U.S. circus to end use of elephants

The Reading / Listening - Level 0

Many groups have criticised circuses. One group said circus elephants have a bad life. They have painful bones and lung diseases. It wants the elephants to retire now. Many places in the USA have banned elephants. It is hard for circuses to go on tour. Circus owners said they understand the public's feeling.

Try the same news story at these levels:

Level 1, Level 2 or Level 3

Sources

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-31740032
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/03/150305-ringling-bros-retires-asian-elephants-barnum-bailey/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/05/ringling-bros-elephants_n_6807340.html

Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice, drag and drop activities, crosswords, hangman, flash cards, matching activities and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

The Activities

MATCHING

PARAGRAPH ONE:

1.	One of America's	a.	continue
2.	an animal conservation	b.	there
3.	They will retire	c.	animals
4.	One hundred	d.	to be in circuses
5.	it was OK for animals	e.	top circuses
6.	People are worried	f.	centre
7.	The circus will	g.	about them
8.	use other	h.	years ago

MY e-BOOK

ESL resource book with copiable worksheets and handouts - 1,000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers / English teachers

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PARAGRAPH TWO:

1.	Many groups have	a.	to retire now
2.	circus elephants have	b.	diseases
3.	They have painful	c.	feeling
4.	lung	d.	to go on tour
5.	It wants the elephants	e.	criticised circuses
6.	Many places in the USA	f.	a bad life
7.	It is hard for circuses	g.	bones
8.	they understand the public's	h.	have banned elephants

LISTEN AND FILL IN THE GAPS

One of America's (1) ___________________ have no elephants in its shows after 2018. All its elephants (2) ___________________ animal (3) ___________________. They will retire there. One hundred years ago, (4) ___________________ animals to be in circuses, (5) ___________________. People are worried about them. The circus will continue (6) ___________________ animals.

Many groups (7) ___________________ circuses. One group said circus elephants (8) ___________________. They have painful bones (9) ___________________. It wants the elephants to retire now. Many (10) ___________________ USA have banned elephants. It is hard for circuses (11) ___________________. Circus owners said they understand (12) ___________________.

PUT A SLASH ( / ) WHERE THE SPACES ARE

OneofAmerica'stopcircuseswillhavenoelephantsinitsshowsafter201
8.Allitselephantswillretireinananimalconservationcentre.Theywillre
tirethere.Onehundredyearsago,itwasOKforanimalstobeincircuses,b
utnottoday.Peopleareworriedaboutthem.Thecircuswillcontinuetous
eotheranimals.Manygroupshavecriticisedcircuses.Onegroupsaidcir
cuselephantshaveabadlife.Theyhavepainfulbonesandlungdiseases.
Itwantstheelephantstoretirenow.ManyplacesintheUSAhavebanned
elephants.Itishardforcircusestogoontour.Circusownerssaidtheyund
erstandthepublic'sfeeling.

WRITE QUESTIONS & ASK YOUR PARTNER(S)

Student A: Do not show these to your speaking partner(s).

a)	________________________________________________________
b)	________________________________________________________
c)	________________________________________________________
d)	________________________________________________________
e)	________________________________________________________
f)	________________________________________________________

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

Student B: Do not show these to your speaking partner(s).

a)	________________________________________________________
b)	________________________________________________________
c)	________________________________________________________
d)	________________________________________________________
e)	________________________________________________________
f)	________________________________________________________

WRITING

Write about elephants for 10 minutes. Read and talk about your partner's paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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