I absolutely adore this book which I bought from Santander on my recent trip. It has an unusual hero, a sloth!
Language of text: Spanish
Type of text: picture book
Author or source: Pato Mena
Intended age of students: Key Stage 2/3
Source reference: 9788494541544
Approaches:
This is the story of a jaguar who fancies a nap, but just for 10 minutes, so he asks a racoon to wake him up after that time; however the racoon fancies a nap too… Will the animals wake up in time when they end up relying on a sloth??
This is the most beautiful book which the children will enjoy listening to, joining in with repeated phrases like “qué brisa más agradable”,”en diez minutos” and unusual animal names.
On 1st reading they will love counting down in Spanish with the sloth and trying to predict whether it will manage to stay awake or not! Do you think it will? There is a twist at the end of course so ask me if you want to know, I will otherwise not spoil it!
Rationale:
The children will love it at the end, they will laugh and want to join in with the sloth during the second reading. They will pick up some lovely common phrases like “claro / por supuesto / tiene calor” from the story as well as the repeated phrases and animal names.
Outcomes:
You can use this story to discuss with the children the importance of the siesta in Spain, why and how it affects daily life!
The children can make a mini-book of the story, simplified. They could change the animals… except from the last one maybe!
The story is rich in vocabulary and could also be used for an adjective hunt, an adverb hunt etc.
Topics or themes:
jungle animals
Grammar:
It can reinforce anything you would like as the text is so rich: adjectives, high frequency verbs, adverbial phrases etc
How much time required:
1-2 lessons
Buy the book here on Amazon.uk!
I have now gone and bought a sloth puppet just for this story and it might be my new favourite… What is your favourite animal to have appeared in a picture book?
