A Message of Life

CLICK ON THE ARROW TO WATCH THE VIDEO.
Tasks after watching:

I. Discuss with your partner:
a. how the young man changes through different phases of his life;
b. a viewpoint of yours that has changed as you were becoming older.

II. Consider the following:
1. What is that that makes this video clip a commercial?
2. Do you think it is effective?
3. How can commercials influence those who watch them?
4. Are commercials more powerful on TV or in the print?

Say your opinion:
1. Do the young people today face more problems in the world than the older generations?
2. Does the individual behaviour impact the future of the world?
3. Does the technology make people happier?
4. What could be disastrous consequences of using too much technology?
5. Have you changed anything in your life that is now more environment friendly?

III. Compare:
1. the way people lived before and after the 4th (internet) technological revolution;
2. the way people communicated in the past and now;

IV. Speculate how people will live in the future if we don't stop the environmental degradation. In a group write a warning message to your Prime Minister.

IV. Listening comprehension / writing / reading
1. Write down the scrypt of this commercial. Ask your teacher for help in difficult spots. Print it out.
2. Cut the text in smaller segments and have your partner re-compose it.

Teaching ESL for Sustainability

Click here to view our slides at the workshop Teaching ESL for Sustainability at the 2009 TESL Ontario Conference.

UN Secretary General Introduction for the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity

UN Secretary General Welcome Message for the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity from CBD on Vimeo.

Listen to the speech and fill in the blanks:

Our lives depend on biological ____________. Species and eco systems are disappearing at an unsustainable ____________. We humans are the ____________. We start to lose a wider variety of ____________ goods and services that we take for granted. The consequences for economies and people will be ____________, especially for the world poorest people.

In 2002 world leaders agreed to substantially ____________ the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010.

We know already that the biodiversity ____________ will not be met.

We need a new vision and new efforts. To be as usual is not an ____________.

For this year of biodiversity I call on every country and each ____________ on our planet to join together in the global alliance to protect life on Earth.

Biodiversity is life. Biodiversity is ____________ life.

Solutions: diversity, rate, cause, environmental, profound, reduce, target, option, citizen, our.