The Easter Island Statues Dictation for Thursday the 14th of March

The island of Rapa Nui, in the Pacific Ocean, was named Easter Island when it was 'discovered' by Europeans on Easter Day in 1722. It is famous for over 800 stone statues, called Moai. The statues are between one and ten metres tall and have similar faces. They stand by the sea, facing the land. 

Why did the people of Easter Island build them? Some experts think that the statues were the 'homes' of ghosts of people from the island's past. The ghosts looked through the statues' eyes and protected the island. People built the statues and then moved them to another part of the island. In the early 1990's, forty scientists moved fifteen of the statues to a new location. They used modern equipment and worked every day, but it took them four years. So how did the people of Easter Island move more than 300 statues? Scientists have found no answers.

You can listen to the dictation here:

Answer the following questions:

Easter Island was discovered by Americans, true / false
People think the statues contain ghosts, true / false
Thirty scientists moved fifteen statues, true / false
There are over 300 statues, true / false

Activities

Find a picture of an Easter Island statue and describe it in 30 words or more. Use wordreference to find words you don't know.