Scientists have found four new homes for big penguins called emperor penguins in a very cold place called Antarctica. Now, they know about 66 places where these penguins live. These penguins need ice to live, but it’s getting harder for them because the Earth is getting warmer. Finding these new homes is good news, but the penguins might have to find new places to live if the ice keeps changing. People who care about animals are watching these penguins to help them.

Emperor penguins are the biggest kind of penguins, and they live where it’s very, very cold. They like to stay together in groups. To find these groups, scientists use pictures from space because Antarctica is too big and hard to visit. They just found four new groups, adding more penguins to the total number they know about. But, as their ice homes keep changing, these penguins will have to be smart and find new places to live.

Original news source: Four new emperor penguin groups found by satellite (BBC)

🎧 Listen:

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📖 Vocabulary:

Group or Classroom Activities

Warm-up Activities:

– Charades
Instructions: Divide the class into small groups. Give each group a slip of paper with a word related to the article, such as “penguin,” “Antarctica,” or “ice.” One student from each group will act out the word without speaking, while the others guess what it is.

– Vocabulary Pictionary
Instructions: Divide the class into pairs. Give each pair a list of vocabulary words from the article, such as “emperor penguins,” “Antarctica,” “ice,” and “groups.” One student from each pair will draw a picture to represent a word, while the other student tries to guess what it is.

– News Summary
Instructions: Read the article aloud to the class. Then, ask the students to summarize the main points of the article in their own words. Encourage them to use simple sentences and key vocabulary from the article.

– Keyword Hangman
Instructions: Write a keyword from the article on the board, but leave out some letters. Ask the students to take turns guessing letters to complete the word. If they guess a correct letter, write it in the correct place. If they guess a wrong letter, draw a part of a hangman. The students must guess the word before the hangman is completed.

– Think-Pair-Share
Instructions: Ask the students to think about what they would do to help the emperor penguins if they were scientists or people who care about animals. Then, have them pair up and share their ideas with their partner. Finally, ask a few pairs to share their ideas with the whole class.

🤔 Comprehension Questions:

1. Where do emperor penguins live?
2. How do scientists find groups of emperor penguins?
3. What did scientists recently discover about emperor penguins?
4. Why is it getting harder for emperor penguins to find ice to live on?
5. What might happen if the ice keeps changing for the penguins?
6. Why are people watching the penguins?
7. What do emperor penguins need to survive?
Go to answers ⇩

🎧✍️ Listen and Fill in the Gaps:

Scientists have (1)______ four new homes for big penguins called emperor penguins in a very cold place called Antarctica. Now, they know about 66 places where these penguins (2)______. These penguins need ice to live, but it’s getting harder for them because the Earth is getting warmer. (3)______ these new homes is good news, but the penguins might have to find new places to live if the ice keeps changing. (4)______ who care about animals are watching these penguins to help them.

Emperor penguins are the (5)______ kind of penguins, and they live where it’s very, very cold. They like to stay together in groups. To find these groups, (6)______ use pictures from space because Antarctica is too big and (7)______ to visit. They just found four new groups, adding more penguins to the total number they know about. But, as their ice homes keep (8)______, these penguins will have to be smart and find new places to live.
Go to answers ⇩

💬 Discussion Questions:

Students can ask a partner these questions, or discuss them as a group.

1. What are emperor penguins?
2. How do scientists find the emperor penguins?
3. Do you like penguins? Why or why not?
4. How do you think the penguins feel when their ice homes keep changing?
5. What do you think the penguins should do if their homes keep changing?
6. Have you ever seen a penguin before? Where?
7. How would you feel if you had to find a new home?
8. Do you think it’s important to help animals like the emperor penguins? Why or why not?
9. What do you think the penguins do when they stay together in groups?
10. How would you feel if you had to live in a very, very cold place like Antarctica?
11. What do you think the penguins eat?
12. Why do you think scientists use pictures from space to find the emperor penguins?

Individual Activities

📖💭 Vocabulary Meanings:

Match each word to its meaning.

Words:
1. Antarctica
2. emperor
3. penguins
4. ice
5. Earth
6. homes
7. scientists
8. groups
9. pictures
10. space

Meanings:
(A) Birds that cannot fly and like cold places
(B) A very cold place at the bottom of the world
(C) What you take with a camera to remember something
(D) A very important person, like a king
(E) Many people or things together
(F) Frozen water, like what you put in a drink to keep it cold
(G) Places where you live or stay
(H) Where the stars and planets are, up above us
(I) People who learn about the world and everything in it
(J) Our planet, where we all live
Go to answers ⇩

🔡 Multiple Choice Questions:

1. Where do emperor penguins live?
(a) Africa
(b) Antarctica
(c) Australia
(d) Asia

2. How many new homes for emperor penguins did scientists find?
(a) Four
(b) Two
(c) Ten
(d) Twenty

3. Why is it getting harder for emperor penguins to find ice?
(a) The Earth is getting colder
(b) The Earth is getting warmer
(c) The ice is melting
(d) The ice is growing

4. How do scientists find emperor penguin groups?
(a) They visit Antarctica
(b) They ask the penguins
(c) They use pictures from space
(d) They use maps

