The Reading / Listening - Bird Photos - Level 1

We put photos online of everything we eat, buy and do. There is now a study about what kinds of bird photos we like. Researchers in Germany looked at the bird photos people "liked" on the photo-sharing social networking service Instagram. They looked into the question: "What makes a great bird photo?" They tried to find the most 'instagrammable' bird. The answer is the frogmouth. This is a nocturnal bird that lives in India, Southeast Asia and Australia.

The researchers looked at 30,000 bird photos from nine popular photography accounts. They used a programme to find which photos got the most "likes". A bird expert said the frogmouth was the most liked because of its large eyes. He said that most birds' eyes are on the sides of their head, but the frogmouth's eyes are in the centre. This makes it look "humanlike". A photographer said any bird or animal with big eyes looks "cute and cuddly".

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Bird Photos - Level 0 Bird Photos - Level 2   or  Bird Photos - Level 3

Sources
  • https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-56946165
  • https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/apr/30/researchers-find-frogmouth-is-worlds-most-instagrammable-bird
  • https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-of-the-bird-that-researchers-deemed-most-instagrammable-2021-4


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. We put photos online
  2. what kinds of bird
  3. Researchers in Germany looked
  4. social networking
  5. a great bird
  6. find the most 'instagrammable'
  7. The answer
  8. This is
  1. is the frogmouth
  2. at the bird photos
  3. bird
  4. of everything
  5. a nocturnal bird
  6. service
  7. photo
  8. photos we like

Paragraph 2

  1. researchers looked at
  2. nine popular photography
  3. the frogmouth was the
  4. most birds' eyes are on the
  5. the frogmouth's eyes are
  6. This makes it look
  7. any bird or animal with
  8. cute
  1. and cuddly
  2. sides of their head
  3. humanlike
  4. accounts
  5. big eyes
  6. 30,000 bird photos
  7. in the centre
  8. most liked

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

We put (1) ___________________ everything we eat, buy and do. There is now a study about (2) ___________________ bird photos we like. Researchers in Germany looked at the bird (3) ___________________ on the photo-sharing social networking service Instagram. They looked (4) ___________________: "What makes a great bird photo?" They ()5 ___________________ the most 'instagrammable' bird. The answer is the frogmouth. This is a nocturnal (6) ___________________ in India, Southeast Asia and Australia.

The researchers looked at 30,000 bird (7) ___________________ popular photography accounts. They used a programme to find which (8) ___________________ most "likes". A bird expert said the frogmouth was the most liked because of (9) ___________________. He said that most birds' eyes are on the sides (10) ___________________, but the frogmouth's eyes are in the centre. This makes (11) ___________________. A photographer said any bird or animal with big eyes looks "(12) ___________________ ".

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Weputphotosonlineofeverythingweeat,buyanddo.Thereisnowastud
yaboutwhatkindsofbirdphotoswelike.ResearchersinGermanylooked
atthebirdphotospeople"liked"onthephoto-sharingsocialnetworki
ngserviceInstagram.Theylookedintothequestion:"Whatmakesagre
atbirdphoto?"Theytriedtofindthemost'instagrammable'bird.Theans
weristhefrogmouth.ThisisanocturnalbirdthatlivesinIndia,Southeast
AsiaandAustralia.Theresearcherslookedat30,000birdphotosfromni
nepopularphotographyaccounts.Theyusedaprogrammetofindwhich
photosgotthemost"likes".Abirdexpertsaidthefrogmouthwasthemos
tlikedbecauseofitslargeeyes.Hesaidthatmostbirds'eyesareonthesid
esoftheirhead,butthefrogmouth'seyesareinthecentre.Thismakesitlo
ok"humanlike".Aphotographersaidanybirdoranimalwithbigeyeslook
s"cuteandcuddly".

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic 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.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion — Write your own questions

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

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

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

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

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_____________________________________________________________________________

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_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

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Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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