Breaking News English ESL Lesson on Crocodiles

Man shoots colleague in crocodile’s jaws

An Australian crocodile-farm worker has escaped the jaws of death, a bullet and a crocodile in the space of a few seconds. Jason Green was attacked by an angry croc while he was working at the Darwin Crocodile Farm in Australia’s Northern Territory. Mr Green was one of two men who were collecting crocodile eggs along a riverbank. They regularly collect eggs and put them in a special incubator so that the babies hatch safely. Their skins are sold to the Hermes brand to make bags. The female reptile got upset when she saw Mr Green at her nest and immediately attacked him. His quick-thinking colleague Zac Fitzgerald saved his life when he shot the saltwater beast. Mr Green was released from certain death when the croc let go of him and swam away. Unfortunately, Fitzgerald fired a second shot which hit Mr Green in the same arm the crocodile had grabbed.

Mr Green is now recovering in hospital. He needed two operations on his broken arm; one for the crocodile bite and one for the bullet wound. Mr Green was extremely lucky he made it to hospital in time to save his arm. Fortunately for him, a helicopter was waiting nearby the area that the two workers were collecting eggs. It took just 25 minutes to transport Green from the remote, Outback river to the Royal Darwin Hospital. Jason joked about the attack from his hospital bed. He told his boss: “I don’t think I’ll be at work for a couple of days.” Jason thanked his colleague for saving his life, saying: “Thank God he’s a good shot.” Jason added that he didn’t have any bad feelings toward the croc. “She only sort of poked her nose out at me,” he said. The crocodile survived the gun shot and is now back guarding her nest.

WARM-UPS

1. CROCODILES: Walk around the class and talk to other students about crocodiles. Change partners often. After you finish, sit with your original partner(s) and share what you found out.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.

farm workers / the jaws of death / crocodile skin / getting angry / bad luck / hospitals / broken bones / helicopter rescues / jokes / colleagues / gun shots

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. WHOOPS: Talk with your partner(s) about the accidental situations below. What would you do if your friend accidentally did these to you? Rank them: 10 = you’d be seriously angry, 1 = it’d be no problem. Change partners and share your findings.

a. _____ your friend shot you in the arm

b. _____ your friend lost your English homework

c. _____ your friend accidentally stole your boy/girlfriend

d. _____ your friend gave away your Internet passwords

e. _____ your friend wiped out the contents of your iPod

f. _____ your friend lost your pet / brother / sister

g. _____ your friend ruined your favourite item of clothing

h. _____ your friend accidentally blinded you

4. HELP!: Talk with your partner(s) about being attacked by these things. Agree on the three most and least frightening. Change partners and share your findings.

a crocodile
a swarm of bees
children wanting money
a shark
a mosquito at night in bed

an army of soldier ants
1,000 crows
the school bully
a lion
a mystery virus

5. DEATH: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘death’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

6. QUICK ROLE PLAY: Student A strongly believes that crocodile skin should never be used for fashion accessories; Student B strongly believes crocodile skin products are the coolest things around. Change partners again and talk about your roles and conversations.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	A farm worker was almost killed by a crocodile and a bullet.	T / F
b.	The lucky man was taking eggs to feed the crocodiles.	T / F
c.	The crocodile farm sells the crocs’ skin to a fashion company.	T / F
d.	The worker’s colleague shot the worker on purpose.	T / F
e.	The man is in hospital with a broken arm.	T / F
f.	A Toyota Landcruiser rushed the man to a nearby hospital.	T / F
g.	The man joked about being attacked by a crocodile.	T / F
h.	The crocodile died.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

1.	Australian	a.	injury
2	space	b.	sure
3.	upset	c.	take
4.	certain	d.	seized
5.	grabbed	e.	stuck
6.	recovering	f.	period
7.	wound	g.	angry
8.	transport	h.	protecting
9.	poked	i.	healing
10.	guarding	j.	Aussie

3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

1.	escaped the jaws	a.	in hospital
2	in the space of	b.	of death
3.	collect eggs and put them	c.	survived the gun shot
4.	His quick-thinking	d.	in a special incubator
5.	released from	e.	wound
6.	recovering	f.	certain death
7.	bullet	g.	colleague
8.	Jason joked about	h.	feelings toward the croc
9.	didn’t have any bad	i.	a few seconds
10.	The crocodile	j.	the attack

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.

