Fighting Climate Change - Elementary News Article .pdf

Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2021.
Home >> Adults >> General English >> NEWS LESSONS
Warmer
a. With a partner or in small groups, talk about your answers to these questions:
What extreme or unusual weather events have you read about in the past months?
e.g.,
There was a lot of rain and flooding in….
There were very high temperatures in …
There was snow and ice in …
…
Key words
a. Write the words from the word pool next to their definitions below. Then find them in the article
to read them in context.
activist aware cause research retired
1. someone who does things to bring political or social change, especially someone who is a
member of a group
2. the detailed study of something in order to discover new facts, especially in a university
3. make something bad happen
4. knowing about a situation or a fact
5. no longer working because you are officially too old to work
baby boomer chair former limit mayor
6. used for describing someone that had a particular job or position in the past, but not now
7. stop something from going up
8. the most important elected official in a town or city
9. the person who is in charge of a meeting, group, or company
10. someone who was born in the years immediately after the Second World War
‘We need to become the solution’: older New Zealanders join climate change fight
Level: Elementary
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b. Use some of the key words above to complete these sentences.
1. My parents both in the same year.
2. We want to the amount of trucks that drive through the town.
3. My husband just got married again.
4. These days, everybody is that smoking is bad for your health.
5. The of the meeting asked everyone to please be quiet.
Level: Elementary
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‘We need to become the

