Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

Findings from a new study released Friday proves that global warming is caused by human activity, and not by natural environmental factors. Researchers at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography have found clear evidence of human-produced warming in the world's oceans that is likely to impact water resources in regions around the globe. This finding removes much of the uncertainty associated with debates about global warming. Many world leaders have closed their ears to this fact so they don’t have to limit their economic activity or introduce expensive pollution controls. This is one of the reasons America has not signed the Kyoto Treaty on climate change. The US government prefers to believe global warming is a natural phenomenon, caused by volcanoes and solar energy. Professor Tim Barnett said, “This is perhaps the most compelling evidence yet that global warming is happening right now and it shows that we can successfully simulate its past and likely future evolution.” Barnett says the results hold implications for millions of people in the near future. In the decades immediately ahead, the changes will be felt in regional water supplies, including areas impacted by accelerated glacier melting in the South American Andes and in western China, putting millions of people at risk without adequate summertime water. Perhaps now more countries will sign up to the Kyoto Protocol.

Lesson & plan in Word.doc

Example Class Handout in Word.doc

Example Class Handout in .pdf

WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about global warming / penguins and polar bears / North Pole and South Pole / Kyoto Protocol / water / climate change / …

To make things more dynamic, try telling your students they only have one minute (or 2) on each chat topic before changing topics / partners. Change topic / partner frequently to energize the class.

2. GLOBAL WARMING: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with ‘global warming’. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them.

3. WORLD WEATHER: In recent years it seems the world’s weather has gone crazy. Don’t you think so? Make a list of examples of strange weather happening around the globe. Talk in groups about this.

4. MY COUNTRY: Talk about changing weather in your country. Are weather patterns the same now as ten years ago? Is this good? What will the weather be like in the future?

5. WHAT WE CAN DO: In pairs / groups, discuss whether you will carry out the following things to help slow down global warming in the next week (act now!). If you will not do these things, say why:

1. Walk instead of driving or taking public transport.
2. Use public transport instead of driving.
3. Write to US president George W. Bush urging him to sign the Kyoto Protocol.
4. Start planning to replace some of your electricity supply withrenewable energy, such as solar or wind power.
5. Use the lights in your house less.
6. Replace your refrigerator and other electrical appliances with more energy efficient ones.
7. Plant a tree in the forest.
8. Recycle everything you use.
9. Donate money to organizations pushing for controls on global warming.

6. WARMING FUTURE: In pairs / groups, rank the following outcomes of global warming  - most serious at the top.

1. Polar bears and penguins will disappear
2. Winters will be 10 degrees colder.
3. Malaria will travel north, affecting northern Europe, North America, and northern Asia.
4. Cockroaches will start moving to northern Europe, North America, and northern Asia.
5. Africa will become hotter and suffer more droughts.
6. Typhoons and hurricanes will become more powerful.
7. Skin cancers will increase.
8. Many countries will have no drinking water.
9. Countries such as the Maldives, Holland and Bangladesh will disappear under water.
10. Wars will start between countries fighting over water.

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. WORD SEARCH: Students look in their dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … of the words ‘human’ and ‘activity’.

2. TRUE / FALSE: Students look at the headline and predict whether they believe the following statements about the article are true or false:

1. Global warming is caused by human activity, not natural environmental factors.  T / F
2. Clear evidence of human-produced warming is in the world's rivers.  T / F
3. Global warming is not likely to impact water resources around the globe.  T / F
4. Many world leaders have closed their ears to global warming.  T / F
5. The US government doesn’t want to introduce expensive pollution controls.  T / F
6. Global warming is a natural phenomenon, caused by volcanoes and solar energy.  T / F
7. Scientists can successfully simulate the likely future evolution of global warming.  T / F
8. Millions of people will be at risk of having inadequate water supplies.  T / F

3. SYNONYM MATCH: Students match the following synonyms from the article:

(a)	findings	affect
(b)	evidence	happening
(c)	impact	doubt
(d)	uncertainty	research
(e)	pollution	consequences
(f)	phenomenon	quickened
(g)	compelling	sufficient
(h)	implications	proof
(i)	accelerated	emissions
(j)	adequate	conclusive

4. PHRASE MATCH: Students match the following phrases based on the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

(a)	findings	resources
(b)	natural environmental	evidence yet
(c)	Researchers have found clear	controls
(d)	water	immediately ahead
(e)	Many world leaders have closed	risk
(f)	pollution	evolution
(g)	This is perhaps the most compelling	from a new study
(h)	future	their ears
(i)	In the decades	evidence
(j)	putting millions of people at	phenomenon

   

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. GAP-FILL:  Put the missing words under each paragraph into the gaps.

