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Brazil Fury Over Britain’s Toxic WasteBrazilians are furious over 1,400 tonnes of British garbage arriving at its ports. The stinking waste included toilet seats, dirty diapers, leaking batteries and used syringes. The rotting cargo arrived in 64 different containers at three Brazilian ports earlier this year. It was destined for Brazilian waste recycling companies. The recyclers were angry over the contents as they were expecting only recyclable plastic. Brazil has demanded that Britain take back its rubbish. Roberto Messias of Brazil’s environment protection agency said: "We will ask for the repatriation of this garbage….Clearly, Brazil is not the rubbish dump of the world." Messias made it clear the importing companies would receive heavy fines.
The British Embassy in Brasilia released a statement saying it was investigating the case. Officials said Britain “would not hesitate to act” if any British company had broken international laws. Both Brazil and Britain signed up to the Basel Convention on the movement of hazardous and toxic waste in 1992. The embassy said: "The UK takes a strong global lead on protection of the environment and the safeguarding of human health, and will do all it can to stamp out the illegal trade in waste.” Public anger over the issue increased when the police found thousands of dirty toys in a container with a note in Portuguese that said: “These toys should be washed before being given to poor Brazilian children.”
WARM-UPS1. BRAZIL: Walk around the class and talk to other students about Brazil. Change partners often. Sit with your first partner(s) and share your findings. 2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.
Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently. 3. WASTE: What are your views on waste? Complete this table. Talk with your partner(s) about what you wrote. Change again and share what you heard.
4. WASTE DISPOSAL: Students A strongly believe people must pay to throw away their waste; Students B strongly believe the opposite. Change partners again and talk about your conversations. 5. BEING FURIOUS: What makes you furious? Rate these and share your ratings with your partner: 10 = this makes me steaming mad; 1 = no problem. Change partners and share your ratings again.
6. TOXIC: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘toxic’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories. BEFORE READING / LISTENING1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):
2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:
3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one. combination is possible):
WHILE READING / LISTENINGGAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.
LISTENING: Listen and fill in the gaps.Brazilians _________________ 1,400 tonnes of British garbage arriving at its ports. The stinking waste included toilet seats, dirty diapers, leaking batteries _________________. The rotting cargo arrived in 64 different containers at three Brazilian ports earlier this year. _________________ Brazilian waste recycling companies. The recyclers were angry over the contents as they were expecting only _________________. Brazil has demanded that Britain take back its rubbish. Roberto Messias of Brazil’s environment _________________ said: "We will ask for the repatriation of this garbage….Clearly, Brazil is not the rubbish dump of the world." Messias made it clear the importing companies would _________________. The British Embassy in Brasilia ___________________ saying it was investigating the case. Officials said Britain “would _________________” if any British company had broken international laws. Both Brazil and Britain _________________ Basel Convention on the movement of hazardous and toxic waste in 1992. The embassy said: "The UK takes a _________________ on protection of the environment and the safeguarding of human health, and will do all it can to stamp out the illegal trade in waste.” Public anger over ___________________ when the police found thousands of dirty toys in a container with a note in Portuguese that said: “These toys should be washed before _________________ poor Brazilian children.” AFTER READING / LISTENING1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘toxic’ and ‘waste’.
2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.
3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…? 4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings. 5. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:
STUDENT WASTE SURVEYWrite five GOOD questions about waste in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.
WASTE DISCUSSIONSTUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
LANGUAGEBrazilians are (1) ____ over 1,400 tonnes of British garbage arriving at its ports. The stinking waste included toilet seats, dirty diapers, leaking batteries and (2) ____ syringes. The rotting cargo arrived in 64 different containers at three Brazilian ports earlier this year. It was destined (3) ____ Brazilian waste recycling companies. The recyclers were angry (4) ____ the contents as they were expecting only recyclable plastic. Brazil has demanded that Britain (5) ____ back its rubbish. Roberto Messias of Brazil’s environment protection agency said: "We will ask for the repatriation of this garbage….Clearly, Brazil is not the rubbish dump of the world." Messias made it clear the importing companies would (6) ____ heavy fines. The British Embassy in Brasilia released a statement saying it was (7) ____ the case. Officials said Britain “would not hesitate to (8) ____” if any British company had broken international laws. Both Brazil and Britain signed (9) ____ to the Basel Convention on the movement of hazardous and toxic waste in 1992. The embassy said: "The UK takes a (10) ____ global lead on protection of the environment and the safeguarding of human health, and will do all it can to stamp out the illegal trade in waste.” Public (11) ____ over the issue increased when the police found thousands of dirty toys in a container with a note in Portuguese that said: “These toys should be washed before being (12) ____ to poor Brazilian children.” Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.
WRITING:Write about toxic waste for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper. _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ HOMEWORK1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word. 2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find out more about toxic waste and how countries dispose of it. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson. 3. TOXIC WASTE: Make a poster about toxic waste. List the most common kinds. State how we should throw it away safely. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things? 4. WASTE DISPOSAL: Write a magazine article about toxic waste. Include imaginary interviews with an environmentalist who is worried about the amount of waste we produce and someone who believes waste is not their problem. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s). 5. LETTER: Write a letter to Roberto Messias. Ask him three questions about Britain’s waste. Give him three suggestions on what he should tell Britain. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions. ANSWERSTRUE / FALSE:
SYNONYM MATCH:
PHRASE MATCH:
GAP FILL: Brazil fury over Britain’s toxic wasteBrazilians are furious over 1,400 tonnes of British garbage arriving at its ports. The stinking waste included toilet seats, dirty diapers, leaking batteries and used syringes. The rotting cargo arrived in 64 different containers at three Brazilian ports earlier this year. It was destined for Brazilian waste recycling companies. The recyclers were angry over the contents as they were expecting only recyclable plastic. Brazil has demanded that Britain take back its rubbish. Roberto Messias of Brazil’s environment protection agency said: "We will ask for the repatriation of this garbage….Clearly, Brazil is not the rubbish dump of the world." Messias made it clear the importing companies would receive heavy fines. The British Embassy in Brasilia released a statement saying it was investigating the case. Officials said Britain “would not hesitate to act” if any British company had broken international laws. Both Brazil and Britain signed up to the Basel Convention on the movement of hazardous and toxic waste in 1992. The embassy said: "The UK takes a strong global lead on protection of the environment and the safeguarding of human health, and will do all it can to stamp out the illegal trade in waste.” Public anger over the issue increased when the police found thousands of dirty toys in a container with a note in Portuguese that said: “These toys should be washed before being given to poor Brazilian children.” LANGUAGE WORK
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