solution’: older New Zealanders
join climate change fight
Eva Corlett in Waikanae
Tue 6 Jul 2021
David Yockney is a 74-year-old climate
activist. He is worried by the changes to the
environment caused by global heating, and
he is not the only one. New research from the
University of Waikato shows that both younger
and older New Zealanders are worried about
the climate emergency.
The 10-year study asked 56,000 New
Zealanders from different age groups two main
questions: Is climate change real? Do humans
cause it?
The data shows, at the start of the study,
younger people were more aware of the risks
of climate change than older people were. But
in the past 10 years, both the young and old
are becoming more aware of the risks.
Most New Zealanders now believe climate
change is real and that humans cause it.
When he retired, Yockney, a former teacher
and video producer, began reading about
climate change. He started to think about the
changes he needed to make, and the changes
he wanted others to make.
“You have to make changes. I’m not perfect – I
would like to fly around the world and do things
that retired people do – but we limit ourselves.”
He now rides his bicycle for short journeys, he
eats less meat and doesn’t often use his gas
heater, even in winter.
But for Yockney, who lives on the Kāpiti Coast
just north of Wellington in New Zealand,
making personal changes was not enough,
so he joined Low Carbon Kāpiti. Yockney
wants his grandchildren to be able to live a
healthy world.
Nearly 30% of the people on the Kāpiti coast
are over 65, compared with about 15% for
the whole of New Zealand. Former Kāpiti
coast mayor and now chair of the Kāpiti Coast
Climate Action Group, Jenny Rowan, said more
older people in the area are starting to join
the group.
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8
9
“People don’t think we’re crazy anymore. I am
a baby boomer. We are part of the problem.
Now we need to become part of the solution
and I’m seeing that happen here.”
© Guardian News and Media 2021
First published in The Guardian, 06/07/2021
10
Level: Elementary
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6
5
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4
Comprehension check
a. Answer the questions with information from the article.
1. Where does David Yockney live?
2. How old is he?
3. What was his job before he retired?
4. When did he start reading about the risks of climate change?
5. What changes has he made to his life to protect the environment?
6. Why does he want to stop or slow down climate change?
7. What is the name of the group he joined?
8. Which other group in his area is run by the former major?
Key language
a. Find words in the article that mean the opposite of the words in the table. Write them into
the table.
younger
problem
short
less
over
join
start
crazy
b. Now use some of the words from the table to make sentences about the article.
Discussion
a. Discuss these questions.
• Is climate change real? Is it caused by humans?
• Why are you sure that your answer is true?
• What changes could you make to your life to help stop climate change?
In your own words
a. Work in pairs or small groups and follow these instructions.
Imagine you create a local group to fight climate change. Most of the members of your climate action group are
under 50. You want more people 50 or older to join your group. Think of ways to tell people about your group, and
to get them to join. Choose one way that you think will work best and write, record, film, etc. Finally, present your
idea to the other students.
Level: Elementary
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Level: Elementary – Teacher’s notes
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3. Comprehension check
a. Students answer the questions with information from
the article.
Key:
1.
Yockney lives on the Kāpiti Coast just north of
Wellington in New Zealand.
2. 74 years old.
3. He was a teacher and video producer.
4. When he retired from work.
5.
He rides his bike on short journeys, he doesn’t
eat much meat, he doesn’t use his gas heater
much. He also doesn’t travel around the world.
6.
Because he wants his grandchildren to live in a
healthy world.
7. Low Carbon Kāpiti.
8. The Kāpiti Coast Climate Action Group.
4. Key Language
a. Students find words in the article with the opposite
meanings to those in the table and write them
into the table. Explain to students that we should
never use ‘crazy’ to describe mental illness. It is
a colloquial word we only use to describe people
who have very unusual ideas. Another opposite of
‘crazy’ could be ‘standard’, ‘typical’ or ‘usual’. ‘Crazy
ideas’ are often ideas that are innovative. You can
ask students what people view as ‘crazy ideas’,
especially in the context of environmental protection.
(E.g., ‘I heard about a woman who decided to live
with only 100 personal things. Some people think
that is a crazy idea!’)
younger older
problem solution
short long
more less
under over
leave join
start end
normal crazy
b. Students use some of the words to talk or write
sentences about the article.
1. Warmer
a. Students share their answers to the questions with
a partner or in small groups to introduce the topic of
climate change and its effects on the weather. If they
are able to say more about the weather events, ask
them to share this information with the group.
2. Key words
a. Students match the words from the word pools with
the definitions and write them on the lines provided.
Then they should find and highlight them in the
article to read them in context.
Key:
1. activist
2. research
3. cause
4. aware
5. retired
6. former
7. limit
8. mayor
9. chair
10. baby boomer
b. Before reading the article carefully, students
use some of the key words to fill the gaps in the
sentences to ensure that they understand and know
how the words are used in other contexts.
Key:
1. retired
2. limit
3. former
4. aware
5. chair
Article summary: Taking action against
climate change is no longer just something
that young people do. The results of a
10-year study shows that older people are
getting involved, too.
Time: 90 minutes, plus extra time for
presentations
Skills: Reading, Speaking, Writing
Language focus: Vocabulary
Materials needed: One copy of the
worksheet per student

Level: Elementary – Teacher’s notes
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Home Adults General English NEWS LESSONS
5. Discussion
a. Students discuss the questions directly from, or
connected to, the article.
6. In your own words
a. Whatever their age group, students work in pairs or
small groups and do the task on the worksheet. They
should present their final product – this might be a
short radio or TV spot, a newspaper ad, posters for
around town, a sketch that could be acted out, etc,
whatever they think will work best – to the rest of
the class.
If they are stuck for ideas, write this on the board or
on a shared screen to get them started:
Are you over [age]? Are you worried about […]? Do
you want your children and grandchildren to live in a
[….] world? Then join our group [name]. We meet on
[time place] ….
and then encourage them to add some further
information about what the group does, etc.
Note that this might generate unwlecome
stereotypical comments about generational groups,
especially if your students are homogenous. If such
comments come up, try steering the conversation to
compassionate reflection. You can ask: ‘Why do you
think some generations are less interested in climate
protection? What hardships did they have to face in
their youth that we do not have now? How different
was access to information and the environmental
science back then?’

Fighting Climate Change - Elementary News Article .pdf

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Fighting Climate Change - Elementary News Article .pdf