had to wear metal supports on her legs to help her stand up on her own. To make her legs stronger her mother took her for swimming lessons every week. Swimming made her legs so strong that when she was 15 she was able to throw away her supports.
Her family was poor so she got work acting as a mermaid. She wore a long tail and fish swam around her. People paid to come and see her. She traveled around Australia until she was 17 when her father took her to England. But English people did not want to see a mermaid, so her father made her swim down the River Thames. Lots of people came to see her swim.
In 1900 Annette swam in the Paris Olympics and won two gold medals. Next she tried to swim across the English Channel, the sea between England and France. Six other people swam with her - all of them men. The sea was very cold and Annette and the men soon became tired. One by one the other swimmers had to stop. Annette swam on for six hours, but then she, too, had to stop. Nowadays a lot of men and women swim the English Channel every year but Annette was the first woman to try.
In 1915 Annette went to Hollywood and was the star of two films.
New words
polio: Some people who were sick with polio when they were young cannot walk well.
metal supports: Some people need metal supports to help them stand and walk.
mermaid: Mermaids are women with fish tails. They are only in stories.
medal: When Mary came first in swimming they gave her a gold medal.
star: I want to work in the films and become a famous star.
Main idea
Does each of these sentences say what each paragraph is about? Write T for true or F for false.
Paragraph 1___ A sick girl whom swimming helped.
Paragraph 2___ Annette Kellerman worked as a mermaid and went to England where she swam.
Paragraph 3___ Annette moved to Paris and lived there for a long time.
Paragraph 4___ Ms. Kellerman became famous in films.
Vocabulary
