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Seed vault now has over a million species (6th April, 2018)

The Reading / Listening - Seeds - Level 6

A special vault storing the world's most precious seeds has now amassed over one million different plant varieties. It recently took delivery of a consignment of seeds from 70,000 different crops. Global Seed Vault is buried deep in an icy mountain in the Arctic Circle area of Svalbard, Norway. It was started ten years ago to safeguard the future of the world's food supply. Climate change is causing more and more droughts around the world, which are threatening different species of plants. The vault holds back-ups of seed samples stored in other seed banks around the world. Hannes Dempewolf, a senior scientist at the Crop Trust, said: "Hitting the million mark is really significant."

Workers at the vault were not sure they would reach the million mark so soon. The crisis in Syria meant there was a shortfall of 90,000 seeds at the vault. The latest delivery to the vault included cereal staples. There were also more unusual crops like the onion potato from Estonia and the Bambara groundnut, which is being developed as a drought tolerant crop in Africa. Marie Haga, executive director of the Crop Trust, spoke about the importance of the vault. She said: "Safeguarding such a huge range of seeds means scientists will have the best chance of developing nutritious and climate-resilient crops that can ensure future generations don't just survive, but thrive."

Try the same news story at these easier levels:

Seeds - Level 4 or Seeds - Level 5

Sources

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43171939
https://www.yahoo.com/news/noahs-ark-seed-vault-chalks-million-crop-varieties-190218390.html
https://www.ecowatch.com/global-seed-vault-svalbard-2539843402.html

Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice, drag and drop activities, crosswords, hangman, flash cards, matching activities and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Warm-ups

1. SEEDS: Students walk around the class and talk to other students about seeds. Change partners often and share your findings.
2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, talk about these topics or words from the article. What will the article say about them? What can you say about these words and your life?
special / precious / plant / crops / mountain / food / drought / species / significant /
million / crisis / delivery / cereal / potato / executive / chance / nutritious / survive
Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.
3. THRIVE: Students A strongly believe humans will always thrive on Earth; Students B strongly believe otherwise. Change partners again and talk about your conversations.
4. VAULT: What should be kept in a vault to safeguard them for future generations? Why? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners often and share what you wrote.

	What?	Why
Art
Technology
Books
Medicine
Music
Food

MY e-BOOK

ESL resource book with copiable worksheets and handouts - 1,000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers / English teachers

See a sample

5. PLANT: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word "plant". Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.
6. CROPS: Rank these with your partner. Put the most important at the top. Change partners often and share your rankings.

wheat
onion
cabbage
strawberry
corn
rice
garlic
tomato

Vocabulary

Paragraph 1

1.	precious	a.	Protect from harm or damage with an appropriate action.
2.	amassed	b.	A long period of abnormally low rainfall, leading to a shortage of water.
3.	varieties	c.	A group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding.
4.	consignment	d.	Of great value; not to be wasted or treated.
5.	safeguard	e.	Things which differ in some way from others of the same general class or sort; types.
6.	droughts	f.	A batch of goods destined for or delivered to someone.
7.	species	g.	Gather together or accumulate a large amount or number of valuable material or things over a period of time.

Paragraph 2

8.	mark	h.	Showing willingness to allow the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with.
9.	crisis	i.	A grain used for food, such as wheat, oats, or corn.
10.	shortfall	j.	Target.
11.	cereal	k.	A plant that is grown as food, especially a grain, fruit, or vegetable.
12.	tolerant	l.	A time of intense difficulty, trouble, or danger.
13.	crop	m.	Grow or develop well or strongly.
14.	thrive	n.	A deficit of something required or expected.

Before reading / listening

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if 1-8 below are true (T) or false (F).

