04-06-2012 Class Review: Animals

The weather forecast was precise and we did have some rain. It's nice to let the rain wash away something we've wanted to get rid of once in a while. Today was the first class in April which means that we've already finished the first month. Wow! 


Animals is this week's topic. Teacher Abbie let us do the mingling again but this time, the students assigned with Bs had to move around. I was lucky to be the asker twice in a row thanks to Ammar's suggestion. Ha! 


Here's the list of the questions from Abbie:
(1) What wild animals(creatures) have you seen?
(2) What animals live in/around your home?
(3) What pets have you had in your life?
(4) What animals did you grow up with/around?
(5) Have you ever loved an animal?
(6) Have you been to a zoo? What were your impressions?
(7) Do you think a zoo is a cruel prison for wild animals or an important safe haven?
(8) Why are there so many stray animals?
(9) How are wild animals and stray animals different?
(10) Have you ever seen an animal that needed help? What did you do/think?

These are great questions and offered us a good opportunity to reflect.


Then we took a break after the discussion. After the break, we had three wonderful presentations presented by Taiya, Andrea and Jerry.

NASA photograph of the Great Barrier Reef taken by MISR on August 26, 2000. 

Taiya "volunteered" to be the first to present the topic about The Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Queensland in north-east Australia. She provided some interesting information about the reefs and reminds us to try our best to protect this one of the seven natural wonders of the world.


Then Andrea brought up another thought-provoking topic about Animal assisted therapy. According to her report, the power of the animal therapy helps people to overcome quite a lot of challenges they face. Andrea also mentioned she loves the penguins and was lucky to see them at the zoo although zoos are sort of prison to them.


The last presentation was presented by Jerry and he shared an amazing adventure between him and an injured pigeon he met in the street. He's the person with compassion and kindness.  Through the 11-month journey with the pigeon, they created some great memories and we were all amazed by their interaction.