Heal the Whole: Earth & Us

Learning objective: talk about environmental problems, using the present continuous and present perfect passive tenses, as well as prepositions of cause

▶ Cycle 1

⬜ 01 SNAPSHOT 👠Waste not, Want not

⬜ 02 PERSPECTIVES 🚮Vote for a better city!

⬜ 03 GRAMMAR FOCUS 👦Passive with prepositions

⬜ 04 PRONUNCIATION 🎤Reduction of auxiliary verbs

⬜ 05 LISTENING 🔊Saving the environment

⬜ 06 WORD POWER 🔡World problems

▶ Cycle 2

⬜ 07 CONVERSATION 💬What can we do?

⬜ 08 GRAMMAR FOCUS 🔤Infinitive clauses and phrases

⬜ 09 DISCUSSION 💬Problems and solutions

⬜ 10 ACTIVITY 7 🔔Make your voices heard!

⬜ 11 WRITING 📝A letter to the editor

⬜ 12 READING 📖Saving a Coral Reef

⬜ Video ACTIVITIES 07🎥

Language Summary

VOCABULARY

Nouns

World problems

e-waste

extinction

famine

global warming

government corruption

(the) homeless

infectious diseases

overbuilding

political unrest

pollution

poverty

unemployment

violence

The Earth

air

birds

coral reef

ecosystem

fish

marine life

oil

plant

rain forest

river

soil

wildlife

Other

chemical

demonstration

destruction

executive

factory

farm(land)

health

industry

lack

landfill

law

livestock

management

petition

politician

(training) programs

publicity

recession

recycling

reduction

shelter

sit-in phrasal verb attend a meeting or discussion without taking an active part in it.

(news) station

(heavy) traffic

Adjectives

accountable

affordable

clear

destructive

hungry

innovative

invasive

low-income

poisonous

underground

unemployed

unforgettable

urban

vocational

Verbs

boycott

contaminate

create

decompose

deplete

displace

dive

educate

fight

harm

hunt

ignore

improve

make (a living)

provide

pump

reduce

run (a story)

threaten

trash

voice (= share/talk about)

Adverbs

outside

too

Prepositions

against (the law)

as a result of

because of

due to

on (the street)

EXPRESSIONS

Describing problems

The . . . are being . . . by . . .

(The) . . . is being . . . because of/due to . . .

The . . . have been . . . through . . .

(The) . . . has been . . . as a result of . . .

Offering solutions

One thing to change things is to . . .

Another way to stop them is to . . .

The best way to help is to . . .

Talking about what will happen

What if . . . ?

Well, then . . .

Identifying something

What’s the name of . . . ?

It’s called . . .

▶ Cycle 1 Talk about environmental problems, using the present continuous and present perfect passive tenses, as well as prepositions of cause

⬜ 01 SNAPSHOT 👠Waste not, Want not

⬜ 02 PERSPECTIVES 🚮Vote for a better city!

⬜ 03 GRAMMAR FOCUS 👦Passive with prepositions

⬜ 04 PRONUNCIATION 🎤Reduction of auxiliary verbs

⬜ 05 LISTENING 🔊Saving the environment

⬜ 06 WORD POWER 🔡World problems

1 WARM UP 🐢 Talk about the Environment

How much trash did you see on the way to work or school today? What kind of things? Where?

Waste not, want not
Some alarming facts

In his or her lifetime, the average American born in the 1990s will ...

• wear and throw away 115 pair of shoes and boots👠

• throw away 27,500 newspapers - about seven trees a year📰

• use more than 28,000 gallons (106,000 liters) of gasoline⛽

• create over 110,000 pounds (50,000 kilograms) of trash🚮

• use 80-100 (303-387 liters) of water every day🫗

PROVERB: Waste not, Want not

If you use a commodity or resource carefully and without extravagance you will never be in need.

Life's Big Instructions Book; The Steven Institute of Technology

An estimate of what the average American born in 2000 might use and dispose of in their lifetime.

• Shoes and Boots: 30 pairs (This is an average, some people may wear more or less)

• Newspapers: Discarded newspapers are declining due to digital news. Let's estimate 10 per year for the first 20 years (200 newspapers), then minimal thereafter. (This is a rough estimate)

• Gasoline/Fuel: This depends on lifestyle and location. Assuming an average car use and fuel efficiency, let's say 6,000 gallons (22,712 liters) over a lifetime.

• Trash: Americans generate a lot of trash. Around 1,600 pounds (725 kg) per person per year is a common estimate.

• Water: Daily water use varies depending on factors like climate and habits. Let's estimate 100 gallons (378 liters) per day.

Please note that these are averages and estimates. Individual consumption habits can vary greatly.

A comparison of consumption estimates between someone born in the 1990s (1990-1999) and someone born in the 2000s.

Which of the things above seems the most wasteful?

How many pairs of shoes do you think you use every year?

What are two other environmental problems that concern you?

The United States generates between 268 and 292 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) a year.

