2nd ESO Practice English students and their bit with the EnvironmentBy Nieves Abellán Moll. English Language teacher in IES La Mola.

Environment is always an interesting subject our students in 2nd ESO Practice English enjoy working. This year we have devoted quite enough sessions to this issue, dealing with the four skills, speaking, listening, writing and reading and also with vocabulary.

To start with we had a vocabulary session with our British conversational assistant, Lucy Curtis. We worked on the most important words using matching exercises and answering orally to questions about their personal way of recycling. The worksheets we did were W1 and W2.

We also listened to Jack Johnson’s “The Tree R’s song” and tried to read the lyrics from a worksheet and sing (W3). We also enjoyed watching the video of the song where there are no subtitles but the lyrics are shown in the images themselves which makes it quite difficult and funny at the same time to follow them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1yBQv1hLRY&feature=related

During next session we watched another video from Youtube. This time was an animated short story called The Whispering palms. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJtlanzlgFw

It shows how Mori’s family learnt to live by means of using, reusing and recycling what nature offers them. First, we watched the video without subtitles in English, then with them and finally, after checking they had already a general understanding, they worked on a reading comprehension with questions about it. (W4).

As students showed an amazing enthusiastic attitude when working with these videos, we also offered them another animated video of a song called Recycle Rex Son. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAvCsLPCGVE. Before watching it, they had to fill in the gaps of the missing words in an individual worksheet with the written lyrics

and once checked and understood, we saw the video and tried to sing the song. It was quite funny! (W5)

To finish with this subject of Environment, students visited a webpage called 55 ways to save energy http://www.ronitbaras.com/focus-on-the-family/kids-children/55-ways-to-save-the-environment-and-make-a-difference/ . After reading and understanding most of them, each student had to choose three of them and look for a suitable logo in the net to illustrate their sentences. Obviously, they had to adapt those sentences to the idea they wanted to express and have them corrected afterwards. Then we wrote them on small colourful cards and spread them on a nice big poster next to the logos. You can see it hanging on the wall in our school corridor. You can bet we feel proud about having done a good job!

(W1)

(W2)

(W3)

(W4)THE WHISPERING PALMS, by Deepa Gagwani and Tina Suchanek

Mori was a little girl with big brown eyes. She lived with her parents in a beautiful coconut grove next to a small blue lake.

Every morning, she balanced a big empty basket on her head as she walked down to the lake. Her mother followed with the laundry and her father brought the big fishing net. Her mother washed the clothes on a stone next to the lake, while her father went fishing. He dragged the net ashore and they collected the fish in a big basket. Sometimes a turtle got stuck in the net, but Mori always hurried to the rescue.

One sunny morning, while fishing with her father, Mori said: “If we catch so many fish, one day there won’t be any left!” Her mother laughed and sent her off to school.

Under the shade of the trees, Mori’s mother fell into an uneasy sleep. Se dreamt of a lake with no fish, while the wind in the palm leaves whispered: “The waters and the land have always taken care of your family, so you have to take care of them in return.” She awoke with tears in her eyes, for she didn’t know how to bring up Mori without selling enough fish. All afternoon she sat, weaving coconut mats and thinking about her dream.

That night Mori heard her parents whisper as the oil lamp burned deep into the night. The next morning, her father gave her a smaller basket. “How can we carry all the fish in this little basket?” Mori asked. “We will only take as many fish as will fit inside this basket,” he replied. Mori was puzzled.

When she came back from school, she was happy to find her mother making soap and oil from the coconuts. Mori swiftly climbed up a tree to get more coconuts, but her mother cautioned: “Don’t pluck them; we must only use what the tree gives us”. Her father added: “We have taken only fallen coconuts for these things. Look, we’ve even made this soap with a jasmine flower inside!”

From that day on, the family made brooms from the palm leaves and wove mats from coconut fiber. They took soap, oil and only a small number of fish to the market. When Mori grew older, she loved to carve tiny turtles out of coconut shells and always wore one around her neck.

1. VOCABULARY. Translate into Spanish the following words:

coconut grovebig empty basket laundryfishing netdragged ashoregot stuckshadeuneasy sleepwindwhispered have always taken care of

tearsto bring upweaving coconut matspuzzledsoapswiftlyDon’t pluck thembroomscarvecoconut shells

2. Answer the following questions:

1. Where did Mori live?..................................................................................................................2. What did Mori do every morning?.................................................................................................................3. What did her mother do?..................................................................................................................4. What did her father do?..................................................................................................................5. Why did Mori’s mother wake up with tears in her eyes?..................................................................................................................6. What did her father give Mori the following morning?..................................................................................................................7. What things did they do from coconuts from that day on? What other things did they do from the coconut fiber and from the palm leaves?……………………………………………………………………………………....................................................................................................................

(W5)RECYCLE REX

Who knew it wasn’t rightJust to toss out of sightBut now I’m gonna keep it cleanI’m gonna start recycling.A little here, a little thereWill help the rivers and the airDo it now, start todayClose the loop; it’s the only wayIt’s such an easy thing to doAnd it begins with me and youWe can make a differenceWe can make old newRECYCLE, REDUCE, REUSEAND CLOSE THE LOOP, WE CAN CLOSE THE LOOP (2)Plastic, bottles, aluminium foil,Glass containers and motor oilPapers, cans, that old magazineWe got one land, let’s keep it cleanSo bug your neighbour, tell a friendCircles never really endDon’t just toss it, keep it newWe can do it, so can you!Don’t wait! It’s something we must doRight now the earth depends on youYou can make a differenceYou can make old newRECYCLE, REDUCE, REUSEAND CLOSE THE LOOP, WE CAN CLOSE THE LOOP (3)

RECYCLE REX

Who knew it wasn’t rightJust to toss out of sightBut now I’m gonna keep it …………I’m gonna start…………….A little here, a little thereWill help the ………… and the ………Do it now, start todayClose the loop; it’s the only wayIt’s such an easy thing to doAnd it begins with me and youWe can make a ………….We can make …………new………………., …………………., ………………………, AND CLOSE THE LOOP, WE CAN CLOSE THE LOOP (2)Plastic,…………… , aluminium foil,Glass ……………and motor oilPapers, cans, that old …………….We got one land, let’s keep it cleanSo bug your………………, tell a friendCircle never really endDon’t just toss it, keep it ………….We can do it, so can you!Don’t wait! It’s something we …………….doRight now the earth depends on youYou can make a ………………..You can make ………… new…………………., ……………………….., ……………………..AND CLOSE THE LOOP, WE CAN CLOSE THE LOOP (3)

Fill in the gaps with the following words: Clean air, REDUCE BottlesContainersmagazine new must REDUCEdifference

recyclingREUSE neighbourdifferenceoldRECYCLE old rivers RECYCLE REUSE