3 . A mazing creatures: Ants
What to do
- Listen to the information about Pugnacious Ants. Your educator will read it twice.
- First hearing: just listen attentively.
- Second hearing: write key words to help your memory.
- Complete the cloze procedure exercise on the next page by filling in the missing words.
Pugnacious ants
Like all ants, pugnacious ants are ______________insects and never
live alone. The most important ant in the nest is the ____________
She is large and fertile: she can lay eggs. The many other females are
infertile _____________ that collect food, clean the nest, and
look after the young ants. Male ants come near the nest for mating only.
Pugnacious ants often have large nests, sometimes with more than one
queen. There are times when a queen and some workers will leave the
_________________and start a new one.
In the _____________season the queen and the male ants grow
wings and fly into the air. The queen mates with one or more of the few
male ants. After the mating flight the queen’s _________________
fall off and the male ants_________________
The queen lays _____________ in the nest, which hatch into larvae
(worm-like creatures). The worker ants feed them. Later the
____________---change into pupae and then into adults.
If their nest is disturbed, Pugnacious ants will defend it fiercely. They
run around and attack anything near them.
Their bite is __________________to people.
Pugnacious ants will eat almost anything, dead or alive. They eat many
kinds of_____________ , especially termites, and are often
found in old termite mounds.
They are even found on beaches where they look for bluebottles that
have been washed up on the sand. These ants look for food during the
_______________and will only go underground when it is very hot or
wet. The workers are responsible for searching for food. When they find
some, they send out a ___________ that tells the other
workers about their discovery. One way to tell them apart from other
ants is that pugnacious ants do not trail or run towards food in
______________ as other ants do.
_____________ and anteaters are these ants’ worst enemies.
The scaly anteater rips open ant nests with its strong claws and
catches them with its long, sticky tongue. It helps to keep the ant
population under control. Because ants come into our homes in search of
___________, man has developed poisons and various other
methods of killing them.
Yet pugnacious ants are useful. They take ___________ seeds
into their nests underground. At one end of these seeds is a covering,
which they eat. They then leave the seeds underground where
germination can take place.
Assessment
| LO 2 |
| SPEAKING The speaker is able to communicate effectively in spoken language in a wide range of situations. |
| We know this when the learner: |
| 2.1 communicates experiences, more complex ideas and information in more challenging contexts, for different audiences and purposes:2.1.2 uses language for creative and imaginative self-expression (e.g. poems, response to music);2.1.4 asks and responds to challenging questions;2.2 applies interaction skills in group situations:2.2.1 follows conventions for appropriate interaction in group work;2.2.2 gives balanced and constructive feedback;2.2.3 shows sensitivity to cultural and social differences (e.g. affirms and incorporates diverse language, experiences, examples); |
| LO 5 |
| THINKING AND REASONING The learner is able to use language to think and reason, and access, process and use information for learning. |
| We know this when the learner: |
| 5.3 processes information: |
| 5.3.1 categorises and classifies information and can explain what these processes entail, giving examples form different learning areas; |
| 5.4 uses language to think creatively: |
| 5.4.3 hypothesises and offers alternatives when trying to solve a problem. |
| 5.4.4 experiments with language in a variety of ways, such as making up new words for concepts in different languages. |