Video mini-lesson - Penguins go fishing

This short video from National Geographic is quite rich in language.

 

Watch the video - to get the general idea. Answer the questions and then do the exercises.

General comprehension

1. What kind of fish does the video mention?
2. Who steals what, and who from?

Show answers

The video talks about penguins and pelicans in the Galapagos Islands. The penguins' main food is anchovies. The answer to the last question depends on your point of view. First the pelicans steal the fisg from the penguins, and then the penguins steal it back again.

Exercise 1. Verbs in context - Look at these verbs in context and then match them with their definitions below.

a.	to rocket	to rocket through a swarm of your favourite food
b.	to leap	just opening your mouth and letting it leap in
c.	to drive	The penguins drive the anchovy swarm into a shoal of shallow water
d.	to bunch (sth up)	bunching the throng even tighter
e.	to surface	Only when the pelicans surface can they enjoy their catch

1.	to rise to the top of the water
2.	to force someone or something to go somewhere or do something
3.	to move close together to form a tight group
4.	to jump
5.	to move very fast

Exercise 2a. Compound nouns - Match the beginnings and endings

1.	easy			a)	bombers
2.	party-			b)	ducks
3.	dive-			c)	pooper
4.	sitting			d)	pickings

Exercise 2b - Now match the nouns with their definitions below. Enter the noun number into the relevant box below.

1.	someone who spoils other people's enjoyment (usually by disapproving of or not taking part in a particular activity)
2.	easy targets
3.	military aircraft designed to fly down quickly before dropping their ammunition on a target
4.	something (usually money) which can be got easily or dishonestly

Exercise 3. Words connected with food and greed

1.	feasting (n)			a)	when people eat and drink more than they need to (one of the 7 deadly sins)
2.	greedy (adj)			b)	a person who regularly eats and drinks more than is needed
3.	gluttony (n)			c)	a large formal meal for many people, often followed by speeches in honour of someone
4.	banquet (n)			d)	(eg of food) a large amount
5.	glutton (n)			e)	eating a lot of good food and enjoy it very much
6.	bounty (n)			f)	wanting a lot more food, money, etc. than you need

Note 1 - The word shoal can have two meanings:

• a small hill of sand just below the surface of the sea
• a large number of fish swimming together as a group

We also talk of a school of fish

Note 2 - the video includes an American idiom:

• When life gives you lemons, make lemonade
• - out of something bad, make something good.

Similar idioms include:

• (every cloud has) a silver lining - bad things often have a good side
• make hay (while the sun shines) - take the opportunity when it's offered to you

Note 3 - the video also includes an example of inversion.

• Only when the pelicans back off on their gluttony and let go of some of their catch can they surface and enjoy the bounty in their beaks, leaving the anchovy banquet down below once more to these gleeful gluttons.

Now watch the video again, first without looking at the tapescript.

Exercise 4. - Now Show the Gapfill exercise. You can do this as a listening exercise with the video, or choose the words from a selection (or both). To see the words Show Words

party   ·   greedy   ·   playful   ·   leap   ·   gluttony   ·   opportunity   ·   beaks   ·   heavy   ·   pelicans   ·   anchovies   ·   banquet   ·   surface   ·   lemonade   ·   tighter   ·   shoal

Imagine you had a favourite food, like say, well - (1)

Then let's say you had the (2) to rocket through a swarm of your favourite food, just opening your mouth and letting it (3) in.

That's life for these (4) Galapagos penguins in the waters off the Galapagos islands

The penguins drive the anchovy swarm into a (5) of shallow water, bunching the throng even (6) , making the pickings even easier.

Of course every (7) needs a pooper, in this case the poopers are (8) who make like dive-bombers to get in on some of this feasting.

The pelicans' water-filled pouches are too (9) to lift, and they're too (10) to let go.

And so, in a classic case of taking lemons and making (11) , the penguins pick off anchovies from the (12) of these pelican sitting ducks in front of them.

Only when the pelicans back off on their (13) and let go of some of their catch can they (14) and enjoy the bounty in their beaks, leaving the anchovy (15) down below once more to these gleeful gluttons.

Exercise 4. - Now do this Gapfill exercise.

party   ·   greedy   ·   playful   ·   leap   ·   gluttony   ·   opportunity   ·   beaks   ·   heavy   ·   pelicans   ·   anchovies   ·   banquet   ·   surface   ·   lemonade   ·   tighter   ·   shoal

Imagine you had a favourite food, like say, well - (1)

Then let's say you had the (2) to rocket through a swarm of your favourite food, just opening your mouth and letting it (3) in.

That's life for these (4) Galapagos penguins in the waters off the Galapagos islands

The penguins drive the anchovy swarm into a (5) of shallow water, bunching the throng even (6) , making the pickings even easier.

Of course every (7) needs a pooper, in this case the poopers are (8) who make like dive-bombers to get in on some of this feasting.

The pelicans' water-filled pouches are too (9) to lift, and they're too (10) to let go.

And so, in a classic case of taking lemons and making (11) , the penguins pick off anchovies from the (12) of these pelican sitting ducks in front of them.

Only when the pelicans back off on their (13) and let go of some of their catch can they (14) and enjoy the bounty in their beaks, leaving the anchovy (15) down below once more to these gleeful gluttons.

Exercise 6a. A few phrasal verbs - Match the beginnings ans endings

1.	make			a)	off on sth
2.	let			b)	like sth
3.	pick			c)	go of sth
4.	back			d)	in on sth
5.	get			e)	off sth

Exercise 6b. - Now match them with their definitions. Enter the verb number in the top half into the relevant box below.

1.	to stop being involved in a situation, especially in order to allow.
2.	enjoy or benefit from something other people are doing
2.	to pretend to be something you are not (mainly US spoken)
3.	to stop holding something
4.	to select something (or somebody) and then take it (them)

Answers

• Ex 1 - 1. to surface, 2. to drive, 3. to bunch, 4. to leap, 5. to rocket
• Ex 2a - 1. pickings, 2. pooper, 3. bombers, 4. ducks
• Ex 2b - 1. 2, 2. 4, 3. 3, 4. 1
• Ex 3 - 1. e, 2. f, 3. a, 4. c, 5. b, 6. d
• Ex 4 - 1. anchovies, 2. opportunity, 3. leap, 4. playful, 5. shoal, 6. tighter, 7. party, 8. pelicans, 9. heavy, 10. greedy, 11. lemonade, 12. beaks, 13. gluttony, 14. surface, 15. banquet
• Ex 5a - 1. like, 2. go of, 3. off, 4. off on, 5. in on
• Ex 5b - 1. 4, 2. 5, 3. 1, 4. 2, 5. 3

Printer friendly post

You can make a teacher copy with answers by clicking on 'Show All'. Make sure you 'Clear All' before printing student copies. Or you can print normally and the answers will appear on a separate page (Page 5). The lesson is on Pages 2-4. I strongly recommend doing a Print Preview first. You might want to change your margins and you certainly won't want to print every page.