International Cat Day is observed annually on August 8 to celebrate one of the world’s favorite pets, the soft, cuddly cat.
Cats provide companionship and comfort to many because they make excellent companions. Studies show having a cat can help to lower stress, anxiety and even depression and assist with fighting mental illness. Cats can be entertaining as well as beneficial to your health. In fact, some studies show having a cat in your home can helps reduce the risk of heart disease in high-risk individuals.
Here are 5 Cat Facts that you probably didn’t know:
1. Cats have 18 toes-5 in the front and 4 in the back.
2. Cats sleep about 15 hours a day.
3. Kittens have 26 baby teeth and adult cats have 30 permanent teeth.
4. Tigers and house cats have the same genetic makeup.
5. Cats have a set of whiskers on their back paws to help them navigate in the dark.
To celebrate cats, we have hosted a special Zoom session where we shared a very interesting paragraph about cats with our students. Since it was International Cat Day, we decided to commemorate it by reading and discussing fun facts about these animals. The students were surprised by some of the details, and they enjoyed relating the information to their own pets and experiences.
We also worked on a video activity connected to the same topic. After watching, we asked our students different questions about what they had heard and encouraged them to express their opinions in English. This helped them practice listening comprehension and speaking at the same time. The questions were simple but engaging, and everyone participated actively.
At the end of the session, the students said they had a lot of fun. One of the facts that amazed them most was discovering that a cat had once been elected mayor of a town called Talkeetna in Alaska. They commented that they never imagined such a thing was possible, and they laughed a lot while talking about it. The activity not only entertained them but also motivated them to keep learning more in English.
