British Council Presents

Dear Teachers!

British Council is launching a new page in newspaper “English” – materials for English teachers and learners. The materials take the form of newspaper articles on a range of topics accompanied by follow up exercises, a glossary, and activities such as linguistic puzzles and jokes.

The materials are developed by UK ELT specialists and are based on modern approaches associated with communicative methodology, contextual grammar and ‘real-life’ English.

The texts can be exploited in a number of ways: for comprehension, for language work, for interpretation and translation, and as a stimulus for speaking and writing. They can be used both in the classroom and for autonomous studies. Using the glossary, learners can develop their dictionary skills, reading skills such as understanding meaning from context, identifying key words, recognition skills such as distinguishing between active and passive vocabulary, in addition to developing reading comprehension skills, the articles provide a focus on the practical use of grammar and lexis.

The articles and follow-up tasks can be adapted to suit your teaching objectives and syllabus, enabling you to provide up-to-date information on current topics and issues. The topics reflect wide-ranging and will help students to develop their critical thinking-skills. The articles can also be used for extra practice for the Unified State Examination (EGE), (in particular, the reading section).

These articles are available exclusively in “English” but you can find further activities and other materials for learning English on www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish.

We would like to remind you that our new series of activities to support English language teaching will be available from the end of August. Visit our Website for details: www. britishcouncil.ru.

Aeroplanes and Global Warming by Mike Rayner

Gimme a ticket for an aeroplane,
Ain’t got time to take a fast train.
Lonely days are gone, I’m a-goin’ home,
’Cause my baby just a-wrote me a letter.

Wayne Carson Thompson, ‘The Letter’

Have you ever looked out of the window of a passenger plane from 30 000 feet at the vast expanses of empty ocean and uninhabited land, and wondered how people can have any major effect on the Earth? I have. But it is now becoming pretty clear that we are causing a great deal of damage to the natural environment. And the planes that rush us in comfort to destinations around the globe, contribute to one of the biggest environmental problems that we face today – global warming.

For those of us lucky enough to have money to spend, and the free time to spend it in, there are a huge number of fascinating places to explore. The cost of air transport has decreased rapidly over the years, and for many people, especially in rich countries, it is now possible to fly around the world for little more than the contents of our weekly pay packets.

Unfortunately, planes produce far more carbon dioxide (CO2) than any other form of public transport, and CO2 is now known to be a greenhouse gas, a gas that traps the heat of the sun, causing the temperature of the Earth to rise. Scientists predict that in the near future the climate in Britain will resemble that of the Mediterranean, ironically a popular destination for British holidaymakers flying off to seek the sun. If global warming continues, we may also find that many tourist destinations such as the Maldives have disappeared under water because of rising sea levels.

As usual, people in the developing world are having to deal with problems created mainly by those in developed countries. Beatrice Schell, a spokeswoman for the European Federation for Transport and Environment says that: ‘One person flying in a plane for one hour is responsible for the same greenhouse gas emissions as a typical Bangladeshi in a whole year.’ And every year jet aircraft generate almost as much carbon dioxide as the entire African continent produces.

When you are waiting impatiently in a crowded departure lounge for a delayed flight or trying to find luggage that has gone astray, plane fares may seem unreasonably high, but in reality we are not paying enough for air travel. Under the ‘polluter pays principle’, where users pay for the bad effects they cause, the damage caused by planes is not being paid for. Aircraft fuel is not taxed on international flights and planes, unlike cars, and are not inspected for CO2 emissions. Also, the Kyoto agreement does not cover greenhouse gases produced by planes, leaving governments to decide for themselves who is responsible.

So what can be done to solve the problem? Well, although aircraft engine manufacturers are making more efficient engines and researching alternative fuels such as hydrogen, it will be decades before air travel is not damaging the environment. Governments don’t seem to be taking the problem seriously, so it is up to individual travellers to do what they can to help.

The most obvious way of dealing with the problem is to not travel by plane at all. Environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth encourage people to travel by train and plan holidays nearer home. However, with prices of flights at an all time low, and exotic destinations more popular than ever, it is hard to persuade British tourists to choose Blackpool instead of Bangkok, or Skegness over Singapore. Friends of the Earth also advises using teleconferencing for international business meetings, but most business people still prefer to meet face to face.

However, there is a way of offsetting the carbon dioxide we produce when we travel by plane. A company called Future Forests, whose supporters include Coldplay and Pink Floyd, offers a service that can relieve the guilty consciences of air travellers. The Future Forest website calculates the amount of CO2 you are responsible for producing on your flight, and, for a small fee, will plant the number of trees that will absorb this CO2.

Another company, www.co2.org, offers a similar service, but invests your money in energy-saving projects, such as providing energy-efficient light bulbs to villagers in Mauritius.

Yesterday I returned to Japan from England, and was happy to pay Future Forests £25 to plant the three trees, which balance my share of the CO2 produced by my return flight. Now the only thing making me lose sleep is jet lag.

Word Search

See if you can find these words in the grid. They can be horizontal, vertical, diagonal and backwards.

TRANSPORT

A_TE_NAT_VE

GR_ENH_USE

D_M_GE

PA_SE_G_R

D_STIN_T_ON

P_L_UT_R

E_FIC_ENT

S_VI_G

EX_TI_

Joke teacher

Question: What’s the difference between a tired teacher and an angry dog?

Answer: One of them marks badly, while the other barks madly.

This English joke works by swapping letters around. It’s like a puzzle to work out when someone asks you the question. Look at this next question and the first half of the answer. Can you work out the second half of the answer?

Question: What’s the difference between bad weather and an injured lion?

Answer: One of them pours with rain and the other..

VOCABULARY

Five words/phrases from the text:

• vast: extensive

• uninhabited: without residents

• developed: advanced in sophistication

• exotic: unique and unusual, not local or native

• efficient: functioning in the best way with the least effort

EXERCISE ONE

Vocabulary gap fill. Now use the five words/phrases to fill the gaps in the sentences below:

The village had been ______[1] since 1995 when the last family left.

People living in ______[2] countries cannot fully understand the problems of the poor.

Mangoes and papayas are ______[3] fruits in the UK.

Cycling is an ________[4] way to travel around the village.

The desert is a ________[5] open space that is home to all kinds of strange creatures.

EXERCISE TWO

Comprehension: true or false. Decide whether these sentences are TRUE or FALSE according to the text:

1 It is getting more and more expensive to travel by plane.

2 Soon the weather in Britain will be similar to Spain.

3 Planes on international flights pay extra taxes.

4 Scientists are looking for different fuels that are not as harmful.

5 Friends of the Earth are telling people not to travel at all.

Answers:

Vocabulary: 1. uninhabited; 2. developed; 3. exotic; 4. efficient; 5. vast.

Comprehension: 1. False; 2. True; 3. False; 4. True; 5. False.

Learn English with the British Council www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish For more news visit www.britishcouncil.ru