Урок-конференция на тему: «Ecological Problems»
методическая разработка по английскому языку (9 класс)

Урок-конференция на тему: «Ecological Problems»

                                          The International Ecology

Conference

The role play

Данная форма проведения урока предполагает: использование коллективной формы работы; привитие интереса к предмету; развитие умений и навыков самостоятельной работы; активизация деятельности учащихся; более полное осуществление практической, воспитательной, образовательной и развивающей целей обучения.

Урок-конференция является примером ролевой игры. В данном случае учащимся были предложены следующие роли:

Цели урока:

а) познавательный аспект:

- совершенствование навыков говорения по теме “Ecological Problems”;

- расширение словарного запаса учащихся по данной теме.

б) развивающий аспект:

- развитие творческих способностей учащихся;

- развитие логического мышления и языковой догадки.

в) воспитательный аспект:

- воспитание бережного отношения к окружающей среде, любви к природе;

- осознание экологических проблем и воспитание гуманного отношения к природе;

- воспитание патриотизма по отношению к малой Родине.

Оборудование: компьютер, компьютерный проектор. Класс оформлен к стиле конференц-зала.

Contents:

 1 Presentation:

 2 Reports:

P1: Climatic changes (Great Britain)

P2: Natural world in danger (Canada)

P3: Information of the representatives from France (habitats),

P4: China (Pandas),

P5: Egypt (rhinos) and Australia (ecological balance)

P6: Water Pollution (Russia)

P7: Air pollution (U.S.A)

P8: Discussing: car problems

  3 Conclusion-Ecology of Man

Ход урока

Организационный момент

Presentation of the leader (chairman):

Dear ladies and gentlemen! Today we are greeting participants of the international ecology conference! There are representatives from over 10 countries. The main questions we are going to discuss today are the environmental problems. The problem is that the Earth is in danger. The environment is polluted. The water which we drink is poisoned. Many animals and birds on the Earth are disappearing. Many of them are in danger. We must find the right balance between land, people, and animals. The word environment means simply what is around us.

There are the names of environmental problems of today:

• Climatic changes;
• Water pollution;
• Air pollution;
• Nuclear pollution;

Leader: The representatives of Great Britain, Ms/ Mr.….will present her report about the climatic changes.

 Representatives of Great Britain: Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, Its well-known climate is the weather; a certain place has over a long period of time. Climate has a very important influence on plants, animals and humans. But recently climate all over the world has changed a lot especially in the European part. Many people say that the climate nowadays is going “crazy”. These are some facts proving it:

1. The summer of 1972 in Moscow was so hot that the forests around the capital caught fire; smoke filled the city and stayed for several days.
2. In January 1987 the temperature in St. Petersburg was about -40C, snow fell on.
3. In 1987 and 1990 Britain and France had terrible storms. The strong winds ruined a lot of forests, millions of trees.
4. This year the winter temperature in Europe is a few degrees higher than usual.

Some scientists think the world is becoming hotter. If you compare Moscow winter and summer temperatures at the beginning of the 20th century and its end, you will see that climate has really changed. Winters have become warmer.

Sometimes there is little snow in January and there were winters, when it rained (no snowed) on the New Year’s Eve. Many people say that is so, because of the “Greenhouse effect”. Nowadays winter and summer temperatures in many places have become higher. Why? During the last 100 years people have produce a lot of Carbon dioxide. This gas in the atmosphere works like glass in a greenhouse. It last heat get in, but it doesn’t let much heat get out. So the atmosphere becomes warmer. Where does the carbon dioxide come from? People and animals breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. We produce carbon dioxide when we burn things. Trees take this gas from air and produce oxygen. For the last few years people have cut down and burnt big areas of rainforest. This means there are fewer trees and of course more carbon dioxide. As we see the climate in different parts of the world changes a little from year to year. These changes can be dangerous for our fragile planet, which needs protection.

Thank you for your attention.

Leader: Ms/Mr.….from Canada will speak about natural that is in danger.

Representative from Canada: Ladies and Gentlemen: For thousands of years people lived in harmony with the environment, but with the industrial revolution our negative influence on Nature began to increase. Forests are called ’’ Green Lungs “of the planet. A hectare of the forest can absorb about 10 tons of carbon dioxide and produce about 20 tons of oxygen. So during an hour a plot of the forest can absorb carbon dioxide that 200 humans breathe out.

Huge forests are cut down in Africa, South America and Asia for the needs of industries in Europe and USA. Every year over 100 000km2 of forests are destroyed for different uses. The lost of the forest breaks the oxygen balance in the air. As the result, some species of mammals, birds, insects, reptiles, fish and plants have disappeared and keep disappearing. Rivers and lakes dry up. One of the most recent examples is the Aral Sea, that has practically disappeared because of Man’s activity and its coasts are turning into a desert.

Many species of animals are very rare, almost extinct. It means that they are dying out, because Man has destroyed their homes, their habitats. You know that a lot of forests are damaged by fire, so many creatures are endangered. For example, you’ll never see a dodo. That large bird couldn’t fly and died out many years ago. The last passenger pigeon died in 1914.

