Specials thanks to Anna Pereszlényi, my dear colleague, with whom I created the worksheet!
Topic: climate change, current issues, the future
Level: B2, B2+, C1
Objectives:
- to raise awareness to an important issue
- to expand students’ knowledge about current events
- to develop students’ creative and critical thinking
- to develop the four language skills
- to develop students’ autonomy, presentations skills, research skills and cooperation
Equipment/materials needed: video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRLJscAlk1M&t=3s), worksheet for each student (find it below)
The sequence of activities:
1. Warmer - The world in 50 years – Ask students to close their eyes and tell them the following instructions:
Imagine that you’re living in the future, 50 years from now. Look around, what can you see?
Give them 30 seconds to think and then, ask them to share their ideas with their partner. Ask some pairs to present their ideas.
ONLINE TIP: If you're doing the activities online, even in an asynchronous way, you can collect the students' answers with the help of menti.com or padlet.com.
2. Warmer – Vocabulary, schema activation – Ask them to label the following images
Check students’ answers and then ask them these questions:
How well do they represent today’s global issues?
Would you add anything else?
3. Prediction activity: “The title of the text is “Dear Future Generations”. Based on this title, what do you think, what kind of text are you going to read?”
You might expect the following answers: letter, email, essay… etc. The solution is spoken poetry.
4. Listening - Play the first part (0:00-1:33) of Dear Future Generations (SOUND ONLY) and ask your students to put the pictures in the order they are referred to.
You can access the audio file from here.
Play them the video again (now, with visuals as well) so that they can check their answers.
5.1. Fill in the text - Put the keywords into the text.
Clarify any new vocabulary.
PROFIT, EXTINCTION, MINDSET, POISON, THE GOLDEN RULE, DESTRUCTION, CONSIDERATION, SORROW, GENERATIONS, RESPONSIBLE
and that wouldn't make me so sad, if there weren't so many pictures of leaves on it. You know when I was a child, I read how the Native Americans had such (1)______________, for the planet that they felt (2)________________, for how they left the land for the next 7 (3)________________. Which brings me great (4)____________, because most of us today, don't even care about tomorrow. So i'm sorry, i'm sorry that we put (5)_____________ over people, greed over need, the rule of gold above (6)_________________. I'm sorry we used nature as a credit card with no spending limit. Over drafting animals to (7)_______________, stealing your chance to ever see their uniqueness, or become friends with them. Sorry we (8)____________ the ocean so much that you can't even swim in them. But most of all, i'm sorry about our (9)_____________, cause we had the nerve to call this (10)_______________, progress.
5.2. Choose from the lines (a-e) the one which fits each gap (1-5).
Hey Fox News, if you don't think climate change is a threat. (1)________________________________________________, see while you was in your penthouse nestled, (2)________________________________________ beneath their feet due to the rising sea levels, and Sara Palin, you said that you love the smell of fossil fuels, (3)_______________________________________ who are forced to wear pollution masks just to go to school. You see you can ignore this, but the thing about truth is,
(4)___________________________. so i'm sorry future generation, i'm sorry that our footprints became a sinkhole and not a garden. I'm sorry that we paid so much attention to ISIS, and very little how fast the ice is melting in the arctic. (5)________________________. and i'm sorry we didn't find another planet in time to move to. I ams...
(a) I'm sorry we doomed you
(b) their homes were literally washed away
(c) well i urge you to talk to the kids of Beijing
(d) It can be denied, not avoided
(e) I dare you to interview the thousands of homeless people in Bangladesh
5.3. What do the following expressions mean?
Watch the next part of the video (1:33-3:37), so that students can check whether they were right. Then check 5.3 together.
6. Watch the rest of the video and then, read the rest of the poem.
You know what, cut the beat, I'm not sorry This future I do not accept it Because an error does not become a mistake Until you refuse to correct it We can redirect this, how? Let me suggest that if a farmer sees a tree that is unhealthy They don't look at the branches to diagnosis it They look at the root, so like that farmer We must look at the root And not to the branches of the government Not to the politicians run by corporations We are the root, we are the foundation, this generation It is up to us to take care of this planet It is our only home, we must globally warm our hearts And change the climate of our souls And realize that we are not apart from nature We are a part of nature And to betray nature is to betray us To save nature, is to save us Because whatever you're fighting for: Racism, Poverty, Feminism, Gay Rights Or any type of Equality It won't matter in the least Because if we don't all work together to save the environment We will be equally extinct
7. Discussion - Ask students to answer the following questions in pairs and ask for feedback if necessary:
a. What makes this video effective?
b. How does the speaker feel?
c. How does it make you feel?
8. Group work: Divide the group into 4 smaller groups. Ask each group to discuss a set of these questions:
a. We just didn’t realize how special the earth was
Like a marriage going wrong We didn’t know what we had until it was gone.
• What does the speaker mean by these lines?
• Have you ever had something you didn’t realise you had until it was gone?
b. I’m sorry we used nature as a credit card with no spending limit
• What does the speaker mean by this line?
• How could you link this line to the concept of geological footprint?
c. See, you can ignore this, but the thing about truth is
It can be denied, not avoided
• What does the speaker mean by these lines?
• Can you mention some instances something similar happened to you? Or to someone famous?
d. Because an error does not become a mistake
Until you refuse to correct it
• What does the speaker mean by these lines?
• Have you ever encountered someone who refused to correct their mistakes?
Ask for feedback about whether any interesting ideas came up.
9. Speaking: Ask students to work in groups of 3-4 and do the following task:
What would you put in a time capsule from this year? Can you think of events/objects that would represent what life is like today for future generations? Agree on 5 events/objects that you’d put in your time capsule.
ONLINE TIP: If you're doing this activity online, even in an asynchronous way, you can collect the students' answers with the help of menti.com or padlet.com.
10. Writing: Assign this as homework - What would you say to future generations? Write a letter/poem to them, starting with Dear future generations,
During the next lesson, you can display students’ writing and ask them to comment on each other’s pieces. (e.g. You can do it as a gallery walk activity - put their work on the walls, ask them to circulate in the classroom and write their comments on the post-its below the pieces of writing)
ONLINE TIP: They could upload their pieces to your online classroom (it's quite useful if it has a notebook function) and then they could comment on each other's poems/letters there.
11. PROJECT
In the poem, there are lots of references to current issues (e.g. deforestation, global warming, fighting for gender equality, terrorism, fake news…etc.). Ask students to choose an issue and in small groups, create an infographic (https://piktochart.com/) on the issue and present it (in 5 minutes) to their group mates.
ONLINE TIP: Students can do this activity outside of class by communicating with each other on the platform of their choice. They could share their infographics in your online classroom (Teams - Class notebook, Edmodo, Google Classroom, Moodle...etc.) If you would like them to present their infographics, they could do it in a conference call (on Zoom/Teams/Meets) or they can record a voice-over presentation in loom.com.