Survival Teachers’ Notes

Chaouki Mkaddem’s story Survival gives the reader an insight into human
relationships (though acted by animals). Animals are personified in order to give a funny,
deep and tricky version of survival situations in real life. As the title suggests, the story of an
old lion attempting to survive , though lacking his strength and being on the brink of death
makes him use his wits (with the rabbit) to feed himself and to stay alive. The language used
is accessible to young learners.
Please Note: the teacher should take into consideration that we tried to prepare as many
activities as possible. That’s why, the teacher should be selective with the material provided
and make sure they do not assign two activities with the same objective.

I - PRE-READING ACTIVITIES :

1) The first pre-reading activity is aimed at introducing the story’s characters and
building up interest and motivation. In the first task , the students concentrate on a part
of a picture and try to figure out what does this part of the picture portray. The teacher
encourages the learners to answer spontaneously and make sure that there are no
wrong answers, which is meant to foster their imagination skills.

2) In the second activity, the students do look at a puzzle ( given pieces of a whole
picture) and are invited to guess again the animals and the topic of the story .

3) As for the third activity, the learners work in small groups to reflect upon the main
features of lions . They work together to complete a spidergram. Afterwards, the
teacher lets them share their ideas with the rest of the class. Here are some possible
answers : leadership –power – dominance- courage-strength- feline community…etc.

4) As for the fourth task , the students listen to the forest sounds in order to elicit the
setting of the story and discuss together the kind of life in such a setting : the jungle,
animals ...etc.

5) One activity that makes the learners move and enjoy competing with other learners is
the swat activity. The teacher Draws the students’ attention to the different animals
displayed on the board and explain the task carefully. Each time , two students listen
to the animal sounds ( elephant , parrot , lion , hare and monkey) and hit the
appropriate animal names with a swat as quickly as possible. It is a funny activity that
makes the students more motivated and engaged. After the activity, the learners are
asked to think of the plot of the story and what would be the main events.
6) This activity is for those who are fond of movies. The teacher asks the learners to
imagine a different topic than the Lion King’s topic [whose topic does not include a
rabbit as a main character but it certainly is a survival story in many ways]. The
teacher invites the learners to watch the video clip and ask them to reflect upon the
survival strategies the lion could have in general and how unsafe is the life of an old
Lion. Then, the teacher asks the learners to explain the expression : survival of the
fittest.
7) In this activity, the learners are asked to focus on the story’s title “ Survival” and ask
them to comment upon it and then try to give examples of survival situations or even a
famous story about survival. Encourage them to share and compare ideas together.

8) In this activity, the learners are exposed to the story’s main events via open-ended
questions. The questions are meant to provide them with a framework of the story as a
whole. In the end, the teacher asks the students to compare their answers regardless of
being wrong or right.

II- While-Reading activities:

During this stage, anticipation questions are aimed at developing interpreting and
predicting skills, they are supposed to encourage students to interact with the text. At
this stage the students only know that the story is of an old lion and a hare. And both
of them are seeking refuge and want to survive at all costs.
The story is to be introduced in sections. Between chunks the teacher should ask a
number of questions to elicit response from the students. Thus, they will try to predict
what is coming next
The anticipation questions are provided below.

Section Questions after each section

1-  Will Lino maintain this powerful
role and ensure that everyone would
hunt for him forever?
 Will this situation change?
 Can Lino stay young, strong
forever?
 Would he always be the first to eat
from the prey? Why? Why not?
2-  What would Lino do to survive?
 How can Lino win and resolve this
dilemma?
 If you were Lino, what would you
do?
3-  How does the hare look like?
 How does Lino look like?
 Will the hare accept Lino’s offer?
 Why? Why not?
4-  What do you think of the hare’s
reaction?
 What happened?

 A glossary is provided during this stage to learners to help them better understand the
story. Below is the glossary:
-to sneak out :to go quietly and secretly
-to nod: to move one's head down and then up in agreement or as a
greeting
-to kick someone out: to send someone away especially forcefully
- a villain: a criminal or a wicked character especially in a story


III- Post-Reading Activities
This set of tasks is aimed at encouraging students to re-read the text for better understanding
of the story.
1- In the first post-reading activity, learners are asked to order a series of pictures that
elicit the main events. Learners are not only going to order them but also to recall the
major events and give reason why this picture comes first and why the other comes
next .
2- The learners are provided with a set of sentences summing up the whole story, but
missing some of them, which are provided as alternatives. Learners have to decide
which ones to fill in with the correct alternative. This activity helps the learners feel at
ease with the language and the story.

