My JTE wanted the students to practice using some of the words in the unit that they struggled with, so she asked if we could do something with endangered animals. This is basically the activity in the textbook, but I changed it a bit to include an area for students to draw a picture, a section for three facts about the animal instead of just general info, a section for Japanese translation (since students sometimes write confusing English), as well as a comment section so that each student has to write something (students sometimes rely on the strongest member in their group too much, so I hope this helps). Students can do research on their tablets and keep their desks apart for social distancing.
I wanted to do four facts so that each student in a group could write something, but with the translation section, there was not enough room. You could remove it if you think your students will be able to write clear sentences that need no explanation.
And lastly, it's definitely a good idea to give the students a time limit for things like picking an animal to write about. If your students are anything like mine, they will take the whole class just thinking about it!
Animal Biologist approved! When I did a similar assignment, I had a group of select animals that I gave out randomly. It removed the time issue for picking an animal, giving more time for English. If you pick more of the charismatic fauna the students will also have an easier time finding information about them.
I'm looking at using this as a template for small group presentations next term, just started that unit. I think your worksheet will combine well with my schools push for more tablet use, get them to research in class as suggested but I might limit how much google-sensei they use for translating sites . Thanks!