189
AMAZING ANIMALS
READING
WARMER
Write anagrams of some of the
animals in this unit on the
board, e.g.
ilno
(lion),
art
(rat) and
aber
(bear). Include
dog
,
horse
and
monkey
. Challenge the students to find all
the
animals within a time limit, e.g. two minutes. Then
invite a brief class discussion on how dogs, horses and
monkeys can help people.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Blind people and dogs have had
a special relationship as
far back as the first century as shown on a mural in the
Roman ruins of Herculaneum. However, people didn’t
start training dogs to act as guides until after the First
World War. It takes about 18
months to train a dog from
birth. During this training, the dog is taken to all the
places its owner will go to and needs to learn what is safe.
Guide
dogs are working dogs, so if you see a guide dog,
you should not touch, feed or talk to it without asking its
owner first.
1
Ask the class to identify the animals in the photos first.
Use
the photos to pre-teach
guide dog
,
guide horse
and
blind
(ask ‘Who does the guide dog or guide horse help?’)
and then ask them to discuss their ideas in pairs.
