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by Luke and James Vyner

Teachers notes

Brazil: Lost in the rainforest

Level: Elementary / Pre-intermediate
Age: Teenagers / Young adults
Duration: Approx. 60 minutes
Aims: In this lesson the students will:
1. learn about the Amazon rainforest;
2. practise extensive and intensive listening and a range of listening sub-skills including
predicting, listening for specific information and listening for detail;
3. identify a variety of tropical animals;
4. have a discussion about places they would like to visit with a time machine.
Materials: one copy of the worksheet per student; Track 1 (introduction); Track 2 (animal sounds);
Track 3 (adventure); Track 4 (full audio) all downloaded from onestopenglish
Summary: Join Amber and her classmate, Naz, as they travel back in time to the Amazon
rainforest. Will Amber and Naz manage to survive the dangerous animals they encounter on
their thrilling journey?

Where are Amber and her friend?

What is the secret watch?

What does it do?

Amazon task
1. Write Amazonia on the board and elicit any
words students know which they associate with
Amazonia, e.g. rainforest, Brazil, animals, river.
2. Put students into groups of three or four and
hand out the worksheet. Ask students to test
their knowledge of the Amazon rainforest by
discussing the questions together. When they
have finished, ask them to read the Amazonia
text below to check their answers. You can refer
Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2013
LISTENING SKILLS / A Time to Travel / Brazil: Lost in the rainforest

2. Tell students that they are going to listen to

some animal sounds. Ask students to write the
order in which they hear the animals. They
should write the numbers 1-9 next to the animals
as they listen. Play Track 2 (animal sounds).
7. Put students in pairs to write their own
dialogues. They should practise together and
then perform them to the rest of the class.
Key:
1. spider monkey

2. anaconda

2. After listening to the introduction, discuss the

following questions with your students:

1. Ask students to work in pairs to write the name

of each animal under the correct photo using
the words in the box.

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1. Play Track 1 (introduction). At this stage,

dont worry about pre-teaching vocabulary;
encourage your students to simply listen for
enjoyment. Stress that they dont need to write
anything down.

Rainforest animals task

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Aim: to introduce students to the characters of

Amber and Naz, the concept of time travel and
the rainforest setting

your students to the key words box if they

are struggling to understand some of
the vocabulary.

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Warmer activities

A T IME T TR AV L
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by Luke and James Vyner

Teachers notes

Brazil: Lost in the rainforest

5. chimpanzee

6. crocodile

7. frog

spi-der mon-key
a-na-con-da
ja-gu-ar
pa-rrot
chim-pan-zee
cro-co-dile
frog
wild pig
grass-ho-pper

4. Finally, direct students to the question at the

bottom of the matching task and have a
whole-class discussion about the dangers of
each animal.

Memory task
Aim: to practise listening for specific information,
reconstructing information from memory with
detailed comprehension
1. Ask students to read the first two questions.
Can they predict the answers to these questions
before listening? Elicit some responses, then play
Track 3 (adventure).

8. wild pig

Note: Make sure that the students dont write

notes while they are listening. Ask them to
cover up the remaining questions and focus on
enjoying the listening.

9. grasshopper

Key:
1. the Amazon rainforest; 2. a monkey, an
anaconda, a jaguar, a spider

Explain that they need to decide on the number

of syllables and which syllable is the stressed
syllable in each case.

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2013

LISTENING SKILLS / A Time to Travel / Brazil: Lost in the rainforest

Key:
1. a monkey; 2. a river; 3. He is attacked by an
anaconda.; 4. that he will be crushed to death
by the anaconda; 5. She throws a rock at the
anacondas head.; 6. He climbs up a tree.; 7. a
jaguar; 8. They run and climb up a tree.; 9. in the
monkeys nest; 10. the spider on Ambers shoulder

o o O o
anaconda

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3. Ask students to work out the stress patterns for

each animal word. Do the following example on
the board:

2. Put students in pairs or small groups. Ask

them if their predictions were correct. Now ask
them to answer the remaining comprehension
questions from memory. Feed back as a class.
Finally, play Track 3 (adventure) again to check
through the answers.

