Can you think of any more examples?
Corresponding with friends
A friendly letter and an e-mail are ways in which you can correspond with friends and family. You don’t have to write formally, but your spelling and grammar must be correct.
1. Imagine that your parents have taken you on a holiday to Edinburgh and that you have been to see the statue of Greyfriars Bobby. Write a letter or an e-mail to a friend in South Africa, describing what you have seen. Use the information in the story you read in Activity 2.1, but remember to write the letter or e-mail in your own words.
Here is a checklist to help you:
2. Check your e-mail or letter before handing it in to your teacher to evaluate.
Rubric for letter or e-mail
More research
Doing research and using the information that you find is a skill. Like any other skill, the more you practise, the better you will get. You are going to do research in the next two activities.
1. Find Scotland and Edinburgh on a map of the world. Look up the pronunciation of the word ‘Edinburgh’ in a dictionary. Try to find pictures of some of the statues and buildings in Edinburgh.
2. Can you name any statues of famous people in South Africa? Where can we find them? For example, whose statue is this? Where is it?
3. Share your findings with another group.
1. Bobby’s master, John, died of a disease called tuberculosis (often shortened to TB). In some parts of the world, such as South Africa, this is still a serious disease. Find out more about this disease:
(a) How do we know when someone has TB?
(b) What should people who think they have TB do?
(c) How do doctors and nurses treat people who have TB?
2. Write notes about what you have found.
3. Use your notes to prepare a pamphlet that you would give to other learners your own age who do not know anything about TB. Give them advice on what they should do if they or anyone they know has TB. You will hand in your written pamphlet to your teacher for evaluation, but before you do this, let one of your group members read and comment on it. Change it if you think it necessary to do so.
Caring for animals
The story of Greyfriars Bobby shows us that people think that it is important to care for the animals that depend on us. One way of looking after our pets is to make sure that they do not stray from home or get lost. Sometimes pets do wander away and can’t find their way back. You might have seen posters like the one below in shop windows or on street lights:
Newspapers also often have advertisements with information about animals that have been lost or found. These are usually in the Classified section. Here are some examples:
Sometimes newspapers also have advertisements for pets looking for a new home, like the one below.
1. Find more examples of newspaper advertisements for pets that have been lost or found, or need new homes. Share them with your group.
2. Study the advertisements carefully. What information do most of the advertisements include? Discuss this with your group.
3. Write your own classified pet advertisement. Show it to your group for them to comment on.
4. Make a poster advertisement, like the one on the previous page, using the same information as in your advertisement in question 3. Show your group. The best poster from each group can be displayed in the classroom.
Group discussion
Remember the rules for group discussion? You will be discussing topics in groups for the rest of your life. This is another skill that you can practise over and over again. The next activity gives you an opportunity to talk about whether animals have rights. People’s opinions may differ.
Here is an interesting article that might get you thinking.
Dogs in the United States of America
It was reported by an animal lover recently that six million dogs were put to sleep in the United States last year alone. The reasons given were usually one of the following:
• the dog messed in the house; barked; bit people; was violent; chewed everything; dug up the garden; was nervous; was uncontrollable.
The animal lover claims that all these problems could be prevented or corrected by suitable training. She says that Americans are a throw-away culture, and that this attitude has now been extended to include pets.
1. Some people might think that it is not important for us to care for animals. Do you agree? Discuss this question in your groups. Give reasons for your opinion.
2. Then as a group decide what the main points of your discussion have been.
3. Report your points to the rest of the class.
More research
Looking things up in an encyclopedia or on the Internet is not the only way of doing research. You can also interview people who you think might be able to give you the information. Try this method in the next activity. You can use your classmates as a resource.
1. Many Africans have animal