The average American produces almost 4.5 pounds (roughly 2.04 kilograms) of waste per day.

American throw away around 322 million cell phones a year. Much of this e-waste ends up in landfills.

Around 2.5 million plastic bottles are consumed every second in the United States.

Depending on landfill conditions, it generally takes hundreds, or even thousands, of years for a plastic bottle to decompose completely, not just at least hundreds

Food waste in the U.S.: Estimates range from 30-40% of the food supply is wasted in the United States.

The wasted food in the U.S. could feed millions of people experiencing hunger both domestically and abroad. The exact number is difficult to quantify due to complexities in food distribution systems.

2 PERSPECTIVES Vote for a better city!

A Listen to an announcement from an election campaign. What kinds of problems dies Grace Medina want to fix?

VOTE FOR GRACE MEDINA FOR CITY COUNCIL

Grace Medina's ideas for Riverside!

Have you noticed these problems in our city?

Our fresh water supply is being contaminated by toxic chemicals.

The roads aren't being repaired due to a lack of funding.

Our community center has been closed because of high maintenance costs.

Our city streets are being damaged as a result of heavy traffic.

Many public parks have been lost through overbuilding.

Low-income families are being displaced from their homes due to high rental prices.

GRACE MEDINA - THE CHANGE WE NEED

B Which of these problems affect your city? Can you give specific example?

3 GRAMMAR FOCUS Passive with prepositions

Learning objectives: practice the preset continuous passive and the present perfect passive; describe causes with by, because of, due to, through, and as a result of

Passive with prepositions

Present continuous passive

Our water supply is being contaminated by toxic chemicals.

Our city streets are being damaged as a result of heavy traffic.

The roads aren't being repaired due to a lack of funding.

Present perfect passive

Our community center has been closed because of high costs.

Many public parks have been lost through overbuilding.

Active Passive

We use an active verb to say what the subject does.

We use a passive verb to say what happens to the subject.

Present continuous passive

Describes an action that is in progress right now.

Too many trees are being cut down right now. / these days.

Subject + is/are + past participle

Present passive perfect

Describes something that started before the present (the exact time isn't important)

Too many trees have been cut down recently. / in the last few years.

The air

Our city streets

Our water supply

is being

are being

is being

polluted

damaged

depleted

Describe cause and effect.

Introduce the cause.

Cause ⇰ Reason Effect ⇰ Result

A Pair work Match the photos of environmental problems with the sentences below.

B Rewrite the sentences using the passive and the prepositions given.

by, as a result of, because of, through, and due to

Air pollution is threatening the health of people in urban areas. (by)

The health of people in urban areas is being threatened by air pollution.

Livestock farms have contaminated soil and underground water. (because of)
Acid rain has eroded statues and buildings. (as a result of)
Oil spills are harming birds, fish, and other marine life. (through)
The growth of suburbs has eaten up huge amounts of farmaland. (due to)
The destruction of rain forests is accelerating the extinction of plants and wildlife. (by)

C Take turns describing the environmental problem in the pictures in your own words.

4 PRONUNCIATION 🎤Reduction of auxiliary verbs

Learning objective: Notice and use reduced auxiliary verbs

A Listen and practice. Notice how the auxiliary verb forms is, are, has, and have are reduced in conversation.

Food is being wasted. Our community center has been closed.

Streets are being damaged. Parks have been lost.

Fresh water is being wasted. Too much trash has been created.

Newspapers are being thrown away. Parks have been lost.

Auxiliary verbs work together with the main verb to provide grammatical information like tense (past, present, future) or voice (active, passive).

In these sentences

"Food is being wasted" is in the passive voice. The auxiliary verb "is" helps form the continuous aspect of the passive voice ("being wasted").

"Our community center has been closed" is in the present perfect tense. The auxiliary verb "has" helps indicate a completed action in the past ("closed") with a continuing relevance to the present.

However, it's important to note that 'is' and 'has' can also be main verbs depending on the context. For example, in "The notebook is on the table," "is" is the main verb indicating location.

Understanding the context and the function of the verb helps determine if it's an auxiliary verb.

5 LISTENING Saving the environment
Learning objectives: develop skills in listening for main ideas and note taking; listen to environmental problems

A Listen to three people describe some serious environmental problems. Check ✅ the problem each person talks about.

Problem What can be done about it?

Morgan ⬜ landfills ⬜ poor farmland ______________________________
Dalton ⬜ electricity ⬜ e-waste ______________________________
Kendall ⬜ air pollution ⬜ water pollution ______________________________

B Listen again. What can be done to solve each problem? Complete the chart.

C Group work Which problem above worries you the most? What is being done to fix it?

5 LISTENING 🔊Environmental solutions

6 WORD POWER Global challenges

A Pair work How concerned is your partner about these problems?