The vault's latest delivery was a consignment of 7,000 seeds. T / F
The vault was first opened in 1955. T / F
The vault backs up the computers of other seed banks worldwide. T / F
A scientist said it was significant to reach storing one million seeds. T / F
Vault workers were surprised at how quickly they reached a million. T / F
The crisis in Syria caused a shortage of seeds at the vault. T / F
The onion potato seeds came from Estonia. T / F
A director doubted whether future generations of seeds would survive. T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

storing
delivery
safeguard
threatening
significant
mark
crisis
range
huge
thrive

endangering
flourish
notable
enormous
shipment
assortment
protect
level
emergency
keeping

3. PHRASE MATCH: (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

took delivery of a
safeguard the future of the
Climate change is causing more and more
The vault holds back-
Hitting the million mark is really
there was a shortfall of
more unusual crops
Safeguarding such a huge range s
nutritious and climate-
future generations don't just survive,

but thrive
significant
resilient crops
consignment of seeds
world's food supply
of seed
ups of seed samples
90,000 seeds
droughts
like the onion potato

Gap fill

Put these words into the spaces in the paragraph below.

buried
senior
storing
droughts
mark
varieties
samples
safeguard

A special vault (1) ____________ the world's most precious seeds has now amassed over one million different plant (2) ____________. It recently took delivery of a consignment of seeds from 70,000 different crops. Global Seed Vault is (3) ____________ deep in an icy mountain in the Arctic Circle area of Svalbard, Norway. It was started ten years ago to (4) ____________ the future of the world's food supply. Climate change is causing more and more (5) ____________ around the world, which are threatening different species of plants. The vault holds back-ups of seed (6) ____________ stored in other seed banks around the world. Hannes Dempewolf, a (7) ____________ scientist at the Crop Trust, said: "Hitting the million (8) ____________ is really significant."

Put these words into the spaces in the paragraph below.

staples
chance
director
sure
thrive
shortfall
huge
tolerant

Workers at the vault were not (9) ____________ they would reach the million mark so soon. The crisis in Syria meant there was a (10) ____________ of 90,000 seeds at the vault. The latest delivery to the vault included cereal (11) ____________. There were also more unusual crops like the onion potato from Estonia and the Bambara groundnut, which is being developed as a drought (12) ____________ crop in Africa. Marie Haga, executive (13) ____________ of the Crop Trust, spoke about the importance of the vault. She said: "Safeguarding such a (14) ____________ range of seeds means scientists will have the best (15) ____________ of developing nutritious and climate-resilient crops that can ensure future generations don't just survive, but (16) ____________."

Listening — Guess the answers. Listen to check.

1) A special vault storing the world's most precious seeds has now ______ million
     a. amassed everyone
     b. amazed everyone
     c. amassed over one
     d. a mast over one
2) It recently took delivery of a ______ seeds
     a. assignment of
     b. contentment of
     c. con sign meant of
     d. consignment of
3) Global Seed Vault is buried deep in an icy mountain in ______
     a. an Arctic Circle
     b. the Arctic Circle
     c. that Antarctic Circle
     d. the Antarctic Circle
4) It was started ten years ago to safeguard the future of the world's ______
     a. food supplied
     b. food supply
     c. food supplier
     d. food supplying
5) The vault holds back-ups of seed samples stored in other seed ______ world
     a. balks around the
     b. backs around the
     c. barks around the
     d. banks around the

6) Workers at the vault were not sure they would reach the million ______
     a. mark so soon
     b. market so soon
     c. marked so soon
     d. Marx so soon
7) The latest delivery to the vault included ______
     a. cereal staples
     b. serial staples
     c. celery staples
     d. cerebral staples
8) and the Bambara groundnut, which is being developed as a ______ crop
     a. drought tolerance
     b. drought tolerated
     c. drought tolerant
     d. drought tolerate
9) Safeguarding such a huge range of seeds means scientists will have ______
     a. the best charts
     b. the best chancer
     c. the best chance
     d. the best chanced
10) crops that can ensure future generations don't just survive, ______
     a. but drive
     b. but jive
     c. but thrive
     d. but thrift

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

A special (1) ___________________ world's most precious seeds has now amassed over one million (2) ___________________. It recently took delivery of a consignment of seeds from 70,000 different crops. Global Seed Vault is buried deep in (3) ___________________ in the Arctic Circle area of Svalbard, Norway. It was started ten years ago to safeguard the future of the (4) ___________________. Climate change is causing more and more droughts around the world, which are threatening different (5) ___________________. The vault holds back-ups of seed samples stored in other seed banks around the world. Hannes Dempewolf, a senior scientist at the Crop Trust, said: "Hitting the million (6) ___________________ significant."

