Our Threatened Planet Sends Us «SOS»
Цели урока:
- образовательная: систематизировать лексический материал по теме «Охрана окружающей среды»; научить обсуждать проблемы в группе, комментировать услышанное, высказывать свою точку зрения относительно проблем экологии;
- воспитательная: содействовать формированию у учащихся экологического мышления, убедить учащихся в необходимости бережного отношения к нашей планете.
Оборудование: интерактивная доска, рисунки и плакаты, иллюстрирующие проблемы экологии.
Ход урока
Музыкальный фон. Четыре ученика по очереди читают стихотворение «Hug the Earth» by Lorraine Bayes.
P1
The Earth is a garden.
It’s a beautiful place
For all living creatures,
For all human race.
P2
Food is a treasure
From the soil and the seas
Clean fresh air
From the plants and the heels.
P3
Helping Mother Earth
We can peacefully roam
We all deserve the place
We can our home.
P4
The warmth of the sun giving life each day
Turns water into rain, it’s nature’s way.
And I would like to thank you, Mother Earth,
I like to see you dressed in green and blue, I want to be by you.
Вступительное слово учителя:
There are a lot of holidays on our planet, but today I’d like to mention April, 22.It’s a special day all over the world. On that day the inhabitants of the Earth celebrate Earth Day. This day is the day when many people show that they can care for our fragile planet. It’s the day for the people to learn what they can do to preserve the planet. The first Earth Day was held in the USA in April 1970.It brought the eco-bible into life. Here are some words on the blackboard, look at them and give their definitions in English.
Ecology
P1: Study of plants and living things in relation to their environment.
Environment
P2: All the surroundings of an organism, including other living things, climate, air, water and soil.
Acid rain
P3: When harmful gases from cars and factories released into the air fall back to the Earth with rain or snow.
Rainforests
P4: Evergreen woodlands that receive at least 100 inches of rain a year, home to more than half of the world’s plants and animals.
Habitat
P5: An area that provides animals and plants with food, water, shelter.
Conservation
P6: The wise use of the environment.
T: Do you agree that people live in greater harmony with the environment today?
P1: I don’t think so. The range of environmental problems is rather wide nowadays.
The most important of them are:
- the growth of pollution in it’s many forms (air pollution, water pollution, land pollution);
- shortage of natural resources;
- destruction of wildlife;
- the growth of population;
- traffic noise;
- acid rains;
- the greenhouse effect;
- depletion of the ozone layer
- radiation;
- deforestation and desertification;
- health and chemical safety;
- global warming.
T: I agree with you. And now look at this apple. Imagine it’s our planet. I’m cutting it into four pieces. Three quarters of the Earth surface is water and only one quarter is land. ( Режется ¼ оставшаяся часть пополам) One half of it is habitable. The rest of the land is the deserts, mountains, frozen ice-caps and other places where people cannot live.( один кусочек режется на 4 части) Only 1/32 gives us food and shelter. Less than 1% of water is drinkable.
So we must take care of our planet for ourselves and future generations.
P2: You are quite right. Our planet is so beautiful. A lot of Russian painters showed the power and beauty of nature in his canvases. Let’s take Ivan Shishkin, for example. ( На доске появляется картина Шишкина « Рожь») Shishkin’s most important canvases are «Rye»,where
he shows the beauty of Russian nature and fruitfulness of peasant labour; «Morning in the Pine Wood» (появляется на интерактивной доске), where he shows the moment when the first rays of the sun are breaking through and the night mist is lifting. The forest is waking up from its sleep. His other canvases-«Pipe Wood», «Windfallen Trees», «The Oaks»-show the beauty and power of nature. Can we allow to die such beauty?
P3: Surely not! But the problem of deforestation is alarming. Every year over 100,000sq.km of forests is so badly damaged that it is very hard for it to recover. Deforestation can cause vanishing of all species on earth in the next 25 years.
T: What is killing the trees?
P4: It is probably air pollution and acid rains. (На доске иллюстрации последствий кислотных дождей) When acid rain falls into lakes, it kills the plants and animals that live in the water. That is why the fish are dying. Some kinds of trees cannot live in the soil that is very acidic.
P5: To my mind, global warming is the most important environmental problem because it may extend the range of vectors conveying infectious diseases such as malaria.
P6: Nothing of the kind! I think, it is radiation. The most horrible ecological disaster befell Belarus and its people as the result of the Chernobyl tragedy in April 1986.Great damage has been done to the republic’s agriculture, forests and people’s health. The consequences of this explosion at the atomic power-station have been truly tragic for the Belarusian nation.
P7: I’d like to tell you that litter pollutes our environment greatly. Do you know how long the litter lasts? Look at the table:
- Traffic ticket-----1 month
- Banana peel-------up to six months
- Wool sock---------1 year
- Wooden stakes------4 years
- Wax paper cup------5 years
- Tin cans-------------100 years
- Aluminum cans-------up to 500 years
- Plastic bottles----------up to500 years
- Glass containers-------NEVER
As you can see from this table the greatest pollutants of the environment are aluminum cans and plastic and glass containers. So think before you are going to throw an aluminum can out of the train window. Try to buy drinks in paper bags. Then recycle them. By the way, any litter is not only ugly, but it can be harmful to wildlife. Small animals can get hurt on sharp cans or broken bottles. Pick up litter you see as you are walking.
