| Treasure
Hunt for ESL Students |
NATURE
IN USA |
KEY |
Introduction
I hope you have enjoyed this "Treasure Hunt"
in the USA. Now it is time to check your answers.
In the "Questions" section below, you will find all the right
anwers, together with links to the Web Sites from which the necessary
information has been obtained. Enter the links if your answers are not
the same as the ones given in the key. That way you should be able to
find the reason for those differences.
Questions
Do you know where these three states are situated?
California (West), Massachusetts (East) and Ohio (Midwest): map
Student A: California
Which animal is represented in the Californian flag? Grizzly Bears
What does this animal usually eat? Grizzly Bears are omnivores who eat plants, roots, berries, fungi, fish, small mammals, and large insects.
Describe its head. They have a big head, a long muzzle.
Describe the bark of the Redwood. The bark is deeply-furrowed, fibrous, thick [up to about 1 foot (30.5 cm) thick] and lacks resin.
Does the coastal redwood like cold, dry areas? The coast redwood requires a lot of moisture in the atmosphere, as well as moist, deep and nutrient-rich soil. Because its leaves do not tolerate the cold, it prefers coastal regions such as the Pacific coast.
What is the relationship between the city of Lancaster, California and California State Flower? The California Poppy Festival.
Student B: Massachusetts
Do back-capped chickadees exist only in Massachusetts? The Black-capped Chickadee is a fairly tame and common backyard bird through much of North America.
Justin Morgan had a horse called _Figure_
Describe the disease that is affecting the American Elm. Dutch Elm Disease is a fungal disease transmitted by bark beetles, including the American Bark Beetle. The beetle eats on a diseased tree and then, when it moves to a new one, spreads the disease.
Which is your favourite Tabby pattern? open answer
Student C: Ohio
The buckeye trail connects two cities. Which ones? Which lake does the trail reach? From a beachhead on Lake Erie near Cleveland, to a hilltop overlooking the Ohio River in Cincinnati.
Are buckeyes small trees? No, they are not.
Do black racers hunt at night? No, they are diurnal. Are they really constrictor snakes? It is nervous and very aggressive when encountered, striking out, biting often and vibrating the tip of its tail. Despite its scientific name, it is not a constrictor because it doesn't kill its prey by coiling around it and squeezing.
The scarlet carnation is the state flower of Ohio and the _shamrock_ is the state "flower" of Ireland.
Do you know where these three states are situated?
California (West), Massachusetts (East) and Ohio (Midwest): map
Student A: California
Which animal is represented in the Californian flag? Grizzly Bears
What does this animal usually eat? Grizzly Bears are omnivores who eat plants, roots, berries, fungi, fish, small mammals, and large insects.
Describe its head. They have a big head, a long muzzle.
Describe the bark of the Redwood. The bark is deeply-furrowed, fibrous, thick [up to about 1 foot (30.5 cm) thick] and lacks resin.
Does the coastal redwood like cold, dry areas? The coast redwood requires a lot of moisture in the atmosphere, as well as moist, deep and nutrient-rich soil. Because its leaves do not tolerate the cold, it prefers coastal regions such as the Pacific coast.
What is the relationship between the city of Lancaster, California and California State Flower? The California Poppy Festival.
Student B: Massachusetts
Do back-capped chickadees exist only in Massachusetts? The Black-capped Chickadee is a fairly tame and common backyard bird through much of North America.
Justin Morgan had a horse called _Figure_
Describe the disease that is affecting the American Elm. Dutch Elm Disease is a fungal disease transmitted by bark beetles, including the American Bark Beetle. The beetle eats on a diseased tree and then, when it moves to a new one, spreads the disease.
Which is your favourite Tabby pattern? open answer
Student C: Ohio
The buckeye trail connects two cities. Which ones? Which lake does the trail reach? From a beachhead on Lake Erie near Cleveland, to a hilltop overlooking the Ohio River in Cincinnati.
Are buckeyes small trees? No, they are not.
Do black racers hunt at night? No, they are diurnal. Are they really constrictor snakes? It is nervous and very aggressive when encountered, striking out, biting often and vibrating the tip of its tail. Despite its scientific name, it is not a constrictor because it doesn't kill its prey by coiling around it and squeezing.
The scarlet carnation is the state flower of Ohio and the _shamrock_ is the state "flower" of Ireland.
