A lion cuddling with a dachshund? A cheetah growing up with a Labrador? At first glance, these sound like fictional stories or animated films. In reality, they all happened and formed beautiful friendships. Since International Friendship Day is celebrated on July 30th, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to create a B2 friendship reading lesson based on these remarkable true stories.
When I started planning this lesson, I knew I didn’t want to create another worksheet about being a good friend. Instead, I wanted to build a lesson around authentic stories that would genuinely surprise students. After reading articles from ABC News Australia, National Geographic Kids, Metro Richmond Zoo, A-Z Animals and ABC News, I realised these unlikely friendships provided the perfect opportunity to combine reading, vocabulary and creative writing into one cohesive lesson.
If you’re looking for a communicative Friendship Day lesson that goes beyond the usual discussion questions, scroll to the end of the post to download the worksheet, teacher’s notes and presentation.
Warmer: Spot the Fake Friendship
The lesson begins with five unusual pairs of animals, such as Hippo & Tortoise or Magpie & Dog. Students work in pairs and decide which friendship they believe has been invented (Crocodile & Penguin, but it’s not so obvious!). Since all of the pairs seem equally impossible, the activity naturally sparks curiosity and encourages students to justify their ideas before discovering the correct answer.
Reading for Gist: Four Extraordinary Friendships
Students read four short texts based on authentic stories of unlikely animal friendships. Each text has been carefully adapted for B2 learners while remaining faithful to the original reports. Students match each story with the most suitable title, focusing on the main idea rather than individual words. The stories include:
- Molly the magpie and Peggy the dog
- Owen the hippo and Mzee the tortoise
- Kumbali the cheetah and Kago the Labrador
- Bonedigger the lion and Milo the dachshund
Because each story explores a different aspect of friendship, like kindness, confidence, recovery and trust, students are exposed to a variety of themes.
Reading for Detail: Finding the Evidence
The second reading task is inspired by Cambridge B2 First Reading Part 7. Students read the stories again and decide which text matches a series of paraphrased statements. Rather than searching for identical words, learners must recognise ideas expressed in different ways. This encourages deeper reading and helps prepare students for real exam tasks while still remaining accessible to learners who are not studying for Cambridge exams.
Vocabulary in Context: Understanding Words
Instead of introducing vocabulary before the reading, students discover new words naturally through the texts. The target vocabulary includes words such as bond, nurture, or prey. Students first identify the words from their definitions and then recycle them in a completely new real story about another faomus animal friendship – Bubbles the elephant and Bella the labrador. The text was inspired by an ABC News article.
Creative Writing: Create an Unlikely Friendship
The main production task invites students to become wildlife writers themselves. Each student randomly chooses two animals from separate lists before writing their own story about an unlikely friendship. A clear writing guide helps students structure their ideas, from introducing the animals to explaining why their friendship is so unusual and what readers can learn from it. Because the animal combinations are random, every story is different, often leading to imaginative ideas such as wolves befriending flamingos or dolphins helping owls.
This stage ends with students working in small groups and presenting their stories to one another. Then they discuss which friendship they found the most believable and what message each story teaches about friendship.
Final Discussion: What Can We Learn from Animals?
As always, the lesson finishes by bringing the discussion back to real life. Students consider whether people who are very different can become close friends, what qualities make friendships last and what humans can learn from the remarkable animal friendships they have explored throughout the lesson. Although the lesson begins with animals, it ends with a much broader conversation about empathy, trust and accepting differences.
This B2 Friendship Day lesson combines authentic reading, vocabulary development, creative writing and meaningful discussion through a topic that is both heartwarming and thought-provoking. By the end of the lesson, students will have explored real stories, developed key reading skills, recycled new vocabulary and created an original story of their own.
Which unlikely animal friendship surprised you the most?
