The environment: getting involved

Objective & content

This sheet on the environment and getting involved opens on a short article, "Small steps, big changes": students at a school in Bristol cut the plastic waste in their canteen, write a petition and join a climate protest. The article carries all 20 target words in context, from pollution and deforestation to renewable energy, volunteers and activist. By the end, pupils understand and use words about environmental problems, solutions and the ways young people take action.

Pedagogical guide

The vocabulary work comes out of the article, never from a list. Page 1 checks understanding with six multiple-choice questions, then pupils name six pictures from a box of eight words in the article. Page 2 matches eight words with their meanings and uses ten of them in new sentences. Page 3 turns verbs into nouns (protect, protection), with a worked example, matches six collocations (raise awareness, sign a petition) and ends on Sam's email to a local councillor, where each of the twelve gaps is a choice between three topic words. It is the hardest task: the wrong words are close (dangerous or endangered, volunteers or activists). The email tests words, never grammar.

Suggested procedure

1. (5 min) Ask pupils which environmental problems worry them; write the words they know on the board.
2. (10 min) Pupils read the article and answer the six questions, then name the pictures.
3. (10 min) Page 2: match the meanings, then complete the ten sentences.
4. (15 min) Page 3: verbs into nouns, the collocations, then Sam's email.
5. (10 min) Correct with the answer key on page 4; pupils read the email aloud with the right words.

Adaptations

[S] Read the article aloud together first; do the first two meanings on page 2 together.

[A] After the collocations, pupils write three sentences of their own with collocations from the task.

Materials & prerequisites

One copy per pupil of the three pupil pages, in colour or black and white. Page 4 is the answer key with teacher notes: keep it. The sheet has no writing task; to take it further, pupils plan a campaign for a problem in their school or town and write 80 to 100 words for the school website, or present it to the class in one minute with at least six words from the article.