Watch this short CBS video clip about Sable, a cat that helps students cross the street at Enterprise Middle School, West Richland, Washington.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below. The activity is suitable for intermediate students.
1 How old is Sable?
2 How often during the day does Sable go to where the students cross?
3 Does the weather make a difference?
4 How long has Sable been doing this?
5 Does Sable have an owner or is it a stray?
6 How does Sable show its affection for the students?
For correction you can read the transcript below.
Each morning and afternoon, the student crossing guards at Enterprise Middle School make sure their classmates safely get across the street. It’s a pretty typical scene. But there’s something else outside watching over these kids, this black cat.
It will come out like, I can see it when we’re going out. It will, like, walk out, and come, stand, and it’s like position.
The 15 year-old cat named Sable, comes outside every day like clockwork before the bell rings to watch the kids cross the street.
He just knows when to be out there, knows when it’s time to go back in, and then in the afternoon, he knows when to be out and it’s time to go again. He is out there just like the students are, whether it’s raining, or snowing, or real hot and sunny, the cat is out there too.
Sable has been watching over the students from across the street for about a year. Tamara Morrison owns the cat. She says, one day Sable just walked outside to greet the students, and he has been doing it ever since.
He just kept going out there and we’d watch him from the window and I thought, gosh, I hope he doesn’t cross and he just hung out there and just couldn’t wait to be next to the kids.
And the cat isn’t all business, it’s friendly, brushing up on the legs of the crossing guards, and the students walking by always bend down to say, hello.
In the afternoons when I work, it’s always come out and like rubbed up against our feet.
He just loves to be around us, I guess.
Students and teachers now think of Sable as part of the team, another volunteer who is dedicated to keeping the streets safe.
It’s really cool because like you always know that there’s someone there and that you just – you’re never disappointed.
