The Reading / Listening - Dinosaur Sounds - Level 1

Dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago. We don't really know what they sounded like. Movies show dinosaurs making all kinds of roars and screams, but these are guesses, not real. A new discovery gives us a better idea of what dinosaurs sounded like. Scientists examined a rare, 78-million-year-old fossil from a dinosaur called an ankylosaur. The fossil has an image of the ankylosaur's voice box. The shape of this means it probably made bird-like sounds.

A dinosaur researcher in Japan did many tests on the shape of the fossilized voice box. He now has an idea of what the voice box muscles looked like. The muscles controlled the sounds. The research may mean that movies like Jurassic Park got it wrong. Tyrannosaurus rex probably made a tweeting sound, like a bird. Hollywood will have to change the roars in future dinosaur films to a tweet-tweet sound.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Dinosaur Sounds - Level 0 Dinosaur Sounds - Level 2   or  Dinosaur Sounds - Level 3

Sources
  • https://www.iflscience.com/spiky-armored-ankylosaurs-may-have-sounded-like-birds-according-to-a-rare-fossil-67719
  • https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/24/science/dinosaur-sounds-fossils.html
  • https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14840916


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. Dinosaurs died out
  2. We don't really know what
  3. making all kinds of roars
  4. these are guesses,
  5. A new discovery gives
  6. what dinosaurs sounded
  7. a rare, 78-million-year-old
  8. it probably made bird-
  1. us a better idea
  2. like sounds
  3. fossil
  4. 65 million years ago
  5. like
  6. they sounded like
  7. and screams
  8. not real

Paragraph 2

  1. A dinosaur researcher
  2. the shape of the fossilized
  3. He now has an
  4. what the voice box muscles
  5. The muscles
  6. Hollywood will have to change
  7. in future
  8. a tweet-tweet
  1. dinosaur films
  2. controlled the sounds
  3. in Japan
  4. the roars
  5. looked like
  6. sound
  7. idea
  8. voice box

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Dinosaurs died out 65 (1) ___________________. We don't really know what they sounded like. Movies show dinosaurs making all kinds of (2) ___________________, but these are guesses, not real. A new discovery (3) ___________________ better idea of what dinosaurs sounded like. Scientists (4) __________________, 78-million-year-old fossil from a dinosaur called an ankylosaur. The fossil (5) ___________________ of the ankylosaur's voice box. The shape of this (6) ___________________ made bird-like sounds.

A dinosaur researcher in Japan did many tests (7) ___________________ of the fossilized voice box. He now has (8) ___________________ what the voice box muscles looked like. The muscles (9) ___________________. The research may mean that movies like Jurassic Park got it wrong. Tyrannosaurus rex (10) ___________________ tweeting sound, like a bird. Hollywood will have to change (11) ___________________ future dinosaur (12) ___________________ tweet-tweet sound.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Dinosaursdiedout65millionyearsago.Wedon'treallyknowwhattheys
oundedlike.Moviesshowdinosaursmakingallkindsofroarsandscream
s,buttheseareguesses,notreal.Anewdiscoverygivesusabetterideaof
whatdinosaurssoundedlike.Scientistsexaminedarare,78-million-y
ear-oldfossilfromadinosaurcalledanankylosaur.Thefossilhasanima
geoftheankylosaur'svoicebox.Theshapeofthismeansitprobablymad
ebird-likesounds.AdinosaurresearcherinJapandidmanytestsonthe
shapeofthefossilizedvoicebox.Henowhasanideaofwhatthevoicebox
muscleslookedlike.Themusclescontrolledthesounds.Theresearchm
aymeanthatmovieslikeJurassicParkgotitwrong.Tyrannosaurusrexpr
obablymadeatweetingsound,likeabird.Hollywoodwillhavetochanget
heroarsinfuturedinosaurfilmstoatweet-tweetsound.

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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