Цели:
- практическая: развитие речевых умений и систематизация знаний учащихся по теме;
- воспитательная: формирование ответственного отношения к природе, к проблемам окружающей среды, чувства обеспокоенности экологической ситуацией;
- развивающая: развитие умения общаться, языковой догадки, анализа, логики, памяти, воображения, активности, самостоятельности;
- образовательная: приобретение знаний о катастрофических ситуациях, связанных с погодой в мире и в родном городе; удовлетворение личных познавательных интересов.
Оборудование: карта мира, индивидуальные карточки, фотографии и слайды о наводнении города Бийска, слайды природных катастроф, связанных с погодой, график и диаграмма температуры за несколько лет, компьютер.
The International Ecological Conference
On the board there are some slogans: “What’s Happening to the Weather?”, “The Weather. Is Something Wrong?”, “Weather Disasters!”, “Perfect Weather Control”, “Is Global Warming Harmful to Health?”, “The Most of the Warming Is Attributable to Human Activities”.
Procedure
Stages:
Introduction
T announces the topic of the lesson, motivates Ss for the activity and gives the instructions to Ss. Depending on the Ss’ability, T distributes the roles and explains how Ss are going to perform depending on the cards, they have chosen.
T: Good morning! I am glad to see you at the International Ecological Conference! I hope you are well today and will show your sharp mind, creativity and the ability to work to tight deadlines. Let’s split into 3 groups: correspondents, scientists, guests from town Biysk. In the groups everyone should choose a role card which you can see on your desks.
- Group 1. Correspondents (Weaker Ss may read the texts ): S1 – from Austria; S2 – from Czech Republic; S3 – from France; S4 – from Germany; S5 – from Russia; S6 – from China.
- Group 2. Scientists: S7 – a weather risks specialist; S8 – an ecologist; S9 – a climatologist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; S10- a representative of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration; S11 – a meteorologist, a professor from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research; S12 – a representative of the US Environmental Protection Agency; S13 - a representative of Greenpeace;
- Group 3. Storm victims from town Biysk: S14, S15, S16 (Real victims, their activity is based on the homework). The Chair - S17 (‘A’ student in the group. With weaker groups T may perform this role. The Chair encourages Ss to take an active part in the discussion and gives the floor to the speakers, gives some time for questions from the groups.)
Preparation
T tells Ss to read their role cards attentively, draws their attention to the slogans, tells them to take into account all requirements. Ss prepare for different roles and the presentations, discuss their strategy, questions, answers.
Activity
Ss practice making a formal oral presentation and participating in a discussion. T gets the Chair started and goes to the back of the audience and starts filling in the evaluation card. T checks the time, as Ss tend to forget about it and shows it to the Chair with the help of a signal card. If the speaker fails to express something T reminds Ss that they can ask the speaker to rephrase or explain the unknown word, notion or phrase. If there is a problem with asking the questions, T demonstrates how this can be done or helps Ss to do it or think in the right direction. (Приложение 1, Приложение 2)
Chair: Ladies and gentlemen, I declare the conference open. What’s happening to the weather? Strange weather patterns have wreaked havoc on places throughout the world. Does this mean that something is wrong with the weather? (Ss)
The famous writer Samuel Johnson quipped: “When two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather”. In recent years, though, the weather has become more than a conversation starter. It has become a matter of grave concern to people all over the world. Why? First, I give the floor to the climatologist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
S9: As for me I think the weather – which was always unpredictable anyway – seems to be increasingly erratic. For example, during the summer of 2002, Europe was struck with unusually heavy rainstorms. They led, in fact, to what was described as “the worst central European floods in over a century.”
Chair: Exactly. The correspondents from all over the world write about nature catastrophes every year. Take note of the following news reports. I give the floor to the correspondents from Europe. (Приложение 1)
S1: I am from Austria. “The provinces of Salzburg, Carinthia, and Tirol were hit especially hard by severe rainstorms. Many streets were swamped in sludge, with piles of mud and debris up to 15 meters high. At Vienna’s Sьdbahnhof station, a thunderstorm caused a train accident that injured several people.”