1-Lino became fatter and lost his hunting skills. He lost the loyalty of the
members of the community. They thought he could not protect them any more
and he just ate the prey and spent the whole day napping.
2-
3-Suddenly, he heard a noise. He stepped back and hid between the bushes.
Soon he saw a hare. He jumped but the hare’s jump was much longer and faster.
4-
5-
6-Those were the last words Lino heard from the hare.
The alternatives:
 1-Lino tried to deceive the hare by requesting his friendship.
 2-The hare ran away far from the hunters.
 3-“Would you ask the hunter to be your friend?”
 4- He sneaked out of the community to avoid the confrontation with Boldin.
After a very long walk, he lay down a tree to rest.
 

3- In this activity, the learners are asked to order the events chronologically. This task
can serve a confidence- booster especially for those who are below average.

1____ Lino tried to deceive the hare.

2____Lino couldn’t catch the hare.
3____ Lino was likely to be killed.
4- ____Lino was powerful.
5- ____Lino became an outsider.
6- ____Lino lost his power.
7- ____Lino left his community.

4- As a follow-up activity, learners are asked to think of what someone must/ mustn’t
do in order to survive. This activity not only helps learners use the language but also
reflect on real life situations and pass on their knowledge of the world to their peers.
5- Another activity is to ask learners to think of adjectives that would describe both
Lino and the hare. Learners fill a table with adjectives that best describe these
characters. The teacher might be of good help if learners have difficulties finding
adjectives. It’s a good activity to consolidate adjectives.
6-In this activity, learners are invited to retell and write a story of survival they
experienced. They should also tell how they used their wit to manage to get out safely.
7-In order to learners to move from reading for pleasure to property, they have to build
on the events of the story by imagining a new ending and expressing their own views
of how events could possible evolve according to them. Such an activity helps the
learners to develop their imaginative skills and try to be creative.
8-During this activity, the learners can pair up to check their peers’ understanding of
the story by asking them to put “True” or “False” in front these statements .

 Lino participated in the hunting missions. (………)

 Bolden was Lino’s main rival. (………)
 Lino had to face Bolden to survive. (………)
 The hare accepted Lino’s friendship. (…..)
 The hare was so villainous that he tried to play tricks on Lino. (….)
 The two animals were indifferent when they heard the gun shots. (…..)
 
9-The learners are invited to use their creativity to retell the story (either orally) or
artistically (by drawing the events of the story).
10-The learners are asked to focus on the pictures and provide the corresponding
adjective. This activity is meant to consolidate the appropriate use of adjectives.
Here are the pictures:
1-

2-
3-
4-
 5-

11- The last activity is an activity which helps those who are keen on using their
imagination, and those who are techie savvy to create, or design a cover for the story. The
learners with the best cover get a prize from their teacher.

Key to activities :
Post-reading activities:
1- Ordering the pictures: C-B-D-A
2- Filling the summary with the right alternative 4-1-3-2
3- Ordering the events chronologically
A____ Lino tried to deceive the hare. (5)
B____Lino couldn’t catch the hare. (6)
C____ Lino was likely to be killed.(7)
D____Lino was powerful. (1)
 E____Lino became an outsider. (3)
F____Lino lost his power. (2)
G____Lino left his community. (4)
4-If one wants to survive one must :
 Be patient
 Use one’s wits
 Be cautious
 Act wisely
 ---------------------
 ---------------------
 --------------------
If one wants to survive, one mustn’t:
 Take things for granted
 Be fooled by words
 Underestimate the opponent
 ---------------------
 ---------------------
 --------------------
 --------------------
5-Table completion with appropriate adjectives describing both Lino and the hare.
Lino The hare
 Deceptive  Careful
 Cunny  Wise
 Pathetic  Clever
 
 
 
6- Learners retell/ write a survival situation they experienced.
7-Learners imagine a different ending to the story.
8-True/ False statements
 Lino participated in the hunting missions. ( False)
 Bolden was Lino’s main rival. (True)
 Lino had to face Bolden to survive. (True)
 The hare accepted Lino’s friendship. (False)
 The hare was so villainous that he tried to play tricks on Lino. (False)
 The two animals were indifferent when they heard the gun shots. (False)

10- Picture 1: lost

Picture2: villainous
Picture3:hungry
Picture4:embarrassed
Picture5:angry