The Reading / Listening - Smallest Reptile - Level 0

Scientists found the world's smallest reptile in Madagascar. It is a chameleon the size of a sunflower seed. They are just 22mm long. At first, the scientists thought the chameleons were babies. They later found they were adults. The scientists called them "nano-chameleons". The scientists tried to find more, but didn't find any.

Madagascar has most of the world's chameleons. The chameleon's survival is in danger because of deforestation. A scientist said the area is now protected, "so [they] will survive". A lot of Madagascar's rainforest could disappear by 2070 because of deforestation. This would put many of the island's unique species in danger.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Smallest Reptile - Level 1,  Smallest Reptile - Level 2   or  Smallest Reptile - Level 3

Sources
  • https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/05/seed-sized-chameleon-madagascar-world-tiniest-reptile
  • https://www.dw.com/en/worlds-smallest-reptile-discovered-in-madagascar/a-56478001
  • https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/mysterious-chameleon-may-smallest-reptile-151728681.html


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. the world's smallest reptile
  2. It is a
  3. the size of a sunflower
  4. They are just 22mm
  5. the chameleons were
  6. They later found they
  7. The scientists called them
  8. The scientists tried
  1. to find more
  2. seed
  3. were adults
  4. chameleon
  5. "nano-chameleons"
  6. long
  7. babies
  8. in Madagascar

Paragraph 2

  1. Madagascar has most of the
  2. The chameleon's survival is
  3. because of
  4. the area
  5. they will
  6. A lot of Madagascar's
  7. disappear by
  8. put many of the island's unique
  1. rainforest
  2. is now protected
  3. species in danger
  4. in danger
  5. 2070
  6. world's chameleons
  7. survive
  8. deforestation

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Scientists (1) ___________________ smallest reptile in Madagascar. It is a chameleon (2) ___________________ a sunflower seed. (3) ___________________ 22mm long. At first, the (4) ___________________ chameleons were babies. They later found (5) ___________________. The scientists called them "nano-chameleons". The scientists tried (6) __________________, but didn't find any.

Madagascar (7) ___________________ the world's chameleons. The chameleon's (8) ___________________ danger because of deforestation. (9) ___________________ the area is now protected, "so (10) ___________________". A lot of Madagascar's rainforest (11) ___________________ 2070 because of deforestation. This would put many of the island's unique (12) ___________________.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Scientistsfoundtheworld'ssmallestreptileinMadagascar.Itisachamel
eonthesizeofasunflowerseed.Theyarejust22mmlong.Atfirst,thescie
ntiststhoughtthechameleonswerebabies.Theylaterfoundtheywerea
dults.Thescientistscalledthem"nano-chameleons".Thescientiststr
iedtofindmore,butdidn'tfindany.Madagascarhasmostoftheworld'sch
ameleons.Thechameleon'ssurvivalisindangerbecauseofdeforestatio
n.Ascientisttheareaisnowprotected,"so[they]willsurvive".AlotofMa
dagascar'srainforestcoulddisappearby2070becauseofdeforestation
.Thiswouldputmanyoftheisland'suniquespeciesindanger.

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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