The Reading / Listening - Gold Mining - Level 4

Species are increasingly threatened by human activity. Hundreds of thousands of creatures are already extinct because of our increasing demands on resources. Gold mining in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve in Congo is putting at risk an animal called the okapi. This is also called the forest giraffe because it is a relative of the giraffe. However, its neck is nowhere near as long as that of a giraffe's. It is only found in the area of Congo where mining is taking place.

Conservationists want the "rapidly expanding" levels of mining to stop. They asked the government to remove the mining company's license, to "protect the unique forest ecosystem". They warned that: "There is almost no wildlife left around the mine, and wildlife numbers are massively reduced.…There have even been cases of armed hunters trafficking okapi skins and elephant ivory in and around the mines."

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Gold Mining - Level 5 or  Gold Mining - Level 6

Sources
  • https://phys.org/news/2022-10-gold-threatens-forest-giraffe-dr.html
  • https://news.mongabay.com/2022/02/refuge-of-endangered-african-unicorn-threatened-by-mining-poaching-habitat-loss/
  • https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-africa-62845575


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. threatened by
  2. thousands of creatures are
  3. our increasing demands
  4. at
  5. This is also called the
  6. it is a relative
  7. its neck is nowhere near
  8. where mining is
  1. of the giraffe
  2. taking place
  3. as long
  4. already extinct
  5. risk
  6. human activity
  7. forest giraffe
  8. on resources

Paragraph 2

  1. rapidly expanding levels
  2. remove the mining company's
  3. protect the unique forest
  4. There is almost no wildlife
  5. wildlife numbers are
  6. armed hunters trafficking
  7. elephant
  8. in and around
  1. left around the mine
  2. the mines
  3. massively reduced
  4. license
  5. ivory
  6. of mining
  7. okapi skins
  8. ecosystem

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Species are increasingly (1) ___________________ activity. Hundreds of thousands of creatures (2) ___________________ because of our increasing (3) ___________________. Gold mining in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve in Congo is (4) ___________________ an animal called the okapi. This is also called the forest giraffe because it is a relative of the giraffe. However, its (5) ___________________ near as long as that of a giraffe's. It is only found in the area of Congo where (6) ___________________ place.

Conservationists want (7) ___________________" levels of mining to stop. They asked the government (8) ___________________ mining company's license, to "(9) ___________________ forest ecosystem". They warned that: "There is (10) ___________________ left around the mine, and wildlife numbers (11) ___________________....There have even been cases of armed hunters trafficking okapi skins (12) ___________________ in and around the mines."

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Speciesareincreasinglythreatenedbyhumanactivity.Hundredsoftho
usandsofcreaturesarealreadyextinctbecauseofourincreasingdeman
dsonresources.GoldminingintheOkapiWildlifeReserveinCongoisputt
ingatriskananimalcalledtheokapi.Thisisalsocalledtheforestgiraffebe
causeitisarelativeofthegiraffe.However,itsneckisnowherenearaslon
gasthatofagiraffe's.ItisonlyfoundintheareaofCongowhereminingista
kingplace.Conservationistswantthe"rapidlyexpanding"levelsofmini
ngtostop.Theyaskedthegovernmenttoremovetheminingcompany'sl
icense,to"protecttheuniqueforestecosystem".Theywarnedthat:"Th
ereisalmostnowildlifeleftaroundthemine,andwildlifenumbersarema
ssivelyreduced....Therehaveevenbeencasesofarmedhunterstraffick
ingokapiskinsandelephantivoryinandaroundthemines."

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic 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.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion — Write your own questions

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

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Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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