Using Wildlife Videos in Speech & Language Therapy
I am a huge YouTube lover lately. Between the craziness of the new school year and the unpredictability of transitioning from in person to virtual to hybrid constantly on my mind, The BBC has a plethora of short, informational videos about wildlife and holy cow, they are PERFECT for older students! Do you have a tricky mixed group or need a last minute therapy plan? Don’t worry - I got you. Keep scrolling to check out ALLLLL of the goals you can target, learn some interesting animal facts (did you know that octopuses have blue blood?), and get inspired!
I’ve included only a very small portion of all the available wildlife videos. However, if you have a student who really loves a specific animal, it is more than likely that the BBC has several videos about it. Head to YouTube and search “BBC” + “name of the animal” and you’ll be in good shape. Just make sure to preview the videos before sharing with your students!
Making Predictions
Before watching a wildlife video, let students preview the title and predict what it will be about. They can use the phrase, “I think that _____ will happen because _____.” When making predictions, have students explore their background knowledge of the topic. Are they familiar with the animals? Where do they live? What do they look like? What do they eat/what eats them? Etc.
One way I help my students activate their background knowledge is by completing a KWL chart (Know-Want to Know-Learned). Before watching (or reading a text), students complete the K section by writing down everything they already know about a topic (great for practicing those describing skills with EET!). Then, they come up with questions - what do they want to know? What are they curious about? Once they have finished the video, students complete the final section by describing what they’ve learned. Discuss if any of their predictions were correct - were they on the right track? This reading comprehension strategies resource is full of graphic organizers and charts (including the KWL chart AND a chart for formulating WH questions) that are perfect for making predictions and connections to the wildlife videos!
While this skill can be addressed with any of the videos, here is an example of some of the prediction questions I would ask throughout the session…
Videos for Predicting:
Before video - this video is called, “Drongo Bird Tricks Meerkats. What do you think it will be about? How do you think a bird will trick a meerkat? Why might the bird want to do this?”
Pause at 1:12 and ask, “What do you think will happen next? Why?”
Pause at 1:49 and ask, “What do you think the meerkats will do this time? Why?”
Inferencing
Each clip has several opportunities for making inferences. Pause the video and ask “why/how/do you think?” questions, such as:
Why do you think the animal lives where it lives?
Why might it have that coloring/pattern?
How might (certain trait or ability) help the animal get food?
Why do you think the animal (did specific action)?
Have students answer these questions and support their responses with evidence. They can use the carrier phrase: “I think (inference) because I saw (video evidence) and I know (background knowledge).”
Another option is to have students make their own inferences using evidence from the video to infer specific traits or characteristics of each species. For example, if a student watches a monkey carry its baby across a crocodile infested river, the student could infer that the mother monkey is protective or brave.
Students could also come up with their own questions about the video - one literal and one inferential - and see if other group members can figure out which type is which.
This resource on inferencing strategies has some fantastic visuals for differentiating between literal and inferential question types. There are also sentence frames and charts that help students structure their responses. I use it with my students at least 5 times a day!
Videos for Inferencing:
Before video - why do you think hermit crabs need to swap shells?
Pause at 0:38 - what do you think the hermit crab is waiting for?
Pause at 3:15 - what do you think, “To be left without a shell is a death sentence” means?
Secrets of an Elephant’s Trunk and Tusk
Before video - why do you think elephants have a trunk and tusks?
Pause at 0:36 - how do you think a flexible trunk helps an elephant?
Pause at 3:39 - why do you think their teeth aren’t permanent? How would that effect the elephant if their teeth were permanent?
Vocabulary
First, I always like to turn the subtitles on by clicking the CC button at the bottom of the video so that my students are able to have an extra visual when using context clues. Before watching the video, choose a few words and have students preview them - do they know what any of the words mean? I’ll typically have my students rate the words (scale of 1-3, thumbs up/sideways/down, plus/check/minus, etc.) based on how familiar they are with their meaning.
While watching the video, use context clues and/or affixes and roots to determine the meaning of each word. After watching, you can use this vocabulary strategies resource to complete graphic organizers, such as using a key word or shades of meaning, to better remember or understand the word. The resource also includes visuals for context clues and affixes.
Another option is to go on a synonym/antonym hunt. Before we watch the video, I’ll give my students a list of anywhere from 1-3 words. As they watch, they must listen for any synonyms or antonyms of the word they can find, write them down, and read them off at the end. For example, I’ll give students words like ‘big', ‘switch,’ or ‘fast,’ and they’ll find ‘enormous,’ ‘swap,’ and ‘quick.’
Every single wildlife video is chock full of vocabulary! Here are a few examples….
