Why do birds lay eggs in spring? (Worksheet)

English lessons based on the CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) methodology develop students’ general knowledge about the world and arouse interest in the subject. We constantly look for topics, which would be interesting for YL. Spring is coming. In this lesson, young learners will find out about bugs, birds and trees in the fairest season of the year and will answer the question “Why  do birds lay eggs in spring?”.

Age: 9-12 years
Level: Elementary
Time: 40 min
Skills: listening and vocabulary
Number of students: 1-20
Materials: worksheet, youtube video, teacher’s notes.

Activity 1 

Match the sentences and the pictures.

1. Snow melts. 
2. Plants start growing leaves. 
3. Flowers start to blossom. 
4. Birds build nests.
5. Birds lay eggs. 
6. Birds feed their chicks. 
7. There are bugs on the trees. 

a) b)

c)   d)        
e) f)  

g)

Источник: freepik.com wirestock, valeria_aksakova, kuritafsheen77

Activity 2 

Watch the video and tick the things they talk about.

an unusual birds’ nest __________
how to grow a plant __________
four seasons __________
baby birds __________
“teenage” birds __________
how to make a birdhouse __________

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Activity 3 

Watch the video again and put the sentences in the order you hear them.

____Birds build their nests and lay eggs.
____Snow melts.
____Birds picks up little twigs and carry them in their beaks.
____Plants start growing leaves again.
____You can see a bird’s nest in the bushes or trees.
____Flowers start to bloom.

Activity 4 

Put a tick (V) in the table. Watch the video and check.

	spring	summer	autumn	winter
There isn’t a lot of food for birds.
There are a lot of leaves and twigs.
It’s warm.
There are no bugs out.
There are no leaves on the trees.
It’s too cold outside.
There is a lot of food for birds.

Activity 5 

Watch and make true sentences using these words.

Babies  Adults  Fledglings

can can’t have got haven’t got are find eat learn

to fly feathers food big see fly small helpless a lot hungry

a)_________________________________________
b)_________________________________________
c)_________________________________________
d)_________________________________________
e)_________________________________________
f)_________________________________________

Activity 6 

Discuss the questions:

1. Why do birds lay eggs in spring? 
2. Why don’t birds lay eggs in winter / fall / summer? 
3. What new have you learnt about birds?

1. Lead-in 3 mins 

Aim: to set the context. 

Procedure: Brainstorm seasons or ask students to draw 4 seasons on the board. Then play the recording and ask to guess what season it is. 

Play the recording:

Elicit from the kids their associations with the spring (e. g. What can we see in the spring? What’s the weather like? Are there any leaves on the trees? Are there any flowers? Are there a lot of birds? etc.). 

Alternative lead-in: 

1. Show the pictures, ask to describe them, elicit the seasons and ask what season it is now.
2. Show a part of the picture and ask what students can see there. 

3.

2. Vocabulary work (Activity 1) 10 mins 

Aims: to present and practice new vocabulary. 

Procedure: Elicit what students can see in the pictures, pre-teach and drill new vocabulary. Ask to match the pictures and the sentences. Check open class.

Play any vocabulary game to make sure the students remember the words (play what’s missing with the cards or miming).

3. CLIL video (Activity 2) 7 mins 

Aim: to practice listening for specific information. 

Procedure: Ask students to look through the list, pre-teach any new words if necessary. Then play the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ0BDd26bk0  

Students should tick the things that are mentioned in the video. Then ask students to compare with their peers.

4. Listening for detail (Activity 3) 3 mins 

Aim: to practice listening for detail. 

Procedure: Students are going to listen again and pay attention to what happens in the spring. Play the video again (0:44 — 1:30).

5. Different seasons (Activity 4) 5 mins 

Aim: to practice listening for detail. 

Procedure: Elicit from students how the seasons differ (the weather, the food, etc.) Students should look at the table and put a tick (V) in the table. Then they should compare their answers in pairs. 

Keys:

	spring	summer	autumn	winter
There isn’t a lot of food for birds.				V
There are a lot of leaves and twigs.	V	V	V
It’s warm.	V	V	V
There are no bugs out.				V
There are no leaves on the trees.				V
It’s too cold outside.				V
There is a lot of food for birds.	V	V	V

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6. CLIL video part 3 ( Activity 5) 5 mins 

Aim: to practice listening for detail. 

Procedure: Students should watch the video again (2:20 — 5:30) and make true sentences using the words. 

7. Follow up discussion (Activity 6) 5 mins 

Aim: to practice speaking for fluency. 

Procedure: Students should answer the questions in pairs and discuss what new things your students learnt in the class (new words, phrases, facts). 

8. Sum up 2 mins 

Summarise the lesson and tell students what results they have achieved (Now you can … After our reading and speaking lesson you will be able to….). Ask them if they have any questions. Conduct delayed error correction if needed.