Implementation of “Let’s Make Green Decisions” (SOI-HR-470)
Abstract/Introduction
Global issues, sustainable development and citizenship education are included in the Croatian National Curriculum, as well as the syllabus of English as a foreign language as cross-curricular subjects.
One of the advantages of teaching a foreign language is that it gives teachers an opportunity to teach their students vocabulary and structures by covering various cross-curricular topics. Global issues and responsible behavior towards the environment are topics that are covered as a special unit in every foreign language textbook. My goal was to expand and enrich the textbook material with Europeana resources and other digital tools and give my students the opportunity to actively engage in the lesson.
The learning scenario “Let’s Make Green Decisions” provides activities which give students insight in various environmental problems. It makes them familiar with the history of environmental activism and encourages them to reconsider their own attitudes towards these issues, as well as make responsible decisions in their everyday lives.
I used this learning scenario in my English class with a group of thirteen students aged 13-14 who are in their fourth year of learning English. English is their second foreign language and they take it as an elective course. They have English lessons once a week in two 45-minute sessions.
1.The narrative (Learning process/Stages of implementation)
The learning scenario “Let’s Make Green Decisions” was originally created for 90-minute teaching time. However, due to extra activities I added and some technical difficulties with our school tablets, the implementation took three 90-minute (six 45-minute) sessions.
In the first two sessions the students discussed and did research on environmental problems in general and learned the vocabulary and structures related to the topic. In the second two sessions the focus was on endangered animal species worldwide and in Croatia. The last two sessions were dedicated to historical and contemporary environmental activists, as well as creating placards and slogans for protecting the environment. Lastly, the students summarized what they had learnt during previous sessions and assessed the activities.
Since both IT classrooms were occupied at times of our sessions, the students used their smartphones and school tablets to work on Europeana platform and in digital tools, such as Mentimeter, Jamboard and Google Forms. They were also allowed to use other online resources when needed. However, the school tablets proved to be inadequate for working in Jamboard so the students were not able to finish their work within the predicted session. In the next session, I replaced the activity which was originally meant to be done in Jamboard with the activity of making posters.
Procedure
1st session / 2nd session:
Introduction to environmental problems
The students were encouraged to come up with thoughts concerning people’s relationship to the environment, be it a positive or a negative one. They brainstormed their ideas by answering the question “What do we do to our planet?”. They wrote their answers in Mentimeter. While reading the responses from the Mentimeter survey, the students discussed which of the actions are positive and which of them are negative for the environment.
Next, we focused on the problem of pollution. As a motivation, the students followed the link I provided for the Europeana gallery named “Pollution, an industrial legacy” (https://www.europeana.eu/en/galleries/9101-pollution-an-industrial-legacy). The students discussed the title of the gallery in pairs and tried to explain how pollution became an industrial legacy, as well as give examples of it. They wrote their ideas in Mentimeter.
The effects of environmental problems
I started this lesson with the questions: “What are the effects of environmental problems?” The students had a discussion based on this question following the think-pair-share method. First, the students thought about the question on their own. Then, they exchanged their ideas with their partner. Finally, the pairs shared their ideas with the rest of the class.
The next activity was learning vocabulary related to environmental problems. For this activity I used the Europeana blog called: “Environment, equality and endangered: the human crisis and the three Es” (https://www.europeana.eu/en/blog/the-human-crisis-and-the-three-es-environment-equality-and-endangered).
The focus was only on two paragraphs of the blog, “environment” and “endangered”. The students were divided into four small groups to make the collaboration easier. Two groups read the paragraph about the environment and the other two about the endangered species. Each group got a handout with the target vocabulary in Croatian. Their task was to find the English equivalents in the text. Next, the group representatives presented their vocabulary to the other groups.
Finally, in pairs students tried to retell their part of the text by using as many new words as possible. After that, they switched roles and retold the part of the text from the other group.
3rd session / 4th session
Endangered animal species
The focus of this session was on endangered animal species as one of the major effects of environmental problems. The aim of the lesson was to find out why some animal species have become endangered and name some possible solutions to this problem. Since the session was held on the International Day of Polar Bears, I started the lesson with a picture of a polar bear from Europeana (https://www.europeana.eu/item/90402/RP_P_OB_201_054). I asked the students what they already know about polar bears and why we celebrate their day.
Next, they were asked to name some other endangered animal species. After reading about some endangered animal species in their textbooks, the students followed the link to Europeana gallery called “Endangered species” (https://www.europeana.eu/en/galleries /9064-endangered-species). Their task was to look at the pictures of endangered animals and compare them to the endangered animals mentioned in the textbook lesson. They had to name the animals that appear both in the textbook and in the gallery and those which do not appear in the lesson.
In small groups the students chose one endangered animal from the textbook or from the gallery and completed the given template with the acquired information about the animal. They were allowed to use online resources other than Europeana for this activity in order to find the required information. Finally, each group presented their animals to the rest of the class.
