How people relate to animals
Author：Yoko Nishimura-Parke
Topic／Goals：Communication、Daily Life、Link with Outside of Classroom、Self, Family, and Friends
2020.02
Cara Fletcher, a student at Yokohama National University, interviewed Mr. Sato, a staff member at the Animal Protection Center for a Tokimeki Shuzaiki project. In this issue, students read about Cara’s personal experiences with animals as a child and her motivation to learn more about animal care in Japan.
| Objectives | ・Students discuss the pros and cons of having pets. |
|---|---|
| Target | Junior High School - Senior High School |
| Japanese Level | Beginner - Intermediate |
What to prepare
Procedure
1. Questions to help students' comprehension
a) How old was Cara when she wanted a cat for the first time? What did she do to get one?
b) What happened after 2 years?
c) Why did she think she would give up the idea of having a pet?
d) When did she think she wanted a dog?
e) What did she do to make it happen? List four things that she did.
f) When Cara came to Japan, what difference did she notice about animal protection, compared to England?
g) Why did she want to interview Mr. Sato?
h) What were Cara's feelings about the staff of the Center after the interview?
2. Discussion points
i) How can you tell that Cara loves animals? What kind of things did she do that show she loves animals?
j) What kind of person makes a good pet owner? What attitudes should they have? What preparation is required?
k) What are the pros and cons of keeping a pet? (or: Do you have a pet? When do you feel happy about having a pet, and when do you feel it is troublesome?)
3. Creative tasks
l) Pair work. One explains what their pet looks like and the other draws the animal according to the description.
e.g.,わたしのペットはみみがながいです。あしがみじかいですetc
m) Create a conversation between a staff member of the animal protection center and someone who lost a pet (cat or dog).
【Procedure】
1. Each student brings a photo of their pet. (Students who do not have pets should bring a photo of a friend's or neighbor's pet or find a photo of an imaginary pet online.)
2. Choose some words from the list of adjectives to describe the characteristics of the pets in the photos. Write the description on a card. For example: ：かしこい（あたまがいい）、おとなしい、人が好き、あそびが好き、好奇心がつよい、つよい、あまえんぼう、やんちゃ、ゆうかん、こわがり、飼い主にちゅうじつ、など。
Note: Students can use these words followed by です.
3. Put up the photos and description cards on the board. Pretend these are a list of lost pets sheltered by the animal protection center. (Students may practice how to count with hiki, e.g.,しろいいぬは何匹いますか。3匹いますetc
4. Divide class into two groups: A - People who are looking for lost pets, B- Staff of the animal protection center. Make pairs of A and B. A describes their pet and B finds the right one from the collection of the photos on the board.
Swap the roles and change partners so everyone can get a chance to describe their pet.
【Model conversation】
A: ちょっとすみません。私のペットがいなくなって、さがしています。
B: どんなペットですか。
A: 小さい犬です。いろはちゃいろと白です。みみが大きいです。あしがほそいです。しっぽがながいです。（みみが大きくて、あしがほそくて、しっぽがながいです。）
B: どんな性格ですか。
A: 人が好きです。そして、ちょっとあまえんぼうです。
B: ちょっと待ってください。その犬はチワワですか。
A: はい、そうです。
B: では、この犬ですか。（ボードの写真からを近いものをえらんでAに見せる。）
A: そうです。ありがとうございました。Or いいえ、ちがいます。もっと目が大きいですetc