Workers at the vault were not sure (7) ___________________ the million mark so soon. The crisis in Syria meant there was a shortfall of 90,000 seeds at the vault. The (8) ___________________ the vault included cereal staples. There were also more (9) ___________________ the onion potato from Estonia and the Bambara groundnut, which is being developed as (10) ___________________ crop in Africa. Marie Haga, executive director of the Crop Trust, spoke about the importance of the vault. She said: "Safeguarding such a (11) ___________________ seeds means scientists will have the best chance of developing nutritious and climate-resilient crops that can ensure future generations don't just (12) ___________________."

Comprehension questions

How many different crops were in a recent delivery to the vault?
Which country houses the vault?
What was the vault started to protect?
What does the vault hold back-up samples of?
What is the job of Hannes Dempewolf?
Where was there a crisis that led to a shortfall in seeds?
What kind of staples were included in the latest delivery?
What crop from Estonia was mentioned?
What is the Bambara groundnut tolerant to?
What will climate-resilient crops do beyond surviving?

Multiple choice quiz

1) How many different crops were in a recent delivery to the vault?
a) 85,000
b) 70,000
c) 75,000
d) 80,000
2) Which country houses the vault?
a) New Zealand
b) Chile
c) Finland
d) Norway
3) What was the vault started to protect?
a) the world's food supply
b) farms
c) pests
d) food culture
4) What does the vault hold back-up samples of?
a) DNA
b) pre-history seeds
c) seeds from other seed banks
d) GM seeds
5) What is the job of Hannes Dempewolf?
a) executive director
b) senior scientist
c) seeder
d) farmer

6) Where was there a crisis that led to a shortfall in seeds?
a) Syria
b) USA
c) Russia
d) Lesotho
7) What kind of staples were included in the latest delivery?
a) rice
b) diets
c) cereal
d) aluminium ones
8) What crop from Estonia was mentioned?
a) onion potato
b) cabbage
c) tomato
d) garlic onion
9) What is the Bambara groundnut tolerant to?
a) drought
b) pests
c) flooding
d) dust
10) What will climate-resilient crops do beyond surviving?
a) regrow
b) mutate
c) perish
d) thrive

Role play

Role A – Corn
You think corn is the most important crop. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their crops. Also, tell the others which is the least important of these (and why): garlic, wheat or strawberry.

Role B – Garlic
You think garlic is the most important crop. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their crops. Also, tell the others which is the least important of these (and why): corn, wheat or strawberry.

Role C – Wheat
You think wheat is the most important crop. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their crops. Also, tell the others which is the least important of these (and why): garlic, corn or strawberry.

Role D – Strawberry
You think strawberry is the most important crop. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their crops. Also, tell the others which is the least important of these (and why): garlic, wheat or corn.

After reading / listening

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words...

'seed'

________________

________________

________________

________________

________________

________________

________________

________________

and 'bank'.
________________

________________

________________

________________

________________

________________

________________

________________

• Share your findings with your partners.

• Make questions using the words you found.

• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

•Share your questions with other classmates / groups. •Ask your partner / group your questions.

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:

sure

90,000

unusual

spoke

huge

survive

special

took

icy

supply

more

mark

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 - Seed vault now has over a million species

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

What did you think when you read the headline?
What images are in your mind when you hear the word 'seed'?
What do you know about seeds?
What do you think of the idea of a seed vault?
What are seeds and plants threatened by?
Have you ever grown anything from seed?
Why do you think the vault is in the Arctic Circle?
How much at risk is the world's food supply?
How healthy are seeds to eat?
Should we all grow things from seed?

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

Did you like reading this article? Why/not?
What do you think of when you hear the word 'bank'?
What do you think about what you read?
How important are seed vaults?
What are the world's most important seeds?
How do seeds work?
Which are better - seeds from packets or seeds from plants?
How can scientists make seeds climate resilient?
Can seeds grow on Mars?
What questions would you like to ask the vault workers?

