The woodpecker that really loved acorns

ESL Lessons: True Stories

A printable worksheet for story-based English conversation classes.

Difficulty: Elementary A2

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Warm-up

Do you know what a woodpecker is? (Yes, it's a bird that...)

Vocabulary Match

discovery -   - find
spoil -   - about
roughly -   - smart
intelligence -   - go bad
environments -   - changeable
adaptable -   - surroundings

True Story

Listen and fill in the blanks with words from above.

In 2009 near San Luis Obispo, California, workers at a phone antenna made a surprising ________. Inside the antenna, they found about 300 pounds (136 kilograms) of acorns. That's ________ 50,000 acorns! These were stored by acorn woodpeckers, a type of bird known for their ________.

Walter Koenig, who studies birds, explains that these woodpeckers usually hide one acorn at a time in tree holes. But in this case, they filled the antenna with a huge number of acorns. Storing too many together can ________ them.

Acorn woodpeckers are common in parts of California. They are known for being clever and ________. AT&T, the phone company, said the acorns blocked their wireless signal. After clearing the acorns, the signal worked again. AT&T then made the antenna stronger to stop birds from doing this again. This story is a great example of how nature can adapt to human ________.

Quiz

  1. Where was the surprising discovery made?
  2. Why were there acorns in the antenna?
  3. How do woodpeckers usually store acorns?
  4. What did AT&T do after clearing the acorns?

True or False

  1. The acorns were found by Walter Koenig.  T  |  F
  2. Acorn woodpeckers are known for being smart and adaptable.  T  |  F
  3. AT&T said the acorns did not affect their wireless signal.  T  |  F

Conversation

A: Hey, come check this out. Something's not right here.
B: What's going on? Is the antenna stuck?
A: No, it's actually filled with acorns! Have you seen this?
B: Wow, those birds have been busy!
A: Well, we better clean this up and fix the antenna.
B: Yeah, but what are we going to do with 50,000 acorns?

Discussion

  1. Have you ever seen a woodpecker?
  2. Can you think of other animals that store food?
  3. Do you collect anything?
  4. When you were a child, did you ever hide anything?

True Story Answers

In 2009 near San Luis Obispo, California, workers at a phone antenna made a surprising discovery. Inside the antenna, they found about 300 pounds (136 kilograms) of acorns. That's roughly 50,000 acorns! These were stored by acorn woodpeckers, a type of bird known for their intelligence.

Walter Koenig, who studies birds, explains that these woodpeckers usually hide one acorn at a time in tree holes. But in this case, they filled the antenna with a huge number of acorns. Storing too many together can spoil them.

Acorn woodpeckers are common in parts of California. They are known for being clever and adaptable. AT&T, the phone company, said the acorns blocked their wireless signal. After clearing the acorns, the signal worked again. AT&T then made the antenna stronger to stop birds from doing this again. This story is a great example of how nature can adapt to human environments.

Vocabulary Answers

discovery → find
roughly → about
intelligence → smart
spoil → go bad
adaptable → changeable
environments → surroundings

Quiz Answers

  1. The surprising discovery was made near San Luis Obispo, California.
  2. They were stored by acorn woodpeckers.
  3. They usually hide one acorn at a time in tree holes.
  4. AT&T made the antenna stronger to stop birds from doing this again.

True or False Answers

  1. False
  2. True
  3. False

Further Reading

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/151113-antenna-cache-acorn-woodpecker-california

More "True Story" Lessons

ESL Lessons: True Stories