S2: Unfortunately I have some bad news from Czech Republic. “It has been a harrowing experience for Prague. But in the provinces the tragedy has been much worse. As many as 200,000 people have been moved from their homes. Whole towns have been submerged by the floods.”
S3: I’m from France. I’d like to tell you about the victims of nature catastrophes: “23 dead, 9 missing, and thousands sorely affected … Three people were fatally struck by lightning during Monday’s storms…. A fireman died after rescuing a couple in distress; they had been carried away in their car by the waters.”
S4: I’m from Germany. “Never before in the history of the Federal Republic have towns and villages been evacuated to such an extent as they have been now during this ‘flood of the century.’ Residents have fled their hometowns by the thousands. Most have done so as a precautionary measure. Some were rescued from the floods at the last minute by boat or helicopter.” And in Romania: “About a dozen people have lost their lives since mid- July because of the storms.” And what about Russia?
S5: In Russia “At least 58 people died on the shores of the Black Sea … About 30 cars and buses remain on the seabed, with no search of them possible after new storm warnings were issued.”
Chair: The news is bad indeed. And I’d like to add. In August 2002 the German daily newspaper reported: “New spells of heavy showers and storms in Asia, Europe, and South America have wreaked havoc. On Wednesday at least 50 died in a landslide in Nepal. In Argentina at least 5 people drowned after heavy rains. And what about China?
S6: Over a thousand people have perished because of the summer storms there.
A typhoon killed eight people in southern China and brought heavy rainfall to central
China. The China floods caused the Mekong River to reach its highest water level in 30
years, submerging upwards of 100 houses in northeast Thailand.
Chair: Among our guests today there is a weather risks specialist. Let’s give him a floor.
S7: Of course, during 2002 – 2006 catastrophic weather events took place in
many lands. Europe was hit by a series of disastrous floods. In other parts of the globe,
Mexico was struck by a devastating hurricane, and Korea by a typhoon. While water was
plaguing many parts of the world, the US was experiencing a severe drought. I quote:
“Concerns are nationwide regarding low and dry wells, widespread record low stream
flows, and a more than double the normal amount of wildfires for the season. With crop and
pasture losses, drinking water supply shortages, wildfires and dust storms, experts
consider that the adverse economic impact of the drought of 2002 was in billions of
dollars”. Parts of northern Africa have been experiencing a devastating drought since
the 1960’s. According to reports, “rainfall was 20% to 49% lower than in the first
half of the 20th century, causing widespread famine and death.”
I think the catastrophic floods and severe storms we are now experiencing will become more
frequent.
Chair: And what do ecologists think about the problem?
S8: I suppose you’ve heard about the El Niсo. The El Niсo weather pattern – triggered by a warming of the waters of the eastern Pacific – periodically causes flooding and other weather disruptions in North and South America. The CNN news organization reports that the 1983/84 El Niсo was “responsible for more than 1,000 deaths, causing weather-related disasters on nearly every continent and totaling $10 billion in damages to property and livestock.” This phenomenon has returned with regularity (about every four years) since it was first identified in the 19th century. But some experts believe that the El Niсo has stepped up its “schedule” and that it will appear more often in the future.
Chair: What reassurance does the representative of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration give us?
S10: Mmmn, that’s not a difficult question, I guess. Most of that ‘weird’ weather we’ve been experiencing – that unusually warm fall or that particularly wet winter – is due to normal, regional changes in the weather. You shouldn’t worry about it.
S13: Sorry for interrupting you. Nevertheless, there are signs that a serious problem may exist. I’m a representative of the environmental – activist organization Greenpeace and we predict that dangerous weather patterns including more powerful hurricanes and heavy rains will continue to wreak havoc across the planet. More severe droughts and floods will literally change the face of the Earth, leading to the loss of coastal lands and the destruction of the forests.
