Lesson Plan: Wally the Walrus

Lead-in: What do you think is happening in this video? What would you do? Do you think there should be a society/government response to this?

Listen to to this explanation. Who is Wally? What places has he been to? What problems has he caused?

Listen again. Are the following true or false?

• Wally was first seen in March
• He has destroyed two rowboats
• It is common to see walruses in the UK
• The authorities want to make him a type of floating couch
• He has two distinctive marks on his flipper.

Discussion: How should modern societies accomodate nature?

Language: Talking about current affairs

Match the two halves of the following sentences:

Scientists believed	pleased to see him
People are quite	that he will make his way back
He seems to	he seems to be relaxing quite a bit
Scientists are hoping	to make him a floating couch
By all accounts,	have classy taste
There are now plans	he fell asleep on a sheet of ice and floated away

Discussion: What is a story you having been reading about / thinking about recently? Can you use the above expressions to describe that event?

Part 2: Reading

What do you think might be the motivations of the walrus? What do you think might be different reactions of people?

Read this article and find out: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/01/hes-so-majestic-wally-the-walrus-hits-iceland-on-tour-of-europe

Language

Find adjectives that match these definitions:

• much thinner s_________________________
• relaxing, without any problems p__________________________
• awkward, not physically adept: c____________________
• glorious, wonderful m_________________________
• adult, older stage of life m_______________________

Discussion: Think of an animal that you like How would you describe it?

Easier Audio:

Answer the following questions:

• Where has Wally been?
• What damage has he caused?
• What deterrents have the townspeople considered?

Match the following sentences:

And it’s not clear why	to make sure Wally keeps his distance
He’s started to become, well,	around potentially using dung – bear dung.
So the Isles of Scilly hatched a plan	a walrus doing this before.
Unfortunately, there was a discussion	Wally is spending so much time away from his normal Arctic habitat.
We’ve never had	Wally is still a star far from home.
To his human visitors,	something of a nuisance, I suppose