2 Environment
Unit Objectives
Grammar: present perfect simple and continuous; indirect questions
Vocabulary: local environment collocations; the environment; adverbs
Scenario: agreeing and disagreeing politely, polite questions; attending a formal meeting
Study skills: designing a questionnaire
Writing skills: writing a questionnaire
2.1 LOCAL
ENVIRONMENT
IN THIS LESSON
Lesson topic and staging
Students listen to three people talking about their
local area and learn a set of vocabulary related to
local environment. Students discuss local
environment issues and read an article about
noise/pollution. Students summarise similarities
and differences between the text and where they
live and write a solution to one of the problems.
Objectives
By the end of the lesson, students will have:
• extracted specific information and language
items from listening and reading texts
• extended their range of vocabulary in the context
of local environment issues
• discussed urban and local environmental issues
Timings
If short of time, set Exercise 9 as homework.
Possible lesson break: after Exercise 4.
WARM-UP
This activity introduces the topic of urban versus
rural environments.
• Divide the class into Group A and Group B.
• Group A list three advantages of living in an urban
environment and three disadvantages of living in a
rural environment. Group B do the opposite.
• Put students in A–B pairs. Give them five
minutes to persuade each other that their
environment is better.
• Take a class vote on which environment they
would prefer to live in.
Albert Einstein quote: This means that when
compared against the wider environment, an
individual is not very important.
New Language Leader Upper Intermediate Environment
LISTENING AND VOCABULARY:
local environment collocations
1 Check students know all the words in the box.
They should know, or be able to guess, the
majority.
• If possible, put students together who live in
different areas (though this may be time-
consuming or not relevant to your class).
• Students discuss the questions in pairs. Ask
three or four pairs to feed back to the class.
2 Depending on your class, you may need to check
they understand the concept of a survey.
• Tell students not to worry about vocabulary at
this stage as it is covered in Exercise 2. They
should be able to guess most vocabulary from
the context.
• Play the recording without pausing. Individually,
students complete the table.
• Students compare with a partner before you
check answers with the class.
• Finally, ask students if any of the points made by
the different speakers were similar to their own
(or their partner’s) situation.
Type of building: 1 detached house 2 farm
cottage 3 apartment block
Where they live: 1 suburb of a major city
2 countryside, edge of a very small village
3 city centre
What they like: 1 access to facilities and
shops, local area is green, good public
transport connections 2 peace and quiet,
fresh air, no traffic congestion, little noise and
light pollution, pace of life is slower, fantastic
views 3 cosmopolitan atmosphere, plenty to
do, wide range of shops, get whatever I want
any time, liveliness, surrounded by people all
the time, loads of police so feel very safe
Problems: 1 mindless vandalism 2 wind
farm for some, abandoned cars 3 litter
1

Audio script 2.1
1 Well, I live in a detached house in a suburb
of a major city. Mmm, what do I like about
it? Mmm, well, for a start it’s a friendly
neighbourhood. I also like the access to all
the facilities and shops, but what I really
like is the fact that my local area is very
green – you know, lots of parks and open
spaces for the kids. The public transport
connections are very good too, so I can be in
the city centre in a very short time if I avoid
the rush hour. So I guess you could say I
have the best of both worlds! I suppose it’s
what people call a ‘desirable area’. The only
real problem, I think, is the mindless
vandalism that goes on, you know, damage
to cars and bus stops, which we all have to
pay for in the end. It’s bored young people
with nothing to do. I suppose it’s the price
you pay for living in a city.
2 I live in a farm cottage on the edge of a very
small village, almost a hamlet, really, in the
countryside. It really is very rural – about 25
kilometres to the nearest town. It’s the peace
and quiet I like really, and the fresh air.
There aren’t many vehicles on the roads – so
no traffic congestion … the air’s very clean,
and there’s very little noise and light
pollution. The whole pace of life is much
slower – no one rushes anywhere. Oh yes,
and the fantastic views. The beautiful
natural environment with the hills means
I’m surrounded by magnificent scenery.
There’s a bit of trouble with a wind farm
which could spoil it for some people, but I
guess renewable energy is the future. The
main environmental issue we have at the
moment is abandoned cars. People are
dumping old cars they don’t want any more
in the village at night. We then have to wait
for ages before they’re taken away.
3 I live in an apartment block in the city
centre. It’s the cosmopolitan atmosphere I
like. There’s always plenty to do and such a
wide range of shops. I can go out at any
time of the day or night and get whatever I
want, either food and drink or
entertainment. The cultural activities are
endless. I love the liveliness of the city and
being surrounded by people all the time –
you know, that constant buzz of activity.
Environment
People talk about the crime rate in the city,
but where I live there always seems to be
loads of police, so I feel very safe. The one
thing that gets me down is the amount of
litter people drop on the streets. It’s so
unnecessary and just makes me feel
depressed. Most of it could be recycled, it
seems to me, if there were more recycling
points. I guess a lot of people don’t really
care about the way the urban environment
looks. I sometimes feel like saying to them,
‘I have to live here with all your rubbish.’
The council could do more to keep the
streets clean as well, I suppose, but we all
have to pay for it in higher taxes.
3 Students make as many combinations as they
can before they compare with a partner.
• Tell students to try to guess the meaning from
the context and then play the recording again.
• Check answers with the class and provide the
meaning of unknown words if necessary.
• For further practice, ask students to do Exercise
V1, 2–6 on page 129 in the Language reference.
(Stressed words/syllables are underlined.)
1 detached house 2 rush hour 3 desirable
area 4 noise pollution 5 natural
environment 6 wind farm 7 cultural
activities 8 cosmopolitan atmosphere
9 crime rate 10 recycling points 11 friendly
neighbourhood 12 open spaces 13 transport
connections 14 mindless vandalism
15 traffic congestion 16 renewable energy
17 environmental issue 18 abandoned cars
19 apartment block 20 urban environment
PRONUNCIATION
4 Critical thinking: Collocations. Understanding
words that commonly collocate with other
words will help students to sound more like
native speakers.
• Do the first item with the class. Agree the system
for marking stress (e.g. underlining), then put
them in pairs to mark the others.
