The document is a worksheet about the song "Big Yellow Taxi" by Joni Mitchell. It provides lyrics from the song and background information. Students are asked to fill in missing lyrics, identify environmental words, match vocabulary terms to their synonyms, and answer questions about the song's message. The song laments the paving over of paradise to build hotels, parking lots, and other developments, and warns that we don't appreciate what we have until it's gone.

1. Unit - Our Environment
I - Listen to the song and fill in the gaps with the missing words.
“Big Yellow Taxi"
They ________ paradise
And put up a ________ ________,
With a pink hotel, a ___________
And a swinging hot spot.
Don't it always seem to go,
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone—
They paved __________
And put up a parking lot! "Big Yellow Taxi" is a song originally written
and performed by Joni Mitchell. Mitchell got
the idea for the song during a visit to Hawaii.
They took all the __________, She looked out of her hotel window at the
Put them in a tree __________; spectacular Pacific mountain scenery, and then
And then they ___________ all the people down to a parking lot.
A twenty –five bucks just to see them.
Don't it always seem to go, Many other artists have covered the song,
(...) including; Amy Grant,
Melanie (Melanie Safka), Counting Crows with
and without Vanessa Carlton.
Hey ________, _________, Amy Lee Grant (born November 25, 1960 in
Put ______ the DDT now; Augusta, Georgia) is an American
Give me ________ on my _______, singer-songwriter, best known for her
But leave me the birds and the ______ Contemporary Christian Music and pop music,
and a New York Times Bestselling author,
Please!
Republican Party activist, TV personality, and
Don't it always seem to go,
occasional actress.
That you don't know what you've got
(...)
As of 2007, Grant remains the best-selling
Contemporary Christian music singer, having
sold over 30 million units worldwide. Grant has
________ last _________, won six Grammy Awards, 21 Gospel Music
I heard the screen _______ slam, Association Dove Awards, and had the first
and a big yellow taxi Christian album ever to go Platinum. Heart
Carried off my _______ man. in Motion is her best selling album, which has
Don't it always seem to go, exceeded sales of 5 million.
That you don't know what you've got
(...) (abridged and adapted from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Grant)
I said don't it always seem to go,
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone—
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot!
Amy Grant
(Lyrics from
http://www.lyricsdomain.com/1/amy_grant/big_yellow_taxi.html)
Teacher: Joana Aveiro

2. II - After listening to the song, try to find words / expressions related
to the environment.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
III – Match the following words with their synonyms:
a) Paved 1. To ask an amount of money for a service or activity.
2. An outside car park.
b) DDT
3. A sudden loud noise.
c) Parking lot 4. To cover an area of ground with bricks or concrete.
5. Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (a colourless chemical that
d) Charged
kills insects and is also harmful to animals).
e) Slam
IV - Answer these questions.
1. Why did they put the trees in a tree museum?
____________________________________________________________________
2. Who is the singer referring to when she says “they”?
____________________________________________________________________
3. What are the people doing to paradise? What will eventually happen in a near future?
____________________________________________________________________
4. Do you agree with the singer when she says that we only know what we’ve got, till it’s
gone? What is she referring to?
____________________________________________________________________
Teacher: Joana Aveiro