Taming the wild

Kinga | Jul 01, 2026Jun 30, 2026

LESSON OVERVIEW

The main objectives of this ESL lesson on domestication are to:

• talk about urban wildlife and human-animal interaction;
• analyse, evaluate and discuss several cases of domestication;
• watch a video about a study on the topic.

In this lesson, students work with images of animals interacting with urban spaces, debate those types of interaction and reflect on different categories of animals (e.g. wild animal, domesticated animal). Students watch a video featuring a study on the signs of raccoon domestication, talk about the future and ethics of animal domestication and share their opinions. They read theories explaining how some animals became domesticated and analyse several scenarios. Students can also do an extra vocabulary task where they review useful adjectives (e.g. opportunistic, resilient, skittish).

WARM-UP AND DISCUSSION

Students can start this ESL lesson on domestication with an extra vocabulary activity. In the task, they read the descriptions of animal traits and behaviours and complete the gaps with key adjectives (e.g. docile, gregarious, hostile). Then, students say what animal each sentence might be about. After that, they do a warm-up exercise. Students look at photos of animals interacting with urban spaces and discuss human encounters and urban wildlife. Next, they debate points related to urban wildlife presence, management and personal experiences. Moving on, students describe the differences between various types of animals (e.g. wild animal, domesticated animal, tamed animal). They also provide examples to support their ideas. 

VIDEO AND MORE DISCUSSION

In this part of this ESL lesson on domestication, students watch a video about a study on raccoons showing signs of domestication and share their thoughts on the findings. Following that, they discuss questions about future animal domestication and our relationship with wildlife. Afterwards, students examine statements on the impacts, ethics and inevitability of animal taming. They say to what extent they agree or disagree with them. Moving on, they read theories explaining how several animals became domesticated and guess which species is being described in each case. Then, students analyse, evaluate and predict changes in those species. Finally, they examine examples of people interacting with wild animals and discuss the ethics and safety of human-animal interaction.

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