The Reading / Listening - Bald Eagles - Level 1

Dog owners in Alaska are buying special vests to protect their pets from bald eagles. Recently, pet dogs have been taken away by eagles. Bald eagles are growing in number in Alaska because of conservation. There are around 30,000 of them in Alaska. Bird lovers are happy about this, but pet owners are worried. The eagles are strong and can fly away with a 6-kilogram animal. The eagles are bad for farmers because they kill their chickens.

The vest is called the CoyoteVest. It protects small dogs from coyotes - wild dogs, similar to a wolf. The vest has spikes and other sharp things to protect the pet. Some vests are brightly coloured to scare birds away. It is made of a material called Kevlar. This is used in bulletproof vests. This protects dogs from the teeth of larger dogs. The vest helps to stop surprise attacks. It gives owners time to help a pet before it gets badly hurt.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Bald Eagles - Level 0 Bald Eagles - Level 2   or  Bald Eagles - Level 3

Sources
  • https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/coyote-vests-a-trend-among-small-dog-owners-in-vancouver
  • https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9580945/Pet-owners-putting-dogs-cats-spiked-body-armour-protect-bald-eagles.html
  • https://people.com/pets/coyote-vest-for-dogs/


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. special vests to protect their pets
  2. dogs have been taken
  3. Bald eagles are growing
  4. There are around
  5. Bird lovers are happy
  6. pet owners are
  7. The eagles are strong and can
  8. The eagles are bad
  1. about this
  2. 30,000 of them
  3. for farmers
  4. away by eagles
  5. fly away
  6. from bald eagles
  7. worried
  8. in number

Paragraph 2

  1. The vest is called
  2. It protects small dogs
  3. similar
  4. The vest has spikes and
  5. Some vests are brightly
  6. scare birds
  7. This is used in
  8. help a pet before it gets
  1. to a wolf
  2. badly hurt
  3. coloured
  4. bulletproof vests
  5. from coyotes
  6. the CoyoteVest
  7. away
  8. other sharp things

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Dog owners in Alaska (1) ___________________ vests to protect their pets from bald eagles. Recently, pet dogs (2) ___________________ away by eagles. Bald eagles are growing in number in Alaska (3) ___________________. There are around 30,000 of them in Alaska. Bird (4) ___________________ about this, but pet owners are worried. The eagles are strong and can (5) ___________________ a 6-kilogram animal. The eagles are bad for farmers because they (6) ___________________.

The vest is called the CoyoteVest. It (7) ___________________ from coyotes - wild dogs, (8) ___________________ wolf. The vest has spikes and other (9) ___________________ protect the pet. Some vests are brightly coloured to scare birds away. It is made (10) ___________________ called Kevlar. This is used in bulletproof vests. This protects dogs (11) ___________________ of larger dogs. The vest helps to stop surprise attacks. It gives owners time to help a pet before it (12) ___________________.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

DogownersinAlaskaarebuyingspecialveststoprotecttheirpetsfromba
ldeagles.Recently,petdogshavebeentakenawaybyeagles.Baldeagle
saregrowinginnumberinAlaskabecauseofconservation.Therearearo
und30,000oftheminAlaska.Birdloversarehappyaboutthis,butpetow
nersareworried.Theeaglesarestrongandcanflyawaywitha6-kilogr
amanimal.Theeaglesarebadforfarmersbecausetheykilltheirchicken
s.ThevestiscalledtheCoyoteVest.Itprotectssmalldogsfromcoyotes-
wilddogs,similartoawolf.Thevesthasspikesandothersharpthingstopr
otectthepet.Somevestsarebrightlycolouredtoscarebirdsaway.Itism
adeofamaterialcalledKevlar.Thisisusedinbulletproofvests.Thisprote
ctsdogsfromtheteethoflargerdogs.Thevesthelpstostopsurpriseattac
ks.Itgivesownerstimetohelpapetbeforeitgetsbadlyhurt.

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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Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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