TEACHER’S NOTES
Topics: Environment
by Adrian Tennant
Next, ask the students to try to answer the five
INTEGRATED SKILLS TEACHER’S NOTES
LEVEL: Intermediate +
comprehension questions. Again, get pairs to check
AGE: Teenagers / Adults their answers together before checking as a class.
TIME NEEDED: 90 minutes + project
Key b
LANGUAGE FOCUS: Mixed tenses, 1. dropping litter; 2. an allotment (three years
understanding vocabulary in context, is the length of the lease); 3. grants and a subsidy on loans;
topic words 4. a car share scheme and cycling to work; 5. green (you
could also elicit ‘bottle bank’)
LEAD-IN
WORKING WITH THE LANGUAGE
Ask students to look at the pictures. Then, put the
students in pairs and ask them to discuss what they Focus 1: Understanding meaning
think each one shows and what the link is to the
environment. Ask a few pairs to tell you about Do the first question as a whole class. Get students to
their discussion. read the question and try to find the answer. Elicit a
few ideas, writing them up on the board and then give
Key a the correct answer. Check that they understand why
(suggested answers) and explain if necessary.
1. traffic congestion / cycle lane; 2. recycling point for
a variety of items; 3. an overflowing bin / litter; 4. solar Put students in pairs and ask them to help each other
panels / energy; 5. an allotment / growing your own food; answering the other four questions. Monitor and
6. a rubbish tip / landfill site help where necessary before checking the answers
as a class.
Next, put the students into small groups and ask
them to discuss the three questions. Monitor and Key
help where necessary, then open out into a 1. Do you – the words are left out because the context makes
class discussion. them obvious; 2. to work – same reason as 1;
3. noticed – a verb / past participle that could be replaced
READING 1: HEADLINES with ‘seen’; notices – a noun that could be replaced with
‘signs’; 4. a bin; 5. to help you save money, so the money
Ask students to work in small groups and discuss stays in your pockets instead of being spent
what each headline might be about. Monitor and help
where necessary, then open out into a class discussion. Focus 2: Language use
Write some of the ideas on the board.
Ask students to read the information and look at the
READING 2: COUNCIL LEAFLET examples in the box. Then ask them to match the
meaning to the correct sentences. Put students in
Ask students to read through the leaflet and match pairs and get them to compare their answers together
the headlines to the correct story. After a few minutes, before checking as a class.
put students in pairs to check their answers together
before checking as a class. Key
1. as well as; 2. not only … but …; 3. or
Key a
1. Feed the world! Well, start with your family;
2. The road to decongestion; 3. A clean sweep for the town;
4. One green, one brown and one black; 5. Make money
from the sun!
© Macmillan Publishers Limited, 2012
INTEGRATED SKILLS / Topics / Environment / Intermediate +
TEACHER’S NOTES
Topics: Environment
by Adrian Tennant
WORKING WITH VOCABULARY SPEAKING
INTEGRATED SKILLS TEACHER’S NOTES
Ask students to look back at the leaflet, from the Put students in small groups and ask them to discuss
Reading 2: Council leaflet exercise, and find words the questions together.
that match the definitions. Encourage them to work in
pairs and discuss their ideas as they look at the leaflet. Afterwards, ask a few groups to report back on their
If students get stuck, suggest they look at the next discussion. You could open this out to the whole class.
activity to help them. Check the answers as a class.
PROJECT
Key
1. have green fingers; 2. plot; 3. initiative(s); 4. congestion; Ask students to carry out the project for homework,
5. indicating; 6. patrolling; 7. household(s); 8. leftovers; either individually or in pairs / groups, and follow
9. subsidy; 10. install it up in the next lesson.
Next, ask students to complete the sentences using the
words from the previous activity. Monitor and help
where necessary. Put students in pairs to check the
answers together before checking as a class.
