“Lots of people love the birds in their garden, but it’s rare for that affection to be reciprocated. One young girl in Seattle is luckier than most. She feeds the crows in her garden – and they bring her gifts in return.” K. Sewall–BBC
ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post with Answer Key
Eight-year-old Gabi Mann, the crows bring her gifts.Photo-Lisa Mann-BBC
Excerpt: The girl who gets gifts from birds By Katy Sewall, BBC News
“Eight-year-old Gabi Mann sets a bead storage container on the dining room table, and clicks the lid open. This is her most precious collection.
Inside the box are rows of small objects in clear plastic bags. One label reads: Black table by feeder. 2:30 p.m. 09 Nov 2014. Inside is a broken light bulb. Another bag contains small pieces of brown glass worn smooth by the sea. Beer coloured glass, as Gabi describes it.
There’s a miniature silver ball, a black button, a blue paper clip, a yellow bead, a faded black piece of foam, a blue Lego piece, and the list goes on. Many of them are scuffed and dirty. It is an odd assortment of objects for a little girl to treasure, but to Gabi these things are more valuable than gold.
Gabi’s beautiful gifts from her crow friends.
She didn’t gather this collection. Each item was a gift – given to her by crows. She holds up a pearl coloured heart. It is her most-prized present. “It’s showing me how much they love me.”
How It All Began…
“Gabi’s relationship with the neighborhood crows began accidentally in 2011. She was four years old, and prone to dropping food. She’d get out of the car, and a chicken nugget would tumble off her lap. A crow would rush in to recover it. Soon, the crows were watching for her, hoping for another bite.
As she got older, she rewarded their attention, by sharing her packed lunch on the way to the bus stop. Her brother joined in. Soon, crows were lining up in the afternoon to greet Gabi’s bus, hoping for another feeding session…
Gabi’s mother Lisa didn’t mind that crows consumed most of the school lunches she packed…In 2013, Gabi and Lisa started offering food as a daily ritual, rather than dropping scraps from time to time.
Crow friend from Gabi’s garden.
Each morning, they fill the backyard birdbath with fresh water and cover bird-feeder platforms with peanuts. Gabi throws handfuls of dog food into the grass. As they work, crows assemble on the telephone lines, calling loudly to them.
It was after they adopted this routine that the gifts started appearing. The crows would clear the feeder of peanuts, and leave shiny trinkets on the empty tray; an earring, a hinge, a polished rock. There wasn’t a pattern. Gifts showed up sporadically – anything shiny and small enough to fit in a crow’s mouth…When you see Gabi’s collection, it’s hard not to wish for gift-giving crows of your own.”
ESL Voices Lesson Plan for this post
Level: Intermediate – High Intermediate
Language Skills: Reading, writing, and speaking. Vocabulary and grammar activities are included.
Time: Approximately 2 hours.
Materials: Student handout (from this lesson) access to news article, and video clip.
Objective: Students will read and discuss the article with a focus on improving reading comprehension and learning new vocabulary. At the end of the lesson students will express their personal views on the topic through group work and writing.
I. Pre-Reading Activities
Predictions: Using a Pre-reading Organizer
Directions: Ask students to examine the title of the post and of the actual article they are about to read. Then, have them examine the photos. Ask students to write a paragraph describing what they think this article will discuss. Have students use the pre-reading organizer to assist them in finding the main ideas from the reading.
Pre-reading Organizer By Scholastic.
II. While Reading Tasks
Word Inference
Directions: Students are to infer the meanings of the words in bold taken from the article. They may use a dictionary, thesaurus, and Word Chart for assistance.
- This is her most precious collection.
- Each item is individually wrapped and categorized.
- Many of them are scuffed and dirty.
- It is an odd assortment of objects.
- She was four years old, and prone to dropping food.
- A chicken nugget would tumble off her lap.
- As she got older, she rewarded their attention.
- Gabi has been given some icky objects.
- She regularly charts their behavior and interactions.
- Crows love the birdbath.
Freeology Chart
Reading Comprehension: True /False/NA-Statements
Directions: Review the following statements from the reading. If a statement is true they mark it T. If the statement is not applicable, they mark it NA. If the statement is false they mark it F and provide the correct answer.
- Eight-year-old Gabi Mann keeps her gifts from the crows in a blue box.
- Gabi wraps and categorizes each item.
- Among her items from the crows are a small car, a balloon, and a ring.
- Many of the items are shiny and new.
- To Gabi these things are more valuable than gold.
- Gabi’s relationship with the neighborhood crows began accidentally.
- She’d get out of the car, and a chicken sandwich tumbled off her lap.
- There are 100 crows total.
- Lisa is Gabi’s best friend who helps her keep track of the gifts.
- According to Gabi, the crows watch hem all the time.
Grammar Focus: Structure and Usage
Directions: The following groups of sentences are from the article. One of the sentences in each group contains a grammatical error. Students are to identify the sentence (1, 2, or 3 ) from each group that contains the grammatical error.
I
- Inside the box is rows of small objects in clear plastic bags
- Each item is individually wrapped and categorized.
- There’s a miniature silver ball.
II
- She didn’t gather this collection.
- Each item was a gift given to her by crows.
- She holds up these pearl colored heart.
III
- She was four years old, and prone to dropping food.
- A crow would rush in to recover it.
- As she get older, she rewarded their attention.
III. Post Reading Tasks
Graphic Organizers: Finding the main idea
Directions: Have students use this graphic organizer from Enchanted Learning to assist them with discussing or writing about the main points from the article.
Discussion/Writing Exercise
Directions: Place students in groups and have them answer the following questions. Afterwards, have the groups share their thoughts as a class. To reinforce the ideas, students can write an essay on one of the following discussion topics.
1. The following three statements were taken from the article. Rephrase each one, then discuss the meaning with the members of your group.
“Gabi’s relationship with the neighbourhood crows began accidentally in 2011. She was four years old, and prone to dropping food. She’d get out of the car, and a chicken nugget would tumble off her lap. A crow would rush in to recover it. Soon, the crows were watching for her, hoping for another bite.”“Marzluff, and his colleague Mark Miller, did a study of crows and the people who feed them. They found that crows and people form a very personal relationship..They understand each other’s signals.The birds communicate by how they fly, how close they walk, and where they sit. The human learns their language and the crows learn their feeder’s patterns and posture. They start to know and trust each other. Sometimes a crow leaves a gift.”
“But crow gifts are not guaranteed. I can’t say they always will give presents…Not all crows deliver shiny objects either. Sometimes they give the kind of presents they would give to their mate. Courtship feeding, for example. So some people, their presents are dead baby birds that the crow brings in.”
2. Have you or your group members ever tried to communicate with crows or any other kind of birds? If yes, describe your experiences.
3-2-1-Writing
Directions: Allow students 5 minutes to write down three new ideas they’ve learned about crows from the reading, two things they did not understand in the reading, and one thing they would like to know that the article did not mention. Review the responses as a class.
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