Discussion — Write your own questions

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

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

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

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

Language — Cloze (Gap-fill)

A special vault storing the world's most (1) ____ seeds has now amassed over one million different plant varieties. It recently (2) ____ delivery of a consignment of seeds from 70,000 different crops. Global Seed Vault is buried (3) ____ in an icy mountain in the Arctic Circle area of Svalbard, Norway. It was started ten years ago to (4) ____ the future of the world's food supply. Climate change is causing more and more droughts around the world, which are (5) ____ different species of plants. The vault holds back-ups of seed samples stored in other seed banks around the world. Hannes Dempewolf, a senior scientist at the Crop Trust, said: "Hitting the million (6) ____ is really significant."

Workers at the vault were not sure they would reach the million mark so soon. The crisis in Syria meant there was a (7) ____ of 90,000 seeds at the vault. The latest delivery to the vault included (8) ____ staples. There were also more unusual crops like the onion potato from Estonia and the Bambara groundnut, which is being developed as a (9) ____ tolerant crop in Africa. Marie Haga, executive director of the Crop Trust, spoke about the importance of the vault. She said: "Safeguarding such a huge (10) ____ of seeds means scientists will have the (11) ____ chance of developing nutritious and climate-resilient crops that can ensure future generations don't just survive, but (12) ____."

Which of these words go in the above text?

(a) precocious (b) preposterous (c) precious (d) prosperous
(a) took (b) gave (c) did (d) made
(a) deep (b) depth (c) breadth (d) width
(a) safeguard (b) rearguard (c) guardian (d) guardrail
(a) threatened (b) threatens (c) threaten (d) threatening
(a) mark-up (b) marketing (c) market (d) mark
(a) shortfall (b) downfall (c) free fall (d) free-for-all
(a) celery (b) cerebral (c) serial (d) cereal
(a) drought (b) dough (c) draught (d) doughty
(a) strange (b) range (c) derange (d) grange
(a) well (b) best (c) OK (d) good
(a) thrive (b) thrifty (c) thrice (d) trivial

Spelling

Paragraph 1

the world's most epicrous seeds
It recently took ildverey
a ngsincemont of seeds
gfesuaard the future
more and more rudhgots
really igiscifannt

Paragraph 2

there was a hrsftoall of 90,000 seeds
included eceral staples
ltreoant crop
ntrotuiius and climate-resilient crops
future netnsiaergo
don't just survive, but tievhr

Put the text back together

(...) million different plant varieties. It recently took delivery of a consignment of seeds from 70,000 different
(...) scientists will have the best chance of developing nutritious and climate-resilient crops
(...) that can ensure future generations don't just survive, but thrive."
(...) causing more and more droughts around the world, which are threatening different species of plants. The vault
(...) holds back-ups of seed samples stored in other seed banks around the world. Hannes Dempewolf, a senior
(...) of Svalbard, Norway. It was started ten years ago to safeguard the future of the world's food supply. Climate change is
(...) Workers at the vault were not sure they would reach the million mark so soon. The crisis in Syria meant
(...) crops. Global Seed Vault is buried deep in an icy mountain in the Arctic Circle area
(...) the onion potato from Estonia and the Bambara groundnut, which is being developed
(...) as a drought tolerant crop in Africa. Marie Haga, executive director of the Crop Trust, spoke about the
( 1 ) A special vault storing the world's most precious seeds has now amassed over one
(...) scientist at the Crop Trust, said: "Hitting the million mark is really significant."
(...) importance of the vault. She said: "Safeguarding such a huge range of seeds means
(...) there was a shortfall of 90,000 seeds at the vault. The latest delivery to the vault included cereal staples. There were also more unusual crops like

Put the words in the right order

world's storing A precious most vault seeds . the
a took recently delivery of It consignment .
icy Arctic In an in Circle . the mountain
future the Safeguard of the food world's supply .
is the million Hitting significant . mark really
were vault sure . not at Workers the
90,000 a was shortfall There of seeds .
onion unusual potato . like crops the More
huge such Safeguarding range of seeds . a
future survive . that Crops ensure can generations

Circle the correct word (20 pairs)

A special vault storing the world's most precocious / precious seeds has now amassed / massed over one million different plant varieties. It recently took delivery / deliver of a consignment of seeds from 70,000 different crops. Global Seed Vault is burial / buried deep in an icy mountain in the Arctic Circle area of Svalbard, Norway. It was started ten years ago to rearguard / safeguard the future of the world's food supply. Climate change is casing / causing more and more droughts / draughts around the world, which are threatening different species / specimen of plants. The vault holds back-ups of seed samples stored / storage in other seed banks around the world. Hannes Dempewolf, a senior scientist at the Crop Trust, said: "Hitting the million mark is really significant / significance."