• When finished, play the recording, pausing after
each item to allow students to check the stress.
• Write the collocations on the board and mark
stress as you check answers with the class.
See answer key to Exercise 3 above.
2
 In compound nouns (e.g. noise pollution, crime rate)
the stress is usually on the first word or the first
part if it is written as one word (e.g. whiteboard). If
the phrase is adjective + noun (e.g. detached house,
abandoned cars), the stress is mostly on the second
word (i.e. the noun). However, this is dependent
on context.
READING
5 Put students in pairs to discuss the list and add
other examples. Monitor to help with vocabulary
if necessary.
• Elicit answers and write useful additions on the
board so all students can copy them. Students
must justify their answers in each case.
This exercise may work best if you ask groups to
rank the problems 1–9 (where 1 = worst and
9 = least worst).
6 Focus students on the photo and the title of the
article and elicit what they think it is about.
• Tell students to read the questions before they
read the article and not to worry about
vocabulary as this will be covered in Exercise 7a.
• Ask them to compare with a partner before you
check answers with the class.
• Finally, ask students which ideas they discussed
in Exercise 5 were mentioned in the article.
1 more than 2,000 2 residents who were
already dissatisfied with their home,
residents in medium- or high-rise flats
3 two in five (local council/police), one in four
(neighbours) 4 because people are able to
develop ‘immunity’ to it; they consider it part
of the environment
7a Give students five minutes to find the
vocabulary. They compare answers with a
partner before you check with the class.
1 findings 2 poll 3 issues 4 scale
5 develop ‘immunity’ (Note: ‘immunity’ is in
inverted commas because it is normally
associated with disease.) 6 synonymous
7 lack of consideration 8 priority
7b Students work individually and then compare
answers with a partner before you check with
the class. Ensure they note that for questions 1, 3
and 4 more than one answer is needed.
Environment
1 The government-commissioned survey, The
study – carried out for 2 designed to
measure 3 was a problem of similar scale,
ranked much more highly 4 according to a
new survey, the survey also established, the
survey finds
8a Critical thinking: Identifying similarities and
differences. Put students in small groups to
identify the main facts of the article. Elicit the
facts from them and write them on the board
(e.g. Dog mess affects the quality of life. Noisy
neighbours are not that much of a problem.).
• Students make two sets of notes, about their
country as a whole and their local area. Ask them
to note if some points are the same for both.
8bWhen making pairs, put students from different
countries (or different local areas) together.
• Take feedback from a sample of the class.
Students could write their own newspaper story
for their own area, based on the model on page
17 and using the language in Exercise 3.
SPEAKING AND WRITING
9 Ideally, students should work with the same
partner as in Exercise 5.
• If time allows, put two pairs together to compare
their answers. Encourage students to identify
what they think is the best answer in each case.
If possible, give students a sheet of paper which
lists the nine points in Exercise 5 in a two-column
table. This will make it easier for them to add
their solutions next to each problem.
10 Encourage students to choose the problem which
is most relevant to their particular country.
• Ensure students plan the paragraph before
writing it.
HOMEWORK OPTIONS
Students do the vocabulary and pronunciation
exercises for this lesson in MyEnglishLab.
Students do exercise V1, 2–6 on page 129 in the
Language reference.
3
2.2 CHANGING
ENVIRONMENT
IN THIS LESSON
Lesson topic and staging
Students look at language connected to the
changing environment and then read an article
about the effects of global warming. Next, students
look at the use of the present perfect simple and
continuous in the article and practise using these
tenses. Finally, they use this grammar to discuss
environmental changes in their local environment.
Objectives
By the end of the lesson, students will have:
• extracted specific information and language
items from a reading text
• expanded their range of vocabulary in the
context of environmental change
• revised/extended their knowledge of the present
perfect simple and continuous
• discussed changes in their own environments
Timings
If short of time, omit Exercise 6. Exercise 8 could be
set as homework.
Possible lesson break: after Exercise 6.
WARM-UP
This activity introduces the topic of environmental
change.
• Write the folllwing on the board:
recycle, use public transport, fly less, become
vegetarian, insulate your house, buy food grown
locally. Check students understand each term.
• Students work in groups to discuss which things
they already do, which things they think they
should do and which things they think are a
waste of time.
• Finally, ask students to vote who is the ‘greenest’
person in their group.
READING AND VOCABULARY:
the environment
1 Students work in groups of three or four and
discuss the questions.
• Set the activity. Encourage students to use clues
in each word to guess meanings (e.g. the word
Environment
forest in deforestation, the prefix ex- in extinction).
• Students check their answers with a partner.
They can use a dictionary if necessary.
• Check answers with the class.
1 h 2 e 3 j 4 a 5 b 6 c 7 g 8 i 9 d 10 f
3 Explain that this kind of ‘matching paragraph
headings’ activity is common in many English
reading exams such as the IELTS Reading test.
• Ask students to outline the best strategy for
answering this kind of question (i.e. read all ten
headings, read the paragraph, identify the main
theme of the paragraph, choose heading).
• Students match the headings individually before
checking answers with a partner.
• Check answers with the class.
1d 2j 3c 4g 5a 6h 7e 8b
4 Ask students to scan the text for the numbers
and underline them.
• Individually, students find the numbers in the
text. and then write down briefly what they refer
to. Do 2005 as an example.
1.1–6.4 degrees centigrade that the earth
could warm this century
20–30 % of species that climate change will
put at risk
two-thirds amount of the world’s polar bears
that could be lost by mid-century
2005 the year a glacier survey was published
442 number of glaciers surveyed in 2005
90 % of the world’s glaciers that are shrinking
2000–2009 hottest decade on record
50 number of years in recent time very heavy
rain has increased in frequency
5 Critical thinking: Identifying sources.
Sources are very important in formal writing,
since they provide authority and strengthen
your argument.
• Check that students understand what is meant
by source by identifying the first one together.
• Students do this exercise in stages. First, they
underline the sources and then answer the
two questions.
• Students compare answers in pairs before you
take class feedback.
