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Owls
Owls

Learn English meaning of ‘hoot’

Date: Jul 13 2018

Themes: Hobbies, Pets, Travel

Grammar: Articles, Quantifiers, and Determiners

Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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Hoot, hoot! You might have heard this sound from an owl at midnight while camping. They are nocturnal animals, which is just one of many interesting facts about them. The tiniest owl is the Elf Owl, which is five inches tall. The largest is the Great Gray Owl, which can be as tall as three feet!

They are both majestic and creepy, cute and vicious, odd and inviting. Their huge eyes are adorable, but they are big so they can hunt their prey. Their feathers are beautiful, but they hide their sharp talons. Some people love them, others hate them. But unless you’re nocturnal, the owl will have the last hoot!

Nestor saw an owl while he was camping. Listen as he and Marni discuss in today’s English lesson.

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Nestor

Nestor

Marni

Marni

Nestor:  Marni, oh, my gosh. Remember how I went camping last week?

Marni:  Yes.

Nestor:  I saw a giant owl in the middle of the night.

Marni:  Oh, the owls are not as they seem.

Nestor:  It was amazing.

Marni:  Yeah?

Nestor:  Everything was really, really quiet, and then out of nowhere, just… this big owl just whooosh came out and was like, hoot. Or something like that… you know.

Marni:  Right.

Nestor:  You know how they do.

Marni:  Yes. So, I’ve always found owls to be very majestic and creepy at the same time.

Nestor:  Yes, it’s because they can turn their head all the way around.

Marni:  Right.

Nestor:  Like, the Exorcist.

Marni:  Yes, and they’re nocturnal, something about, you know, birds at night.

Nestor:  Yeah, but you know, like, I’m pretty nocturnal. That’s why I saw the owl because everybody was asleep. I was awake.

Marni:  Yes, and you were awake. I just recently read about burrowing owls, owls that…

Nestor:  That’s not real.

Marni:  It is! They live underground in the desert.

Nestor:  Mmmm. Uh-uh.

Marni:  You don’t believe it?

Nestor:  Owls live in the sky.

Marni:  Right, you would think so, but apparently. there’s a certain type of owl that… they burrow underground.

Nestor:  OK well, I don’t believe that. But I suppose that it’s possible. If you can turn your head all the way around…

Marni:  Right. Anything’s possible.

Nestor:  You can probably… yeah, you can dig.

Marni:  Mm-hmm. What do you think about talons? Any thoughts?

Nestor:  Like, like the claws and stuff like that?

Marni:  Right, their talons.

Nestor:  I think it’s pretty cool. I mean, like, the way they come down like, aaaarrr, and grab on the rats or whatever they eat. I would hate to be a little rat at night.

Marni:  Right, well, owls.

Nestor:  Amazing creatures.

Marni:  There you go.

 

Grammar Point

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

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Nestor was camping when he saw a huge owl in the middle of the night. He thought it was amazing. Nestor said it was very quiet when the owl came out of nowhere and made a hoot sound. Marni thinks owls are majestic and creepy at the same time. Nestor agrees that owls can be creepy, especially when they turn their head all the way around.

They are also nocturnal, and there’s something scary about nocturnal animals. Marni read about burrowing owls recently. Burrowing owls live in the desert and live in tiny holes. Nestor doesn’t believe it. Don’t owls only live in the sky? But if an owl can turn its head all the way around its neck, it can probably dig a hole. Owls can truly do anything!

Do you think owls are cute or creepy? What animals have you seen while camping?

Both sentences are correct.
Without context, both of these sentences make sense. The listener may know of the owl, which would make “The owl I saw yesterday was pretty” make more sense. Markers like the, these, those, etc. refer to specific things. If the speaker doesn’t know the owl, “An owl I saw yesterday was pretty” would make more sense, since a/an are non-specific articles.

 

Comments

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ahmadnadri

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

Owls are creepy.I have seen wolf in my campings.

07:29 PM Jul 14 2018 |

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