The Reading / Listening - Level 0

Scientists now know the secrets of the seahorse. They worked out its genetic map. Scientists can now find out why seahorses are so different. They have no teeth. Male seahorses carry babies and give birth to them. Seahorses do not swim forwards or to the left and right. They swim vertically (up and down).

Seahorses got their unusual shape 100 million years ago. There are 54 different seahorses. The scientific name for a seahorse is Hippocampus. This word comes from the Ancient Greek words hippos ('horse') and kampos ('sea monster'). We can write seahorse as two words (sea horse), or with a dash (sea-horse).

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Level 1,  Level 2   or  Level 3

Sources
  • http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/1215/What-makes-the-seahorse-so-unusual
  • http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1113416837/sequence-seahorse-genome-121516/
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seahorse


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 :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. Scientists now know the secrets
  2. They worked
  3. Scientists can now find out
  4. seahorses are so
  5. They have no
  6. Male seahorses carry
  7. give
  8. They swim vertically
  1. why
  2. (up and down)
  3. different
  4. babies
  5. of the seahorse
  6. birth
  7. out its genetic map
  8. teeth

Paragraph 2

  1. Seahorses got their unusual
  2. 100 million years
  3. There are 54 different
  4. The scientific name for a seahorse
  5. This word comes from the Ancient
  6. sea
  7. We can write seahorse as
  8. or with a dash
  1. monster
  2. seahorses
  3. Greek
  4. ago
  5. two words
  6. shape
  7. (sea-horse)
  8. is Hippocampus

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Scientists (1) ___________________ secrets of the seahorse. They worked out (2) ___________________. Scientists can now (3) ___________________ seahorses are so different. They have no teeth. Male seahorses carry babies (4) __________________ to them. Seahorses (5) ___________________ forwards or to the left and right. They (6) ___________________ (up and down).

Seahorses (7) ___________________ shape 100 million years ago. There (8) ___________________ seahorses. The scientific name (9) ___________________ is Hippocampus. This word (10) ___________________ Ancient Greek words hippos ('horse') and kampos ('sea monster'). (11) __________________ seahorse as two words (sea horse), (12) ___________________ (sea-horse).

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Scientistsnowknowthesecretsoftheseahorse.Theyworkedoutitsgen
eticmap.Scientistscannowfindoutwhyseahorsesaresodifferent.They
havenoteeth.Maleseahorsescarrybabiesandgivebirthtothem.Seaho
rsesdonotswimforwardsortotheleftandright.Theyswimvertically(up
anddown).Seahorsesgottheirunusualshape100millionyearsago.The
reare54differentseahorses.ThescientificnameforaseahorseisHippoc
ampus.ThiswordcomesfromtheAncientGreekwordshippos('horse')a
ndkampos('seamonster').Wecanwriteseahorseastwowords(seahor
se),orwithadash(sea-horse).

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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