4

(source: underlined; key phrases: in bold)
According to the IPCC, climate change will
put some 20–30 percent of species globally at
an increasingly high risk of extinction,
possibly by 2100. The U.S. Geological Survey
has warned that two-thirds of the world’s
polar bear populations could be lost by mid-
century as sea ice continues to retreat.
The U.S. Geological Survey reports that slight
changes in the climate may result in sudden
changes in ecosystems. A recent IPCC report
predicts that sea levels could rise 25–38
centimetres by 2100 if current warming
patterns continue. A 2005 survey of 442
glaciers from the World Glacier Monitoring
Service found that 90 percent of the world’s
glaciers are shrinking as the planet warms.
The World Meteorological Organisation
reported that 2000–2009 was the hottest
decade on record. The recent IPCC report
concludes that very heavy rain has increased
in frequency during the last 50 years.
According to the National Centre for
Atmospheric Research, the percentage of the
Earth’s surface suffering drought has more
than doubled since the 1970s.
6 Students work in pairs to discuss the questions.
Take two or three sample answers for each
question in class. Encourage students to justify
their answers.
GRAMMAR: present perfect
simple and continuous
7a First, ask students to read the sentences and
emphasise that they should focus on the small
differences between them.
• Students answer the questions individually.
• Put students in pairs to check/agree on answers.
• Go through the answers carefully with the class.
Students often find the distinction between these
two tenses very difficult, so careful explanation
may be needed. You might also explain that in
reality, there is often not much distinction
between the two.
1 a = present perfect continuous; b = present
perfect simple 2 yes 3 yes 4 b 5 a
7b Individually, students find as many examples of
the two tenses as possible in two minutes.
Environment
• Students compare answers in pairs, discussing
why each form is used in each case.
• Take class feedback for all the examples.
• Refer students to the Language reference on
page 128 if they need further help.
present perfect simple: used because the
action is completed; examples: has warned,
has disappeared, has increased, has been, has
more than doubled
present perfect continuous: used because the
action is ongoing – started in the past and is
still continuing; examples: have been losing,
has been melting
8 Make sure students are aware that both tenses are
possible for two of the questions. They complete
the task individually, then check in pairs.
Students may use the wrong form of have as an
auxiliary. They need to check whether the
subject is singular or plural in this exercise.
1 has been disappearing 2 has shrunk/has
been shrinking 3 has already vanished
4 have been working 5 has sent 6 has
tried/has been trying 7 have questioned
8 has just published
SPEAKING
9 Put students in small groups for this activity.
• Elicit the pronunciation for contracted have (’ve)
and tell students to try to use this in their
discussions. They can refer to dictionaries for
unknown vocabulary.
• Monitor to note common mistakes using the
present perfect or continuous.
• Finally, take class feedback and correct some of
the mistakes you noted earlier.
HOMEWORK OPTIONS
Students do the grammar, reading and vocabulary
exercises for this lesson in MyEnglishLab.
Students write a letter to their local newspaper
describing the changes they have noticed in their
local environments, saying either how concerned
they are or if they think the changes aren’t a
problem. They can use the ideas they discussed in
Exercise 9.
Students do Exercises G1–1, G1–2 and V3–7 on
page 129 in the Language reference.
5
2.3 EXTREME
ENVIRONMENT
IN THIS LESSON
Lesson topic and staging
Students check their knowledge of volcanoes before
listening to a related lecture. They then look at
indirect questions used in the listening text and
practise using the grammar themselves. Students
read about Yellowstone Park in the USA and focus
on adverbs contained in the text. Finally, students
read/take notes on different texts about volcanoes
and give a short presentation on the topic.
Meet the expert video
Watch the video to hear from a volcanologist.
Objectives
By the end of the lesson, students will have:
• extracted specific information and language
items from listening and reading texts
• revised/learnt about indirect questions and
practised using these
• revised and/or extended their range of adverbs
• given a short presentation about volcanoes
Timings
If short of time, omit Exercise 6b.
Possible lesson break: after Exercise 6b.
WARM-UP
This activity introduces extreme environments.
• Write on the board:
Group 1: volcanoes, sea/water, land, air, forest
Group 2: lava, flood, hurricane, blaze, earthquake,
tsunami, eruption, tornado.
• Put students in pairs and tell them to match the
words in Group 1 with the words in Group 2.
Note that multiple answers may be possible.
• In feedback, check answers and vocabulary. Ask
the class if anyone has experienced any of these.
volcanoes, lava, eruption
sea/water, flood, hurricane, tsunami
land, earthquake
air, tornado, hurricane forest, blaze
Environment
SPEAKING AND LISTENING
1 Ensure that books are closed for this exercise. In
feedback, get students to explain how they know
that their suggestions/facts are true (i.e. what is
the source).
2 Give students three minutes to guess the answers.
They then compare answers with a partner.
• Answers will be checked in the listening.
3 Ask students to read the questions. Play the
recording and get the students to listen for the
answers. Explain they will get a chance to listen
again and check their answers to Exercise 2 later.
Audio script 2.3
Professor, Students
P: Finally, to check you’ve all been listening,
I’m going to ask you a question. So, what is a
volcano? Yes, the young man in the red shirt.
S1: Erm, volcanoes are a natural way that the
Earth has of cooling off … well, the Earth
and other planets.
P: Yes, that’s right. OK. Do you have any
questions for me? Yes, the woman in the
green jacket.
S2: Professor, can I ask what the biggest
volcano in the world is?
P: Right, that’s easy. The biggest volcano on
Earth is Mauna Loa in Hawaii and it’s about
8.5 kilometres high – that’s from the bottom
of the ocean to its top. It’s interesting that
most of the volcanoes on Earth are found
around the rim of the Pacific Ocean. But
there are volcanoes around the coastline of
Antarctica and there are even volcanoes
underwater. There are probably more
volcanoes and eruptions than people think.
Out of an estimated 1,500 active volcanoes
around the world, 50 or so erupt every year.
Another question … yes, you.
S3: Umm, is it true that people can go inside
volcanoes?
