Climate Change Webpicks

Posted by Speakeasy News > Wednesday 27 September 2017 > Webpicks


Al Gore's Climate Reality Project site is a mine of materials to work on the environment.

Many of them are regrouped under Climate 101. That is also the title of a downloadable 18-page booklet which would be perfect for use with B1-B2-level students.

An excellent document for working on Education aux médias is this 5-minute video which compares the way in which the cigarette industry resisted the connection between cigarettes and cancer to the way that the climate-change science is denied by industry. B1-B2

Selfie Video Pledges
Al Gore and the makers of An Inconvenient Sequel encourage viewers to sign a pledge to "Be Inconvenient". Signatories from around the world have uploaded short videos of their pledges. They're a great resource for listening comprehension, and as examples for pupils of how to make a short speech themselves. The level varies but you can find videos suitable from A2.

This TED talk by Al Gore is wonderfully clear, but it is 25 minutes long, so you would need to pick a section for class use. The segment from 3'16" to 4'12" where Gore shows graphs of average temperatures is both rich in information and relatively simple in terms of comprehension. It can be used even from A2+.

24 Hours of Reality
In December each year, Gore hosts a 24-hour webcast called 24 Hours of Reality, in opposition to climate-change deniers. The site has lots of videos of examples of projects around the world, and celebrity endorsements. Because it's international, there are videos en several languages – you might want to pass on the link to colleagues who teach other languages.

We loved this one about the U.S.'s first "net zero" school: thanks to energy-saving changes, and solar panels that produce electricity, this Kentucky primary school  no longer has to pay for energy and is actually paid $35,000 a year by the energy company. Redesigning kitchen to reduce energy and removing deep-fat fryers also means that school lunches are healthier.

The film is five minutes long and features teachers, administrators and students who are part of the Student Energy Team. The Kentucky accents will be unfamiliar but the speech is relatively short and the images reinforce what is being said.

Usable from A2+. Very discussable.

 



Webpicks Useful websites and online tools for classroom use
> Ecology on the Web
> Videos of a Teenage Eco-Warrior
Ready to Use Downloadable resources ready to use in class
> Eco-Warrior
Notion(s) culturelle(s) : "L’idée de progrès" "Espaces et échanges" "Éducation aux médias" "École et société"