Steps & Teacher Directions:

1)    Intro – Greet your students and tell them an overview of the topic and what they’ll be doing today (talking about droughts, vocabulary activity, video, discussions, recap, and homework assigned).

2)    Happy Family Vocabulary Activity – Explain to your students that you are going to start with a vocabulary activity called Happy Family so they can learn and practice topic-specific vocabulary. Explain that they will be hearing this vocabulary in the video and using it in their discussions.

Hand out the vocabulary words (one to each student) and tell them that only they can read the word and no one else. When everyone has a piece of paper give them a second to read their word and then explain that they will now hear the list of all of the vocabulary words that everyone has twice. Tell them that when you are done reading the list you will pick someone to start. Explain that this student will point to another student and ask, “Are you___ (and a vocabulary word that they remember from the list)?” Explain that if they guess correctly then those two students will now work together as a team or a ‘happy family’, but if they guess wrong then the student who was incorrectly guessed will not ask the question. Model this twice for your students using a different vocabulary word – first model what happens when someone guesses correctly and then model what happens when someone guesses incorrectly.

Read the list of vocabulary words twice and then pick a student who will start.

*See Appendix A for the complete vocabulary list and happy family cards* 

          Steps & Teacher Directions:

Tell your students that they will now be watching a 3.5-minute-long video about the impacts of droughts on reservoirs and farms. To review the vocabulary ask them to explain what a reservoir is. When they have done this explain to them that you will let them listen to the video twice and afterward, they will be using the information from the video to complete an activity.

*See Materials Needed for the link to the video* 

          Steps & Teacher Directions:

1)    Tell your students that they will now be doing an activity called agree or disagree. Explain to them that they will need to move around for this activity. Tell them that they will hear ten different statements and they have to decide if they agree or disagree with the statements. Point to one side of the classroom and tell them that this wall is where they will go if they disagree with the statement. Point to the other side of the classroom and tell them that this wall is where they will go if they agree with the statement. (To help them remember which side is agree and which side is disagree, use aspects in the classroom. i.e., the wall is disagree and the window is agree). Tell them that there is no wrong answer, but they should be able to explain why they chose to agree or disagree if you ask them.

Take this time to move any desks or chairs out of the way to allow students to move from one side of the classroom to the other.

*See Appendix B for the list of statements* 

        Steps & Teacher Directions:

Tell your students they are now to design a new idea for how a country could save water or get rid of a drought. Explain to them that you will put them into groups of 3 or 4 and they will have 10 minutes to create this plan or object together. Tell them that after they have made their new innovation, they will share their idea with the class. Tell them that they have to present it to the other students as if their classmates are the leaders of other countries. Explain that their classmates can ask them questions about their idea so they should be ready to answer questions like “How much would this cost?” or “How will this help my country get out of a drought?”

Make sure to tell your students that their ideas do not have to make sense – meaning that they can create absurd inventions if they want to, but they have to be able to say explain how it would help.

        Steps & Teacher Directions:

Explain to your students that you will now assign homework for them. Tell them that they should find a partner to work with and research what the drought situation is like in a country of their choice – either their home country or one that is interesting to them. Explain that they will be presenting their findings to the class. Tell them that they do not need to make a PowerPoint or Google Slides presentation but they can if they want to.

Leave a bit of time to answer students’ questions about this homework and help them find a partner if need be.

        Happy Family Vocabulary List for Students

Reservoir                                                     Drought                                                   Famine

Non-essential                                              Mitigation                                             Monsoon

Deforestation                                              Desertification                                        Irrigation

Dam                                                            Hydroelectric                                    Precipitation

           Snowpack                                                         Water Consumption                                             Watershed 

Happy Family Teacher’s List

1)    Reservoir – definition: a large natural or artificial lake used to store water

2)    Drought – definition: climate condition where water loss is greater than water input for a given area

3)    Famine – definition: lack of food

4)    Non-essential – definition: not necessary

5)    Mitigation – definition: the action of reducing the severity of something

6)    Monsoon – definition: a rainy season

7)    Deforestation – definition: the action of removing a wide area of trees

8)    Desertification – definition: the process of land becoming a desert

9)    Irrigation – definition: the supply of water to land or crops

10) Dam – definition: a barrier made to hold back water to form a reservoir

11) Hydroelectric – definition: the generation of electricity by using moving water

12) Precipitation – definition: rain, snow, or any kind of water that falls to the ground

13) Snowpack – definition: the amount of snow that falls and remains in an area in a given winter. The snowpack determines how much water will be available during the summer

14) Watershed – definition: area of land where all the water that is under it or drains off it goes into the same place

       15) Water Consumption – definition: the complete removal of water from some type of source, like groundwater, for some   use by humans. The water is not returned to the source 

        1)    There is nothing we can do to stop droughts.

2)    Droughts are dangerous.

3)    Reservoirs prevent droughts.

4)    Every country in the world is affected by droughts.

5)    Reservoirs are emptying because of low snowpack.

6)    Droughts are getting worse.

7)    Irrigation of golf courses is essential.

8)    Desertification is a big problem in areas of drought.

9)    Water consumption is mostly used for irrigation

10) There is no precipitation in areas of megadroughts.