Problems Very concerned Fair concerned Not concerned

Unemployment ⬜ ⬜ ⬜

famine ⬜ ⬜ ⬜

global warming ⬜ ⬜ ⬜

⚪Complete the form

B GROUP WORK

A: We need to educate more people about [Mental health, Access to medicines Sexual and reproductive health, Tuberculosis, COVID-19, HIV/AIDS, EBOLA ...]

B: I agree. If we don't, the disease will continue to spread.

C: Yes. Many lives have been lost to due to ...

Join another pair. Which problems concern your group the most?

What will happen if the problem isn't solved?

☑VOCABULARY Environmental protection

Cycle 1 WORKBOOK ⏩

David Attenborough's "A Life on Our Planet" reflects on his career witnessing nature's wonders and devastating human impact. It offers solutions for a sustainable future, premiering on Netflix October 4, 2020.

Our Planet II: Unveiling the extraordinary journeys of migrating animals through stunning cinematography. From the Emmy-winning team behind Planet Earth. (Netflix, June 14th)

▶ Cycle 2 Discuss what you can do about problems, using infinitive clauses and phrases

Cycle 2 What can you do?

⬜ 07 CONVERSATION 💬What can we do?

⬜ 08 GRAMMAR FOCUS 🔤Infinitive clauses and phrases

⬜ 09 DISCUSSION 💬Problems and solutions

⬜ 10 ACTIVITY 7 🔔Make your voices heard!

⬜ 11 WRITING 📝A letter to the editor

⬜ 12 READING 📖Saving a Coral Reef

⬜ Video ACTIVITIES 07🎥

7 CONVERSATION 💬What if it doesn't work?

Learning objectives: Talk about solutions to problems; see infinitive clauses and phrases in context

What if it doesn't work?

A Listen and practice.

Cindy: Did you hear about the dead fish that were found floating in the Bush River this morning?

Otis: Yeah, I read something about it. Do you know what happened?

Cindy: Well, there's a factory outside town that's pumping chemicals into the river.

Otis: How can they do that? Isn't that against the law?

Cindy: Yes, it is. but a lot of companies ignore those laws.

Otis: That's terrible! What can we do about it?

Cindy: Well, one way to change things is to talk to the company's management.

Otis: What if that doesn't work?

Cindy: Well, then another way to stop them is to get a news station to run a story on it.

Otis: Yes! Companies hate bad publicity. By the way, what's the name of this company?

Cindy: Believe it or not, it's called Green Mission Industries.

Otis: Really? My uncle is one of their top executives.

B Class activity What else could Cindy and Otis do?

C Listen to the rest of the conversation. What do Cindy and Otis decides to do?

LISTENING Worksheet 🔊Collecting Garbage

🔊 LISTENING Environmental protection

8 GRAMMAR FOCUS 🔤Infinitive clauses and phrases

Learning objective: Practice infinitive clauses and phrases

One way to change things is to talk to the company's management.

Another way to stop them is to get a news station to run a story.

The best ways to fight unemployment are to create more jobs and invest in education.

A Find one or more solutions for each problem. Then compare with a partner.

Problems

1, The best way to fight poverty is ...

2. One way to reduce government corruption is ...

3. One way to reduce unemployment is ...

4. The best way to stop global warming is ...

5. One way to help the homelss is ...

6. One way to improve air quality is ...

Solutions

a. to provide more affordable housing.

b. to create more jobs.

c. to make politicians accountable for decisions.

d. to have more vocational training programs.

e. to increase the use of clearer energy.

f. to provide education to all children.

g. to build more public shelters.

h. to reduce deforestation.

B Group work Can you think of two more solutions for each problem in part A?

Agree on the best solution for each.

GRAMMAR PLUS 2 Infinitive clauses and phrases

9 DISCUSSION 💬Problems and solutions

Learning objectives: discuss environmental problems and solutions and develop the skill of giving options

Cause ⇰ Reason Effect ⇰ Result

Go to SELF-STUDY 🔊Problem Neighborhoods WRITING Worksheet 📝Tips for problems

10 ACTIVITY 7 🔔Make your voices heard!

Learning objective: brainstorm solutions to some local problems

11 WRITING 📝A letter to the editor

Learning objective: write a letter to the editor describing a problem and offering solutions

A Choose a problem from the Global Problems list or use one of you own ideas. Write a letter to the editor of your news program or newspaper describing the problem and one solution.

Editor, The Chronicle,

Recently, poor farmers in our region have started growing poppies to earn money. Poppies produce opium, which is used to make illegal drugs. This has to stop!

One way to stop it is . . .

B Pair work Exchange letters with a partner. Write a response from the editor suggesting another solution

Write an essay about

PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT A clean and healthy environment

12 READING 📖Saving a Coral Reef

Learning objectives: develop skills in predicting, reading for main ideas, and identifying causes and results

VOCABULARY

Literally: according to the most basic meaning of a word; not exaggerated

Flooded: to become filled or covered with water

High tide: the time when the ocean is at its highest level

Swept across: moved quickly or with a lot of force over something

Pollutants: substances that make air or water dangerously dirty