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1. Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2021.
Home >> Adults >> General English >> NEWS LESSONS
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‘A role model’: how Seville is turning leftover oranges into electricity
Level: Elementary / Pre-Intermediate
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Warmer
Put these forms of energy production in order from 1 (best for the environment) to 6 (worst for the
environment). Give reasons for your choice.
wind farms
solar power
oil-fired power stations
coal-fired power stations
nuclear power
hydroelectric power
Key words
Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text.
blossom ferment grid methane pedestrians
1. All the flowers that grow on a tree are known as .
2. are people who are walking, not driving.
3. is a gas with no colour or smell that people use as a fuel.
4. When oranges and other fruit , chemical changes in them
produce gas and alcohol.
5. A is a network of wires that carries the electricity supply.
emissions purification recycle self-sufficient sustainability
6. If you waste materials, you use them again.
7. is using methods that do not harm the environment.
8. is a process that removes dirt from water.
9. are gases that go into the air.
10. If you are , you can get all the things you need yourself without
help from other people.

2. Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2021.
Home >> Adults >> General English >> NEWS LESSONS
‘A role model’: how Seville is turning leftover oranges into electricity
Level: Elementary / Pre-Intermediate
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Stephen Burgen
23 February, 2021
In spring, the smell of orange blossom is
in the air in Seville. In winter, the forty-eight
thousand orange trees drop 5.7 million kilos
of fruit onto the streets. This is dangerous
for pedestrians and a problem for the city’s
cleaning department.
Now a new project will produce electricity from
these oranges. The oranges produce methane
gas when they ferment and the project will use
this gas to make clean electricity.
Emasesa, the city’s water company, will use
thirty-five tonnes of fruit to produce clean
energy to operate one of the city’s water
purification plants. As the oranges ferment, the
methane they produce will drive the generator.
“We hope that soon we will be able to recycle
all the city’s oranges,” said Benigno López, the
head of Emasesa’s environmental department.
He believes that this would cost the city about
€250,000. “The oranges are a problem for
the city and can produce something valuable
from waste.”
At first, Emasesa will use the energy to operate
the water purification plants, but they plan
to put extra electricity back into the electricity
grid. The enormous amount of fruit could bring
very positive results. One thousand kilos will
produce fifty kilowatt-hours. That is enough
to provide electricity to five homes for one
day. If the city could recycle all its oranges,
this would produce enough energy for
seventy-three thousand homes.
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“Emasesa is now a role model in Spain for
sustainability and the fight against climate
change,” said Juan Espadas Cejas, the mayor
of Seville. “We are especially investing money
in the water purification plants that use almost
forty per cent of the energy we need to provide
the city with drinking water and sanitation,”
he said. “This project will help us to reach our
targets for reducing emissions and become
self-sufficient in energy.”
The oranges look pretty when they are on the
trees but, when they fall under the wheels of
cars, the streets become sticky with juice and
black with flies. The city council employs about
two hundred people to collect the fruit.
The Arabs brought the bitter oranges to Spain
from Asia around one thousand years ago.
The southern Spanish climate is good for
the oranges and they grow all over the region.
© Guardian News and Media 2021
First published in The Guardian, 23/02/2021
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3. Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2021.
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‘A role model’: how Seville is turning leftover oranges into electricity
Level: Elementary / Pre-Intermediate
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Comprehension check
Answer the questions using information from the article.
1. How many orange trees are there in Seville?
2. How much fruit do they drop onto the streets each winter?
3. What gas do oranges produce when they ferment?
4. How much would it cost the city to recycle all the oranges?
5. How much electricity will one thousand kilos of fruit produce?
6. What happens when oranges fall under the wheels of cars?
7. Who brought bitter Seville oranges to the region?
8. When did this happen?
Using key language
Match the words in the left-hand column with those in the right-hand column to make expressions
from the text.
1. drinking a. model
2. clean b. change
3. water c. energy
4. role d. purification
5. per e. water
6. climate f. cent
Discussion
Discuss these questions.
• Should we recycle everything? Why? Why not?
• Should all energy be green energy? Why? Why not?
In your own words
Write a short summary of the text by completing these beginnings.
In Seville, the problem with oranges is …
Now, they are planning to …
If they recycle all the oranges, …
Emasesa is a role model in Spain because …

4. Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2021.
Home >> Adults >> General English >> NEWS LESSONS
Level: Elementary / Pre-Intermediate – Teacher’s notes
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‘A role model’: how Seville is turning leftover oranges into electricity
Article summary: The article describes how
waste oranges could be used to generate
electricity.
Time: 60 minutes
Skills: Reading, Speaking, Writing
Language focus: Vocabulary
Materials needed: One copy of the
worksheet per student
1. Warmer
There is no correct answer to this activity as the order
will depend on each student’s individual ideas about
which methods of generating power are better for the
environment and which cause more environmental
damage. However, energy production that is based on
fossil fuels (e.g. coal and oil) is generally considered
worse for the environment. Check that students
understand the meaning of hydroelectric power (where
water power is used to generate electricity, usually after
building a large dam). Make sure that students give
reasons for their choice. You could also ask students to
think of at least one advantage and one disadvantage of
each method before they put them in order.
2. Key words
Ask students to do the exercise individually and
then compare their answers in pairs or small groups.
Encourage students to use some of this vocabulary
actively by asking them questions such as ‘Is it
dangerous to be a pedestrian in your city?’, ‘What
things do we usually recycle?’ and ‘How can people
become more self-sufficient?’ Point out that the electricity
grid is the network that carries all the electricity of a
particular region or country. Highlight some examples
of sustainability, e.g. using wind or solar power and
recycling waste. A famous example of blossom is the pink
cherry blossom in spring in Japan.
Key:
1. blossom
2. pedestrians
3. methane
4. ferment
5. grid
6. recycle
7. sustainability
8. purification
9. emissions
10. self-sufficient
3. Comprehension check
Point out that the information needed for the answers is
in the order in which it appears in the text.
Key:
1. forty-eight thousand
2. 5.7 million kilos
3. methane
4. about €250,000
5. fifty kilowatt-hours
6. The streets become sticky and black with flies.
7. the Arabs
8. around 1,000 years ago
4. Using key language
Encourage students to look back in the text to check
their answers. Highlight the term ‘role model’ (someone
whose behaviour is considered to be a good example for
other people to copy) and ask students if they have a role
model or if they can think of someone who is a good role
model for other people.
Key:
1. e
2. c
3. d
4. a
5. f
6. b

5. Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2021.
Home >> Adults >> General English >> NEWS LESSONS
‘A role model’: how Seville is turning leftover oranges into electricity
Level: Elementary / Pre-Intermediate – Teacher’s notes
5. Discussion
Allow students time to note down their ideas about each
question and encourage them to say why they agree or
disagree with each one.
6. In your own words
Explain that the summary that students produce
should be based on the four beginnings they are given.
They should use the information in the text to write
full sentences that together will produce a coherent
summary. This activity could also be done as a
homework activity.
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