Earth Conversation

Summary: Students practice their conversation skills while following a conversation model discussing how the world has changed due to the rise of environmental problems. In pairs, students have a conversation to find out the missing information on their conversation card.

Level: ***

Grammar: "used to be"

Materials: Earth Conversation Worksheet 1 & 2 (below), cut out pictures from magazines of changing environmental landscapes.

Procedure:

  1. Show some pictures to the class of how the environment has changed, e.g. dirty beaches, expanding deserts, disappearing forests.
  2. Explain to the class that life "used to be" different a long time ago. The air and water were clean, forests were large and deserts were their normal size. But now things have changed on earth.
  3. Model the "Earth Conversation".
  4. Put students in pairs with their desks facing each other but a little apart. Hand out Earth Conversation #1 to one student and #2 to the other student in the pair.
  5. Have them follow the conversation model and fill in their charts. Tell them to try and understand what they are reading.
  6. When all pairs are finished, have six pairs demonstrate each conversation to the class.
  7. After each conversation make sure the class understands the content by asking a few questions.
  8. If there is time left over, hold a class survey to see who already practices the environmental actions in the second column of the chart. Ask "who does E#034; and students raise their hands if they do the specific action.

Contributed by: Cindy Drukier, Yokohama ALT.

Earth _____________ #1

A: Look at that! I can't believe how much it's changed.

B: The ocean used to be blue, but the oil is black.

A: I worry about the environment. What can we do?

B: If we use electricity, we won't need ships to come with oil.

Problem: What can we do?

winters used to be cold, but now they're warmer
desert used to be small but now it's big (sabakuka) eat less beef so cows don't live on important land
beach used to be clean, but now it's messy
air used to be clean, but now it smells bad turn off lights and heaters when you don't need them to save electricity
there used to be many pandas, but now they're gone
used to be a forest, but many trees were cut down don't use waribashi when you can use regular chopsticks to save wood

_____________ Conversation #2

A: Look at that! I can't believe how much it's changed.

B: The ocean used to be blue, but the oil is black.

A: I worry about the environment. What can we do?

B: If we use electricity, we won't need ships to come with oil.

Problem: What can we do?
winters used to be cold, but now they're warmer use less hairspray or spray deodorant to reduce carbon dioxide (nisankatanso)
desert used to be small but now it's big (sabakuka)
beach used to be clean, but now it's messy don't take bags you don't need to cut down on trash, and put trash in baskets
air used to be clean, but now it smells bad
there used to be many pandas, but now they're gone use both sides of paper so you don't need as much new material
used to be a forest, but many trees were cut down

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