TeachingEnglish | Lesson plans

www.teachingenglish.org.uk
BBC | British Council 2012

Carnivores vs herbivores

The lesson focuses on the difference between carnivores and herbivores. Students
watch the video Triumph of the Herbivores, available from BBC Earth, about how
herbivores escape being eaten by carnivores and then do one of the suggested follow-
up activities.

Topic: Animals; carnivores and herbivores

Age: Teenage/adult

Level: B1 and up

Time: 45 60 min

Aims: To practise listening for specific information
To discuss interesting facts about animals

Sub-aims: To promote critical thinking skills (categorising and classifying)
To learn vocabulary related to animals including names of animals
To practise food vocabulary


Lesson Outline


Activity / Stage Time Remarks

Lead-in / Before you watch

10 min


Useful terms

10 min

optional

Task 1

10-15 min

(depending on how many times you
want to play the video_

Task 2

10 min



Follow-up

10 min

optional / need computers & Internet

Task 3

5 min



Procedure

Lead in

Some animals feed on plants while others are meat-eaters. Ask your students if they
know names for these types of animals in English (herbivores and carnivores). Ask for
examples for each type.
TeachingEnglish | Lesson plans


www.teachingenglish.org.uk
BBC | British Council 2012

Before you watch

Ask students in pairs / groups to put the animals into two categories. If you have
access to the Internet, ask them to look up on the Internet.

Tip: If you feel that your students might know the animals in this activity replace some of
these with the animals indigenous to your country but leave in cheetah, gazelle and
North American pronghorn as these appear in the video

Check the answers. Ask students if they can add any other animals to these two
categories.


Answers:

Carnivores

Lion
Cheetah
Wolf


Herbivores

Gazelle
Antelope
Zebra
Koala
Buffallo
North American pronghorn


Baboon is both (omnivore)


Useful terms

There are some terms such as prey, predator, hooves etc which appear in the video.
They are contextualized and should not pose difficulty while watching. However if you
feel your students would benefit from pre-learning some of these, do this vocabulary
activity.

Ask students in pairs / groups to match the words with the definitions in the right

Early finishers / stronger students can proceed to Activity B

Check the answers. Provide translations, if appropriate


Bear in mind that some of these words are similar sounding (hooves, horns, herd) and
have confusing meanings (predator, prey) and its generally not a good idea to teach
them together. Students may remember the meanings and the word forms but confuse
which goes with which, a phenomenon known as cross-association which often occurs
when you teach antonyms e.g. left/right, deep/shallow. So dont expect your students to
retain these words straight away they only need them to understand the video.
TeachingEnglish | Lesson plans


www.teachingenglish.org.uk
BBC | British Council 2012

Answers


carnivore an animal that eats meat

herbivore an animal that eats only plants

predator an animal that kills and eats other animals

prey an animal that is killed for food by another animal

horns two hard pointed growths on the heads of some animals

hoof (plural hooves) the hard part on the bottom of some animals foot

herd a large group of animals that live and eat together


A predator is any animal that hunts and eats other animals, which are called the prey.
Generally, carnivores are predators and herbivores are prey. To be successful
hunters, predators need to be able to see, smell or hear their prey. To avoid being eaten,
the prey have to run fast or defend themselves by using their horns or kicking with their
hooves. Predators are very important in the balance of nature, usually hunting only the
sick or weak members of a herd. This leaves the strong and healthy animals to
reproduce.


Task 1: Never-ending battle on the plains

Ask students to read the facts about animals and decide in pairs / groups
whether they are true or false before watching the video.

Play the Youtube clip: Triumph of the herbivores
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtnLNmB3ZNE

After watching students compare and discuss the answers in their groups.

Play the clip a second and third time if necessary

Conduct whole class feedback


TeachingEnglish | Lesson plans


www.teachingenglish.org.uk
BBC | British Council 2012



Answers

Animals gathering in herds have a lower chance of escaping predators
False (Numbers bring safety)

The cheetah is the fastest running animal in the world
True (fastest sprinter; the North American pronghorn is the second fastest sprinter
on the planet but over long distances its the world champion)

Zebras can put their heads down to feed and adjust their eyes to watch for
carnivores at the same time
Not mentioned

Carnivores run on tiptoes (=with just their toes touching the ground and the rest
of the foot in the air)
False (All herbivores have to be able to run fast. They run on tiptoes so that they
cover more ground with each stride)

Gazelles have eyes on the sides of their heads and cannot see forward
True (Having eyes on the sides of their heads so that you cant see directly forward
can be catastrophic)

Antelopes ears can turn in different directions to watch out for predators while
they are feeding
Not mentioned

Many herbivores use hooves and horns to defend against predators
True (Kicking hooves and thrusting horns are formidable weapons)

Koalas sometimes sleep for up to 18 hours a day
Not mentioned



Task 2: Discussion

Students discuss the questions in small groups. There are no correct answers
here. Encourage students to express their opinion and share ideas.


Follow up

Feed the animals http://switchzoo.com/games/pleasedofeedtheanimals.htm
In this online game, students should take the animals to the right feeding station
according to their diet. If you dont have access to the Internet in class, students
can play this game at home.

TeachingEnglish | Lesson plans


www.teachingenglish.org.uk
BBC | British Council 2012


Task 3: Verbs with starting out-

The task focuses on the verbs with the prefix out-

Answers

In the story, the wolf is stronger, but the fox manages to outsmart him.

All things considered, the advantages clearly outweigh the possible
disadvantages.

In our class, the girls outnumber the boys.

Last year Toyota outperformed other Japanese cars.


All these verbs appear in situations where you compare things (e.g. fox and wolf, Toyota
and other cars) and have to do with one doing more or better than the other (e.g.
outweigh = weigh more than)



Homework suggestions

Students look up the remaining facts (the ones not mentioned in the video), find
videos on Youtube that illustrate them and present them in class

Students find other interesting facts about animals and present them in class





More activities using Youtube, go to
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/activities


An article on importance of pre-listening tasks and suggested pre-listening activities:
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/pre-listening-activities