How Can Colors Be Useful?: Unit Question
How Can Colors Be Useful?: Unit Question
UNIT LISTENING
vocabulary
understanding cause and effect
word families: nouns and verbs
Grammar there’s and it’s
PRONUNCIATION schwa /ə/ in unstressed syllables
Psychology SPEAKING asking for and giving examples
Unit Question
24 Unit 2
© Oxford University Press
B
Listen to The Q Classroom online. Then match the
ideas in the box to the students in the chart.
Felix
Marcus
Yuna
ONLINE C
Go to the Online Discussion Board
to discuss the Unit Question with
your classmates.
25
© Oxford University Press
Animals Around Us
Preview the unit
at home
in the yard
in the park
bird other
at home
in the yard
in the park
mouse other
at home
in the yard
in the park
cat other
E
Discuss the following questions with your partner. How easy or difficult
is it to see these animals? Does it have anything to do with their colors?
Why or why not?
F
Look at the photo. The man is wearing a special kind of clothing called
camouflage. It has the same colors as the grass. Why is this clothing
useful for his job?
An animal photographer
A. Look at the picture of a leaf used in a biology class and read the instructor’s
explanation. Then finish labeling the student’s drawing and write notes.
The Structure of a Leaf The Structure of a Leaf
Stem Stem
Petiole
connects
leaf to
stem, pipe,
water
The leaves are the food-making part of a plant. The petiole connects the
leaf to a stem on the plant. The petiole is like a small tube or pipe. It carries
water and minerals to the leaf. Water goes from the petiole to the midrib. The
midrib runs from the bottom to the top of the leaf. Then small veins distribute
this water all through the leaf. The petiole also turns the leaf toward the sun.
This is important because leaves use energy from the sun to make food from
carbon dioxide in the air and water. This process is called photosynthesis.
B. Look at the picture of the tree and Parts of a Tree
listen as an instructor describes the
parts of a tree. Copy the drawing
and make notes.
ONLINE C. Go online for more practice using visual elements in your notes.
| Listening and Speaking 27
© Oxford University Press
1. Animals hide when danger is near. They come out when it’s safe.
a. go to a place where no one can see them
b. come out and look around
2. Listen to that bird. I think it’s giving the other birds a warning that
there’s a cat hunting them.
a. a call that means hunger
b. a call that means danger
3. Don’t let the children touch that. It is rat poison. It can hurt them.
a. something that is dangerous to touch or eat
b. something that has a very bad taste
4. This hand cream makes your skin soft and beautiful.
a. outer covering of your body
b. shoes and clothing
5. Some large birds have wings that are more than six feet across.
a. body parts used to walk
b. body parts used to fly
6. Most pets can’t survive in the wild. They need people to take care of them.
a. stay alive
b. find friends
7. Lions are predators. Other animals stay away from lions because they
are dangerous.
a. animals that live in a group
b. animals that kill and eat other animals
8. All insects have six legs, and many have wings. Most are very small.
a. an animal like an ant or a bee
b. an animal like a cat or a rabbit
28 Unit 2 | How can colors be useful? Oxford 3000™ words
© Oxford University Press
1 2 3
A false-leaf katydid A cryptic frog A blue poison dart frog
B. LISTEN AND TAKE NOTES Listen to the nature program and take more
notes about each animal in the photos.
C. Complete the chart with the words in the box. Then listen and check
your answers.
3. The colors of the cryptic frog match the leaves and on the forest floor.
a. rocks
b. insects
c. flowers
E. Work with a partner. Take turns asking and answering the questions. Use
your own words.
3. How does the poison dart frog use color? How is it different from the
cryptic frog?
1 2 3
4 4
1. Monarch butterflies are bright orange. Their wings have a terrible taste.
2. Zebras are African animals in the horse family. They have black and
white stripes. You often find them standing in tall grass.
3. The coral snake lives in forests. It has red, yellow, and black stripes.
4. The arctic fox has brown or gray fur in the summer, but in winter its
fur changes to white.
1. Think about the animals in Activity D on page 26. Do these animals use
color for camouflage or as a warning? Explain.
2. Most large predators, like lions, are not brightly colored. Why do you
think this is true?
3. What are some ways people use color as camouflage or as a sign of danger?
4. The cryptic frog is the same color as the leaves, so you can’t see it very well.
5. The blue poison dart frog is bright blue so you can see it easily.
6. Dart frogs are dangerous because their skins contain a strong poison.
B. Listen to the scientist talk about Australian bowerbirds. Then match each
cause with the correct effect.
Cause Effect
1. The satin bowerbird decorates its a. The bower looks nice.
bower with blue things.
