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The Lucky Duck on the Dock

An English A2 reading worksheet focused on contrasting the /ʌ/ and /ɑː/ vowel sounds through a whimsical story about a cop, a hut, a dock, and a lucky duck.

Title

Reading Text

Officer Tom was a serious cop who wore a top hat. He walked down the hot wooden dock. He wanted to arrest a man named Rob. Rob was hiding inside a small wooden hut. Officer Tom held some shiny handcuffs in his hand. "Come out!" shouted the cop. Rob had no luck. He was stuck inside. Suddenly, a large duck flew out from the muddy water near the dock. The duck flew up and struck the cop on his top hat. The shocked cop fell off the dock. He dropped his handcuffs into the mud. Rob did not stop. He ran down the long dock. He jumped off and swam away. Officer Tom sat in the mud and watched him run. It was a bad day for the cop, but a lucky day for Rob because of the duck.

Seo_intro

An updated A2 English reading worksheet designed around the cover illustration, emphasizing the contrast between /ʌ/ and /ɑː/ vowel sounds with the addition of handcuffs.

Activities

Vocabulary

Items:

Label: cop
Answer: 1
Label: dock
Answer: 2
Label: hut
Answer: 3
Label: handcuffs
Answer: 4
Label: stuck
Answer: 5
Label: mud
Answer: 6

Definitions:

Text: An informal word for a police officer.
Text: A long wooden platform built over water for boats.
Text: A very small, simple house or shelter.
Text: Metal rings locked around a person's wrists to stop them from moving their hands.
Text: Unable to move or escape from a place.
Text: Soft, wet earth or dirt.

Fill In The Blanks:

Before: The friendly
After: helped the lost child find his family.
Answer: cop
Before: We tied our small fishing boat to the wooden
After: .
Answer: dock
Before: The old man lived alone in a tiny
After: near the lake.
Answer: hut
Before: The officer put
After: on the thief so he could not run away.
Answer: handcuffs
Before: The truck could not move because it was
After: in the deep snow.
Answer: stuck

Comprehension

Questions:

Text: Officer Tom wanted to arrest a man named Rob.
Answer: true
Text: Rob was hiding inside a big boat.
Answer: false
Text: A large duck struck the cop on his top hat.
Answer: true
Text: Officer Tom dropped his handcuffs into the mud.
Answer: true
Text: Rob stopped running because he was scared of the duck.
Answer: false

Scrambled:

Text: cop serious a was Tom Officer
Answer: Officer Tom was a serious cop.
Text: inside Rob hut a was hiding
Answer: Rob was hiding inside a hut.
Text: duck mud the out flew from
Answer: The duck flew out from the muddy water.
Text: handcuffs dropped into mud he his the
Answer: He dropped his handcuffs into the mud.
Text: long down ran Rob dock the
Answer: Rob ran down the long dock.

Written Expression

Questions:

Text:
Imagine you are Rob. Write 2-3 sentences to thank the lucky duck for helping you escape from the officer.

Examples:

Example for Question 1:

Thank you, amazing duck! You saved me from jail today. I won't be bad again.

Critical Thinking

Title: Deep Thinking Discussion

Instructions:

Why do you think the duck attacked the cop's top hat? Was it protecting its home in the mud, or was it just scared?
If you were Officer Tom, what would you do next to try and catch Rob without losing your equipment?