Welcome to Episode 61 of Ramping Up your English, where we explore Butterfly Life Cycles, as well as fascinating life cycles of other organisms. Witness the wonders of nature while getting a clear view of the concept of Life Cycles. Get ready to learn about the life cycle of the animal you’ve chosen for your report.
Watching Episode 61
You can watch this entire episode of Ramping Up your English ad free by clicking here.
Watching Episode 61 in Segments
If you’re too pressed for time to watch a 30 minute show, we have the episode broken into three segments, each of around 10 minutes. Click here to watch Segment One.
Episode Overview
Our title “Butterfly Life Cycle” doesn’t quite do justice to this episode. It’s true that we look at the butterfly life cycle in detail, yet we also look at macro-invertebrates with their surprising life cycles, and we’re privileged to witness parts of the sea turtle life cycle. I hope that a sense of awe, or at least appreciation comes over you as you witness some of the outstanding video in this episode. Notwithstanding that wish, I hope you get a solid idea of what we mean when we say “life cycle.” With this concept clearly in place, my goal is to have you ready to locate and report on the life cycle of the animal you choose for your report. In subsequent episodes, we’ll demonstrate how to communicate this information in English. For now, however, achieving a clear concept of Life Cycle is critical to the success of this project.
Language Objectives
With an emphasis toward listening comprehension, our language objectives in this episode are like those in our previous one.
Describe a multi-step process. Use sequencing words to demonstrate change over time.
Academic Content Objectives
Science: Identify the stages of complete metamorphosis. Identify the stages in incomplete metamorphosis. List Examples of animals that undergo complete metamorphosis. List the steps that female sea turtles take to begin the life cycle of their offspring. Explain the dangers and challenges face by sea turtles in their reproduction. Trace the life cycles of butterflies, mayflies, stone flies and sea turtles.
Videos used in this Episode
I was unable to locate the short video I showed on monarch butterfly metamorphosis, however, I did find this closeup, high-definition video on You tube. Click here to watch it.
For the short video about Macro-invertebrates, Click here.
The same video can be viewed and downloaded from archive.org. Click here.
Speaking of Macro-invertebrates, here’s the video of guest speaker George Duran telling English learners about mayflies, stone flies, and other macro-invertebrates. Click here.
I call this video “Macro George.” To see it ad-free on archive.org, click here.
For the unforgettable video of Sea Turtles reproducing, click here.
Here’s another video of sea turtles laying eggs. Click here.
We used this video clip from Nathan J Robinson.
Books used in this Episode
I did a review of the above book during this episode. I highly recommend reading Sea Turtles by Gail Gibbons. The illustrations are outstanding and the text should be comprehensible to intermediate level English learners who watch this episode. The book is published by Holiday House. Your local library or used book store should have a copy.
Learning Materials
We often use direct instruction slides to teach specific skills, however this episode is all about listening comprehension and developing a solid understanding of the concept of Life Cycle. With this knowledge, viewers should have greater success in researching and reporting on the life cycle of their chosen animal.
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Next Episode
Click here to visit the Episode 62 page.