P: That’s an interesting question. Obviously,
you can’t go inside an erupting volcano. As
I told you, extremely high pressures under
the Earth cause volcanoes to erupt – the
pressure forces very hot lava up out of the
volcano. Lava flows can have temperatures
up to 1,250 degrees centigrade. But actually,
the answer to your question is yes. You can
go inside volcanoes. Some people live inside
volcanoes as some of them don’t erupt for a
6
 long time. In the USA people live in three
volcanoes, the most famous being the large
volcano under Yellowstone National Park,
which, incidentally, has been showing a lot
of activity recently. Yes, the young man
with the beard.
S4: Could you tell me if Vesuvius is an active
volcano?
P: Well, an active volcano is one that has
erupted in historical time. Vesuvius, which
is east of Naples in Italy, famously
destroyed Pompeii in AD 79 and it is the
only volcano on the European mainland to
have erupted within the last hundred years –
I think it was 1944. So yes, it is an active
volcano; and a lot of people live near it. In
fact, one in ten of the world’s population
live within volcanic danger zones. Another
question ... yes?
S5: I’d like to know why volcanoes stop
erupting.
P: That’s a good question. There are three
possible reasons. Maybe the heat runs out
when the rocks are melted. Or the hot rocks,
which, if you remember, we call magma,
solidify on their way up. Or the magma
can’t generate enough pressure to crack the
rock above it. OK, last question … yes?
S6: Do you know whether the Chilean Copahue
volcano is safe for the local people?
1 the end of a lecture, when students ask the
professor questions 2 professor–students,
therefore quite formal 3 five
4 Students work with the same partner as in
Exercise 2. They correct any of their answers
based on the first listening. They then listen
again and correct any as necessary.
1 T 2 T 3 F 4 T 5 F 6 T 7 T 8 F 9 T 10 T
GRAMMAR: indirect questions
5a Remind students about the relationship
discussed in Exercise 3.
• Before students read the audio script, ask them
to discuss with a partner how they think the
questions in the table were asked.
• Give them four minutes to check the audio script
and fill in the table before checking answers.
Environment
2 It is true that people can go inside volcanoes?
3 Could you tell me if Vesuvius is an active
volcano? 4 I’d like to know why volcanoes stop
erupting. 5 Do you know whether the Chilean
Copahue volcano is safe for the local people?
5b Students discuss this question in pairs before
you elicit ideas from the class.
Due to the relationship between the professor
and the students. Direct questions are less
formal and therefore show the professor is in
a ‘powerful’ position. Indirect questions are
more formal/polite/tentative and show the
students are in a less powerful position.
5c Students work individually, using examples in
5a. You may need to explain grammar words.
• Ask students to compare with a partner and use
the Language reference on page 128 if they need
extra help.
• Check answers with the class and elicit the
relevant examples from Exercise 5a.
1 T 2 T 3 T (except where the indirect
question begins with Do you know 4 F (we use
a question mark only when the introductory
sentence is a question, e.g. Do you know …?)
6a Re-elicit the introductory phrases from 5a (Can I
ask, Is it true, Do you know, Could you tell me I’d like
to know) and go through the example with the
class.
• Students work individually and then compare
answers with a partner. Encourage them to use
the examples in Exercise 5a, the information in
Exercise 5c and the Language reference if they
need help. Try not to correct students yourself.
• While they are working, write the direct
questions on the board. When checking answers,
write the indirect versions to show the changes.
Example answers:
2 Can you tell me how many volcanoes erupt
each year? 3 Could you tell me what causes a
volcano to erupt? 4 Can you tell me which is
the biggest volcano in the USA? 5 Do you
know which volcano has been showing a lot of
activity recently? 6 I’d like to know when
Vesuvius destroyed Pompeii. 7 Could you tell
me when Vesuvius last erupted? 8 Can you tell
me whether a lot of people live near Vesuvius?
7
6bPut students in pairs to ask and answer the
questions, referring to the audio script on page
169 if they don’t know the answer.
• For further practice, set Exercises G2– 3 and G2–4
on page 129 in the Language reference.
1 about 8.5 km 2 about 50 3 high pressures
under the Earth 4 the one under Yellowstone
National Park 6 AD 79 7 1944 8 yes
READING
7 Focus students on the photo and title on page 21
Ask if any of them have been to Yellowstone Park
and if they have heard of Bill Bryson or read any
of his books (see background information below).
• Allow two minutes for this activity. Students
read the text quickly and highlight the five topics
before working out the correct order.
1c 2d 3a 4e 5b
8 Set the activity and check students understand
cataclysm (a huge and terrible disaster).
• Ask students to read the extracts again. Emphasise
that they should answer in their own words.
• Students compare with a partner before you
check answers with the class.
• Finally, ask students if they are interested in
visiting the park and why/why not.
Yellowstone Park is located mostly in Wyoming,
USA and was the world’s first national park (1872).
Bill Bryson is a best-selling writer of humorous
travel and language books. In 2003 he published
A Short History of Nearly Everything, which
explains areas of science in everyday language.
1 It means Yellowstone Park is a beautiful
place but is also very dangerous because of the
volcanic activity. 2 about 72 km across, i.e.
from one side to the other, and about 13 km
thick 3 Because the explosion would be
enormous but nobody can predict exactly how
bad it would be. 4 No. Nobody was there the
previous time it exploded, so they don’t know
what the warning signs are. 5 Because there
are already all the usual warning signs
(earthquakes, etc.) but nothing has happened
yet. 6 Because more than three million people
visit it each year, the roads are narrow, which
slows traffic down, and it can take half a day
to drive across the park.
Environment
VOCABULARY: adverbs
9 Introduce this exercise by eliciting the function
of adverbs (to modify the meaning of verbs and,
occasionally, adjectives and other adverbs).
• Give students three minutes to match the
adverbs. Then allow them to use dictionaries if
necessary (e.g. after 90 seconds).
• Students compare with a partner before you
check answers with the class.
• For further practice, ask students to do Exercise
V4– 8 on page 129 in the Language reference.
deliberately – intentionally; mainly – mostly;
normally – generally; perhaps – possibly;
relatively – comparatively; slowly and
carefully – thoughtfully
SPEAKING
10a Put students in groups of three (similar ability
if possible). Ensure they turn to the correct page
and do not see the other texts.
