The Reading / Listening - Poonami - Level 0

Water companies in the UK pumped raw sewage into the sea. The UK told people not to go swimming or surfing. People could get diseases if they went into the water. Water companies said people should keep their mouth closed in the sea. A woman said: "It's filthy…and it stinks." She called it a "poonami".

People are angry with the water companies. The bosses get million-dollar bonuses for polluting the sea. England's beaches were among the cleanest in Europe. Now they are the dirtiest. A woman said clean water was a human right. She said CEOs cared more about bonuses than about clean water or the environment.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Poonami - Level 1 Poonami - Level 2   or  Poonami - Level 3

Sources
  • https://news.sky.com/story/huge-increase-in-raw-sewage-released-into-uk-waterways-and-sea-data-reveals-12677730
  • https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/do-not-swim-at-22-beaches-in-england-after-sewage-discharge-environment-agency/
  • https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1658177/MP-Labour-environment-agency-sewage-dumps-sea-GB-News-vn


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. Water companies
  2. The UK told people not
  3. swimming or
  4. People could get
  5. if they went into
  6. keep their mouth closed
  7. It's filthy and
  8. She called it a
  1. to go
  2. it stinks
  3. the water
  4. "poonami"
  5. surfing
  6. in the UK
  7. diseases
  8. in the sea

Paragraph 2

  1. People are angry with the water
  2. get million-dollar
  3. polluting
  4. Now they are the
  5. beaches were among the
  6. clean water was a human
  7. CEOs cared more
  8. clean water or the
  1. the sea
  2. about bonuses
  3. cleanest in Europe
  4. environment
  5. right
  6. companies
  7. dirtiest
  8. bonuses

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Water (1) ___________________ UK pumped raw sewage into the sea. The UK told people (2) ___________________ swimming or surfing. People (3) ___________________ if they went into the water. Water companies (4) ___________________ keep their mouth (5) ___________________ sea. A woman said: "It's filthy... (6) ___________________." She called it a "poonami".

People (7) ___________________ the water companies. The bosses (8) ___________________ bonuses for polluting the sea. England's beaches were (9) ___________________ in Europe. Now they (10) ___________________. A woman said clean water was (11) ___________________. She said CEOs cared more about (12) ___________________ clean water or the environment.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

WatercompaniesintheUKpumpedrawsewageintothesea.TheUKtoldp
eoplenottogoswimmingorsurfing.Peoplecouldgetdiseasesiftheywen
tintothewater.Watercompaniessaidpeopleshouldkeeptheirmouthcl
osedinthesea.Awomansaid:"It'sfilthy...anditstinks."Shecalledita"p
oonami".Peopleareangrywiththewatercompanies.Thebossesgetmill
ion-dollarbonusesforpollutingthesea.England'sbeacheswereamon
gthecleanestinEurope.Nowtheyarethedirtiest.Awomansaidcleanwa
terwasahumanright.ShesaidCEOscaredmoreaboutbonusesthanabo
utcleanwaterortheenvironment.

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion — Write your own questions

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

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Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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