Nowadays tigers have become endangered animals: their number is so few, that they easily can die out completely. People killed many tigers for fun and for tigers beautiful skins. Hunters kill elephants for their tusks, which are used for jewelry. The sea tortoise, dolphins, whales and other sea animals are endangered too.

The blue whale, which is the largest animal in the world, weighs more than 20tons, but it is in danger as well. People kill whales for food and for their fat that is used in perfume industry. Every year a quarter of millions of dolphins are destroyed.

They are the cleverest animals and very useful for the human.

The ‘’ Red Rock” is created for protection and saving rare and extinct species of animals and plants. You can find the names of some fish and plants and animals there. The national parks and captivities play a very important role for the protection of Nature, keeping and saving rare and extinct species. We must find the right balance between land, people and animals.

Thank you for your attention.

P1: (Поднимает руку.)

Leader:  Present yourself, sir/miss please.

P1: Representative from France:  Ladies and gentlemen I am from France. I’d like to add some information, concerning this problem. The problem of destroying of habitats for animals is important for all continents, but it is especially serious for wet tropics, where there

Is the largest loss of forests. Only for 3 last centuries our planet lost 120 species of animals and during the nearest 30 years 100 species will disappear else. The volume of international contraband trade of rare animals and birds increases from year to year. A million of birds die in the nets every year. The sale of elephant’s bones, hypo’s horns, skins of leopards and zebras bring enormous money.25th the most valuable species of fish were destroyed at all in the world ocean, because of massive fishing and terrible pollution of water. Man should solve ecological problem of water as soon as possible.

P2 :( Поднимает руку)

Leader: Present yourself, sir/miss, please.

P2: Ladies and gentlemen I’m from China and I want to tell you about pandas. Pandas are one of the rarest animals in the world. They live only in a small area in the mountains of southwestern China in Tibet. There are only 500-1000 pandas surviving in the wild and the number is decreasing all the time. There are about 100 more in zoos and research stations. Although they are protected, pandas are still poached for their skins. Because they are so rare, their skins are very valuable.

Pandas live in mountain forests and can only eat bamboo. As their habitat is getting smaller and smaller, pandas are in danger of dying from the shortage of suitable food. Zoos are making effort to breed pandas in captivity, but it is very difficult. Also, baby pandas weigh only 100 grams as birth, so they need to be looked after very carefully. Since 1963 about 50 baby pandas have been born in captivity and around half of them are still alive today.

P3: (Поднимает руку). Excuse me, may I tell you some words about rhinos?

Leader: You are welcome. Where are you from?

P3: Ladies and gentlemen I’m from Egypt. It will be interesting for you to listen to me about rhinos. Most rhinos live in Africa. There are 2 African species: the black rhinos, which lives in East Africa and the white rhino, which is found in Southern Africa. There are also a few rhinos in Asia, mainly in India. Over the last 20 years, numbers of rhinos have dropped rapidly: there are now fewer than 10000 in the whole world, and the number is still falling. The main threat to rhinos is from poachers, who hunt for their ‘horns’, which are in fact made of stiff hair. The horns are sold in the Middle East, where they are used to make dagger handles, and also in the Far East, where they are used in medicines. Trading in rhino’s horn is illegal, but it still continuing. Unless more is done to protect them, they will almost certainly become extinct.

Thank you.

P4: (Поднимает руку.)

Leader: Present yourself, sir/miss, please.

P4:  Ladies and gentlemen. I’m from Australia. I want to tell you about the problem of ecological balance. There are always natural enemies for different species of animals, insects, birds, reptiles and those regulate the number of every species. Australia can be good example of a country where people broke the ecological balance and are suffering from it. It happened because of two animals were brought to the country by the Europeans and have become wild in Australia. These are the buffalo, brought from India and the European rabbit. Buffaloes were brought to the north coast as work animals early in the 19th century. Each year hunters shoot thousand of them.

Rabbits were brought more than 100 years ago. There are now so many of them in Australia that sheep farmers have constant wars against the rabbits because they destroy much grass.

What should people remember for it not happen again? It’s dangerous to break the ecological balance in nature and the human should think of results of his activity.

Thank you for your attention.

Leader: The most dangerous pollution is water pollution. The report of Ms/Mr. from Russia is presented to you now.

Representative from Russia: Ladies and gentlemen. I’m from Russia. One is the most important global ecological problems in the world is water pollution. The Pacific Ocean has suffered from nuclear pollution, because the French government orders to test nuclear weapons there. Many seas used for dumping industrial and nuclear waste. This waste poisons and kills fish and sea animals in it. “Nuclear poisoned” fish can be eaten by people. No medicines can help people in this case. Many rivers and lakes are poisoned too. There is not enough oxygen in water. In such places all the birds leave their habitats and many plants die too. Factories and chemicals plants use the water; it becomes poisoned and is poured back into rivers, lakes and seas. The mass media tell that now the rivers and the lakes in the West European countries are polluted badly. For example, the water bodies of England, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Sweden and Italy are in a disaster situation. The river Rhine is a source of safe water for 20mln of west-European population, but it’s poisoned with dangerous waste, that damage people’s health. Man starts to realize that his environment is not just his own town or country, but the whole earth. That’s why people all over the world should think and speak so much about ecology.

