The Reading / Listening - Polar Bears - Level 0

Polar bears in a town in Russia are scaring people. Over 52 bears walk around the town. This is serious. The bears chase people into their homes. Parents are afraid to let their children go to school. There have never been this many polar bears. The town said there is a "polar bear emergency".

The bears are looking for food. The sea ice is melting because of climate change. The bears can smell food outside homes. The town wants to kill the bears. Russia's environmental agency said no. Polar bears are in danger. The World Wildlife Fund says this is because of the loss of the bears' sea ice habitat.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Polar Bears - Level 1,  Polar Bears - Level 2   or  Polar Bears - Level 3

Sources
  • https://weather.com/news/news/2019-02-11-russian-archipelago-invaded-polar-bears-emergency
  • https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/11/asia/polar-bears-russia-intl/index.html
  • https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/02/11/mass-invasion-polar-bears-is-terrorizing-an-island-town-climate-change-is-blame/


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 :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. bears in a
  2. bears walk around
  3. The bears chase people
  4. Parents are
  5. let their children
  6. There have never been
  7. The town said
  8. a polar bear
  1. go to school
  2. there is
  3. the town
  4. this many
  5. emergency
  6. into their homes
  7. afraid to
  8. town in Russia

Paragraph 2

  1. The sea ice
  2. The bears can smell
  3. The town wants to
  4. Russia's environmental agency
  5. Polar bears are in
  6. The World Wildlife
  7. this is because
  8. sea
  1. said no
  2. ice
  3. danger
  4. food
  5. of the loss
  6. kill the bears
  7. is melting
  8. Fund

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Polar bears in (1) ___________________ Russia are scaring people. Over 52 bears (2) ___________________ town. This is serious. The bears (3) ___________________ their homes. Parents are afraid to let their children (4) ___________________. There have never (5) ___________________ polar bears. The town said there is a "(6) ___________________".

The bears (7) ___________________ food. The sea ice is melting (8) ___________________ change. The bears can (9) ___________________ homes. The town wants (10) ___________________ bears. Russia's environmental agency said no. Polar bears (11) ___________________. The World Wildlife Fund says this is because of the (12) ___________________ bears' sea ice habitat.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

PolarbearsinatowninRussiaarescaringpeople.Over52bearswalkaro
undthetown.Thisisserious.Thebearschasepeopleintotheirhomes.Pa
rentsareafraidtolettheirchildrengotoschool.Therehaveneverbeenthi
smanypolarbears.Thetownsaidthereisa"polarbearemergency".Theb
earsarelookingforfood.Theseaiceismeltingbecauseofclimatechange
.Thebearscansmellfoodoutsidehomes.Thetownwantstokillthebears.
Russia'senvironmentalagencysaidno.Polarbearsareindanger.TheW
orldWildlifeFundsaysthisisbecauseofthelossofthebears'seaicehabita
t.

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion — Write your own questions

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

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Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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