lunes, 1 de febrero de 2016

Climate Change, the Earth in Danger

The world is in danger. Have you read the news? Have you noticed something wrong in your surroundings? Have you heard of extended droughts, melting ice, heat waves, deadly storms?  Have you seen any blooming almond trees in winter? No, it isn't a massive attack by creatures from other planets. It is a retaliation by Planet Earth in its own defence, because we attack Nature everyday and everywhere. Climate change is a warning that we are damaging our environment. We have to take control of the situation, but will we have time to put things right? It is now or never.

1. Understand the problem and the vocabulary

In this activity you will learn a lot of vocabulary about climate change, you will think about this important issue and you will express your predictions and intentions about the future of our planet. To start with, the best way to learn more about this problem is reading some information on news sites such as the BBC News site, where you can read this good article which explains climate change with graphics:


Now, could you do this exercise which summarises the ideas about climate change with sentences extracted from the article? You can look up their meanings in a good online dictionary like Word Reference. The test might look a mess of words, but you will soon find the right sentences that form the text. The lines of words on the left are fixed, so you only have to match them with the random lines on the right. First, click on the left column and then on the right one.

2. Learn more about climate change

In the following video, you will hear some of the expressions that you have already read in the article. The video summarizes this important issue in a short time. Listen carefully and grasp the main ideas and words. Then, you will see the exercise below with part of the video transcript. You can do it by filling the gaps with some of the key words or expressions that you have already learnt in the text and in the video. After typing the words, click anywhere on the page and you will see a green background colour if the words are correct. Only one key word is not in the article above: budget.



  1. Humanity is altering 's support system.
  2. Carbon dioxide are accelerating.
  3. gas levels aren't precedented in human history.
  4. Humans are the dominant cause of in the past sixty years.
  5. It's very likely will occur more often and last longer.
  6. rise will accelerate; cities and coastal areas are vulnerable.
  7. The acidity of the oceans has 26% since the industrial revolution.
  8. Can we remain below 2 ?
  9. Societies can emit another 250 billion tonnes of .
  10. At current rates, we will use this in about 25 years.

You can learn more about this issue by reading Webquest: S.O.S., Blue Planet Calling, an activity created by Ana Almarza which includes a video and an interactive exercise.

3. Express yourself about the dangers that we face

Let's talk about this important issue. What will happen if we don't stop climate change? You have probably seen lots of photographs showing the effects of global warming, haven't you? Have a look at these ones on Greenpeace site and learn more about this problem by reading the texts below the pictures:


Now express yourself. Tell your mates what you think about the future using:
  1. The Future Simple tense to talk about predictions: Will + verb.
  2. Modal verbs such as may or might, which express possibility.
  3. Expressions such as probably, to be likely to, which express probability.
Here are some examples. You can type your sentences in the text area below.

Comic strip created on Stripgenerator

4. Be hopeful. What can we do about it?

But not everything is lost. Many Governments in the world are working together to solve this problem. In their last meeting they agreed on some possible solutions, as you can see on this page from the United Nations. We need to trust them, but we citizens also have to do something. What are we doing in the world? What else can we do? This video shows some of the ongoing actions to face climate change. There is still some hope.


However, there are a lot of young people who are tired of politicians. There is a group, for example, who gather on The Future site, where they have published a manifesto in favour of resistance against the status quo. Click on the following image and have a look:


Now it is your turn. What can you do? After all this information, you can get into action now. Read what these people want to do in the following picture. Intentions can be expressed in different ways: "I'm going to...", "I promise I'll...", "I want to...", I'd like to...", and so on.

Comic strip created on Stripgenerator

Your predictions and your actions

Padlet3. Now tell us about your predictions for the future and about what you can do to help by writing on the Padlet wall below. Doubleclic on the background image, and a text area will appear for you to type your text, which will be published after it is approved.


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