Endangered animal species in Croatia
The focus of this lesson was on endangered animal species in Croatia. The first task was to name all endangered animals in Croatia students can think of. Then, I provided a link with a list of endangered animal species in Croatia. The students worked in small groups of three or four and had to choose an endangered animal in Croatia, do some research on it on the Internet and complete the given template with the required information. Finally, each group presented their animal to the rest of the class. The last activity was making a poster combining endangered species worldwide and in Croatia. For their posters they used the completed templates about endangered animals and made illustrations of the chosen animals.
5th session / 6th session:
Environmental activists then and now
The aim of this lesson was to raise awareness of environmental activism and to show students that each individual can contribute to protecting the environment. The students read the Europeana blog “Green Through Time: Four Historical Figures Who Raised Awareness of the Environment” (https://www.europeana.eu/en/blog/green-through-time-four-historical-figures-who-raised-awareness-of-the-environment).
I divided the class into four groups. Each group had to read about one of the four famous people. Research through other online sources was also allowed. Beside historical figures, each group was given a name of a contemporary environmental activist whom they also had to do research about. Since the school tablets proved to be inadequate for working in Jamboard, I replaced this activity by making posters. The students wrote the information about the activists on posters. Each group presented one historic figure and one contemporary activist to the rest of the class. Finally, we discussed how individuals can help protecting the environment based on the examples they had read about.
Making placards and assessment
In the last session the students learned about the ways they can actively engage in civic actions concerning environmental protection. I started the lesson by asking students what people usually do to publicly express their dissatisfaction with a certain issue. I showed them a Europeana photo of a placard with a message for protecting our planet (https://www.europeana.eu/item/2021009/_4c12f79c_367a_44d2_a32e_7741eef78cf5).
Their task was to come up with a slogan for a protest against environmental problems we had talked about in previous sessions and to make a placard.
As assessment, I created a survey in Google Forms in which I combined the questions from the exit ticket from the original learning scenario, as well as added some questions for students’ assessment. The students followed the link to the Google form and completed it. According to their responses, they enjoyed working on Europeana platform.
2. Outcomes (for you as an educator and for the students)
During lessons based on the learning scenario “Let’s Make Green Decisions” the students acquired knowledge and understanding of environmental problems on a global and a local level. It raised their awareness of the importance of acting as responsible individuals and citizens and developed their motivation to take necessary actions when it comes to environmental issues. Reading and discussing about global problems and activism developed their critical thinking skills.
They developed their creative and collaborative skills while making placards, brainstorming and deciding on the slogans for their placards and distributing the tasks within their groups.
They learnt how to use and navigate the Europeana platform, as well as used other digital tools, such as Mentimeter, Google Forms and Jamboard, which improved their digital skills.
When it comes to subject matter of English as a foreign language, the students developed their language and communication skills, as well as improved their reading comprehension skills by reading for general and specific information in the Europeana blogs.
Teaching with Europeana has been a valuable experience for me as a teacher, in which I have gained knowledge of working on a new educational platform with reliable teaching resources. Europeana gives teachers access to numerous examples of good practice we can implement in our lessons.
Activities and Europeana resources implemented from the original learning scenario:
-writing down students’ ideas and thoughts on environmental problems in Mentimeter
https://www.mentimeter.com/app/presentation/algr6mnv1xu6hg1eg5ayi1orf5w6xy3t/sqpc52wq6jfx/edit
https://www.mentimeter.com/app/presentation/alakeioswhztpp2mzbaspcfije914vqp/gty5etmakg43/edit
-reading the Europeana blog “Green Through Time: Four Historical Figures Who Raised Awareness of the Environment” (https://www.europeana.eu/en/blog/green-through-time-four-historical-figures-who-raised-awareness-of-the-environment).
– creating placards to raise awareness of the negative environmental changes
– questions in exit tickets
– assessment survey in Google Forms
Activities and Europeana resources I added to the original learning scenario are following:
– discussing about pollution as an industrial legacy
https://www.europeana.eu/en/galleries/9101-pollution-an-industrial-legacy
– eliciting the vocabulary related to environmental problems from the Europeana blog
– discussing and researching about endangered animal species and making posters about them
https://www.europeana.eu/en/galleries/9064-endangered-species
-a picture of a polar bear, a picture of a placard and a picture of a globe
https://www.europeana.eu/item/90402/RP_P_OB_201_054
https://www.europeana.eu/item/2021009/_4c12f79c_367a_44d2_a32e_7741eef78cf5
Jordglobskarta – Swedish National Museum of Science and Technology, Sweden – CC BY.
https://www.europeana.eu/item/916118/S_TEK_object_TEKS0028101
Links to the template about endangered animals and the vocabulary activity:
Other online resources:
https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/meet-six-environmentalists-who-are-changing-world
Link to the learning scenario implemented: Let’s Make Green Decisions (LS-HR-573) – Teaching With Europeana (eun.org)
Do you want to discover more stories of implementation? Click here.
PDM 1.0: the featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana and has been provided by the Albertina.