Workers at the vault were not sure they would reach the million make / mark so soon. The crisis in Syria meant there was a shortfall / landfall of 90,000 seeds at the vault. The latest delivery to the vault included / inclusion cereal staples. There were also more unusual crops as / like the onion potato from Estonia and the Bambara groundnut, which is being developed was / as a drought tolerant crop in Africa. Marie Haga, executive director of the Crop Trust, spoke about the importance of / at the vault. She said: "Safeguarding such a huge derange / range of seeds means scientists will have the best / good chance of developing nutritious / nutrition and climate-resilient crops that can ensure future generations don't just survive, but thrifty / thrive."

Talk about the connection between each pair of words in italics, and why the correct word is correct.

Insert the vowels (a, e, i, o, u)

A s p_c__ l v__ l t s t_r_n g t h_ w_r l d ' s m_s t p r_c___s s__ d s h_s n_w _m_s s_d _v_r _n_ m_l l__ n d_f f_r_n t p l_n t v_r__ t__ s . I t r_c_n t l y t__ k d_l_v_r y _f _ c_n s_g n m_n t _f s__ d s f r_m 7 0 , 0 0 0 d_f f_r_n t c r_p s . G l_b_l S__ d V__ l t _s b_r__ d d__ p _n _n _c y m__ n t__ n _n t h_ A r c t_c C_r c l_ _r__ _f S v_l b_r d , N_r w_y . I t w_s s t_r t_d t_n y__ r s _g_ t_ s_f_g__ r d t h_ f_t_r_ _f t h_ w_r l d ' s f__ d s_p p l y . C l_m_t_ c h_n g_ _s c__ s_n g m_r_ _n d m_r_ d r__ g h t s _r__ n d t h_ w_r l d , w h_c h _r_ t h r__ t_n_n g d_f f_r_n t s p_c__ s _f p l_n t s . T h_ v__ l t h_l d s b_c k -_p s _f s__ d s_m p l_s s t_r_d _n _t h_r s__ d b_n k s _r__ n d t h_ w_r l d . H_n n_s D_m p_w_l f , _ s_n__ r s c__ n t_s t _t t h_ C r_p T r_s t , s__ d : " H_t t_n g t h_ m_l l__ n m_r k _s r__ l l y s_g n_f_c_n t . "

W_r k_r s _t t h_ v__ l t w_r_ n_t s_r_ t h_y w__ l d r__ c h t h_ m_l l__ n m_r k s_ s__ n . T h_ c r_s_s _n S y r__ m__ n t t h_r_ w_s _ s h_r t f_l l _f 9 0 , 0 0 0 s__ d s _t t h_ v__ l t . T h_ l_t_s t d_l_v_r y t_ t h_ v__ l t _n c l_d_d c_r__ l s t_p l_s . T h_r_ w_r_ _l s_ m_r_ _n_s__ l c r_p s l_k_ t h_ _n__ n p_t_t_ f r_m E s t_n__ _n d t h_ B_m b_r_ g r__ n d n_t , w h_c h _s b__ n g d_v_l_p_d _s _ d r__ g h t t_l_r_n t c r_p _n A f r_c_. M_r__ H_g_, _x_c_t_v_ d_r_c t_r _f t h_ C r_p T r_s t , s p_k_ _b__ t t h_ _m p_r t_n c_ _f t h_ v__ l t . S h_ s__ d : " S_f_g__ r d_n g s_c h _ h_g_ r_n g_ _f s__ d s m__ n s s c__ n t_s t s w_l l h_v_ t h_ b_s t c h_n c_ _f d_v_l_p_n g n_t r_t___s _n d c l_m_t_- r_s_l__ n t c r_p s t h_t c_n _n s_r_ f_t_r_ g_n_r_t__ n s d_n ' t j_s t s_r v_v_, b_t t h r_v_. "