• Allow students two to three minutes to read the
text and make notes. Tell them that these notes
will be used to give a presentation. Monitor to
help with language or content as needed.
If you are concerned that your students might find
the texts difficult, put together groups of students
in As, Bs and Cs so that they can compare notes on
the text before they go on to Exercise 10b.
10b Critical thinking: Presenting. Ensure that
students read the instructions and that they are
clear they must ask questions afterwards.
• In turn, students give their short presentations
and the other students ask questions.
MEET THE EXPERT
1 In pairs, students briefly discuss the questions.
• Take class feedback.
2 Individually, students read the topics and
predict the order they might come in.
• Students watch the video and check their
answers with a partner.
• Take class feedback.
e, b, d, a, c
8
 Meet the expert video
Andrew McGonigle, volcanologist
Uh, my name is Andrew McGonigle, I’m an
academic scientist at the University of Sheffield
and my specialism is in volcanism. I study
volcanoes to try and understand how they work
in order to help us predict eruptions.
Volcanoes have a very great appeal to me as a
scientist in the sense that they provide us an
almost unique possibility to look down at, into
processes occurring within the centre of the
earth. They’re like a keyhole or a window if you
like through which we can, we can understand
these, these otherwise entirely hidden processes.
Volcanoes affect us in so many ways. Uh an, an
excellent example of this was the, the 2010
Spring eruption of the volcano in Iceland, which,
of course, caused such big disruption to, to air
travel, really all across the world, but especially
between North America and Europe. It seemed
as if almost everyone knew someone who’d had
their travel plans disrupted as a consequence of
that and I think for a lot of people that was a, a
real shock to realise that even if we don’t live
right next to a volcano, we can still be very
affected by an eruption.
There are a number of ways of, of studying
volcanic gasses. Um the, the, the traditional
approach has been for scientists to climb to the
summit of volcanoes, descend into craters to
active vents, then collect gas samples in, in glass
bottles, take them back to the laboratory and
analyse them to gain subsequent information.
Whilst this provides very detailed information
the clear drawback is that it’s exceptionally
dangerous and in fact a number of scientists
have died uh collecting these, these forms of
data. So my work and that of a number of my
colleagues has been to try and pioneer remote
methods of doing these measurements i.e. safe
ways of, of, of doing this.
One of these has involved um some work that
I’ve been involved in using remotely controlled
helicopters which carry gas sensors from a safe
distance from the volcano. We then fly these into
the crater. They collect gas samples. They do
measurements and then they return back to us,
all the while with the scientists remaining at safe
distances from source.
Environment
I’ve worked on approximately fifteen of the
world’s active volcanoes. I’ve worked in various
different locations; in Central America, the
Caribbean, uh, Papua, New Guinea.
Most of my work there was focussed on Italy, in
particular Etna and uh Stromboli. Both of these
volcanoes have got fascinating eruptive styles.
Etna has these uh large lava flow eruptions
which happen once a year or once every few
years or so, where Stromboli erupts every ten
minutes or so creating these wonderful natural
fireworks if you like, these, these jets of, of
molten red rocks which are, which are shot up
into the sky, a few hundred metres into the air.
And these are particularly spectacular to
view at night time.
Another important Italian volcano is, is
Vesuvius which is potentially Europe’s most
dangerous volcano. We’re aware of this from the
archaeological record because of what happened
in ad 79 during the very famous eruption during
the Roman period, during which the towns of
Pompeii and Herculaneum were destroyed.
Those styles of eruption didn’t just happen
there, they’ve happened many times
subsequently and the people living within the
Bay of Naples region uh of whom there are
millions are potentially at risk for these kind of
eruptions happening again in the future.
Italy is subject to a number of natural disasters;
for instance, earthquakes and volcanoes.
Therefore, the Italian government has set in place
an agency which is responsible for responding
to those, the Department for Civil Protection.
In the case of Vesuvius where, where an
eruption is due to take place the Department for
Civil Protection is responsible for the evacuation
plans, which I believe at present takes seventy-
two hours, although there are constant efforts to,
to improve upon those and to get that time
down even further.
Within science, we can apply probabilities to
various future events taking place, and that’s the
information that we will then provide to uh civil
protection agencies and policy making agencies
as well. Therefore, there’s a real need for
dialogue between the scientists who are telling
us about what’s happening underground and
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 then the policy makers who need to make
strategic decisions about remo-, about getting
people out from the volcano.
There have been some excellent examples of this
dialogue going very well. For instance, uh,
during the last big eruption, uh, in 1991 Mount
Pinatubo eighty thousand people were
evacuated successfully. Equally, in the past there
have been examples where this dialogue hasn’t
gone so well. So there’s a constant need to make
this, this dialogue where these two parties often
speak quite different languages to work very,
very well.
3a In pairs, students complete as many of the gaps
as they can. Do not take feedback at this stage.
3b Students watch again and check/complete.
• Take class feedback.
1 predict 2 centre of 3 affect 4 detailed
information 5 remotely controlled
helicopters 6 erupting 7 hundred metres
8 dangerous volcano 9 72 hours 10 policy
makers
4a The same pairs guess/look up the meaning of the
words and match the pairs.
1c 2e 3a 4d 5b
4b In pairs, students discuss which job they think
would be most interesting and explain why.
HOMEWORK OPTIONS
Students do the grammar, listening, reading and
vocabulary exercises for this lesson in
MyEnglishLab. They can also do the MyEnglishLab
video activities after this point.
Students do Exercises G2–3, G2–4 and V4–8 on
page 129 in the Language reference.
Environment
2.4 SCENARIO:
SPARROW HILL
WIND FARM
IN THIS LESSON
Lesson topic and staging
This lesson focuses on the language of agreeing/
disagreeing politely and asking polite questions.
Students are introduced to the scenario of a
company who wants to build a wind farm. They
listen to a government official and a company
representative talking about the farm, which leads
to a focus on the Key language. Finally, in the Task,
they take part in a meeting to discuss the proposal.