2. The bowerbird doesn’t like red. b. Predators cannot find
the nest easily.
A male bowerbird and 3. The female builds a nest in a tree. c. The bowerbird removes
its bower
the red thing.
ONLINE C. Go online for more practice with understanding cause and effect.
D. Work with a partner. Complete the chart with information about the two
architects’ buildings. Then listen again and check your answers.
E. Read the sentences. Circle the answer that best completes each statement.
5. Hundertwasser said that the “usual” apartment buildings (not his) made
him think of .
a. prisons
b. nature
c. factories
1. For Kuma, the location of a building was not important for the design.
2. The Great Bamboo Wall House blends in with the mountains around it.
G. Work in a group. Look at the two buildings and compare them with the
work of Kuma and Hundertwasser. Which reminds you more of Kuma?
Which of Hundertwasser? Why?
ONLINE H. Go online to listen to What Color Is Your Car? and check your comprehension.
2. What colors are popular for houses where you live? Are there many
different colors or are they mostly the same?
1. What colors do you prefer for your clothing and for your home?
video vocabulary
about how corporations consistent (adj.) always behaving in the same way
use color. Then check your corporately (adj.) relating to corporations
comprehension. faded (adj.) a color that is lighter or less bright
than it originally was
right on (phr.) correct, accurate
update (v.) to make something more modern
1. How can you compare the way animals use color with the way architects
use color?
6. Both of these shirts are blue, but the colors don’t match. This one is darker.
B. Complete each sentence with the correct word from the box. Then write
N (noun) or V (verb).
camouflage change fight match poison sound
1. When these birds are young, they are brown and white. When they
become adults, their colors change to black and orange. V
The pronoun it in the expression it’s (it is) refers to something we already know.
The dart frog is bright blue. Predators know that it’s dangerous.
He lives in a new apartment building. It’s like a big gray box.
B. Work with a partner. Imagine that you are in a place in your city. Describe
what you see, using there’s and it’s. Take turns.
A: There’s a restaurant on the corner. I think it’s an Italian restaurant.
B: There’s a new exhibition at the museum. It’s about the first trip to the moon.
The underlined syllables in these words also use the schwa. These are all
unstressed syllables. Remember that any vowel can have the schwa sound.
a-ni-mal poi-son sur-vive pre-da-tor for-est
A. Listen and write the words. There is one unstressed syllable with
the schwa sound in each word. Circle the syllable that contains the
schwa sound.
1. camouflage 5.
2. 6.
3. 7.
4. 8.
B. Listen again. Then practice with a partner. Take turns saying the words.
C. Listen to these pairs of words. Which word has the schwa sound in the
underlined syllable? Circle your answers.
1. contain concrete
2. mention apartment
3. answer another
4. program protection
5. material many
A. Listen to the excerpts from the Listenings in this unit. How do the
speakers introduce or ask for examples? Write the expressions they use.
1.
2.
3.
4.
• why I love the colors of the desert (or the mountains, the beach, etc.)
ONLINE C. Go online for more practice with asking for and giving examples.
UNIT In this section, you are going to present a design of a house or an apartment
OBJECTIVE
building. As you prepare your design, think about the Unit Question, “How
can colors be useful?” Use information from Listening 1, Listening 2, the unit
video, and your work in this unit to support your presentation. Refer to the
Self-Assessment checklist on page 44.
1 2
3
1
3 4
3. Do you like buildings that blend into their environments or buildings that
are unusual? Explain.
2. Choose a location for the building. Is your building in a city, a town, or the
country? Our building is in a .
a. desert area: dry without many green plants
b. forest area: green with a lot of trees
c. large city: downtown with a lot of people and buildings
d. large city: quiet street near the edge of the city
e. beach town: near the ocean
B. Organize ideas Discuss with your group what the building looks like
from the outside. Then create an outline, using the categories below. Use
visual elements in your notes to help show what your building looks like.
• building type
• location
• outside colors
• plan (how big, how many floors, how many rooms, etc.)
• blends in or is unusual?
1. Use your outline and visual elements from Activity B to help you.
2. Make sure that each person in the group takes part in the presentation.
3. Give examples and show some visual elements to help your audience to
better understand.
SELF-ASSESSMENT
Yes No
■ ■ I used visual elements to show my ideas.
■ ■ I was able to speak easily about the topic.
■ ■ My audience understood me.
■ ■ I used there’s and it’s.
■ ■ I used vocabulary from the unit.
■ ■ I asked for and gave examples.
■ ■ I used the schwa in unstressed syllables.
Check (✓) the skills you learned. If you need more work on a skill, refer to the
page(s) in parentheses.