5. How many places do scientists know where emperor penguins live?
(a) 10
(b) 100
(c) 66
(d) 50

6. What kind of penguins are the biggest?
(a) King penguins
(b) Baby penguins
(c) Happy penguins
(d) Emperor penguins

7. What are people doing to help the emperor penguins?
(a) Watching them
(b) Feeding them
(c) Building homes for them
(d) Taking them to new places

8. What will the emperor penguins have to do if their ice homes keep changing?
(a) Stay where they are
(b) Swim in the ocean
(c) Fly to a warmer place
(d) Find new places to live

Go to answers ⇩

🕵️ True or False Questions:

1. Emperor penguins need ice to live, but it’s becoming harder for them because the Earth is getting warmer.
2. They like to stay together in groups.
3. Scientists do not use pictures from space to find these groups because Antarctica is too big and difficult to visit.
4. There are now a total of 66 areas where these penguins live.
5. People who care about animals are not keeping an eye on these penguins to help them.
6. The discovery of these new homes is good news, but the penguins might not have to find new places to live if the ice keeps changing.
7. Scientists have discovered four new homes for big penguins called emperor penguins in a very cold place called Antarctica.
8. Emperor penguins are the biggest kind of penguins and they live in very, very cold places.
Go to answers ⇩

📝 Write a Summary:

Write a summary of this news article in two sentences.

Writing Questions:

Answer the following questions. Write as much as you can for each answer.

1. What did scientists find in Antarctica?
2. How many places do scientists know where emperor penguins live?
3. Why is it getting harder for emperor penguins to find ice?
4. How do scientists find groups of emperor penguins?
5. What might emperor penguins have to do if their ice homes keep changing?

✅ Answers

🤔✅ Comprehension Question Answers:

1. Where do emperor penguins live?
Emperor penguins live in a very cold place called Antarctica.

2. How do scientists find groups of emperor penguins?
Scientists use pictures from space to find groups of emperor penguins because Antarctica is too big and hard to visit.

3. What did scientists recently discover about emperor penguins?
Scientists recently discovered four new homes for emperor penguins in Antarctica.

4. Why is it getting harder for emperor penguins to find ice to live on?
It is getting harder for emperor penguins to find ice to live on because the Earth is getting warmer.

5. What might happen if the ice keeps changing for the penguins?
If the ice keeps changing for the penguins, they might have to find new places to live.

6. Why are people watching the penguins?
People are watching the penguins because they care about animals and want to help them.

7. What do emperor penguins need to survive?
Emperor penguins need ice to live on in order to survive.
Go back to questions ⇧

🎧✍️✅ Listen and Fill in the Gaps Answers:

(1) found
(2) live
(3) Finding
(4) People
(5) biggest
(6) scientists
(7) hard
(8) changing
Go back to questions ⇧

📖💭✅ Vocabulary Meanings Answers:

1. Antarctica
Answer: (B) A very cold place at the bottom of the world

2. emperor
Answer: (D) A very important person, like a king

3. penguins
Answer: (A) Birds that cannot fly and like cold places

4. ice
Answer: (F) Frozen water, like what you put in a drink to keep it cold

5. Earth
Answer: (J) Our planet, where we all live

6. homes
Answer: (G) Places where you live or stay

7. scientists
Answer: (I) People who learn about the world and everything in it

8. groups
Answer: (E) Many people or things together

9. pictures
Answer: (C) What you take with a camera to remember something

10. space
Answer: (H) Where the stars and planets are, up above us
Go back to questions ⇧

🔡✅ Multiple Choice Answers:

1. Where do emperor penguins live?
Answer: (b) Antarctica

2. How many new homes for emperor penguins did scientists find?
Answer: (a) Four

3. Why is it getting harder for emperor penguins to find ice?
Answer: (b) The Earth is getting warmer

4. How do scientists find emperor penguin groups?
Answer: (c) They use pictures from space

5. How many places do scientists know where emperor penguins live?
Answer: (c) 66

6. What kind of penguins are the biggest?
Answer: (d) Emperor penguins

7. What are people doing to help the emperor penguins?
Answer: (a) Watching them

8. What will the emperor penguins have to do if their ice homes keep changing?
Answer: (d) Find new places to live
Go back to questions ⇧

🕵️✅ True or False Answers:

1. Emperor penguins need ice to live, but it’s becoming harder for them because the Earth is getting warmer. (Answer: True)
2. They like to stay together in groups. (Answer: True)
3. Scientists do not use pictures from space to find these groups because Antarctica is too big and difficult to visit. (Answer: False)
4. There are now a total of 66 areas where these penguins live. (Answer: False)
5. People who care about animals are not keeping an eye on these penguins to help them. (Answer: False)
6. The discovery of these new homes is good news, but the penguins might not have to find new places to live if the ice keeps changing. (Answer: False)
7. Scientists have discovered four new homes for big penguins called emperor penguins in a very cold place called Antarctica. (Answer: True)
8. Emperor penguins are the biggest kind of penguins and they live in very, very cold places. (Answer: True)
Go back to questions ⇧