Module 5 Unit 2 The Environment

Word power

Teaching aims:

1. Enlarge students’ vocabulary about the environment protection.

2. Practice students’ reading and speaking ability.

3. To know something about how to protect the environment.

Difficult & Important points:

1. To learn how to form new words related to “eco”, “bio” and “astro”. Learn their meanings.

2. Enlarge students’ vocabulary.

Teaching methods:

1. Task-based teaching,

2. Group competition.

Teaching aids:

1. A projector.

2. A computer.

Procedure:

Step I Greetings

Greet the whole class as usual.

Step II Revision

Fill in each blank with proper word, the first letter of which is given.

1. A good diet is b________ to health.

2. If you want to enjoy the night with your girl friend, you can use music and lighting to create a romantic a___________.

3. It is quite o_______ that he is pretending to sleep.

4. If you a________ the picture closely, you can see it clearly.

5. We must take m______ to reduce crime in this area.

6. The chemical factory poured lots of p________ waste into the river.

7. I am perfectly w______ to discuss this problem with you.

8. All citizens have r________ for keeping our city clean.

Keys: 1. beneficial 2. atmosphere 3. obvious 4. approach 5. measures 6. poisonous 7. willing 8. responsibility

Step III Lead-in

1. Discussion: Can you design a hotel that is environmentally friendly?

1) What type of energy does an environmentally friendly hotel use?

Natural, safe energy from the sun, solar energy, instead of digging up Earth to find fossil fuels.

2) How does an environmentally friendly hotel wash the sheets?

Eco-friendly washing power .

3) What other features does an environmentally friendly hotel have?

2. Show a picture to the students and ask them to answer the following questions:

1) Do you think this looks like an environmentally friendly hotel?

2) Does it look like the picture you had in your head of an environmentally friendly hotel?

3) Which parts do not look like the picture you had in your head?

Step IV Reading

1. Read this brochure about a new, environmentally friendly hotel which is opening

Ecotourists are people who visit an area and do not harm or damage the ecosystem. They are interested in environmental protection. If you are this kind of tourist, you will love Ecoville. We use natural, safe energy from the sun, solar energy, instead of digging up earth to find fossil fuels. Nothing in our hotel causes pollution. We even use eco-friendly washing powder to wash your sheets. Don’t have your next holiday in a city full of factories that create harmful waste. Come to Ecoville, where you and Earth will be safe together.

2. Now, please try to find as many words about environment protection. For example:

ecotourists, ecosystem, ecoville, eco-friendly, ecoville

3. Can you guess the meanings of all these words with “eco”. The prefix ‘eco- ’ comes from Greek and means ‘earth’. It is used in many words to talk about the environment, such as ‘ecology’ and ‘eco-tourism’. Write six words that include the prefix ‘eco- ’. Use your dictionary if you need to.

ecofriendly, eco-travel, eco-trip, ecotourists, ecoville, ecosystem

Now let’s do more practice.

The prefix ‘bio- ’ means ‘life’. Write six words that include the prefix ‘bio- ’. Use your dictionary if you need to.

biology biochemist biologist biophysics biosphere biotechnology

The prefix ‘astro- ’ means ‘star’. Write six words that include the prefix ‘astro- ’. Use your dictionary if you need to.

astronaut astronomical astrology astrophysics astronomer astrologer

Step V Words related to the environment

1. When we talk about things that are bad for the environment, many of the words that we use are compound nouns. Use the compound nouns in the box to label the pictures.

Clear-cut logging opencast mining

slash and burn farming ozone layer

acid rain global warming

2. Do you know the following compound nouns?

acid fog/acid mist(酸霧), domestic sewage（生活污水）, ecological crimes（破壞生態罪）, endangered species（瀕于滅絕的物種）, climatic scourge（氣候災害）

Step VI Competition

We have learned a lot of words and phrases about environmental preservation. Look at the following pictures and try to use as many words and expressions on environment as you can

I will divide you into two groups. The group which has more ideas will be the winner.

First of all, I’ll give you an example. Look at the picture on the screen. Then the phrases about it.

Example: water pollution.

put waste water into rivers.

kill sea creatures

fish die by pollution

not enough fresh water to drink

recycle waste water

turn off the tap when cleaning your teeth.

save water

Then look at the second picture, let’s have a group competition.

Step VII Write an advertisement.

Help the management of Ecovilla write an advertisement.

Fill in the blanks with the words from the previous page.

The concept behind our hotel is(1) ______________ protection. It is safe and fun for the whole family, even Mother Earth.

Ecoville was the idea of Li Zheng, a scientist. He was worried about global warming and the hole in the (2)______________. He wanted a chance to have a holiday in beautiful part of the world, but not to cause damage to the(3)_____________ of the area. One night he saw a television show about a village in Africa. The whole village uses (4)____________ from the sun. No (5)______________ are burnt in people’s homes. There is no harmful waste from the factories because it is changed back into fuel and used to power the factories. The cars are all electric and can be plugged into normal outlets. Even things like soap powder are(6)_______________ products.

Mr Li was very excited about like idea, and decided to build Ecoville exactly the same way. Nothing you find in Ecoville causes any (7)__________ at all. We even built our hotel around the trees--- you can relax and be sure that there was no damage done to make space for you room. We even checked to make sure that the metals we used to build were not obtained from companies that practice opencast mining.

So come and join us, because part of the new generation of tourists, (8)____________, and spend your next holiday in beautiful Ecoville.

Step VIII Translate the following phrases into English.

1. 環境保護 environmental protection 2. 礦物燃料fossil fuels

3. 全球變暖global warming 4. 減少污染reduce pollution

5. 溫室效應greenhouse effect 6. 露天采礦opencast mining

7. 確保，核實make sure 8. 酸雨acid rain

9. 臭氧層ozone layer 10. 新一代new generation

Step IX Task

Eco-travel is a form of travel that combines normal tourism with learning. Instead of simple traveling for pleasure, you can use your trip as a way to protect the environment. Normal tourism is often bad for the environment, and tourists often cause problems. Eco-travel, on the other hand, is a way to travel responsibly. Eco-tourists want to learn about the world so that they can make it better, or at least understand it better. Eco-travel is a way to find out what can be done to help animals and plants as well as people. Read about the following eco-travel destinations and complete the tasks below.

Red River Village

Swim in the Red River.

Look at the birds.

Go for a walk along the river.

Go boating on the river.

Plant trees on the river.

Learn about water and the fish in the river.

Learn how to keep the water clean.

Learn about the birds by the river.

By staying in the hotels in Red River Village, tourists can help the villagers make money so that they can take care of the river and the birds.

Snow Mountain

Go hiking in the mountains.

Look at the birds.

Look at other animals.

Go skiing in winter.

Plant trees on the mountain.

Learn about nature.

Learn about the changes in each season.

Learn about the old trees on the mountain.

If you visit Snow Mountain, you can help the people there to keep the mountain clean and to take good care of the birds and other animals.

Work in groups of four. Imagine that the four of you are going on an eco-trip. Prepare role cards for the discussion and decide where you are going. Each group member has to prepare reasons for visiting one of the places above.

Student A: Red River Village

I think we should go to Red River Village because we can ______________________________.

And we can learn about______________________________

If we visit Red River Village, we can help_______________________________________

Student B: Snow Mountain

I think we should go to Snow Mountain because we can _________________________________.

And we can learn about______________________________

If we visit Snow Mountain, we can help_______________________________________

Step X Homework

1. Finish Part A1, A2 , B1, B2 on P98-99 on workbook.

2. Collect as many words that describe the environment as you can