An Australian crocodile-farm worker has __________ the jaws of death, a bullet and a crocodile in the __________ of a few seconds. Jason Green was attacked by an angry croc while he was working at the Darwin Crocodile Farm in Australia’s Northern Territory. Mr Green was one of __________ men who were collecting crocodile eggs along a riverbank. They regularly collect eggs and put them in a special incubator so that the babies __________ safely. Their skins are sold to the Hermes brand to make bags. The female __________ got upset when she saw Mr Green at her nest and immediately attacked him. His quick-__________ colleague Zac Fitzgerald saved his life when he shot the saltwater __________. Mr Green was released from certain death when the croc let go of him and swam away. Unfortunately, Fitzgerald __________ a second shot which hit Mr Green in the same arm the crocodile had grabbed.

thinking
hatch
space
beast
reptile
escaped
fired
two

Mr Green is now __________ in hospital. He needed two operations on his broken arm; one for the crocodile __________ and one for the bullet __________. Mr Green was extremely lucky he made it to hospital in time to save his arm. Fortunately for him, a helicopter was waiting __________ the area that the two workers were collecting eggs. It took just 25 minutes to transport Green from the __________, Outback river to the Royal Darwin Hospital. Jason joked about the attack from his hospital bed. He told his boss: “I don’t think I’ll be at work for a couple of days.” Jason thanked his colleague for __________ his life, saying: “Thank God he’s a good shot.” Jason added that he didn’t have any bad __________ toward the croc. “She only sort of poked her nose out at me,” he said. The crocodile __________ the gun shot and is now back guarding her nest.

remote
bite
nearby
survived
recovering
feelings
wound
saving

LISTENING: Listen and fill in the spaces.

An Australian crocodile-farm worker has ______________________ death, a bullet and a crocodile ___________________ few seconds. Jason Green was attacked by an angry croc while he was working at the Darwin Crocodile Farm in Australia’s Northern Territory. Mr Green ______________________ who were collecting crocodile eggs along a riverbank. They regularly collect eggs ______________________ special incubator so that the babies hatch safely. Their skins are sold to the Hermes brand to make bags. The female reptile ______________________ Mr Green at her nest and immediately attacked him. His quick-thinking colleague Zac Fitzgerald saved his ______________________ saltwater beast. Mr Green was released from certain death when the croc let go of him and swam away. Unfortunately, Fitzgerald fired a second shot which hit Mr Green ______________________ crocodile had grabbed.

Mr Green is ______________________. He needed two operations on his broken arm; one for the crocodile bite and one for the bullet wound. Mr Green was extremely ______________________ hospital in time to save his arm. Fortunately for him, a helicopter ______________________ that the two workers were collecting eggs. It took just 25 minutes to transport Green ______________________, Outback river to the Royal Darwin Hospital. Jason joked about the attack from his hospital bed. He told his boss: “I don’t ______________________ for a couple of days.” Jason thanked his colleague for saving his life, saying: “Thank God ______________________.” Jason added that he didn’t have any bad feelings toward the croc. “She only sort of ______________________ at me,” he said. The crocodile survived the gun shot ______________________ her nest.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘bullet’ and ‘wound’.

bullet

wound

Share your findings with your partners.
Make questions using the words you found.
Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

escaped
space
regularly
skins
quick
unfortunately

now
extremely
nearby
joked
bad
guarding

STUDENT CROCODILE SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about crocodiles in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper.

When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.

Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.
Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	What springs to mind when you hear the phrase ‘jaws of death’?
c)	Have you ever stared at the face of death?
d)	What do you think of crocodile farms?
e)	Do you think Hermes and other fashion companies should sell goods made from crocodile skins?
f)	Would you like to work on a crocodile farm?
g)	Has a friend of yours ever injured you by mistake?
h)	What examples are there in your life when you have been quick thinking?
i)	What do you think of this story?

--------------------------------------------------------------------

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	Have you ever stayed in hospital?
c)	Do you think Mr Green is a lucky man? Are you a lucky person?
d)	Are you the kind of person who jokes about the bad things that happen to you?
e)	What do you think Jason’s boss and colleague should do for Jason when he leaves hospital?
f)	What would you say to someone who saved your life?
g)	Do you always have bad feelings toward someone who causes you harm?
h)	What questions would you like to ask the crocodile in this story?
i)	Did you like this discussion?

LANGUAGE

CORRECT WORD: Put the correct words from a–d below in the article.

An Australian crocodile-farm worker has escaped the (1) ____ of death, a bullet and a crocodile in the space (2) ____ a few seconds. Jason Green was attacked by an angry croc while he was working at the Darwin Crocodile Farm in Australia’s Northern Territory. Mr Green was one (3) ____ two men who were collecting crocodile eggs along a riverbank. They regularly collect eggs and put them in a special incubator so that the babies hatch (4) ____. Their skins are sold to the Hermes brand to make bags. The female reptile got upset (5) ____ she saw Mr Green at her nest and immediately attacked him. His quick-thinking colleague Zac Fitzgerald saved his life when he shot the saltwater (6) ____. Mr Green was released from certain death when the croc let go of him and swam away. Unfortunately, Fitzgerald fired a second shot which hit Mr Green in the same arm the crocodile had grabbed.