T: Does the environment influence our health?
P8: Greatly! The ozone “ hole” allows more UV rays to penetrate the atmosphere and get to the Earth. It increases the risk of skin cancer, weakens the immune system of people.
T: Many people think that fashion has nothing to do with the problem of our environment and there is no connection between animals, plants and fashion. What is your opinion?
P9: It goes without saying that people always want to look good, but unfortunately they don’t realize how much animals suffer. We use them for testing things like shampoos to find out if they cause any irritation. Some animals go blind or even die from these tests. We kill whales for their oil, which we use for cosmetics and soaps. A lot of expensive jewellery are made from ivory, from the horns of elephants and rhinos. African elephants are disappearing fast.
T: People continue to kill animals to wear fur coats. Read the text about this problem and put the parts of the text in the right order
Against Fur
- But for Americans, fur is still a part of the way of life. The fur trade is one of the oldest businesses in North America. Europeans started buying furs from the Indians over 350 years ago. Today it is a $2 billion industry.
- For some people, fur is a symbol of luxury, wealth and success. For others, it is a cruel and stupid business. In many European countries, there have been long campaigns against the fur trade. Often these have been very successful- in Britain fur sales have fallen by 75%.
- The second way is getting fur from farmers. They keep animals in special fur farms and kill them when they want their fur.
- The industry gets fur in two ways. The fist way is getting fur from trappers who set traps to catch and kill wild animals.
- Now some Americans want to stop the fur trade. Their strongest argument is that there are many natural alternatives to fur. It is easy to produce wool and cotton without cruelty to animals or damage to the environment. But still there are others who strongly support the idea of increasing fur farms and animal hunting. What do you think?
- Last year in North America, people killed nearly 13 million animals because of their fur.
P10: Fortunately, things are not all bad. More and more people buy cruelty-free products which have not been tested on animals. Also now fewer people are wearing fur coats and buying objects made with products, like ivory, from endangered animals.
.
T: There are many awesome places on Earth, both natural and man-made, with origin that sometimes cannot be explained. The more we look around us, the more wonders we see in the world. There is no definite list that one can point to and claim that these are the only natural wonders. Here is the list of what are considered the top eight wonders of the world (демонстриуются слайды на интерактивной доске):
- Mount Everest
- Grand Canyon
- Aurora( Northern Lights)
- Niagara Falls
- Great Barrier Reef
- Lake Baikal
- Victoria Falls
- Valley of the Geysers.
Now, children, read the text and do the task.
Valley of the Geysers.
Located on the Kamchatka peninsula in Eastern Siberia, Russia’s world famous Valley of the Geysers is one of 1)--------- five places on Earth where hot springs punch holes through the Earth’s crust to eject boiling water and steam skywards. Until recently, the area 2)--------- of some ninety geysers and hundreds of thermal pools, steam jets and mud pots. Sadly, this natural 3)---------- was all but obliterated by a massive landslide in 2007. An entire mountainside collapsed in a nearby valley, hurling mud, stones, gravel, snow and ice into the geyser valley and covering two-thirds of it in the 4)----------- of an eye.
Following the natural disaster, officials met to consider removing the landslide 5) --------- in order to return the valley to its former glory. But it was agreed by all that it would be inherently wrong not to allow nature to take its course. The Kamchatka area is a strictly controlled nature reserve 6) ------ to observe natural processes, and the landslide was a natural process. The opportunity to 7)---------the amazing natural transformation of a landscape and the birth of a completely new valley is, officials concluded, a unique opportunity that should be embraced.
T: Comrades, I am very glad that you understand how dangerous the ecological situation of our Earth is. What must people do to protect nature from further pollution, to keep the earth clean, to keep people healthy? ( учащиеся показывают приготовленные ими дома плакаты и рисунки на интерактивной доске и комментируют их)
- P1-People should plant new gardens, orchards, future forests.
- P2-We must leave wild flowers for others to enjoy
- P3-All woods are homes to animals. So, behave as guests.
- P4-Nature is the source of people’s life, but not danger.
- P5-Be friend to fish. Don’t throw rubbish into their homes.
- P6-Noise must be reduced.
- P7-Plant a tree to create homes for birds, squirrels and other small animals.
- P8-Save as much water as possible.
- P9-Use public transport as often as you can. First it concerns trams, trolley-buses and metro because they don’t pollute the environment.
T-Comrades, you’ve worked very well today. I’m sure you’ll be more attentive to nature because it gives us its riches to live and enjoy. Nature has its rights, and it is the duty of a man to respect and defend these rights.
Your homework is to write reports entitled « Environmental Problems of Our Region.»
Thank you for the lesson.