Objectives
By the end of the lesson, students will have:
• extracted specific information and language
items from a reading and a listening text
• learnt useful phrases for agreeing, disagreeing
and asking questions politely
• used this language in a ‘real-life’ situation to
discuss a proposal to build a wind farm
Timings
If short of time, omit Exercise 4, but make sure you
model pronunciation and monitor its use during
Exercise 5.
Possible lesson break: after Exercise 4.
WARM-UP
This activity introduces the topic of renewable
resources.
• Write on the board: fossil fuels (gas, oil, coal), wind
energy, solar energy (sun), wave energy (the sea),
nuclear energy.
• Put students in pairs and give one resource to
each pair.
• Ask students to think of as many advantages of
their resource as possible and one disadvantage
for each of the other resources.
• Put students in groups of three to six so that each
student in a group represents a different
resource. Ask them to argue why their resource
is better than the others and to disagree with
other students.
• Monitor and note the language they use for
disagreeing.
10
• Ask students which resource had the most
advantages in their group and write some of the
phrases they used for disagreeing. Tell students
that they will be looking at other phrases for
disagreeing (as well as agreeing) in this lesson.
SITUATION
1 Focus students on the photo on pages 22–23 and
elicit that this is a wind farm. Pre-teach turbine.
• Ask students to name some other kinds of
alternative power (e.g. wave, solar). Then elicit
renewable sources from wave and solar.
• Explain that students are going to discuss
building a wind farm later in the lesson.
• Ask students to read the questions before they
read the text, using their dictionaries if necessary.
• Students compare answers with a partner before
you check with the class.
• Finally, ask the class if wind farms are common
in their country and/or what kind of renewable
sources of power are used or could be used.
1 Sources of energy and advantages (+) and
disadvantages (–) mentioned: fossil fuels
(+ none mentioned, – being used up, emit
carbon dioxide); nuclear power (+ none
mentioned, – doubts about safety); solar
(+ renewable, – none given); wave
(+ renewable, – none given); wind power
(+ renewable, – spoil the landscape, not
reliable) 2 80 turbines, 60 metres tall,
turbine of 35 m diameter, an area of several
kilometres (Students may also say that the fact
it will take five years to complete is evidence
that it will be large. Accept if suggested, but
don’t give this as an answer yourself.)
2 Read the introduction and questions with the
class. Tell students that Deborah is the
government official and John is the power
company representative.
• Play the recording without pausing. Give
students two minutes to compare answers with a
partner before you check with the class.
1 John is initially against the idea, but
changes his mind as it will show how people
in the areas feel. Deborah supports the idea.
2 He thinks it’s too early and that it’ll cause
trouble; it could get out of hand. 3 They
decide to call a public meeting in July.
Environment
Audio script 2.4 and answer key to Exercise 3b
Switchboard, Deborah Rydell, John Reynolds
S: Good morning, Power Gas and Electricity,
how can I help you?
DR: Good morning. Can I speak to John
Reynolds, please?
S: Certainly. Who’s calling, please?
DR: It’s Deborah Rydell, from the Department of
Energy.
S: Putting you through now.
DR: Hello, is that John?
JR: Speaking.
DR: Hi, John. It’s Deborah from the Energy
Department. I wanted to have a chat with
you about the wind farm proposal – you
know, the one at Sparrow Hill.
JR: OK, Deborah. You’re still in favour of it, I
hope. You’re not going to cancel it, are you?
DR: Well, it’s not really my decision, John.
Personally, there’s no doubt in my mind
that wind farms are the future, although
some of my colleagues seem to think we
should be doing more with nuclear power.
It’s much more cost effective at the moment,
they say.
JR: Well, that’s one way of looking at it, but we
need to think long term. We just can’t go on
in the same old way.
DR: You’re absolutely right, because oil and gas
will run out, eventually. Well, really, my
reason for calling, John, is that I’d like to
know when you think we should have the
first public meeting about Sparrow Hill –
you know, to stop any rumours.
JR: Well, it’s a bit too early. I’m totally
convinced that we should wait until we get
further with the process, as there’s likely to
be a lot of trouble about this.
DR: You have a point, but don’t you think we
should have a meeting and put our case
early? I mean, I’m sure we’ll be able to get
some supporters to attend. I was wondering
if holding a public meeting sooner rather
than later could really help.
JR: Mmm, I see what you mean, but I’m just
worried that it could get very noisy – you
know a lot of people feel strongly about this
sort of thing. Though, thinking about it, I’m
interested in knowing what sort of local
support you think we’re likely to get. It
11
 could also be a great chance to see how
people who live in the area really feel.
DR: Yes, exactly. I just think if we want it to get
public approval, we need to persuade
people it’s right for the area from the start,
and this would be a good opportunity.
JR: That’s very true, because without local
support, we’re probably not going to get
much further very quickly.
DR: OK, I’ll sort out a venue for some time in
July and organise some publicity and
security. I think that’s important in case
things get out of hand.
JR: I’d go along with you there, because some
of these environmental groups can get quite
violent. But don’t worry, I’m sure it will be
OK. I really believe all the really great ideas
are unpopular at first.
DR: Yes, OK, John. Goodbye.
JR: Goodbye.
KEY LANGUAGE: agreeing
and disagreeing politely,
polite questions
3a Tell students to guess/work out the order from
their knowledge of grammar if they are unclear.
They will hear the recording again in Exercise 3b.
• Students work individually and then compare
with a partner. Monitor to make sure students
have used contractions when possible.
3b Play the recording without pausing and then
ask students to compare their answers.
• When you check answers, write the sentences on
the board so that students can see the order.
• Finally, ask students to decide if the phrases are
used for agreeing (sentences 2, 6, 7), disagreeing
(1, 4) or asking polite questions (3, 5).
• For further practice, ask students to do exercise
KL–5 on page 129 in the Language reference.
4 Put students in pairs to practise while you
monitor to correct pronunciation.
TASK: attending a formal meeting
The kind of language and skills practised in this
task are very useful preparation for university
life, e.g. seminars and tutorials, where this kind
of language is common.
