Earth Day ESL Lesson Plan

OBJECTIVE & OVERVIEW

This Earth Day ESL lesson plan provides activities, PDF worksheets, and digital materials designed for pre-intermediate A2 - B1 students. In this lesson, students will:

• Describe and discuss a series of images depicting environmental scenarios
• Take a short quiz to test their knowledge of Earth Day
• Watch a short video about Earth Day, its history, and its impacts
• Engage in discussions about Earth Day and environmental initiatives
• Use the quantifiers "too much" and "too many" in describing environmental issues
• Create an initiative and take part in an earth-friendly campaign

PREVIEW & DISCUSSION

In the Preview activity of this Earth Day ESL lesson plan, students will first describe and discuss a series of images related to the environment. These images depict various scenarios such as an oil spill in the ocean, plastic litter on the streets, people using reusable bags and refillable bottles, and recycling. After describing the images, students will engage in a discussion to identify which images show positive impacts on the environment, which show negative impacts, and brainstorm more examples of both positive and negative environmental impacts.

In Part 2, students take a quiz about Earth Day, its significance, and key events associated with it. They come back to this quiz after watching the video in the next phase. After completing the quiz, students talk about what people can do on Earth Day to raise awareness and appreciation for the planet. They use the images to discuss ideas. These images show people at a demonstration, volunteering and tree planting, and picking up trash on the beach. They’re also encouraged to share their own ideas.

VIEWING ACTIVITY

During the viewing activity, students watch a short video about how Earth Day started, some interesting facts about it, and some government acts that were created from it. They take the same short quiz about Earth Day as they took in the Preview activity. Then, they can check their answers.These are questions related to the origin of Earth Day, its significance, and key events associated with it. Then, there is a number matching activity. Students listen to some facts about Earth Day and must match the facts to them. The final part of the viewing activity is about the 5 positive environmental impacts mentioned in the video.

DISCUSSION, VOCABULARY, & GRAMMAR

In the Viewing Follow-up activity, students will discuss questions related to Earth Day and the environment. They will express their thoughts on the creation of Earth Day, and discuss what earth-friendly activities their local area or country could benefit from. Following this discussion, students will read sentences containing the quantifiers "too many" and "too many" and choose the correct options to demonstrate their understanding of the use of them with countable and uncountable nouns. Finally, they will describe a series of images using these quantifiers to identify environmental problems depicted in the images.

THE GREEN TEAM! EARTH-FRIENDLY CAMPAIGNS

In this communicative activity, students apply their learning and promote environmental awareness in their community, school, or workplace. Students imagine that they're part of the "green team" and plan a campaign for Earth Day to address specific environmental problems in their school, company, or community. They will identify current environmental issues, propose initiatives to tackle these problems, present their ideas, and present these initiatives to the class/teacher.

FOLLOW-UP DISCUSSION TOPICS

The second option offers discussion questions and topics related to the environment. In the discussions, students get the chance to practice using "too much" and "too many" while exploring and discussing environmental issues. These include opinions and personal experiences about how we use water, energy, cars, single-use plastics and the impacts of using them.

BENEFITS OF USING THIS EARTH DAY ESL LESSON PLAN

Enhanced Environmental Awareness: Through engaging activities and discussions, students develop a deeper understanding of Earth Day, environmental issues, and their impacts on the planet. This heightened awareness empowers students to make informed decisions and take action to protect the environment.

Engaging Activities: The lesson plan provides a variety of activities, including image description, quizzes, video watching, discussions, and campaign planning, ensuring that students are actively involved in learning about Earth Day and environmental issues.

Comprehensive Content: The lesson plan covers a range of topics related to Earth Day, environmental awareness, and the use of quantifiers in describing environmental issues. This provides students with a well-rounded understanding of the topic.