The Reading / Listening - Maple Syrup - Level 1

Changing weather and increasing demand have led to shortages of maple syrup. Stocks of this pancake topping have gone down. Canada put 22 million kilograms of the sticky stuff into the market. This is half of its emergency reserves. Canada is the world's largest maple syrup producer. It produces around three-quarters of the global supply. A spokeswoman said there would be no shortages. She said: "We won't lack maple syrup."

A warmer and shorter spring reduced supply. Maple trees need warm daytime and freezing nighttime temperatures. Another reason is worldwide demand. This has increased by more than 20 per cent, largely because of the pandemic. More people are at home, cooking pancakes and waffles. The maple syrup spokeswoman said: "We're seeing people cook more at home and use more local products. It's not just in [Canada] where the demand is increasing."

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Maple Syrup - Level 0 Maple Syrup - Level 2   or  Maple Syrup - Level 3

Sources
  • https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/28/business/canada-maple-syrup-reserves-shortage/index.html
  • https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59555141
  • https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/maple-syrup-strategic-reserve-1.6268352


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. increasing
  2. Stocks of this pancake
  3. 22 million kilograms
  4. half of its emergency
  5. the world's largest maple syrup
  6. three-
  7. there would
  8. We won't lack
  1. maple syrup
  2. producer
  3. quarters
  4. demand
  5. be no shortages
  6. reserves
  7. topping
  8. of the sticky stuff

Paragraph 2

  1. A warmer and
  2. freezing nighttime
  3. largely because
  4. cooking pancakes
  5. We're seeing people
  6. use more local
  7. It's not just in
  8. the demand is
  1. Canada
  2. shorter spring
  3. increasing
  4. temperatures
  5. products
  6. and waffles
  7. cook more
  8. of the pandemic

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Changing weather and increasing demand (1) ___________________ shortages of maple syrup. Stocks of this (2) ___________________ gone down. Canada put 22 million kilograms of (3) ___________________ into the market. This is half of (4) ___________________. Canada is the world's largest maple syrup producer. It produces around (5) ___________________ the global supply. A spokeswoman said there would (6) ___________________. She said: "We won't lack maple syrup."

A warmer and (7) ___________________ supply. Maple trees need warm (8) ___________________ nighttime temperatures. Another reason (9) ___________________. This has increased by more than 20 per cent, (10) ___________________ the pandemic. More people are at home, cooking pancakes and waffles. The maple syrup spokeswoman said: "We're seeing people cook (11) ___________________ and use more local products. It's (12) ___________________ [Canada] where the demand is increasing."

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Changingweatherandincreasingdemandhaveledtoshortagesofmapl
esyrup.Stocksofthispancaketoppinghavegonedown.Canadaput22m
illionkilogramsofthestickystuffintothemarket.Thisishalfofitsemerge
ncyreserves.Canadaistheworld'slargestmaplesyrupproducer.Itprod
ucesaroundthree-quartersoftheglobalsupply.Aspokeswomansaidt
herewouldbenoshortages.Shesaid:"Wewon'tlackmaplesyrup."Awar
merandshorterspringreducedsupply.Mapletreesneedwarmdaytime
andfreezingnighttimetemperatures.Anotherreasonisworldwidedem
and.Thishasincreasedbymorethan20percent,largelybecauseofthep
andemic.Morepeopleareathome,cookingpancakesandwaffles.Them
aplesyrupspokeswomansaid:"We'reseeingpeoplecookmoreathome
andusemorelocalproducts.It'snotjustin[Canada]wherethedemandi
sincreasing."

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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