The Reading / Listening - Italy Drought - Level 5

Europe is experiencing water shortages. One region in northern Italy has its worst drought for 70 years. It has seen little rainfall in the past four months. This year's snowfall was 70 per cent lower. The water level of Italy's largest river, the Po, is three metres lower than average. A lot of the riverbed has dried up and people can walk across the mud. This has fully exposed a World War II shipwreck. Authorities are worried that if it doesn't rain soon, there'll be a serious water shortage. This will mean rationing, and farmers will have problems finding water to irrigate crops.

Authorities said the water shortages are unprecedented. The River Po gets much of its water from a lake in the Italian Alps. The lake has had its lowest water levels since 1946. Higher-than-average temperatures and a mini heat wave are making things worse. A farmer from a rural town near Milan said she is expecting a "disastrous year". She said high temperatures and no rain will be "catastrophic." She added: "We believe that there will be a drop in wheat productivity by at least 20 per cent." The Po Valley will see a 30 to 40% reduction in fruit and vegetable production.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Italy Drought - Level 4 or  Italy Drought - Level 6

Sources
  • https://www.cbsnews.com/news/po-river-italy-dries-up-exposes-1943-shipwreck-zibello/
  • https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/15/italy-drought-po-valley-ration-water
  • https://www.euronews.com/2022/06/17/crops-and-drinking-water-threatened-in-italys-po-valley-amid-worst-drought-in-70-years


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. water
  2. It has seen little
  3. The water level of
  4. A lot of the riverbed
  5. fully exposed a World War II
  6. there'll be a serious
  7. This will mean
  8. finding water to
  1. has dried up
  2. rationing
  3. rainfall
  4. irrigate crops
  5. Italy's largest river
  6. shortages
  7. water shortage
  8. shipwreck

Paragraph 2

  1. water shortages
  2. making things
  3. she is expecting a
  4. high
  5. no rain will be
  6. a drop
  7. a 30 to 40%
  8. fruit and vegetable
  1. disastrous year
  2. catastrophic
  3. production
  4. reduction
  5. worse
  6. are unprecedented
  7. temperatures
  8. in wheat productivity

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Europe (1) ___________________ shortages. One region in northern Italy has (2) ___________________ for 70 years. It has seen little rainfall in the past four months. This year's snowfall was 70 per cent lower. The water level of Italy's largest river, the Po, is three metres lower than average. A lot of the (3) ___________________ up and people can walk across the mud. This (4) ___________________ a World War II shipwreck. Authorities are worried that if it doesn't rain soon, there'll be a serious water shortage. (5) ___________________, and farmers will have problems finding water (6) ___________________.

Authorities said the water (7) ___________________. The River Po gets much of its water from a lake in the Italian Alps. The lake has had its (8) ___________________ since 1946. Higher-than-average temperatures and a mini heat wave are (9) ___________________. A farmer from a (10) ___________________ Milan said she is expecting a "disastrous year". She said high temperatures and no rain will be "catastrophic." She added: "We believe that there will be a drop (11) ___________________ by at least 20 per cent." The Po Valley will see a 30 to 40% (12) ___________________ and vegetable production.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Europeisexperiencingwatershortages.OneregioninnorthernItalyhas
itsworstdroughtfor70years.Ithasseenlittlerainfallinthepastfourmon
ths.Thisyear'ssnowfallwas70percentlower.ThewaterlevelofItaly'sla
rgestriver,thePo,isthreemetreslowerthanaverage.Alotoftheriverbe
dhasdriedupandpeoplecanwalkacrossthemud.Thishasfullyexposed
aWorldWarIIshipwreck.Authoritiesareworriedthatifitdoesn'trainsoo
n,there'llbeaseriouswatershortage.Thiswillmeanrationing,andfarm
erswillhaveproblemsfindingwatertoirrigatecrops.Authoritiessaidthe
watershortagesareunprecedented.TheRiverPogetsmuchofitswaterf
romalakeintheItalianAlps.Thelakehashaditslowestwaterlevelssince
1946.Higher-than-averagetemperaturesandaminiheatwavearemak
ingthingsworse.AfarmerfromaruraltownnearMilansaidsheisexpecti
nga"disastrousyear".Shesaidhightemperaturesandnorainwillbe"cat
astrophic."Sheadded:"Webelievethattherewillbeadropinwheatprod
uctivitybyatleast20percent."ThePoValleywillseea30to40%reductio
ninfruitandvegetableproduction.

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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