5a Divide the class into five groups, As, Bs, Cs, Ds
and Es. Tell the As to look at their role card on
page 155, the Bs to look at page 157 and so on.
Environment
• In their groups, students prepare what they want
to say at the meeting and brainstorm any other
ideas. Monitor to help with vocabulary and
prompt with ideas if necessary.
5b Put students in five new groups so that there is
one of each student (A–E) in each group.
• Ask students to look again at the Key language
in Exercise 3. Go through the Useful phrases box,
checking pronunciation.
• Give the groups 20–30 minutes to have their
meeting, emphasising that they must ask
questions, give opinions and persuade others in
their group that their opinion is right.
• Monitor and note mistakes. These will be
corrected in Exercise 5c.
5c The groups have five minutes to summarise the
results of their meeting and elect a spokesperson.
• Give each group’s spokesperson two minutes to
report to the rest of the class.
• The class votes on whether they think the wind
farm should be built or not.
• Finally, correct some of the more common
important mistakes you noted in Exercise 5c.
6 Put students in groups. Give them five minutes
to discuss the question. Encourage them to ask
questions and give reasons for their answers.
• Ask two or three students to say what would
happen in their own country.
HOMEWORK OPTIONS
Students do the Key language, listening,
vocabulary and pronunciation exercises for this
lesson in MyEnglishLab.
Tell students that they are a journalist who
attended the meeting in Exercise 5b. Ask them to
write a short article on the different opinions at the
meeting and what was decided.
Students do exercise KL–5 on page 129 in the
Language reference.
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2.5 STUDY AND
WRITING SKILLS
IN THIS LESSON
Lesson topic and staging
This lesson focuses on designing and writing a
questionnaire. Students listen to a lecturer giving
advice on designing a questionnaire before looking
in detail at different question types. Next, students
read about and listen to members of an
environmental organisation who want to design a
questionnaire. Finally, students design the
questionnaire for the organisation.
Objectives
By the end of the lesson, students will have:
• extracted specific information from reading and
listening texts
• learnt about techniques for designing
questionnaires and the types of question to use
• designed and written a questionnaire for use by
an environmental organisation
Timings
If short of time, set Exercise 10d as homework.
Possible lesson break: after Exercise 5b.
WARM- UP
• Tell students that they are going to ask each
other one question. It must get the most
interesting answers possible.
• Give students two minutes to think of their
question. Help with topic areas if necessary (e.g.
life, favourite things, happiest memory).
• Students ask their question to as many other
students as possible.
• When they have finished, ask three or four
students to tell the class what they found out.
• Finally, ask the class to vote on the most
interesting/the best question.
STUDY SKILLS: designing a
questionnaire
1 With books closed, write questionnaire on the
board. Ask students what it is and what it does.
• Pre-teach data (the information you get) and
analyse (study and think about the significance
of data).
Environment
• Students read the introduction to this activity.
Put students in pairs to discuss the questions
before eliciting ideas from three or four students.
To motivate students and show the relevance of
this lesson, point out that students at university
often have to design and use questionnaires as
part of their research.
Answers depend on students’ own ideas and
experiences.
2 Set the context and ask students to read the
questions. Then play the recording without
pausing.
• Students compare with a partner before you
check answers with the class. Their answers do
not need to be too specific as they will listen
again and answer more questions in Exercise 3.
1 ask the right questions to get the information
you want, get enough data to analyse 2 open
and closed questions 3 open questions
Audio script 2.5
Lecturer, Student
L: It’s not easy to design a good questionnaire,
Paula. I’m not surprised you’re having
problems. How can I help?
S: Well, a few tips would be useful. I mean,
what are the key points?
L: Erm, OK, when you design your
questionnaire, remember two things. Firstly,
you need to ask the right questions so you
get the information you’re looking for. And
secondly, you want to make sure you get
enough data to analyse. You need as many
questionnaires as possible to be completed
and returned to you. OK?
S: OK, so I have to choose good questions and
get as many responses as possible.
L: Exactly. Now would you like me to give
you a few tips about the wording of
questions? Of course, the type of question
depends on what the aims of the
questionnaire are, but there are certain
rules, I’d say.
S: Oh, yes?
L: Mmm, first of all, use simple, short
sentences. And avoid questions which are
too long. Some people just won’t bother to
13
 answer them if they’re long, and other
people just won’t understand them.
S: OK, short and snappy questions, I’ve got it.
L: Another thing, Paula. Try to use open and
closed questions in your questionnaire. Mix
them if possible.
S: Hold on, can you explain, erm, open and
closed questions?
L: Sure. Open questions, well, they allow
people to answer as they wish, for example,
if you ask people, ‘How do you feel about
the quality of the teaching you received?’ ,
it’s an open question. You’ll probably get a
variety of answers. But closed questions are
questions to which the answers are given, so
the person answering has a limited choice.
For example, a question like, ‘How satisfied
are you with your course? a) satisfied, b) not
satisfied, c) don’t know. Circle the
appropriate answer.’ Well, that’s a closed
question; the choices are given to you. OK?
S: Right. I suppose you get more information
with open questions.
L: Yes, you do, but it takes a lot longer to
analyse all the answers!
S: Yeah, I can see that.
L: Oh, a word of warning about open
questions: ask for only one piece of
information at a time. For example, if you
ask, ‘What is your opinion of the course
materials and teaching method?’, that’s not
really a good question. It’s really two
questions and it would be better to use two
separate questions, not one, to get your
information.
S: I see, OK.
L: Another thing about questions. All
questions should be clear and well
structured. In other words, respondents
should be able to see the point of the
question; they shouldn’t be thinking, ‘What
on earth does that mean?’ Also, it’s good to
start with fairly simple questions which
people can answer easily. This encourages
them to complete the questionnaire.
S: Yes, I see! OK, I’ve got all that.
L: One final piece of advice: before designing
your questionnaire, you need to look ahead
and think carefully about how you’re going
to analyse the data. People often forget to
do this when they design a questionnaire,
Environment
and they find out they can’t analyse the data
very easily. It’s too late then!
