The Reading / Listening - Dragon Man - Level 0

A 146,000-year-old skull is from a new species of humans. Researchers called it "Dragon Man". The species could be our closest relatives. A Chinese man found the skull 90 years ago. He hid it in his garden to keep it safe from Japan's army. He recently told his family about it. They found it and gave it to scientists.

Dragon Man changes what we know about early humans. He looked more like us than other members of the human family tree. He is closer to modern-day humans than Neanderthals were. A researcher said he was a "hunter-gatherer". He lived off the land. He also lived in a place that was very, very cold.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Dragon Man - Level 1,  Dragon Man - Level 2   or  Dragon Man - Level 3

Sources
  • https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-57432104
  • https://asiatimes.com/2021/06/dragon-man-skull-offers-clues-to-human-evolution/
  • https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01738-w
    • https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01738-w


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. A 146,000-year-
  2. a new species
  3. Researchers called
  4. our closest
  5. A Chinese man
  6. 90 years
  7. He hid it
  8. He recently told his family
  1. found the skull
  2. it "Dragon Man"
  3. in his garden
  4. ago
  5. old skull
  6. about it
  7. of humans
  8. relatives

Paragraph 2

  1. Dragon Man changes what
  2. early
  3. He looked more
  4. the human family
  5. He is closer to modern-
  6. A researcher said he was a
  7. He lived
  8. He also lived in
  1. a place
  2. like us
  3. day humans
  4. "hunter-gatherer"
  5. we know
  6. off the land
  7. humans
  8. tree

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

A 146,000-year-old (1) ___________________ a new species of humans. Researchers called it "Dragon Man". The species could be (2) ___________________. A Chinese man found the skull 90 years ago. (3) ___________________ in his garden to (4) ___________________ from Japan's army. (5) ___________________ his family about it. They (6) ___________________ gave it to scientists.

Dragon Man changes what we know (7) ___________________. He looked more like (8) ___________________ members of the (9) ___________________. He is closer to modern-day humans than Neanderthals were. A (10) ___________________ was a "hunter-gatherer". He lived (11) ___________________. He also lived in a place that was (12) ___________________.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

A146,000-year-oldskullisfromanewspeciesofhumans.Researchersc
alledit"DragonMan".Thespeciescouldbeourclosestrelatives.AChines
emanfoundtheskull90yearsago.Hehiditinhisgardentokeepitsafefro
mJapan'sarmy.Herecentlytoldhisfamilyaboutit.Theyfounditandgav
eittoscientists.DragonManchangeswhatweknowaboutearlyhumans.
Helookedmorelikeusthanothermembersofthehumanfamilytree.Heis
closertomodern-dayhumansthanNeanderthalswere.Aresearchersai
dhewasa"hunter-gatherer".Helivedofftheland.Healsolivedinaplacet
hatwasvery,verycold.

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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