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4. parrot

Key:
1. O o O o
2. o o O o
3. O o o
4. O o
5. o o O
6. O o o
7. O
8. O O
9. O o o

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3. jaguar

A T IME T TR AV L
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by Luke and James Vyner

Teachers notes

Brazil: Lost in the rainforest

Speaking task
Discuss the questions as a group. Encourage the
students to use the constructions I would go to
and I would choose [year] because

Extension activities

Ask students to imagine they have travelled

back in time to their chosen place. Ask your
students to write what they can see using
the present simple. Place students in groups
to read their stories to one another.

Give each student an animal to research

using the internet and ask them to present
their findings to the rest of the class.

Ask students to research an area of Brazil

for homework such as nature, geography,
traditions and celebrations, food, the arts or
sports. In the next lesson, they could discuss
their research in small groups.

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Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2013

LISTENING SKILLS / A Time to Travel / Brazil: Lost in the rainforest

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To find out more about Brazil with your students

why not explore Macmillans Cultural Reader,
Brazil http://www.macmillanreaders.com/
macmillan-cultural-readers

A T IME T TR AV L
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by Luke and James Vyner

Worksheet

Brazil: Lost in the rainforest

Amazon task
What do you know about the Amazon Rainforest? Answer the questions below.
1. How big is Amazonia?
2. Which countries are in Amazonia?
3. How many different kinds of animals live in Amazonia?
4. Why is the rainforest important?
5. What percentage of the rainforest has been cut down?

Amazonia

Amazonia is also called the Amazon Rainforest.

It is the biggest ecosystem in Brazil and it is
the biggest rainforest in the world. Amazonia is
five million square kilometers. Sixty percent of
the forest is in Brazil. The other 40% is in Peru,
Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana,
Suriname and French Guiana.
Amazonia has more species of plant and animal
than any other rainforest. Ten percent of all animal
species live in it. The Amazon River goes through
the rainforest, which has thousands of trees,
flowers, mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles,
insects and fish. Some of the trees are very tall
over 50 meters and this makes the rainforest
dark. The Amazon region is also very hot and wet
all year. The temperature is about 27oC and it gets
about 2.7 meters of rain.

Amazonia is beautiful and colorful. It is also very

important. It gives its people food and medicine. It
also makes about 20% of the worlds oxygen. But
many trees have been cut down. More than 20% of
the rainforest has gone.
Extract from Brazil (Macmillan Cultural Readers,
American English) by Susan Holden and Alberta White, p. 11
Macmillan Publishers Ltd, 2013

Key words
mammal an animal that is born from its mothers body, not from an egg, and drinks its
mothers milk as a baby
amphibian an animal that can live both in water and on land, e.g. a frog
reptile a type of cold-blooded animal that has scales (flat, hard pieces of skin) all over its
body and lays eggs
oxygen a gas in the air that has no smell or taste, and that all animals need in order
to breathe

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Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2013

LISTENING SKILLS / A Time to Travel / Brazil: Lost in the rainforest

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cut down e.g. to cut something down to cut through a tree and make it fall to
the ground

A T IME T TR AV L
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by Luke and James Vyner

Worksheet

Brazil: Lost in the rainforest

Rainforest animals task
1. Label the animal pictures. Then, listen and order.
chimpanzee

wild pig

grasshopper
jaguar

anaconda

parrot crocodile

frog

spider monkey

wild pig

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Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2013

LISTENING SKILLS / A Time to Travel / Brazil: Lost in the rainforest

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2. Do you know about these animals? Which ones are dangerous? Why?

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A T IME T TR AV L
E
by Luke and James Vyner

Worksheet

Brazil: Lost in the rainforest

Memory task
1. Listen and answer the questions below.
1. What does Amber decide to do with her classmate, Naz?
2. What four animals do they meet on their journey?
2. Work with your partner to answer the questions from memory.
1. What animal steals Ambers magic watch?
____________________________________________________________________________________________
2. What do Amber and Naz have to cross?
____________________________________________________________________________________________
3. What happens to Naz when he jumps into the river?
____________________________________________________________________________________________
5. How does Amber save Naz?
____________________________________________________________________________________________
6. Where does the monkey go after they cross the river?
____________________________________________________________________________________________
7. What animal do they face next?
____________________________________________________________________________________________
8. How do they escape?
____________________________________________________________________________________________
9. Where is the watch?
____________________________________________________________________________________________
10. What does the teacher see at the end?
____________________________________________________________________________________________

Speaking task

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Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2013

LISTENING SKILLS / A Time to Travel / Brazil: Lost in the rainforest

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Imagine you have a magic time-travel watch like Amber. Which country would you visit?
Which year would you choose?