3 Individually, students try and complete the
sentences based on the first listening.
• Get them to listen again, pausing after each
sentence so they can check/complete.
• Take feedback in class.
1 to answer them 2 as they wish 3 a limited
choice 4 open questions 5 piece of
information 6 of the question 7 fairly
simple questions 8 analyse the data
4a Question types. Set the activity. Give students
three minutes to complete it.
• Students compare with a partner before you
check answers with the class.
1C 2G 3B 4F 5A 6E 7D
4b Elicit brief answers from the class as most points
have already been covered in Exercise 3.
Open questions
Advantages: people can answer as they wish,
get a variety of answers, get more
information; Disadvantages: takes a long time
to analyse data
Closed questions
Advantages: easier to analyse; Disadvantages:
they limit the responses
5a Give students a few minutes to decide if they
think the questions are good or poor. Some
questions may have good and poor elements.
• Students compare with a partner before you
check answers with the class. (Note: The answers
below are the ideal ones. However, you should
accept reasonable answers and suggestions.)
1 good: it’s easy to tick and put respondents
into an age category; poor: categories are
uneven and respondents to this questionnaire
are more likely to be over 20; suggestion:
20–30, 30–40, 40–50, 50–60, 60–70, over 70
2 good: (Students from some cultures may
say this question is too obvious because the
accepted answer in their culture is yes.)
3 Poor: there are three questions; first part is
fine, but ‘is it new and fuel-efficient’ may lead
to a lot of ‘don’t knows’ 4 poor: does not
14
 provide useful information as everyone
replaces light bulbs 5 a good question
5b Put students in small groups. Give them five
minutes to discuss why they labelled some
questions as ‘poor’ and to suggest alternatives.
• Elicit ideas and one alternative for each question
labelled as ‘poor’ in Exercise 5a.
The following are better questions:
3 Do you have a gas boiler?
Yes No
Tick the appropriate box.
If you have a gas boiler, is it:
new? fuel efficient?
Put a tick () for ‘Yes’ and a cross (×) for ‘No’.
4 How often do you replace your light
bulbs?
WRITING SKILLS: writing a
questionnaire
6 Set the context and read through the
introduction with the class. Students note their
ideas and then compare with a partner.
• Elicit ideas to the board so that students can refer
to them in Exercise 8.
7 Ask students to read the question. Then play the
recording without pausing.
• Students compare with a partner before you
check answers with the class.
age, marital status, sex, educational
qualifications, nationality, employment status
Audio script 2.6
Donna, Eduardo, Sophie
D: OK, let’s talk about the questions we’ll put
in our questionnaire. Eduardo, you’ve done
some work on this. What have you come
up with?
E: OK, well, I think we all agree that we need
to get some basic data about the
respondents in our sample. You know, we’ll
need to know their age, sex, marital status,
that sort of thing. And their educational
qualifications, of course.
D: Yes, and also get something about their
current employment situation. Are they
employed or still students?
Environment
E: Exactly. And I’d add a question about their
nationality – that could be very useful for us
to know.
D: True, let’s get that as well. OK, the next
thing is … what issues do we want to
include? Sophie, I think you’ve got some
ideas about that.
S: Yeah, I’ve done a bit of research. The key
issues are … let’s see … in no particular
order: nuclear power, climate change, air
pollution, real food; in other words, there’s
a lot of concern about genetic engineering of
food products – GMOs. Those are the four
key issues. OK?
D: It’s a good list. How about protecting
rainforests?
S: It’s an important issue, I agree, but I think
four issues are enough.
D: OK, we’ll go with those. Now, what other
questions …
8 Students note down as many issues as they can
recall from the first listening. They listen again
and note down any remaining issues.
• In feedback, get them to compare their notes
with the ideas written on the board in Exercise 6.
nuclear power, climate change, air pollution,
real food (i.e. not genetically engineered)
9 Ask students to read the questions. Then play
the recording without pausing.
• Check answers with the class or ask students to
check the audio script on page 170.
The following should be ticked: 1, 2, 4, 6
Audio script 2.7
Donna, Eduardo
D: Now, what other questions shall we
include? Any suggestions, Eduardo?
E: Yes. We’ll need to know how important
each issue is for our respondents; that’ll be
the first question. So, I think we should ask
them to rank the issues in order of
importance, with one being the top issue.
And then we should have a second question
asking them to give reasons for their choice.
Of course, that would be an open question
and the answers might be more difficult to
analyse.
15
 D: Yes, but it’d be a useful question, so let’s
include it. Anything else?
E: We’ll need to find out how aware they are of
all the issues and how worried they are
about them. Those could be questions three
and four. Probably, for question four, they
could fill in a chart with headings like ‘Very
worried’, ‘Fairly worried’, ‘Not worried at
all’, and they put ticks in the appropriate
boxes to show their opinion.
D: Great idea. Just one final point: I’d like to
have a question asking if they’re prepared
to help us – you know, by working in the
office, interviewing people, taking part in
campaigns or raising money for us – that’s
very important. Let’s put one in – a final
question – to find out if they want to join us.
Right, time to get started writing the
questionnaire.

10a Put students in groups of four and set the

activity. Make sure each student chooses a
different issue.
• Give students 15–20 minutes to write their
questions and refer them to Exercises 3 and 4 to
remind them of features of good questions.
• Monitor to point out mistakes and help with
vocabulary.
10b Give students a maximum of five minutes to
correct each others’ mistakes.
10c Give students five minutes to add suggestions
to each others’ questionnaires.
10d Students elect one member of their group to
write the questionnaire. Other students give
ideas and suggestions.
• When they have finished, ask students to show
their questionnaire to others in the class.
• Finally, get students to vote on the best
questionnaire, based on how good the
questions are.

HOMEWORK OPTIONS
Students do the writing skills and academic
collocations exercises for this lesson in
MyEnglishLab. This is also a good time to do the
MyEnglishLab video activities.

Students use their questionnaires on groups of

respondents they select themselves (e.g. family,
friends, another class in the school). They then
write a report for the class analysing the results.

Environment 16