I want to keep a pet

Mom and Dad, I Want to Keep a Pet Learning and Teaching Activities

Materials for the Extended Activity

(Key Stage 1)

Learning Objectives:

To resolve the conflicts with family members with a caring and understanding attitude

Life Event Exemplar

Mom and Dad, I want to keep a pet

Values and attitudes: Respect for life, care for others and responsibility

Materials (for reference)

for students:

1. Presentation Slides

2. Scenarios

for Extended Activity: From the Bottom of my Heart Worksheet

Procedures:

Steps (For reference)

Key Learning Points

Suggested Activity 1: Lovely Pets

1. Play the presentation slides Photos of Pets (Materials for Students: 1) and ask students to use a word to describe the pets in the photos.

2. Conduct a survey to find out students favourite pets (dogs / cats / hamsters / rabbits / tortoises / birds / others) and the number of students who keep pets. Ask students to share some interesting stories about the pets they or their friends and relatives keep.

3. Conclusion (for reference): Small animals are cute and lovely. Many students may have thought about or even asked their parents for keeping pets. However, we have to know that keeping pets is a serious decision. We must think very carefully.

Suggested Activity 2: Listen to Their Hearts

1. Play the presentation slides At Another Corner (Materials for Students: 1). Ask students to use a word to describe the pets in the photos. (Some of the photos in the slideshow may cause discomfort. Teachers should review the photos in advance and remove some of them if necessary.

2. Reflective questions:

The small animals in our neighbourhood / relatives homes / pet shops / magazines are cute and lovely. At the same time, there are some small animals that wander in the streets, suffering from the heat of the sun and the rain, hunger and many different threats. If they fall sick, we can only say that they are poor. Why are those small animals in such a helpless situation?

Why are those animals, they were once pets, dumped now?

3. Play the presentation slides Listen to Their Hearts (Materials for Students: 1). Ask students to guess why each of the pets on the slide is dumped. Then click on the image of the pet to listen to its hearts.

4. Reflection questions:

If you were a dumped pet, how would you feel?

The owners who dump their pets always have thousands of reasons. Just like those owners in the slideshow, they all say, Dont blame me when they dump their pets. If you were the dumped pets, would you not blame them? Why?

Can we prevent pets from being dumped? If so, how can we prevent it?

We must remember that to keep a pet is to make a promise, just like what parents do when they decide to have children. What do parents promise their children? When we decide to keep a pet, what are the promises we are making for the pet?

5. Conclusion (for reference): After listening to the hearts of the dumped pets, you may probably feel sorry for them. In Hong Kong, there are thousands of stray animals every year. There are many more poor cases. The reasons for dumping pets are mainly that the family members disagree, the family will have one more member, the family have not enough time and money, and that the living environment does not allow. The poor experience of those small animals can be prevented only if we are willing to stop and think twice, and agree that keeping pets is a lifelong promise.

Suggested Activity 3: Mom & Dad, I want to keep a pet

1. Ask:

If you want to keep a pet, what will you do?

Our pet is a member of our family. To keep a pet is like to bring a new member to the family. Therefore, we must discuss with our family members and our parents first. How many students have told your parents that you want to keep a pet? How do they respond?

If our parents say no but we still want to keep a pet and there is misunderstanding between each other (for example, ignoring their views and taking action before we agree with each other), there can easily be a new member of stray animals in the streets. Besides this, what other bad results will it bring?

To avoid taking a life or hurting our parents feelings, we must communicate with our parents very well about keeping a pet. How can we do that?

2. Divide the class into 4 groups. Each group is given a scenario (Materials for Student: 2) to discuss how the child who wants to keep a pet in the scenario should communicate with their parents.

3. Each group takes turns to role-play for about two minutes. After that, invite the class to give feedback (e.g. does the child deal with the issue properly? Is there anything he or she can do better?) before teachers give their own feedback.

4. Conclusion (for reference): Good communication means everyone expresses their thoughts frankly and tries to understand each other. If we want to keep a pet, we should first tell our parents our reasons, what we have prepared for it and what we promise we must do. If our parents say no, we should keep calm and try to understand their reasons. Talk gently to discuss and let everyone understands each other better. We must care about others feelings and must not act too quickly without thinking about the result carefully. Otherwise, we will end up causing harm to a small life and to the harmony of our family.

Learn to respect life

Start the lesson with life experience

Learn to respect life

Empathy and rationality (always think twice)

Understand that keeping pets is a family issue. A consensus in the family must be reached first

Be rational (think carefully before taking actions)

Understand that keeping pets is a family issue. A consensus must be reached first

The importance of good communication with family members

Learn how to communicate with family members. Be considerate and try to understand the feelings of family members

Show acceptance and think from the perspectives of others

Mom and Dad, I Want to Keep a Pet Learning and Teaching Activities

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Conclusion: (For reference)

Pets are cute and lovely. Many students may have pets at home. However, we must not rush to a decision to keep a pet without thinking about the result carefully. Pets may get sick. There may be times they are not lovely and their lives may be longer than a decade. Therefore, when we decide to keep a pet, we are making a lifelong promise. Moreover, keeping a pet is the same as adding a new member to the family. Therefore, we have to respect the views of our family members, care about their feelings and communicate well with them. Even if we love animals, we may not have to keep them at home. We may visit our friends and relatives to see their pets. We can join our family members to offer voluntary service for animal groups. By doing so, we can still be close to animals.

Family members have the closest relationship with us. We get along with them all day long. Therefore, there are also many chances we may disagree with each other. Besides keeping pets, we should communicate well with them on other matters too. Care about their feelings and try to understand each other. In this way, we can have a harmonious and happy family.

Extended activity:

From the bottom of my heart: Ask students to imagine they were small animals. Write a passage or draw to tell their sincerest thoughts (Materials for Extended Activity), urging human beings to stop and think twice before they decide to keep a pet. Draw a small animal as the picture of their own.

*Thanks Animal Friends Charity, County Cats, Street Cat Welfare Association, Gloria Tang and Pat Chan for providing the photos. (Names are not listed in any order.)

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Presentation Slides

Mom and Dad, I Want to Keep a Pet Learning and Teaching Activities

Materials for Students: 1

Scenarios

1. Mimi wants to keep a pet. But mom and dad have to work and dont have time to care for it. Mom is also afraid that Mimi is keen for a moment only and so she disagrees.

* Please play the roles to show how Mimi discusses with mom about this matter.

(Itd be better for Mimi to know more about the kind of pet she wants to keep. Learn from friends or relatives how to care for it. She can prove mom over time that she can take up some responsibilities for it and she is serious about it.) 2. Ming wants to keep a pet. But dad disagrees because it is clear that pets are not allowed in the housing estate they live.

* Please play the roles to show how Ming discusses with dad about this matter.

(When Dad explains to Ming clearly, Ming should try to understand. He should not take chance because it is a life he is going to bet on.)

3. Lily wants to keep a pet but mom disagrees because she doesnt like animals.

* Please play the roles to show how Lily discusses with mom about this matter.

(Lily may try to understand why mom doesnt like pets. Tell mom more about the kind of pet she wants to keep to let mom know how lovely they are. As time goes by, mom may change her mind. Lily must not keep asking. She has to respect and care about moms feelings.) 4. Damien wants to keep a pet but his younger brother is allergic to hair of small animals. So dad disagrees.

* Please play the roles to show how Damien discusses with dad about this matter.

(When dad explains to Damien in details, Damien should be considerate. He should not build his happiness on other peoples pain. He has to understan