Modal verbs: Asian elephant
Learning Objective
We are learning how to write sentences that include modal verbs and adverbs to show degrees of possibility.
Context: Asian elephant
Credit: BBC Two - Natural World. This clip may not work on some devices; please see our Help page.
Clip Description
Elephants are one of the most intelligent species on the planet. They experience a range of emotions that are similar to those experienced by humans, such as joy, anger, love, compassion and grief. They have a well-developed system of communication that uses all of their senses: hearing, smell, vision and touch. In the wild, Asian elephants live in family groups of related females.
In this fascinating clip, a group of Asian elephants are keen to welcome in a new arrival to their herd – a newly-born calf. BUT, something strange is happening… Watch what happens when another female is not just curious about the new baby, but seems to want to take it for herself! Who do you think will win the resultant shoving contest and get to keep the infant? Watch the clip to find out.
Discuss the meaning of each word highlighted in bold.
Word Challenge
Elephants are big creatures. See if you can construct a word cline with words that can be used to describe size. You could start with the word ‘miniscule‘ at one end, leading to ‘gargantuan‘ at the other.