Punctuate the text and add capitals

a special vault storing the worlds most precious seeds has now amassed over one million different plant varieties it recently took delivery of a consignment of seeds from 70000 different crops global seed vault is buried deep in an icy mountain in the arctic circle area of svalbard norway it was started ten years ago to safeguard the future of the worlds food supply climate change is causing more and more droughts around the world which are threatening different species of plants the vault holds backups of seed samples stored in other seed banks around the world hannes dempewolf a senior scientist at the crop trust said hitting the million mark is really significant

workers at the vault were not sure they would reach the million mark so soon the crisis in syria meant there was a shortfall of 90000 seeds at the vault the latest delivery to the vault included cereal staples there were also more unusual crops like the onion potato from estonia and the bambara groundnut which is being developed as a drought tolerant crop in africa marie haga executive director of the crop trust spoke about the importance of the vault she said safeguarding such a huge range of seeds means scientists will have the best chance of developing nutritious and climateresilient crops that can ensure future generations dont just survive but thrive"

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Aspecialvaultstoringtheworld'smostpreciousseedshasnowamassed
overonemilliondifferentplantvarieties.Itrecentlytookdeliveryofacon
signmentofseedsfrom70,000differentcrops.GlobalSeedVaultisburie
ddeepinanicymountainintheArcticCircleareaofSvalbard,Norway.Itw
asstartedtenyearsagotosafeguardthefutureoftheworld'sfoodsupply
.Climatechangeiscausingmoreandmoredroughtsaroundtheworld,w
hicharethreateningdifferentspeciesofplants.Thevaultholdsback-up
sofseedsamplesstoredinotherseedbanksaroundtheworld.HannesDe
mpewolf,aseniorscientistattheCropTrust,said:"Hittingthemillionma
rkisreallysignificant."Workersatthevaultwerenotsuretheywouldreac
hthemillionmarksosoon.ThecrisisinSyriameanttherewasashortfallof
90,000seedsatthevault.Thelatestdeliverytothevaultincludedcereals
taples.TherewerealsomoreunusualcropsliketheonionpotatofromEst
oniaandtheBambaragroundnut,whichisbeingdevelopedasadroughtt
olerantcropinAfrica.MarieHaga,executivedirectoroftheCropTrust,sp
okeabouttheimportanceofthevault.Shesaid:"Safeguardingsuchahu
gerangeofseedsmeansscientistswillhavethebestchanceofdevelopin
gnutritiousandclimate-resilientcropsthatcanensurefuturegenerati
onsdon'tjustsurvive,butthrive."

Free writing

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

_____________________________________________________________________________

Academic writing

Everyone should grow some of their own food from seeds. Discuss.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Homework

1. 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 this news story. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.
3. SEEDS: Make a poster about seeds. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?
4. PLANT VARIETIES: Write a magazine article about increasing plant varieties in the world through genetic engineering. Include imaginary interviews with people who are for and against it.
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. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? Write a newspaper article about the next stage in this news story. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your articles.
6. LETTER: Write a letter to an expert on seeds. Ask him/her three questions about seeds. Give him/her three of your ideas. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

A Few Additional Activities for Students

Ask your students what they have read, seen or heard about this news in their own language. Students are likely to / may have have encountered this news in their L1 and therefore bring a background knowledge to the classroom.

Get students to role play different characters from this news story.

Ask students to keep track of this news and revisit it to discuss in your next class.

Ask students to male predictions of how this news might develop in the next few days or weeks, and then revisit and discuss in a future class.

Ask students to write a follow-up story to this news.

Students role play a journalist and someone who witnessed or was a part of this news. Perhaps they could make a video of the interview.

Ask students to keep a news journal in English and add this story to their thoughts.

Also...

Buy my 1,000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers eBook. It has hundreds of ideas, activity templates, reproducible activities for:

News
Warm ups
Pre-reading / Post-reading
Using headlines
Working with words
While-reading / While-listening
Moving from text to speech
Post-reading / Post-listening
Discussions
Using opinions
Plans
Language
Using lists
Using quotes
Task-based activities
Role plays
Using the central characters in the article
Using themes from the news
Homework

Buy my book

$US 9.99

Answers

(Please look at page 26 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

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