A T IME T TR AV L
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by Luke and James Vyner

Transcript

Brazil: Lost in the rainforest

Track 1 (introduction)
Naz:

Amber, dont move.

Amber:

Why?

Naz:

Because theres a jaguar right behind you.

Amber:

Its walking towards me. What should I do?

Amber:

Im serious Naz! What should I do Naz?

Naz:

Run!

Amber:

Hi! Im Amber, Amber Adams! Now keep this to yourself, but Ive got
something amazing to show you. OK, its a watch, but its not just any
old watch - listen to what happens when I touch it! I can use it to travel
through time to anywhere I want to go! So, what do you reckon? Are
you ready to come on an adventure?

Track 2 (animal sounds)

Teacher:

Good morning class. Today we are learning all about Amazonia, which
is also known as the Amazon rainforest. Lets start with the kinds of animals
that live in the rainforest. I want you to listen very carefully and Im going
to play you some animal sounds. Note on your worksheets what animals
you can hear.

Hey Naz, lets use my secret watch to go to the Rainforest!

Naz:

Its far too dangerous to go there!

Amber:

Oh come on, it could be fun! Anyway, we can use the watch to come
back if it gets that dangerous.

Teacher:

Could you two please stop talking!

Amber:

Go on Naz, touch the watch!

Amber:

Look at this place! Its beautiful! Did you hear that?

Naz:

Relax Amber, its just a monkey. Wow, its sweet, isnt it?

Amber:

Yeah, I guess hes pretty sweet. Oi, dont grab my hair! Back off monkey!

No! Dont touch that! Hes got the watch! Give that back. Give it back!

Come back! Come back!

Naz:

Follow him - quickly Amber.

Amber:

Hes running towards that river over there.

Naz:

Oh no, hes jumping through the trees! Hes crossing the river! What are
we going to do?

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2013

LISTENING SKILLS / A Time to Travel / Brazil: Lost in the rainforest

Amber:

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So as you can see, the rainforest is full of dangerous animals. Now can
everyone please open their coursebooks?

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Teacher:

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Track 3 (adventure)

A T IME T TR AV L
E
by Luke and James Vyner

Transcript

Brazil: Lost in the rainforest

Amber:

We dont have a choice - well have to swim across!

Naz:

No way.

Amber:

Itll be fine, Ill go first.

Naz:

Im not swimming across that river. Who knows what might live in there!

Amber:

OK, I made it over safely, come on Naz!

Naz:

Ah OK!

Amber:

Oh no! You need to swim a bit faster Naz! Theres a snake swimming right
behind you!

Naz:

Thats an anaconda! They can crush you to death!

Naz:

Help! Its got me! Amber - I cant breathe!

Amber:

What should I do?

Naz:

Throw something at the Anacondas head.

Amber:

Heres a rock, hang on!

Naz:

You did it, its gone!

Amber:

Quick, take my hand and climb up out of the river.

Naz:

Did you see where the monkey went?

Amber:

It ran into those trees over there, come on!

Naz:

Amber! I just saw the monkey! Hes over there - climbing up that tree!

Naz:

Stop. Amber, dont move.

Amber: Why?
Naz:

Because theres a jaguar right behind you.

Amber:

Its walking towards me. What should I do?

Amber:

Im serious Naz, what should I do?

Naz: Run!
Amber:

Climb up the tree!

Amber:

That was too close.

Naz:

Hang on! Look! Theres the watch, just there - the monkey left it in its nest!

Amber:

Ill climb up and get it.

There is a very large spider crawling up your back.

Amber:

Spider? Is it hairy?

Naz:

Yes. Very hairy. And its got very large fangs.

Amber:

Lets go home. Quick Naz, touch the watch!

Teacher:

I said could you please stop talking! Amber, whats that on your shoulder?

Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2013

LISTENING SKILLS / A Time to Travel / Brazil: Lost in the rainforest

Naz:

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What now?

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Amber:

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Naz: Amber!