Storm coming!

The Climate Action in Language Education series:

This lesson is part of our series of 'Climate Action in Language Education' teaching materials. There are twelve lesson plans in the series, available for teachers of primary, secondary and adult learners of English. See the full list of lesson plans in this series.

Introduction:

In this lesson, learners will learn extreme weather vocabulary and read and listen to news reports about weather events. They then collaborate in groups and role play an emergency meeting to prepare their region for an extreme weather event. This lesson would be suitable as a supplement to a unit on weather, geography or the environment, after a recent extreme weather event, or near World Meteorological Day on 23 March.

The lesson plan and student materials have been designed to be used in either face-to-face or online teaching. If used in face-to-face teaching, a presentation is available for a no printing option. 

Learning outcomes:

• Use vocabulary and collocations related to extreme weather events
• Listen for specific information in news reports about extreme weather events
• Give some examples of how we can reduce chances of the climate becoming more extreme
• Participate in a role play to prepare the public for an extreme weather event

Age and level:

13-17 (B2)

Time:

Approximately 95 minutes or two shorter lessons

Materials:

The materials can be downloaded below in PDF format.

• Lesson plan for face-to-face teaching
• Lesson plan for online teaching
• Presentation (PDF or PowerPoint)
• Student worksheet (optional)
• Audioscripts (optional)

Task 1: Personalising questions and vocabulary review (10 mins)

• Show slide 2 of the presentation or refer learners to Task 1 in the student worksheet. 
• Ask question 1 with the whole class, then elicit one or two examples of ‘extreme weather’ to check that learners understand the term. Learners then discuss questions 2-4 in pairs or small groups. If necessary, they can use a dictionary for the activity. 
• When most pairs / groups have stopped speaking, nominate some learners to answer questions 2-4. If necessary, explain the terms. 

1. A blizzard is a snowstorm with strong winds. 
2. Hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons are names for the same phenomenon, but that hurricanes form over the North Atlantic and Northeast Pacific Oceans, cyclones over the South Pacific and Indian Oceans, and typhoons over the Northwest Pacific Ocean. 
3. Smog is a mixture of smoke and chemicals that reduces visibility. It is typical over cities and industrial areas. 
4. A tornado is a column of violently rotating air which extends from the base of a storm cloud to the Earth’s surface. 
5. A tidal surge is a flood on the coast caused by an abnormal rise in the sea level because of a storm

• End the discussion by identifying the most common weather problems in the learners’ country or region. Learners may suggest other problems e.g. extreme cold. 

Task 2: Introduce weather-related collocations (10 mins)

• Show slide 3 of the presentation or refer learners to the first extract of Task 2 in the student worksheet. Explain that this is an extract from a news report about a weather event. 
• Ask learners to say which of the weather events listed in Task 1 the extract is talking about (drought). If necessary, point out the clues (‘exceeding 40 degrees ... chance of rain ... destroy harvests’). The gaps in the extracts are places. Ask learners to say where in the world this event could be happening (e.g. India, Africa). Slide 4 of the presentation gives the answer. If using the worksheet, tell learners to ignore the words and expressions in bold for now. 
• If using the presentation, show slides 5-16 in turn. Alternatively, learners read the extracts in the worksheet. In pairs, they decide the weather event and possible parts of the world for each extract. Discuss the answers.

1. Drought – many parts of the world are affected, e.g. India, Africa. 
2. Flooding – many parts of the world are affected, e.g. Europe, Latin America, Bangladesh. 
3. Forest fires – many parts of the world are affected, e.g. Australia, China, the US. 
4. Snowstorm/blizzards, e.g. Canada, Northern Europe and Russia, Japan, etc. 
5. Smog, e.g. cities in China, Iran 
6. Tornadoes, e.g. the US or Canada 
7. Tidal surges, e.g. Pacific Islands, Caribbean

Task 3: Vocabulary search (10 mins)

• Show slide 17 or refer learners once again to the extracts in Task 2 in the student worksheet. Explain that the words and expressions in bold in the extracts are useful for talking about extreme weather. 
• Refer learners to words and expressions a-h on slide 17 or in Task 3 of the student worksheet. Explain that learners should find synonyms for each word and expression a-h in the extracts. They should try to match them with words and expressions in bold. Make sure they understand that there are expressions in bold that they do not need for this exercise. 
• Check answers with the class. Answers are available on slide 18. 
• Answers: a. poor (ocean) conditions, b. threat, c. hazardous, d. caused a great deal of damage, e. exceeding, f. blocked, g. evacuate, h. heavy rains/snowfall

Task 4: Listen for specific information (15 mins)

