The Reading / Listening - Holiday Waste - Level 0

There are many holidays at this time of the year. People have parties. Christmas and the New Year can create lots of trash. Household waste goes up by 25 per cent over the holidays. We must separate what we throw away. It really makes a difference to recycle things correctly. A professor said we should stop creating waste.

Many experts gave advice on waste. We should be aware of recycling rules. One expert said we must be careful when we throw away electronics. Another expert said we should think ahead to cut waste. She said people could buy a concert ticket or digital cards as presents because they do not need packaging.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Holiday Waste - Level 1 Holiday Waste - Level 2   or  Holiday Waste - Level 3

Sources
  • https://www.npr.org/2025/12/26/nx-s1-5649424/holiday-waste-recycling-tips-mistakes
  • https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/dec/26/five-things-to-do-with-holiday-waste
  • https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/christmas-tree-holiday-garbage-disposal-tips/


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. There are many holidays at
  2. People have
  3. create lots
  4. goes up by 25 per cent
  5. We must separate what we
  6. It really makes a
  7. recycle things
  8. we should stop
  1. of trash
  2. throw away
  3. correctly
  4. parties
  5. creating waste
  6. over the holidays
  7. this time of the year
  8. difference

Paragraph 2

  1. Many experts gave advice
  2. We should be
  3. recycling
  4. One expert said we must
  5. when we throw away
  6. we should think
  7. people could buy a
  8. they do not need
  1. be careful
  2. ahead to cut waste
  3. packaging
  4. concert ticket
  5. rules
  6. on waste
  7. electronics
  8. aware

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

There are many holidays (1) _________________________________________________ of the year. People have parties. Christmas and the New Year (2) _________________________________________________ of trash. Household waste (3) _________________________________________________ 25 per cent over the holidays. We must (4) _________________________________________________ throw away. It really makes a difference (5) _________________________________________________ correctly. A professor said we (6) _________________________________________________ waste.

Many experts (7) _________________________________________________ waste. We should be (8) _________________________________________________ rules. One expert said we must be (9) _________________________________________________ throw away electronics. Another expert said we should (10) _________________________________________________ cut waste. She said people (11) _________________________________________________ concert ticket or digital cards as presents because they (12) _________________________________________________ packaging.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

Therearemanyholidaysatthistimeoftheyear.Peoplehaveparties.Chri
stmasandtheNewYearcancreatelotsoftrash.Householdwastegoesup
by25percentovertheholidays.Wemustseparatewhatwethrowaway.I
treallymakesadifferencetorecyclethingscorrectly.Aprofessorsaidwe
shouldstopcreatingwaste.Manyexpertsgaveadviceonwaste.Weshou
ldbeawareofrecyclingrules.Oneexpertsaidwemustbecarefulwhenwe
throwawayelectronics.Anotherexpertsaidweshouldthinkaheadtocut
waste.Shesaidpeoplecouldbuyaconcertticketordigitalcardsaspresen
tsbecausetheydonotneedpackaging.

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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