Global Warming Lesson Plan

By Miljana Mladenovic, MELT/ELTA Newsletter co-editor

Keywords: global warming, greenhouse effect, carbon dioxide, fossil fuels

Course level Target group Lasting Lesson Educational goals Functional goals Methods Activities Work forms Means

pre-intermediate adult students 60 minutes Global warming presentation learning about key concept of global warming, acquiring new vocabulary rising consciousness about global warming, developing new habits brainstorming, discussing, presenting speaking, listening, writing individual, group, frontal, pairs computer, Internet, handouts, presentation papers, colours, markers

Lead-in (3 min.) The teacher asks: Whats the weather like today? Dont you think its a bit warm for this time of the year? What was the weather like 10-20 years ago? Do you know how this climate change phenomenon is called? When the teacher elicits global warming, he/she writes the title on the board Global Warming. Warm up (4 min.) The teacher asks the student to brainstorm on this topic and to come up with some useful phrases they have heard of, relevant to Global warming phenomenon.

The teacher writes their ideas on the board.

Presentation (16 min.) The teacher plays a short video on Global warming on the computer. This video very simply describes greenhouse effect and it is available on http://epa.gov/climatestudents/basics/today/greenhouse-effect.html. (2 minutes)

The teacher asks students if they have understood the video and if there were any words they did not understand. The teacher asks students to watch the video again and this time to try to write down words they cannot understand. (3 minutes)

Teacher proposes that they do a short exercise (Handout 1) in pairs and then discuss the meaning of the words together. ( 5 minutes) Students read the paragraph and try to guess what some phrases mean with the teachers help. The teacher writes these phrases on the board. (4 minutes)

Now that they are familiar with all the words, students watch the video for the last time. (2 minutes) Production/Extension (20 min.)

Students are divided into groups of 5 or 6. There should be 3 groups which will discuss, illustrate and present 3 topics related to global warming: 1. Signs of the climate change 2. Effects on people and environment 3. What can you do to save the environment The teacher gives a presentation paper, colors and markers to each group and explains that they are going to have 15 minutes to discuss and illustrate the above mentioned topics. Teacher then assigns a task for each group and gives them handouts (Handout 2) that can help them for their task. The teacher explains that they can use ideas from the handouts and/or add some of their own. While students are working in groups, the teacher is going around, monitoring and facilitating.

Closing ( 17 minutes)

A group representative ( a person that group members unanimously choose) comes in front of the class and presents the ideas and the poster his/her group has made. (15 minutes)

Homework for each group will be to choose the words/phrases, that they consider to be most important, from their presentations and write them down on colored stickers. These stickers will be used for class poster on Global warming. The teacher provides groups with stickers in three different colors ( for signs, effects and solutions). (2 minutes)

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Miljana Mladenovic is MELT/ELTA Newsletter co-editor, an English teacher and an adult educator. Miljana received her BA and MA degrees in English language and literature from Belgrade University. She was also trained in functional adult literacy and education as part of the EU project Second Chance. Her interests are: adult education, literacy, adult language learner, lifelong learning, curriculum development. Contact Miljana at mima.mladenovic@gmail.com.

Handout 1
Exercise : Fill in the gaps with the following phrases: infrared radiation temperature carbon dioxide electricity fossil fuels sea levels

Gases in our atmosphere help control the Earths __________. Greenhouse gases such as ___________ trap heat in the atmosphere and keep the Earth warm. Land and water absorb most of the sun energy and the rest is reflected in space. The Earth surface warms up and then gives up energy in the form of_____________. Greenhouse gases trap this energy and make the Earth warmer. People are adding more carbon dioxide than they need, by driving a car, using _________or making a product in a factory. A lot of this energy comes from burning _____________like oil, gas and coal. Warmer temperature leads to changing rain and snow patterns, rising____________, melting ice.

Handout 2
Group 1 Signs of the climate change The average temperature of the Earth is rising, but that's not the only way we can tell the climate is changing. In fact, the signs are all around us! Hurricanes and other tropical storms grow stronger, with faster winds and heavier rain. Because of higher temperatures and increased evaporation, climate change causes other types of storms to get stronger, too. Warmer temperatures cause glaciers to melt faster than they can accumulate new snow. Sea level is also rising because melting glaciers and ice sheets are adding more water to the oceans. As temperatures rise due to global climate change, more moisture evaporates from land and water, leaving less water behind. Some places are getting more rain or snow to make up for it, but other places are being hit by long droughts. Group 2 Effects on people and environment Climate change could make it too hot to grow certain crops, and droughts caused by climate change could reduce the amount of water available for irrigation. Many parts of

the world already have very little water, and climate change could make this problem worse. As temperatures rise, more people will need to keep cool by using air conditioning, which uses a lot of electricity. As the Earth gets warmer and droughts increase, wildfires in forests are expected to occur more often and be more destructive. Global climate change threatens coastlines and the buildings and cities located along them. Group 3 What can you do to save the environment When we get electricity from renewable energy sources like wind and solar power, we avoid the carbon dioxide emissions that would have come from burning fossil fuels like coal, oil, or natural gas. Cars, trucks, airplanes, and other kinds of vehicles are responsible for about onethird of the greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Smart transportation choices can make a big impact on reducing emissions. Reducing, reusing, and recycling means you buy (and throw away) less stuff, and that helps reduce the amount of greenhouse gases we're adding to the atmosphere. Did you know that letting your faucet run warm water for five minutes uses about as much energy as leaving a 60watt light bulb on for 14 hours?

* Material for Handout 2 is taken from http://epa.gov/climatestudents/basics/index.html and used under the fair policy.