Thank you for your attention.

Leader: Ms/Mr.…. from the U.S.A. presents the next problem.

Representative from the USA: Ladies and gentlemen: When the American decided to clean up the Statue of Liberty in 1986, the first thing they had to do, was to make a hole in her nose and take away the acid rain, that  collected inside. The polluted air of New York had mixed with the rain and damage the statue badly. You certainly know, that most of pollution in big cities comes from cars and buses. People are told: not to be in direct sunlight, because ultra-violet radiation from sun can cause skin cancer. Normally, the ozone layer in the atmosphere protects us from such radiation, but if there are holes in the ozone layer ultra-violet radiation can get to earth. Many scientists think that these holes are the result of air pollution. Nuclear power station can go wrong and cause nuclear pollution. Let everybody remember: we live only once and not a very long life. We have one earth for everybody who lives it.

Thank you very much for your attention.

Leader: I want to attract your attention to the car problems because the cars are the world’s biggest air pollutes .Let listen to suggestions and plans of the representatives from different countries.

P1: I’m from Spain. We are going to ask our car companies for making smaller cars. Smaller cars use less patrol.

P2: I am from Great Britain. We are going to change the type of petrol we use .We want to ask oil companies to make clear petrol.

P3: The Italians have plans to change the way, we use cars. We want to protect our historic cities. Many Italian cities are going to stop car traffic in downtown.

P4: Germany is the country in the center of Europe.  We want o make people use the public transport system more and decrease the number of private cars. We plan to have cheaper buses and trains in our cities.

P5: I am from Russia. The Russian scientists suggest transferring automobile transport on nature gas and electricity. There is the new designing of electromobiles, those have no harmful pollution. Besides we plan the new system of regulation for traffic in the streets of our cities to avoid “traffic jams”.

Leader: Representative of Green Peace: Ladies and gentlemen: Greenpeace is an international environmental organization. It was founded in 1969 by a group of Canadian environmentalists. The whole world knows about the Greenpeace actions to stop hunting whales or killing baby seals. They block the way to the ships that try to dump waste. Sometimes Greenpeace activity can be quite dangerous. For example, on July 10, 1985 the Greenpeace ship “Rainbow Warrior” that was on its way to French Polynesia to protest against tests, was destroyed by French agents. Greenpeace has offices in the countries of the world including Russia.  Greenpeace members are often referred to as “greens”. The “greens” are the groups of people whose aim is protection of natural things, for example plants and animals.

Thank you.

Leader:   The representative from Japan wants to give us some information.

P7: Ladies and gentlemen: I want to remind you that ecology of man. Everyone should remember how long litter lasts:

• traffic tickets-1 month;
• banana peel-up to 6 month;
• wool sock-1 year;
• wooden stake-13 years;
• painted wooden stake-13 years;
• wax paper cup-5 years;
• tin,can-100 years;
• aluminum, plastic bottles-up to 500 years;
• glass containers –forever.

Therefore, please pick up litter you see as you are walking, throw away waste, and recycle bottles and cans. Keep the Earth clean!

Conclusion

Leader: Let me sound important actions (decisions) to protect the environment:

We should:

1. Ask our governments to make laws to protect air, water and soil;
2. Develop international cooperation to solve ecological problems together;
3. Save water, gas, energy and other natural resources;
4. Keep your towns, cities and countryside clean.

We shouldn’t:

1. Waste water, gas, energy and other natural resources;

2. Pollute water, air, soil;

3. Dump or pour industrial waste into rivers, lakes, seas, oceans;

4. Turn the planet into a pile of rubbish.

And at last there are some advices for everybody:

-Walk or use a bicycle instead of going by car;

-Don’t litter with paper, and bottles;

-Recycle used materials such as: metal, bottles and paper;

-Plant more trees;

-Save energy, turn off the light when you leave the room;

-Clear rubbish from lakes and rivers.

                   Please answer the questions.

     1. What does the world environment mean?

     2. Does our environment have any problems?

          3. What makes the sea waters dangerous nowadays?

          4. Why is it dangerous to dump industrial waste in the sea?

    5. Why is it not safe to be in direct sunlight in certain place?

    6. Why are nuclear power stations dangerous?

          7. What other ecological problems can you say?

Список  литературы:

 1.УМК “Spotlight”, Ваулина Ю. Е., Дули Д.

2. Luke Prodromou. Rising star. An Intermediate Course. Student’s Book. -      MacMillan, 2007.

3. Luke Prodromou. Rising star. An Intermediate Course. Practice Book. - MacMillan, 2007.

4.Журнал “Speak Out”. Hot Issues.// Глосса-пресс.

5. Баранова Л.Н. Think Globally, Act Locally. Нижний Тагил, 1995