Skills Development Lesson 6: The Earth’s Resources

Read the information about the peregrine falcon and look at the map. Then answer the questions.

Worldwide Distribution of the Peregrine Falcon

1

The Peregrine Falcon Skills Focus – summarizing; paraphrasing

Language Focus – active and passive; present simple Vocabulary Development – synonyms

Peregrine falcons are perhaps the fastest animals in the world, reaching speeds of over 300 kph. It is also one of the world's most widely distributed birds, as it is found on every continent except Antarctica. Peregrines prefer open landscapes, but are becoming much more common in cities, where there are tall buildings for nesting and plenty of pigeons to eat. The peregrines catch the unlucky birds in their vicious talons after a lightning dive from above, and the killing strike is delivered by the deadly beak.

This beautiful bird is a peregrine falcon. Let’s read about it.

Skills Development Lesson 6: The Earth’s Resources

Draw lines to match the words and phrases with their definitions.

1 Widely distributed

2 Landscape3 Common4 Lightning dive5 Vicious; deadly 6 Strike

Use words from the text to label these

Use ONE WORD from the text to complete each of these sentences.

1. _____________ is the only continent where you can’t find peregrine falcons. 2. _____________ are a source of food for peregrine falcons. 3. Peregrine falcons can make their nests in high ____________ . 4. Peregrine falcons catch birds with their ____________ .5. These days, more and more peregrine falcons are living in ___________.

Look at the map showing the worldwide distribution of the peregrine falcon Are these sentences TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN (there is no information about this subject)?

1. The peregrine falcon can be found in Qatar. ______ 2. The number of peregrine falcons in the US is decreasing. _____

2

7. 8. 9.

A Hit B Found in a lot of placesC Very harmful, very dangerous, can

hurt. D Move down very fast E The appearance of the world

around usF Usual, normal

Skills Development Lesson 6: The Earth’s Resources

3. The peregrine falcon is found in many very hot places. ______ 4. There are only a few places in Australia where you can find peregrine falcons. ______ 5. The peregrine falcon is more common in South America than Africa. _______ Read these two texts about the peregrine falcon quickly and write a title for each of them. Compare your titles with your partner’s.

3

Text 1 Title: _______________________________________________________

The London Peregrine Partnership (LPP) is a small voluntary group which helps peregrine falcons to live and breed in London. It works in partnership with other organizations that share its objectives, such as the Metropolitan Police Wildlife Crime Unit and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

The peregrine’s preference for tall buildings also means that the group works closely with owners and managers of buildings, providing them with advice and assistance concerning the bird’s needs and behaviour. “In this way, we can ensure that everyone is working together to support peregrines in London” said LPP coordinator Tony Barnes. “We work with organizations and individuals who are keen to help us protect peregrine nest sites. This will create the right environment for these wonderful birds to live in our capital city.”

Text 2

Title: ______________________________________________________

Peregrine falcons are back in London and are providing a marvelous show for people in the city. One pair of falcons appears regularly at the famous Tate Modern gallery in London, where tourists and local people gather to watch. The two birds - Misty and Houdini - nest in the City of London but often spend their days on the roof of the Tate, where they are seen by thousands of people. “It is so great to see these beautiful birds right in the heart of the city!” said a young tourist from Qatar.

The RSPB regularly sets up telescopes to monitor the progress of the birds and to offer people the chance to see them. Tim Web, the charity’s London spokesman said: “The birds eat pigeons and like to spend time on high buildings because they are like cliffs. This makes London an ideal place to live.” There are now 24 pairs of peregrine falcons across London according to the RSPB.

Skills Development Lesson 6: The Earth’s Resources

Choose a title (headline) for each of the texts.

Now read the text more carefully. Match each of these pictures to the texts - text 1, text 2 or both texts – and answer the questions.

A) ______________ B) ___________ C) ____________

D) ____________ E) ____________ Answer each of these questions using no more than THREE WORDS. 1) In which kind of structures do peregrine falcons like to nest? ___________________ .

4

D) The Return of the Peregrine

A) Protecting London’s Peregrines

C) Falcons Attack in London

B) Saving London’s Last Peregrines

Skills Development Lesson 6: The Earth’s Resources

2) What does the RSPB use to observe the peregrine falcons at the Tate? ____________________ .

3) What does the LPP give to people who own and manage the places where peregrine falcons nest and spend time? _____________________ .

Example of paraphrasing

Quote from Text 1: “We work with organizations and individuals who are keen to help us protect peregrine nest sites. This will create the right environment for these wonderful birds to live in our capital city.”

Paraphrasing: Tony Barnes stated that they are working with organizations and people eager to assist in guarding peregrine nests, thus establishing conditions for peregrines to live in London. Structure/grammar change Word change (synonym)

Read the quote from text 1 and the paraphrased text. Underline the changes that were made.

Paraphrase this quote from text 2, using the words and phrases in the box.

Quote from Text 2

“The birds eat pigeons and like to spend time on high buildings because they are like cliffs. This makes London an ideal place to live.”

5

Skills Focus: paraphrasing quotes Remember: when we want to give the information from a quote, we can either quote directly (in speech marks “…”) or paraphrase. When we paraphrase, we must change the words and structure (grammar) to avoid plagiarism.

perfect enjoy tall since similar to making feed on habitat spending time the falcons Peregrines

Skills Development Lesson 6: The Earth’s Resources

Tim Webb stated that _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Paraphrase another quote from text 1 or text 2 on page 3 (There is one more quote in each text).

___________________ said/stated __________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Write a summary of text 1 or text 2 (on page 3). Paraphrase as much as possible. Use your paraphrased quote in your summary.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6

Peregrine Falcons in

Skills Development Lesson 6: The Earth’s Resources

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Work in pairs. Read your partner’s summary and help by giving praise and advice on how to improve.

7

To improve your writing, look at this website 1.aucegypt.edu/academic/writers/home.