‘Orchidelirium’: how a modern-day flower madness is fuelling the illegal trade

Level: Advanced – Teacher’s notes

Key:
Article summary: Why a world famous 1. cuttings 9. specimens
botanical garden needs a special police force 2. constabularies 10. trafficking
to protect its collection of orchids from people
3. breach 11. rampant
with modern-day ‘orchidelirium’
4. thriving 12. blurry
5. conservatory 13. stripped
Time: 90 minutes+
6. prized 14. propagation
Skills: Reading, Speaking, Writing 7. delicacy 15. implores
8. rumours
Language focus: Vocabulary
b. Before reading the article carefully, students
Materials needed: One copy of the use some of the key words to fill the gaps in the
worksheet per student sentences to ensure that they understand and know
how the words are used in other contexts.

1. Warmer
a. Either search and prepare the images of the stolen
objects, or tell students to use their phones to look
them up. Ask them to work in groups and arrange the
stolen items from the one they think is the least pricy,
to the most expensive one. When they are done,
tell them the answers. Optionally, you can give them
the price of the top and bottom items and ask them
to estimate the rest. Hold a brief class discussion
asking if they are surprised by any of the amounts.
Key:
1. the Gibson Stradivarius violin – $15 million
2. the Third Imperial Fabergé egg – $33 million
3. Van Gogh’s painting Poppy Flowers –
$55 million
4. Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream –
$120 million
5. the Hope Diamond – $250 million
b. Students discuss the questions briefly in pairs.
2. Key words
a. Students find words in the article that match the
definitions and write them on the lines provided.
Then they should find and highlight them in the
article to read them in context.
Key:
1. prized 4. breach
2. rampant 5. specimens
3. rumours 6. delicacy
3. Find the information
a. Students find detailed information in the article to
answer the questions.
Key:
1. A combination of the words orchid and delirium
(meaning extreme excitement or happiness),
this describes the enthusiasm wealthy Victorians
had for collecting exotic orchids from the
colonies of the time. It is something similar to
the more well-known Tulipmania that happened
in the 17th century.
2. someone who shows off their orchids via social
media and encourages and motivates others to
get their own orchids or start a collection
3. because people try to steal them – especially
the rare ones – by climbing over the walls to
access the gardens or by taking plants or pieces
of plants for cuttings during opening hours
4. Some of the rarest and most endangered
orchids are kept out of sight at all times for the
plants’ protection.
5. They are found on every continent with the
exception of Antarctica, and in all conditions and
at all altitudes. They make up 8% of the known
flowering plants on Earth.
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 ‘Orchidelirium’: how a modern-day flower madness is fuelling the illegal trade
Level: Advanced – Teacher’s notes
6. T hey come in many and diverse varieties, they 5. Discussion
are beautiful, and some are delicacies. Being
able to grow them successfully is a way of a-d Students discuss the questions about orchids
showing off your horticultural skills. and wildflowers.
7. The scale and value of illegal orchid trading and
trafficking are unknown, but it is known that it 6. In your own words
is thriving. The consequences include newly
discovered and rare species being completely a. Students find images of the specified orchid variety.
and illegally removed from their natural habitats
to the extent that they become extinct in b. Working with a partner, students choose one of
the wild. the very many orchids found around the world and
8. We don’t know as this is a well-kept and closely research it so that they can give an interesting and
guarded secret. informative five-minute presentation to the rest of
the students.
4. Key language

a. Students use the words in the box to complete the

verb phrases from the article.

Key:
1. take on a new form = look different from how it
did in the past
2. be at the heart of = be the central main part or
focus of something
3. be on the lookout = be watching carefully for
whatever it is they should be keeping an eye on
4. meet a similar fate = when something bad
happens that has happened to something or
someone else already
5. push something to the brink = take something to
the point at which something very bad (or good)
is likely to happen

b. Next, they explain the meaning of each phrase in

their own words. (See suggestions in the key above.)

c. Finally, they use them to talk about the article.

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Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2021.

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Home >> Adults >> General English >> NEWS LESSONS

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