Videos for Vocabulary:
use context clues - mobile, spacious, upgrade, queue, vacated
use prefixes and suffixes - unfortunately, biggest, reforms, hurriedly, tropical, homeless
synonym search - switch (possible answers: swap, change)
Young Fox Hunting in the Snow:
use context clues - barren, vital, salvation
use prefixes and suffixes - barren, existence, midwinter, impossible
synonym search - looking (possible answers: searching, scavenging)
use context clues - solitary, lacks
use prefixes and suffixes - slightest, powerful
antonym search - largest (answer: smallest), weak (answer: powerful)
Proboscis Monkeys Leap into River:
use context clues - hesitant, evolved, reluctant, cling, vulnerable
use prefixes and suffixes - unwanted, unlike
antonym search - terrible (answer: excellent)
Describing
These videos are perfect for describing! Pause the video and have the student describe the animal or the animal’s habitat. The Expanding Expressions Tool (EET) is a great way to help students structure their descriptions. You could also download this FREE describing visual!
Videos for Describing:
The Bowerbird’s Dramatic Dance: describe the male bowerbird; describe the bowerbird’s habitat; describe the bowerbird’s dance
Hermit Crabs Swap Shells: describe a hermit crab; describe their shells
Proboscis Monkeys Leap into River: describe the proboscis monkey; describe its habitat
How Hamsters Fit Food in Their Cheeks: describe a hamster using the info learned in the video
Compare & Contrast
Use either a Venn diagram or have students verbally identify similarities and differences between two species. For students who are more advanced, see if they can write a short paragraph comparing and contrasting each animal.
Videos for Compare & Contrast:
Wild Bites: The Octopus: compare and contrast two different octopuses
World’s Smallest Cat: compare and contrast the world’s smallest cat with a domesticated pet cat
Wild Bites: Gorillas are Highly Intelligent: compare and contrast gorillas and monkeys; compare and contrast gorillas and humans
Why Cats Miaow and Why Dogs Bark: compare and contrast dogs and cats based on the information that was presented in these two videos (note: the dog video does state that “any dog can mate with any other dog” when discussing the variety of breeds. if you want to skip this, you can start the video at 0:55)
Summarizing
Using the main idea and at least two supporting details, have students summarize the video. See if they can figure out the video’s purpose - is it telling a sequence or how an animal does something? Is it describing a specific trait or habitat? The reading comprehension strategies resource mentioned above in the predicting section also has several visuals and graphic organizers that are helpful for summarizing. Any of the wildlife videos are great for summarizing. Here are just a few…
Videos for Summarizing:
Perspective-Taking
Have students determine how the animal could be feeling and what it might be thinking. See if students can generate text for thought bubbles throughout the video. The two videos below are great examples for practice with perspective taking; however, the skill can really be practiced with any of the clips throughout this post.
Videos for Perspective-Taking:
Drongo Bird Tricks Meerkats: what is the Drongo bird thinking each time he tricks the meerkats? What might the meerkats be thinking each time they are tricked by the bird?
Young Fox Hunting in the Snow: what is the fox thinking while it is hunting?
Polar Bear Cubs Take Their First Steps: what are the polar bear cubs thinking? what do you think their mom would say to them if she could talk?
Other Goal Areas
Check out all the other areas you can target using wild life videos!
Articulation, Intelligibility, & Fluency:
Go on an articulation hunt! Have students listen for words containing a target sound and write them down. From there, they can either practice them as a word list, sort by initial/medial/final, or come up with their own sentences. For structured conversation, students could use a carrier phrase such as, “my favorite part was…” or “one thing I liked about the animal was…” and for unstructured conversation, students could summarize or describe the video.
Practice intelligibility by using a different intelligibility strategy to talk about the movie. For example, you could pause the movie and ask the student to tell you what just happened using a slow rate, and the next time you pause, the student could describe the action using over-articulation. If you’d like any visuals, rating scales, or rubrics, go check out this intelligibility strategies resource! This same activity can also be done to practice different fluency shaping or stuttering modification techniques (SLP Stephen has The Complete List of Stuttering Treatment Techniques here!)
Listening Comprehension:
Sporadically pause the video and encourage the student to practice the listening comprehension strategy of paraphrasing, or putting the information into their own words. Students can also practice the external strategy of note-taking - help them to decide which information is important enough to write down. For a complete list of internal and external listening comprehension strategies (as well as visuals and leveled practice), check out this resource.
Syntax:
Use conjunctions, adjectives, or adverbs! Have students write a sentence about the video or the animal using a specific word (i.e. although, inventive, carefully, etc.). They could even pretend that they were posting the video on social media and create a caption and a hashtag!
Cause & Effect:
While watching the video, students can fill out a graphic organizer about cause and effect (also found in the reading comprehension strategies resource). To answer, they can use the sentence frame: “Because (cause), (effect)” OR “(Effect) because (cause).” For example, students could “Because the lion is chasing it, the zebra is running away.”
Conversation Skills:
After watching the video, have students practice having a conversation about it! Encourage students to ask questions and make comments to one another. Discussion topics could include their favorite part, whether or not they liked the animal, whether or not they’d like to live where the animal lived, etc. If you want visuals for asking questions and making comments, you can check out this conversation strategies resource.
I hope you enjoy these wildlife videos! There are tons and tons of them (don’t forget to look up more! you can find ANYTHING…like these cute ducklings jumping out of a tree or these squirrel-slapping monkeys) and they present such a great opportunity to target so many essential skills. Have fun!