• Show slide 19 or refer learners to Task 4 in the student worksheet. Explain that they are going to listen to three news reports from different parts of the world. Focus their attention on the three questions and ask them to make notes for each report as they listen. 
• Before you play the audio, explain that these reports come from different parts of the world, so they will hear a range of accents. Reassure them that they don’t have to understand every word to successfully complete the task.
• Elicit the answers from the learners. Ask which news reports surprised them most. Check that learners understand that these are imaginary news reports from the future, but that they are all based on real events that have happened already. 
• Answers: First report: drought (monsoon failing) in India, sometime after 2032. Second report: tundra fires in Siberia in Russia, sometime after 2027. Third report: snowfall in Saudi Arabia, sometime after 2021. All the weather events are caused by effects of climate change (global heating). 
• You may decide to explore the listening experience with different accents. Ask the learners which accents they found easiest and hardest to understand, and which they liked listening to the most. Also ask them which of these accents they may hear again in the future when using English. Explain that because English is the main language for international communication, it is important to get experience listening to many different accents.

Task 5: Listening for more detail (10 mins)

• Show slide 20 or refer learners to Task 5 of the student worksheet. Tell the class that they are going to listen again, and that this time they must decide which event is the answer to each question a–f. They should note the name of the country. 
• Go through the answers with the class, nominating different learners for each question. If they struggle to understand the detail, consider showing them the audio scripts to read along as they listen the second time. The scripts are available on slides 23-25 or as a downloadable PDF.
• Answers: a. Russia (a long way from towns or villages), b. India (vulnerable families forced to leave lands …), c. India (the Indian economy is likely to be affected), d. Saudi Arabia (families were out enjoying the cold snap … children … built a snow camel), e. Saudi Arabia (snow … a regular feature of the northern mountain regions, the first … snow in this part of the country wasn’t until 2021), f. Russia (exacerbate global warming, leading to more fires)

Task 6: Discussion (10 mins)

• Show slide 21 or refer learners to Task 6 in the student worksheet. Give learners 5 minutes to discuss the questions in small groups. 
• As they discuss, go around the class listening to the discussion, responding and making suggestions. You may decide to conduct the discussion as a whole class instead if you think that some learners will find it hard to answer the questions. Invite some pairs / groups to share their answers. 
• Possible answers: The Indian news is worrying because it affects so many people, many of them poor, so the number of deaths could be high; the Russian news is worrying because it is making global heating worse (this is known as a ‘feedback loop’, where the consequence of a rise in temperature causes fires which release more carbon, thus making global heating worse); the Saudi news is worrying if we accept that the snow is a sign that weather is getting more extreme in many parts of the world. 
• This is a big question, but the short answer is that we need to burn less carbon (coal, gas and oil) in order to slow down global heating. There are many things we can do on a personal level (fly less, eat less meat, use public transport more, etc.), but more important is to put pressure on governments and corporations to stop funding fossil fuel extraction, invest in renewable energy such as wind and solar power, and encourage people to act responsibly for the future.

Task 7: Role play and group writing (30-40 mins)

• Show slide 22 or refer learners to Task 7 in the student worksheet. Tell them that they are going to work in groups to plan communications for an extreme weather event. As a class, choose a weather event which is realistic in their region. 
• Organise the class into three large groups. The members of group 1 will play the role of police officers; the members of group 2 will play the role play of local politicians; and the members of group 3 will play the role of emergency service planners. Members of the groups should work together to plan what they need to do to prepare the region for the event and keep everyone safe. If it’s possible, they can search online for ideas. 
• Walk around and help groups if necessary. Examples: Police officers: prepare for emergency calls; prepare to evacuate people and animals. Local politicians: set up a rest centre for people evacuated from homes; plan local services (e.g. transport). Emergency services planner: prepare vehicles and equipment; prepare hospitals and staff.
• After 10 minutes (or more if research is involved), organise learners into small groups. Make sure each group has at least one representative from group 1 (police officers), group 2 (local politicians) and group 3 (emergency service planners). 
• Explain that each group is now an Emergency Planning Committee. They need to discuss what is important information to communicate to the public. This could include information they need to know such as travel / evacuation, and information about what they can do to stay safe. The advice will depend on the weather event. 
• Once more, walk around and help groups if necessary. Point them to the language in bold in Task 3 and elicit some expressions that might be useful, e.g. Residents are being advised to (avoid travel …). 
• Give each group a number. Hand each group some chart paper and markers, or some sticky notes. Tell them to write social media messages on the chart paper or sticky notes. Make sure they write the number of their group at the top of the poster or messages. 
• When they have finished, ask each group to post their posters or messages around the room. 
• Give the class a few minutes to go around the classroom reading the messages from the different groups. Ask them to decide which group has communicated the most effectively.

Homework

• Ask learners to find an article or video clip about a recent extreme weather event and read or watch it in order to report it to the class in the next lesson.

Contributed by Daniel Barber