The
Big Question
Which is the most populated state? California Which is the smallest state? Massachusetts
In which states were President Nixon and President Kennedy born? Nixon (California), Kennedy (Massachusetts)
Two states have a similar State Marine Mammal. Which one? Whale (California and Massachusetts)
What does this animal usually eat? Both the Gray Whale and the Right Whale are Baleen Whales (filter feeders). Gray Whales are seasonal feeders and carnivores. They are bottom feeders that sieve through the mud on the bottom of the ocean floor of the arctic with their baleen. They filters out small crustaceans, plankton, and mollusks (including squid and fish) from the ocean sediment. They usually feed on their right side, sucking up mouthfuls of mud filled with organic matter. Their baleen filters out the nourishing organic material (mostly amphipods), and the whale spits out the mud. The tongue loosens the amphipods (and other tiny food) from the baleen plates and the whale swallows the food. During migration and while in the warm breeding waters (about 3-5 months), gray whales eat very little. They live off their thick layer of blubber (fat). Right whales are also seasonal feeders and carnivores that filter feed plankton and tiny crustaceans from the water. Right whales are skimmers, filter feeders that swim slowly with their mouth open, constantly eating. On occasion, they are also bottom feeders, eating benthic prey from the mud on the ocean floor. The fine baleen hairs can filter out very tiny prey including copepods, steropods, euphasiids and mysids (tiny crustaceans).
Name three parts of its anatomy. fin, plates, flippers...
Two states have the same State insect. Was it able to survive during its mission on the Space Shuttle? The Ladybug or Lady Beetle is the State insect of Massachusetts and Ohio. These tiny predators are usually very welcome in gardens because ladybug larvae and adults eat aphids, mealybugs, and mites (which are garden pests). Ladybug larvae can eat about 25 aphids a day; adults can eat over 50.Four ladybugs were sent into space in 1999 on NASA's space shuttle led by Eileen Collins. Ladybugs and their main food, aphids, were sent to a zero-gravity environment to study how to aphids could get away from the ladybugs without being able to jump using gravity. Upon completion of the mission, it was determined that the ladybugs survived and did eat the aphids while in a microgravity environment.
Which is the most populated state? California Which is the smallest state? Massachusetts
In which states were President Nixon and President Kennedy born? Nixon (California), Kennedy (Massachusetts)
Two states have a similar State Marine Mammal. Which one? Whale (California and Massachusetts)
What does this animal usually eat? Both the Gray Whale and the Right Whale are Baleen Whales (filter feeders). Gray Whales are seasonal feeders and carnivores. They are bottom feeders that sieve through the mud on the bottom of the ocean floor of the arctic with their baleen. They filters out small crustaceans, plankton, and mollusks (including squid and fish) from the ocean sediment. They usually feed on their right side, sucking up mouthfuls of mud filled with organic matter. Their baleen filters out the nourishing organic material (mostly amphipods), and the whale spits out the mud. The tongue loosens the amphipods (and other tiny food) from the baleen plates and the whale swallows the food. During migration and while in the warm breeding waters (about 3-5 months), gray whales eat very little. They live off their thick layer of blubber (fat). Right whales are also seasonal feeders and carnivores that filter feed plankton and tiny crustaceans from the water. Right whales are skimmers, filter feeders that swim slowly with their mouth open, constantly eating. On occasion, they are also bottom feeders, eating benthic prey from the mud on the ocean floor. The fine baleen hairs can filter out very tiny prey including copepods, steropods, euphasiids and mysids (tiny crustaceans).
Name three parts of its anatomy. fin, plates, flippers...
Two states have the same State insect. Was it able to survive during its mission on the Space Shuttle? The Ladybug or Lady Beetle is the State insect of Massachusetts and Ohio. These tiny predators are usually very welcome in gardens because ladybug larvae and adults eat aphids, mealybugs, and mites (which are garden pests). Ladybug larvae can eat about 25 aphids a day; adults can eat over 50.Four ladybugs were sent into space in 1999 on NASA's space shuttle led by Eileen Collins. Ladybugs and their main food, aphids, were sent to a zero-gravity environment to study how to aphids could get away from the ladybugs without being able to jump using gravity. Upon completion of the mission, it was determined that the ladybugs survived and did eat the aphids while in a microgravity environment.
Evaluation
This is a self-assessment test, which has been designed to help you review your vocabulary about nature and to improve your motivation to learn new words.
The treasure hunt will be considered a success if you have:
1. learnt at least 10 new words.
2. reviewed your vocabulary.
3. used English when talking to the other students in order to discover the answer to the Big Question.
4. increased your cultural knowledge and enjoyed yourself.
This is a self-assessment test, which has been designed to help you review your vocabulary about nature and to improve your motivation to learn new words.
The treasure hunt will be considered a success if you have:
1. learnt at least 10 new words.
2. reviewed your vocabulary.
3. used English when talking to the other students in order to discover the answer to the Big Question.
4. increased your cultural knowledge and enjoyed yourself.