Global warming IS human made

Findings from a new study __________ Friday proves that global warming is caused by human activity, and not by natural environmental factors. Researchers at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography have found __________ evidence of human-produced warming in the world's oceans that is likely to impact water resources in regions around the __________. This finding removes much of the uncertainty associated with __________ about global warming. Many world leaders have closed their ears to this fact so they don’t have to limit their economic activity or introduce expensive pollution controls. This is one of the reasons America has not signed the Kyoto Treaty on climate change. The US government prefers to believe global warming is a natural __________, caused by volcanoes and solar energy. Professor Tim Barnett said, “This is perhaps the most compelling evidence yet that global warming is happening right now and it shows that we can successfully __________ its past and likely future evolution.” Barnett says the results hold implications for millions of people in the near future. In th e decades immediately ahead, the changes will be felt in regional water __________, including areas impacted by accelerated glacier melting in the South American Andes and in western China, putting millions of people at __________ without adequate summertime water. Perhaps now more countries will sign up to the Kyoto Protocol.

globe simulate risk released supplies phenomenon clear debates

2. TRUE/FALSE:  Students check their answers to the T/F exercise.

3. SYNONYMS:  Students check their answers to the synonyms exercise.

4. PHRASE MATCH:  Students check their answers to the phrase match exercise.

5. QUESTIONS: Students make notes for questions they would like to ask the class about the article.

6. VOCABULARY:  Students circle any words they do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find the meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1. GAP-FILL: Check the answers to the gap-fill exercise.

2. QUESTIONS:  Students ask the discussion questions they thought of above to their partner / group / class. Pool the questions for all students to share.

3. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.

4. STUDENT-GENERATED SURVEY: Pairs/Groups write down 3 questions based on the article. Conduct their surveys alone. Report back to partners to compare answers. Report to other groups / the whole class.

5. ‘HUMAN’/ ‘ACTIVITY’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

6. DISCUSSION:  Students ask each other the following questions:

1. What do you think of this article – are you worried?
2. Are you pessimistic or optimistic about the future of our climate?
3. Do you prefer hot or cold countries?
4. What do you do to conserve energy?
5. Do you waste a lot of electricity?
6. Would you say you are very environmentally aware, or do you rarely think about the environment?
7. Do you idle the engine of your car?
8. What do you think of renewable energies, such as solar, wind or wave power?
9. Isn’t nuclear power best for the environment?
10. Why doesn’t US president George W. Bush sign the Kyoto Protocol?
11. How would your life change if water became ten times more expensive?
12. What would you do if your winters became 20 degrees colder and your summers 20 degrees hotter?
13. How can we save the Maldives, Holland and Bangladesh from disappearing under water?
14. Teacher / Student additional questions.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCAB EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or the Google search field to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on global warming. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. MY COUNTRY: Create a poster describing the weather patterns of your country, past, present and future.

4. LETTER TO GEORGE W.: Write a letter to US president George W. Bush telling him what you think of his decision to not sign the Kyoto Protocol.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

1. Global warming is caused by human activity, not natural environmental factors.  T
2. Clear evidence of human-produced warming is in the world's rivers.  F
3. Global warming is not likely to impact water resources around the globe.  F
4. Many world leaders have closed their ears to global warming.  T
5. The US government doesn’t want to introduce expensive pollution controls.  T
6. Global warming is a natural phenomenon, caused by volcanoes and solar energy.  F
7. Scientists can successfully simulate the likely future evolution of global warming.  T
8. Millions of people will be at risk of having inadequate water supplies.  T

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	findings	research
(b)	evidence	proof
(c)	impact	affect
(d)	uncertainty	doubt
(e)	pollution	emissions
(f)	phenomenon	happening
(g)	compelling	conclusive
(h)	implications	consequences
(i)	accelerated	quickened
(j)	adequate	sufficient

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	findings	from a new study
(b)	natural environmental	phenomenon
(c)	Researchers have found clear	evidence
(d)	water	resources
(e)	Many world leaders have closed	their ears
(f)	pollution	controls
(g)	This is perhaps the most compelling	evidence yet
(h)	future	evolution
(i)	In the decades	immediately ahead
(j)	putting millions of people at	risk

GAP FILL:

Global warming IS human made

Findings from a new study released Friday proves that global warming is caused by human activity, and not by natural environmental factors. Researchers at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography have found clear evidence of human-produced warming in the world's oceans that is likely to impact water resources in regions around the globe. This finding removes much of the uncertainty associated with debates about global warming. Many world leaders have closed their ears to this fact so they don’t have to limit their economic activity or introduce expensive pollution controls. This is one of the reasons America has not signed the Kyoto Treaty on climate change. The US government prefers to believe global warming is a natural phenomenon, caused by volcanoes and solar energy. Professor Tim Barnett said, “This is perhaps the most compelling evidence yet that global warming is happening right now and it shows that we can successfully simulate its past and likely future evolution.” Barnett says the results hold implications for millions of people in the near future. In the decades immediately ahead, the changes will be felt in regional water supplies, including areas impacted by accelerated glacier melting in the South American Andes and in western China, putting millions of people at risk without adequate summertime water. Perhaps now more countries will sign up to the Kyoto Protocol.

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