Chair: Is there any substance to such claims? If so, what is the cause of these “dangerous weather patterns”?
S11: Many feel that the unusual weather patterns are evidence of global warming – the so-called greenhouse effect. How does the US Environmental Protection Agency explain it?
S12: The greenhouse effect is the rise in temperature that the Earth experiences because certain gases in the atmosphere (water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, for example) trap energy from the sun. Without these gases, heat would escape back into space and Earth’s average temperature would be about 33°C colder.
S11: Many charges, however, that man has unwittingly tampered with natural process. What can you say about it?
S12: For decades human factories and cars have spewed billions of tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
S11: Many scientists fear that the increased concentrations of greenhouse gases have prevented additional thermal radiation from leaving the Earth. In essence, these gases are trapping excess heat in the Earth’s atmosphere in much the same way that a windshield traps solar energy that enters a car.
Chair: On balance, I’d say that skeptics point out that only a small percentage of greenhouse gas emissions are manmade.
S11: However, a research group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that is sponsored by both the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environmental Programme reports that there is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities.
S9: If I had to put a figure on it, I would say that it is 60% our fault. The remaining 40% is due to natural causes.
Chair: What, then, has been the apparent result of the buildup of man-made greenhouse gases?
S11: Most scientists now agree that the earth has indeed heated up.
Chair: Now I give the floor to the representative of Greenpeace. He has got a question.
S13: Just how dramatic has this temperature rise been?
S9: The 2001 IPCC report says that global surface temperatures have increased between 0.4 and 0.8°C since the late 19th century. Many researchers believe that this small rise could account for the dramatic changes in our weather.
S12: Admittedly, the earth’s weather system is astonishingly complex, and scientists cannot state with certainty what – if any – the effects of global warming are. However, many believe that as a result of global warming, there has been increased rainfall in the Northern Hemisphere, drought in Asia and Africa, and escalating El Niсo events in the Pacific.
Chair: Since many view this problem as man – made, cannot man solve the problem?
S12: A number of communities have already enacted laws to limit pollution emissions from cars and factories. However, such efforts – commendable as they are – have had little or no impact.
S10: You are right, but don’t forget that pollution is a global problem, so the solution would have to be global!
S12: The evidence for it is the fact that in 1992 and then ten years later in 2002 the Earth Summits were held. Some 40,000 delegates attended the meeting in 2002, including about 100 national leaders. And I’m absolutely convinced that such conferences have done much to bring about a general consensus among scientists.
Chair: Does the audience have any questions?
S14: Can environmental damage be halted?
S8: May I answer this question? Sadly, I fear that it might already be too late to spare earth from the consequences of global warming. I believe that even if pollution ceased today, the effects of past abuses to the atmosphere would still last for at least another 100 years!
Chair: And what does the representative of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration think? Do you agree with him?
S10: He could be right but I think that global warming is just one of many environmental challenges facing mankind. Taking effective action may be far easier said than done.
Chair: And what does the representative of Greenpeace think?
S13: Now that we have finally faced up to the terrible damage we have inflicted on our environment. Our objective is working overtime to find technological solutions. But technology alone is not enough. We must also engage with our hearts.
Chair: Let’s consider again the problem of global warming. Is it harmful to health?
S8: In my opinion global warming will expand the incidence and distribution of many serious medical disorders. For example, in some places the number of deaths related to heat waves is projected to double by 2020. Mosquito – borne disorders are projected to become increasingly prevalent since mosquitoes bite more as the air becomes warmer. And as whole areas heat up, then, mosquitoes could expand into formerly forbidden territories, bringing illness with them. Finally, there are the effects of flood and drought – both of which can result in polluted water supplies.
Chair: Clearly, the threat of global warming must be taken seriously. Now I give the floor to the representatives of Biysk. They’d like to tell us about catastrophic weather events which took place in their town.
