The Reading / Listening - Hero Mother - Level 5

A woman has been called a hero after fighting off a mountain lion that was attacking her five-year-old son. Her motherly instincts appeared as she dragged her little boy away from the big cat. She beat the wild animal with her fists in her garden, where her son had been playing. The boy suffered bites and cuts to his head and body after the lion pounced. He is now in a stable condition in a local hospital. He is expected to make a full recovery. A spokesperson from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said the mother was a "true hero" for saving her son's life.

The mountain lion was a juvenile. It was less than a year old and was probably practising its hunting skills. Officials shot the lion near the boy's home after it was acting aggressively. The officials stated: "Wildlife forensics scientists analyzed samples from underneath the claws of the suspect lion carcass and isolated traces of human tissue and blood with a DNA profile that matched the [boy]." They said the results showed that it was the lion that attacked the boy. A different mountain lion was also found at the scene. It was shot with a non-lethal tranquilizer and then released.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Hero Mother - Level 4 or  Hero Mother - Level 6

Sources
  • https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/08/29/california-mom-fights-mountain-lion-attacked-5-year-old-son/5643763001/
  • https://www.foxnews.com/great-outdoors/california-mom-mountain-lion-attack-bare-hands
  • https://news.yahoo.com/california-mother-fought-mountain-lion-103022874.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. motherly
  2. She beat the wild animal
  3. The boy suffered
  4. after the lion
  5. He is now in a stable
  6. in a local
  7. He is expected to make
  8. a true
  1. pounced
  2. a full recovery
  3. instincts
  4. hero
  5. bites and cuts
  6. with her fists
  7. hospital
  8. condition

Paragraph 2

  1. The mountain lion was a
  2. practising its hunting
  3. it was acting
  4. forensics scientists analyzed
  5. underneath the
  6. a DNA
  7. also found at the
  8. shot with a non-lethal
  1. profile
  2. scene
  3. claws
  4. tranquilizer
  5. aggressively
  6. juvenile
  7. samples
  8. skills

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

A woman has been (1) ___________________ after fighting off a mountain lion that (2) ___________________ five-year-old son. Her motherly instincts appeared (3) ___________________ her little boy away from the big cat. She beat (4) ___________________ with her fists in her garden, where her son had been playing. The boy suffered bites and cuts to his head and body after the lion pounced. He is now in (5) ___________________ in a local hospital. He is expected to make (6) ___________________. A spokesperson from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said the mother was a "true hero" for saving her son's life.

The mountain lion (7) ___________________. It was less than a year old and was probably practising its hunting skills. Officials shot the lion near the boy's home after it (8) ___________________. The officials stated: "Wildlife (9) ___________________ samples from underneath the claws of the suspect lion carcass and isolated traces of (10) ___________________ blood with a DNA profile that matched the [boy]." They said the (11) ___________________ it was the lion that attacked the boy. A different mountain lion was also found at the scene. It was shot with a (12) ___________________ and then released.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Awomanhasbeencalledaheroafterfightingoffamountainlionthatwas
attackingherfive-year-oldson.Hermotherlyinstinctsappearedassh
edraggedherlittleboyawayfromthebigcat.Shebeatthewildanimalwit
hherfistsinhergarden,wherehersonhadbeenplaying.Theboysuffered
bitesandcutstohisheadandbodyafterthelionpounced.Heisnowinasta
bleconditioninalocalhospital.Heisexpectedtomakeafullrecovery.Asp
okespersonfromtheCaliforniaDepartmentofFishandWildlifesaidthe
motherwasa"truehero"forsavingherson'slife.Themountainlionwasaj
uvenile.Itwaslessthanayearoldandwasprobablypractisingitshunting
skills.Officialsshotthelionneartheboy'shomeafteritwasactingaggres
sively.Theofficialsstated:"Wildlifeforensicsscientistsanalyzedsampl
esfromunderneaththeclawsofthesuspectlioncarcassandisolatedtrac
esofhumantissueandbloodwithaDNAprofilethatmatchedthe[boy]."T
heysaidtheresultsshowedthatitwasthelionthatattackedtheboy.Adiff
erentmountainlionwasalsofoundatthescene.Itwasshotwithanon-le
thaltranquilizerandthenreleased.

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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