Mr Green is now recovering in hospital. He needed two operations (7) ____ his broken arm; one for the crocodile bite and one for the bullet wound. Mr Green was extremely lucky he (8) ____ it to hospital in time to save his arm. Fortunately for him, a helicopter was waiting (9) ____ the area that the two workers were collecting eggs. It took just 25 minutes to transport Green from the remote, Outback river to the Royal Darwin Hospital. Jason (10) ____ about the attack from his hospital bed. He told his boss: “I don’t think I’ll be at work for a couple of days.” Jason thanked his colleague for saving his life, saying: “Thank God he’s a good (11) ____.” Jason added that he didn’t have any bad feelings toward the croc. “She only sort of poked her nose out at me,” he said. The crocodile survived the gun shot and is now back (12) ____ her nest.

1.	(a)	tongue	(b)	tooth	(c)	gums	(d)	jaws
2.	(a)	by	(b)	with	(c)	of	(d)	for
3.	(a)	by	(b)	of	(c)	on	(d)	for
4.	(a)	safely	(b)	safety	(c)	safe	(d)	safest
5.	(a)	where	(b)	while	(c)	when	(d)	who
6.	(a)	breast	(b)	boast	(c)	best	(d)	beast
7.	(a)	by	(b)	on	(c)	of	(d)	out
8.	(a)	made	(b)	make	(c)	makes	(d)	making
9.	(a)	nearly	(b)	nearby	(c)	neatly	(d)	standby
10.	(a)	joker	(b)	joking	(c)	joked	(d)	jokers
11.	(a)	shot	(b)	shoot	(c)	shooting	(d)	shoots
12.	(a)	gliding	(b)	guiding	(c)	grading	(d)	guarding

WRITING:

Write about crocodile skin products for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper.

_______________________________________________________________________

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find out about Hermes and its crocodile skin goods. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. CROCODILES: What are the differences between crocodiles and alligators? Make a poster this. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. OOPS!: Write a magazine article about the article you have just read / listened to. Include imaginary interviews with Jason and the crocodile.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down new words and expressions.

5. LETTER: Write a letter to the boss of the fashion company Hermes. Ask her/him three questions about why they use crocodile skin in their products. Give her/him three suggestions on what (s)he could do instead of killing crocodiles. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. T

b. F

c. T

d. F

e. T

f. F

g. T

h. F

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	Australian	a.	Aussie
2	space	b.	period
3.	upset	c.	angry
4.	certain	d.	sure
5.	grabbed	e.	seized
6.	recovering	f.	healing
7.	wound	g.	injury
8.	transport	h.	take
9.	poked	i.	stuck
10.	guarding	j.	protecting

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	escaped the jaws	a.	of death
2	in the space of	b.	a few seconds
3.	collect eggs and put them	c.	in a special incubator
4.	His quick-thinking	d.	colleague
5.	released from	e.	certain death
6.	recovering	f.	in hospital
7.	bullet	g.	wound
8.	Jason joked about	h.	the attack
9.	didn’t have any bad	i.	feelings toward the croc
10.	The crocodile	j.	survived the gun shot

GAP FILL:

Man shoots colleague in crocodile’s jaws

An Australian crocodile-farm worker has escaped the jaws of death, a bullet and a crocodile in the space of a few seconds. Jason Green was attacked by an angry croc while he was working at the Darwin Crocodile Farm in Australia’s Northern Territory. Mr Green was one of two men who were collecting crocodile eggs along a riverbank. They regularly collect eggs and put them in a special incubator so that the babies hatch safely. Their skins are sold to the Hermes brand to make bags. The female reptile got upset when she saw Mr Green at her nest and immediately attacked him. His quick-thinking colleague Zac Fitzgerald saved his life when he shot the saltwater beast. Mr Green was released from certain death when the croc let go of him and swam away. Unfortunately, Fitzgerald fired a second shot which hit Mr Green in the same arm the crocodile had grabbed.

Mr Green is now recovering in hospital. He needed two operations on his broken arm; one for the crocodile bite and one for the bullet wound. Mr Green was extremely lucky he made it to hospital in time to save his arm. Fortunately for him, a helicopter was waiting nearby the area that the two workers were collecting eggs. It took just 25 minutes to transport Green from the remote, Outback river to the Royal Darwin Hospital. Jason joked about the attack from his hospital bed. He told his boss: “I don’t think I’ll be at work for a couple of days.” Jason thanked his colleague for saving his life, saying: “Thank God he’s a good shot.” Jason added that he didn’t have any bad feelings toward the croc. “She only sort of poked her nose out at me,” he said. The crocodile survived the gun shot and is now back guarding her nest.

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - d

2 -c

3 - b

4 -a

5 - c

6 - d

7 -b

8 - a

9 - b

10 -c

11 - a

12 - d

Breaking News English

THE ARTICLE

Man shoots colleague in crocodile’s jaws

WARM-UPS

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

WHILE READING / LISTENING

LISTENING: Listen and fill in the spaces.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

STUDENT CROCODILE SURVEY

DISCUSSION

LANGUAGE

WRITING:

HOMEWORK

ANSWERS

Man shoots colleague in crocodile’s jaws

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