SCRIPT 2: Geography/ELT

Experiencing World-Wide Habitats: Selected from Four Continents

Adapted for podcasting from:
Frank, C. Grossi, J. Stanfield, D. (2006). Application of reading strategies within the classroom: Explanations,
models and teacher templates for content areas in grades 3 – 12. pp.136 – 138. Boston: Pearson Education

Readers’ Theatre techniques can be used to present informational texts as well.

Students conduct research on unique animals on each continent and transform the
information into a drama script which they record and upload as a podcast.

Directions:
Using the following "Experiencing World-Wide Habitats" text, assign each student a voice to
rehearse and read aloud as a Readers' Theater.

SFX: Music
Narrator: Welcome to our show!
We will be taking you on a journey to visit some very special animals on four
continents. We will pay special attention to animals from a variety of habitats
that we think you will find unusual.

SFX: Music
All: Southeast Asia!!

Narrator: Southeast Asia has some extremely interesting animals with which we would
you like you to become familiar. Try to picture these animals as you listen.

Voice 1: Nine feet long with powerful jaws, my tail is wide for swimming. As an aquatic
lizard, I eat small rodents, other lizards, and fish. I am the Malayan water
monitor of Indonesia.

Voice 2: I am an Asian small-clawed otter. Reaching out with my paws, I catch my prey,
feasting on fish and crabs. I am so intelligent I can be trained to catch and
bring fish to my owner!

Voice 3: I am a massive snake, and I grow to 13 feet.

The longest ever is 19 feet-give me room!

Voice 4: As an Indian python, I eat deer, monkeys, and goats. I am becoming extinct.
Habitat destruction may force an end to me.

SFX: Music
All: Africa!!
Narrator: Now we are off to Africa to hear about three unusual animals found on this far
away continent. Are you trying to visualize how each animal may appear?
 SCRIPT 2: Geography/ELT

Voice 5: I live in the Sahara and have suction-like foot pads to help me run up steep
boulders, with agility and quickness. Rock hyrax, that’s my name. I’m the size
of a rabbit, but related to, the elephant!
Voice 6: An armored reptile am I, the African dwarf crocodile. Endangered!
Hatched out of an egg 11 inches long, I grow-to 6 feet. Rain forests, swamps,
and rivers of West Africa are where you’ll find me.

Voice 7: I lie motionless, almost submerged, to attack unsuspecting fish and

amphibians. I have to eat, you know!

Voice 8: Naked mole rat living in the desert, dwelling in an underground labyrinth. My
place includes special sleeping rooms and nurseries for the little ones.

SFX: Music
All: South America!!

Narrator: South America is our next stop. These unique animals sound very exciting to
get to know, from a distance! Try to imagine what each might look like as you
listen.

Voice 9: I'm a dyeing poison arrow frog.

Watch out! Extremely potent poison is excreted through my skin.

My brilliant colors make me a jewel of the rainforest, warning predators away.

Deforestation in Brazil endangers me.

Voice 10: I am the golden-headed lion tamarin. I've a long and silky mane.
\We mate for life; we usually produce twins.

Voice 11: As a three-banded armadillo, my back is protected by strong bony body

plates

Voice 12: But my underbelly is covered with soft, hairy skin.

To protect myself from predators I roll into a complete, armored ball.

SFX: Music
All: Australia!!

Narrator: Our final visit is to the continent of Australia. We have located some interesting
animals here as well. Listen carefully!

Voice 13: Having no teeth, my long sticky tongue removes ants and termites from their
nests. Yum, yum!
 SCRIPT 2: Geography/ELT

Voice 14: I am the short-nosed echina.

Using excellent hearing, and my sharp keen smell, I detect my enemies,
safely curling into a tight, spiny ball.

Voice 15: I am one of the world's two egg-laying mammals. Do you know the other?

All: The duck-billed platypus.

Voice 16: A marsupial and not a bear, I am a koala.

Weighing in at birth at half a gram, I'm the size of a bee.

Voice 17: After living in Mom's pouch for six months, I spend the rest of my life high in a
eucalyptus tree. A diet of eucalyptus is my only food and drink.

Voice 18: Growing to six feet in length, the green tree python spends its entire life coiling
around branches in treetops. A constrictor it loves the high temperature and
tropical humidity of northern Australia.

All: That’s all for today folks!!

Narrator: We've enjoyed bringing you new information on various worldwide habitats.
Imagining what animals might look like can be fun! Look for these animals on
the internet-view pictures and further

SFX: Music

Website resources for readers' theater: http://www/aaronshep.com/rt/;http://www.readers-

theatre.com; http://www.storycart.com;http://loiswalker.com/catalog/guidesamples.html;
http://www.readinglady.com;http://home.spynet.com/~palermo/into_rdio.htm.
Note: Information from Creatures of Habitat, Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago, 11. Readers' theater
script composed by Cecilia Frank and Jan Grossi.