My dog: a short text in English for kids, with questions

The text

• I have a dog. His name is Max.
• Max is big and brown. He has long ears, a wet nose and a short tail.
• Max is three years old. A baby dog is called a puppy.
• Dogs can hear very well. Max hears me before I open the door!
• Max eats dog food and drinks a lot of water.
• Every morning we walk in the park. Max runs and I run too.
• Max can sit, jump and give a paw. He cannot talk, but he can bark: "Woof!"
• When Max is happy, he wags his tail.
• At night Max sleeps in his bed in the kitchen.
• Max is my best friend. I love my dog.

Words to teach first

• dog, puppy — the animal and its baby
• ears, nose, tail, paw — four body words; point at the picture
• bark — the sound; the class does it once
• wag — wave a hand behind your back
• sit, jump, give a paw — three commands; the class obeys them
• every morning — the time phrase the children will reuse

Questions about the text

• What colour is Max? (Brown.)
• How old is Max? (Three.)
• What can dogs do very well? (Hear.)
• Where do they walk every morning? (In the park.)
• What does Max do when he is happy? (He wags his tail.)

Three things to do with it

• Cat or dog? Read a sentence from either text without the name; the class says which: "She purrs." "He gives a paw." "She has whiskers."
• Simon says, dog edition: "Sit!" "Jump!" "Give a paw!" "Wag your tail!" The class obeys the commands from the text; whoever moves on a sentence that is not a command is out.
• My pet, six lines: "I have a ___. Its name is ___. It is ___ and ___. It can ___. Every ___ we ___. I love my ___." No pet? The neighbour's, a toy, the school fish.

What your pupils will get wrong, and why

"Max can to sit" is the one slip every first language produces with "can": the children know "to" goes with verbs and put it there. Hold up a hand at "to" every time. Russian speakers also say "she" for a male dog, because "sobaka" is feminine; Spanish speakers say "Max has three years"; Arabic speakers say "Max big and brown" with no "is" and "buppy" for puppy. None of these needs explaining, only catching.