S14: My name is Natasha. I am from Altai Region. I have been living in Biysk since early childhood. My house is situated not far from the river Biya.
Chair: Were you informed about a disaster?
S14: Yes, we were, but too late. When the threat of the disaster became known, many neighbors put the efforts to stave off the floodwaters. I didn’t go to school. First, I was glad to miss the lessons. But when I heard that some of my neighbors stood at risk of loosing everything, I understood it would be a catastrophe.
Chair: And what can you tell us? Was it a disaster?
S15: My name is Olga. I live in Biysk in Zelyony Klin Street. The stream that normally flows through the town swelled to a torrent, inundating my house and garden. Suburbs of the town were also hit by the floods.
Chair: Did it happen every year?
S15: I can’t tell you for sure. I guess no. If you have a look at the diagram of the temperature and the beginning of the floating ice which my aunt has been writing since 1981 you’ll discover that inundations have become more frequent recently. (Приложение 3)
Chair: How did you cope with it?
S15: Our neighbors worked alongside my family for several days before the flood, filling and stacking sandbags to reinforce the banks of the river Biya. People visited victims, taking them food, drinking water, warm and dry clothes and consolation.
S16: My name is Vlad. My aunt had to be evacuated, as the waters were already beginning to enter her home. When my aunt returned she had to clear her house and property of sludge and debris with the help of brooms and shovels.
S14: In some areas the water had risen so high that it covered the roofs of the houses!
S16: Almost 1,000 families suffered material losses as a result of this catastrophe.
Chair: And what about local authorities? Were they prepared for this disaster?
S14: Actually, local authorities were not prepared for this disaster. Since flooding is uncommon in our place, they had not organized for the disaster relief.
Chair: What was the first priority?
S15: Getting clean water to survivors. When heavy flooding takes place, water lines are usually damaged; floodwater is highly contaminated.
S16: After floodwaters recede, everything is coated with a foul – smelling thick mud. I know that there is an effective cleaning method but people have to clean their houses themselves, their own arms and water. Since nearly all homes in the area are made of wood outside and cement inside, they can be cleaned by stripping the rooms of wallpaper and linoleum and hosing them down with high – pressure water.
S15: I’d like to add that flooding renders most electrical appliances useless.
S14: But you should keep in mind that flood – damaged clothes and blankets must also be thoroughly washed within a few days if they are to remain usable. The sludge permeating this clothing was very difficult to wash out – and don’t forget it was early spring and the washing had to be done by hand in a very, very cold stream. It was a catastrophe indeed. I’m sure people must be careful and take antipollution measures.
S12: Don’t forget that antipollution measures are costly; often poorer nations simply cannot afford them.
S15: I’m sorry, but I can’t agree with you. Real environmental change depends on us. We can’t wait for our leaders. We have to focus on what our own responsibilities are and how we can make the change happen.
S7: It is only reasonable to expect people to behave with respect for the environment. But getting people to make needed changes in their life – styles is not so easy. For example, most people agree that automobiles contribute to global warming. So, an individual may want to cut back on driving or do without an automobile completely. But doing so may not be so easy because all the places that play a role in daily life such as workplace, kindergarten, school, or shopping center lie so far apart that you cannot manage without a car. Whether I personally want a car or not has nothing to do with it. Most folks simply have no choice.
Chair: Sorry for interrupting your discussion. The time is up. To sum up what has been said there are different points of view. The majority of people think that real environmental change depends on them. People have to focus on what their own responsibilities are and how they can make the change happen.
Follow-up
At the end of the lesson Ss reflect on personal experience. T gives Ss 2 minutes to think about the activity they have done individually, praises each S for some specific achievement, talks about mistakes in general using Evaluation Card. T makes comments about the best questions and answers, asks for the Ss’ opinion, invites Ss to use the notes they took while observing other Ss’ presentations.(Приложение 4)