Key
1. initiatives; 2. congestion; 3. subsidy; 4. green fingers;
5. leftovers; 6. households; 7. patrolling
LISTENING
Ask students to listen to a short excerpt from a local
radio show. Ask them which of the stories from the
leaflet it is similar to and also what the differences
are between the story and the radio show. Play the
recording again, if necessary, and check the answers
as a class.
Transcript:
And in local news – last week Townsville District
Council introduced increased fines for illegal
parking. As part of the scheme, new traffic wardens
were given powers to issue fixed notices, although
not to fine motorists on the spot. It seems the
scheme has been a rather embarrassing success.
Why? Well, one of the first people to be caught was
the local mayor of the town!
Key
It is similar to story 3 but the main topic is different – the
radio show is about parking, whereas the story in the leaflet
is about littering. Also, the radio show is about something
which has already been introduced, while the leaflet story is
about something which is happening next week. The other
differences are: traffic wardens / community wardens;
on-the-spot fines / fixed notices; extra information in the
radio show about the mayor being fined.
© Macmillan Publishers Limited, 2012
INTEGRATED SKILLS / Topics / Environment / Intermediate +
WORKSHEET
Topics: Environment
by Adrian Tennant
LEAD-IN 5.
INTEGRATED SKILLS WORKSHEET
a. Look at the pictures below. What does each
one show?
1.
Image: Macmillan Australia
6.
Image: Photoalto
2.
Image: Photodisc
b. Discuss the questions below.
1. Which of these do you think is the biggest
environmental issue?
2. Which of these do you think does the most good?
Image: Bananastock 3. Which of these are things that you do / would do?
READING 1: HEADLINES
3.
Read the headlines. Which aspect of the environment
do you think each one is about?
ONE GREEN, ONE BROWN
AND ONE BLACK
Image: Getty FEED THE WORLD!
WELL, START WITH
YOUR FAMILY
4.
MAKE MONEY
FROM THE SUN!
A CLEAN SWEEP FOR TH
E TOWN
Image: Macmillan New Zealand
THE ROAD TO DECONGESTION
© Macmillan Publishers Limited, 2012
INTEGRATED SKILLS / Topics / Environment / Intermediate + 1
WORKSHEET
Topics: Environment
by Adrian Tennant
READING 2: COUNCIL LEAFLET
INTEGRATED SKILLS WORKSHEET
a. Read the leaflet below and match the headlines
from the previous exercise to the correct story.
Do something for your Townsville
District Council
local environment difference. You will all have noticed that new
bins have been placed along the high street
In this issue, we look at things we and the notices indicating new fines of £100
can do for our local environment. for dropping litter. Our community wardens will
be patrolling the streets and have the power
1. to issue an on-the-spot fine to anyone caught
Want to grow your own vegetables or keep littering. With your help, we can keep our
a few chickens? Or do you think you have town clean.
green fingers and would like to put them to 4.
work? There are almost one hundred allotment This month sees the introduction of a new
sites available on a first come, first served recycling system to make rubbish collection
basis. If you’re interested and can guarantee cleaner and easier. We will be providing all
maintenance of the plot, then give us a call. All households with three new bins. The green
leases are for three years. one is for recyclable rubbish, such as paper,
2. glass, plastic and card; the brown one is for
Do you drive to work? Could you cycle or garden and food waste, such as vegetable
maybe take advantage of our new car share peelings and leftovers; and the black bin is for
scheme? We hope that these two initiatives will all other rubbish. New collection times will be
make our environment a better place, as well as announced soon.
reduce congestion on our roads. Signs for the 5.
new cycle lanes are clearly displayed. If you’re Grants of up to £1,000 and a subsidy on loans
interested in car-sharing, please log on to our are available for homeowners who want to
website and sign up. install solar panels. Fitting solar panels can also
3. potentially make you even more money: you can
Next week is Keep Your Town Tidy week and sell surplus energy back to the grid and not only
we are hoping that everybody will see the help the environment but help your pocket too.
If you have any questions about environmental issues in your area,
please contact Sam Davies or Olayinka Direto on 0908 551 273 or visit
[Link] for more information.
b. Read the leaflet again and answer these questions.
