Animals and Plants Around Me
Primary 2 · English
Animals and Plants Around Me
Lesson 1 of 3
12 min
Let's begin
Every morning Mugisha walks to school past his uncle’s kraal.
A cow lifts her head and calls: “Moo!” A goat answers from behind the fence. A dog runs to the gate and barks at him.
Mugisha knows all their names in Kinyarwanda. Today you will learn their names in English too — and the sound that each one makes.
Some animals live at your home. They sleep near your house. You give them food and water. You look after them.
These are domestic animals. Walk around your umudugudu and you will meet them:
Other animals do not live at your home. They live in the forest, in the park, in the water. Nobody feeds them. They find their own food.
These are wild animals.
In Akagera National Park you can see a lion, an elephant, a zebra, a giraffe and a hippo.
High in the mountains of Volcanoes National Park lives the gorilla. In the tall trees of Nyungwe forest there are monkeys.
In the long grass you may meet a snake. Near the water you will hear a frog. And in Lake Kivu there are fish.
In English, each animal sound has its own special word. Read this table out loud — do the sound, then say the word.
| Animal | What it does | The sound |
|---|---|---|
| cow | moos | Moo! |
| goat | bleats | Maa! |
| sheep | bleats | Baa! |
| dog | barks | Woof! |
| cat | meows | Meow! |
| hen | clucks | Cluck! |
| cock | crows | Cock-a-doodle-doo! |
| bird | sings | Tweet! |
| lion | roars | Roar! |
| snake | hisses | Sss! |
| frog | croaks | Croak! |
| pig | grunts | Oink! |
Put the animal and its sound together. Look carefully at the end of the sound word:
The cow moos.
The dog barks.
The lion roars.
There is one animal in each sentence. And the sound word ends with s: moos, barks, roars.
Now watch what happens when there are many animals. The s jumps off!
The cows moo.
The dogs bark.
The lions roar.
One cow → moos. Many cows → moo. It looks upside down, but that is how English works.
Tip
How to remember domestic and wild
A domestic animal eats at your home. You carry its food and water.
A wild animal finds its own food, far away. Nobody carries food to a lion!
And the sounds? Make the sound first, then say the word: Moo … moos. Woof … barks. Roar … roars. Do it out loud on your way to school and you will never forget them.
Say your answer out loud first, then tap Show answer to check.
Which animal says “Moo!”?
Answer: the cow.
Uwase wakes up very early. She hears “Cock-a-doodle-doo!” Which animal woke her?
Answer: the cock.
Is a goat a domestic animal or a wild animal?
Answer: domestic. She lives at your home and you look after her.
Finish this sentence: The cat ___.
Answer: The cat meows.
Mugisha wrote: The dogs barks. What is wrong?
Answer: There are many dogs, so the s must jump off the sound word. It should be: The dogs bark.
Name two wild animals you could see in Akagera National Park.
Answer: any two of these — lion, elephant, zebra, giraffe, hippo.
What you learned today
Quick check
Which animal says Woof?
