U.S. circus to end use of elephants

The Reading / Listening - Level 1

Animal rights groups have always criticised circuses. One group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, explained that circus elephants have a bad life. It said many elephants have painful bones and lung diseases. It wants the elephants to retire now. Many places in the USA have banned the use of elephants. This makes it hard for circuses to go on tour. The owners of the circus said it was hard to stop using their elephants. They understand the public's feeling.

Try the same news story at these levels:

Level 0, Level 2 or Level 3

Sources

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-31740032
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/03/150305-ringling-bros-retires-asian-elephants-barnum-bailey/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/05/ringling-bros-elephants_n_6807340.html

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 :-)

The Activities

MATCHING

PARAGRAPH ONE:

1.	One of America's biggest	a.	conservation centre
2.	The circus said it would	b.	it was OK
3.	All its elephants	c.	circuses
4.	an animal	d.	for humans
5.	The circus is doing this because of	e.	will move
6.	One hundred years ago,	f.	public protests
7.	animals to perform	g.	use other animals
8.	The circus will continue to	h.	stop by 2018

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PARAGRAPH TWO:

1.	Animal rights	a.	Treatment of Animals
2.	People for the Ethical	b.	bones
3.	circus elephants have	c.	feeling
4.	many elephants have painful	d.	to go on tour
5.	lung	e.	of elephants
6.	banned the use	f.	groups
7.	This makes it hard for circuses	g.	a bad life
8.	They understand the public's	h.	diseases

LISTEN AND FILL IN THE GAPS

One of America's biggest circuses (1) ___________________ elephants (2) ___________________. The circus said it would stop by 2018. All its elephants (3) ___________________ animal conservation centre. They will retire there. The circus is doing this because of public protests. One (4) ___________________, it was OK for animals (5) ___________________ humans. However, not today. People are worried about animals. The circus will continue to (6) ___________________, such as camels, dogs, horses, lions and tigers.

Animal rights (7) ___________________ criticised circuses. One group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, explained that circus elephants (8) ___________________. It said many elephants have painful bones (9) ___________________. It wants the elephants (10) ___________________. Many places in the USA have banned the use of elephants. This (11) ___________________ circuses to go on tour. The owners of the circus said it was hard (12) ___________________ their elephants. They understand the public's feeling.

PUT A SLASH ( / ) WHERE THE SPACES ARE

OneofAmerica'sbiggestcircuseswillsoonendelephantsinitsshows.Th
ecircussaiditwouldstopby2018.Allitselephantswillmovetoananimalc
onservationcentre.Theywillretirethere.Thecircusisdoingthisbecause
ofpublicprotests.Onehundredyearsago,itwasOKforanimalstoperfor
mforhumans.However,nottoday.Peopleareworriedaboutanimals.Th
ecircuswillcontinuetouseotheranimals,suchascamels,dogs,horses,li
onsandtigers.Animalrightsgroupshavealwayscriticisedcircuses.One
group,PeoplefortheEthicalTreatmentofAnimals,explainedthatcircus
elephantshaveabadlife.Itsaidmanyelephantshavepainfulbonesandl
ungdiseases.Itwantstheelephantstoretirenow.ManyplacesintheUSA
havebannedtheuseofelephants.Thismakesithardforcircusestogoont
our.Theownersofthecircussaiditwashardtostopusingtheirelephants
Theyunderstandthepublic'sfeeling.

WRITE QUESTIONS & ASK YOUR PARTNER(S)

Student A: Do not show these to your speaking partner(s).

a)	________________________________________________________
b)	________________________________________________________
c)	________________________________________________________
d)	________________________________________________________
e)	________________________________________________________
f)	________________________________________________________
g)	________________________________________________________
h)	________________________________________________________

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Student B: Do not show these to your speaking partner(s).

a)	________________________________________________________
b)	________________________________________________________
c)	________________________________________________________
d)	________________________________________________________
e)	________________________________________________________
f)	________________________________________________________
g)	________________________________________________________
h)	________________________________________________________

WRITING

Write about elephants for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner's paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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