1. What might cost you £100?
2. What can you have for three years?
3. What is available to people who want to install
solar panels?
4. What are the two ideas for reducing the amount
of traffic on the roads?
5. Which bin do you use if you want to throw
away bottles?
© Macmillan Publishers Limited, 2012
INTEGRATED SKILLS / Topics / Environment / Intermediate + 2
WORKSHEET
Topics: Environment
by Adrian Tennant
WORKING WITH THE LANGUAGE WORKING WITH VOCABULARY
INTEGRATED SKILLS WORKSHEET
Focus 1: Understanding meaning Focus 1: Meaning
Answer these questions. Find words and phrases from the council leaflet
to match with these definitions.
1. In story 1, what words have been left out at the
start of the opening sentence Want to grow your 1. be good at growing plants
own vegetables, …? 2. a piece of land used for a particular purpose
2. In story 2, what words have been left out at the 3. important action which is intended to solve
end of the second question? Do you drive to a problem
work? Could you cycle …? 4. a situation in which a place is crowded with
3. In story 3, the words noticed and notices are both people or vehicles, so that it is difficult to move
used. What’s the difference? 5. expressing an intention or showing that
4. In story 4, what does the word one refer to something will happen
in the sentence The green one is for 6. moving regularly around a place to prevent
recyclable rubbish …? trouble or crime
5. In story 5, what is meant by the phrase 7. the people who live in a house or flat when they
help your pocket too? are considered a single unit
8. the food that remains at the end of a meal after
Focus 2: Language use you have finished eating
9. money that the government or another
There are a number of ways you can link different organization gives to reduce the cost
ideas together in a sentence. Look at the following of something
examples from the texts 10. to put a piece of equipment somewhere and
make it ready for use
• Want to grow your own vegetables or keep a
few chickens? Focus 2: Topic-related words
• These two initiatives will make our environment
a better place as well as reduce congestion on Complete these sentences with the words from
our roads. the previous activity. Be careful – three are
• … you can sell surplus energy back to the grid not needed!
and not only help the environment but help your
pocket too. 1. Every year the government announces new
__________________ to tackle environmental
problems – but they never seem to work.
Which of these is used to mean … 2. The _________________________ on our roads
is terrible and it leads to really bad pollution.
1. … in addition? 3. Check if you can get a _____________________.
2. … an addition that is a bit unexpected / unusual? I heard that the government was trying to help
3. … a choice between a number of options? people if they couldn’t afford the full cost.
4. My brother has _________________________.
He can grow almost anything!
5. The amount of _________________________
that people throw away is scandalous, especially
given the food shortages in some parts of
the world.
6. _________________________ in the UK
produce so much rubbish, it’s unbelievable!
7. The police are _________________________
our streets in an effort to reduce crime.
© Macmillan Publishers Limited, 2012
INTEGRATED SKILLS / Topics / Environment / Intermediate + 3
WORKSHEET
Topics: Environment
by Adrian Tennant
LISTENING
INTEGRATED SKILLS WORKSHEET
Listen to the short excerpt from a radio show and
answer the questions below.
1. How many differences between the story in the
leaflet and the story mentioned in the radio show
did you hear?
2. What were they?
SPEAKING
Discuss these questions in groups.
1. Is littering a problem where you live? If so, why?
What can be done about it?
2. Is traffic congestion a problem where you live? If
so, has anything being done to relieve it?
3. Do you grow your own food? If so, what do you
grow and what do you do with it? If not, explain
the reason why. If you would like to grow your
own food, what would you grow and why?
4. Do you recycle things? What do you recycle?
Explain the recycling system where you live.
If you don’t recycle, explain why not.
PROJECT
Find out what schemes your local authority
has in place to tackle environmental issues.
Do you think it’s doing enough? Could it
do more? Develop at least three solutions
to improve your local environment.
© Macmillan Publishers Limited, 2012
INTEGRATED SKILLS / Topics / Environment / Intermediate + 4
