Cooperative Learning and The SDGs

desideriotorres@yahoo.com.
mx 07 Jan 2024
COOPERATIVE LEARNING
& THE SDGS
PUBLISHED BY: PEACHEYPUBLICATIONS LTD
desideriotorres@yahoo.com.mx 07 Jan 2024
COOPERATIVE LEARNING AND THE SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT GOALS.
Written by
Lim, S., Reidak, J., Chau, M. H., Zhu, C., Guo, Q., Brooks, T. A., Roe, J. and
Jacobs, G. M.
Published by PeacheyPublications Ltd UK 2023
i
INTRODUCTION
The Earth contains more than eight billion humans. That means we have more
than eight billion brains to think and understand, and more than eight billion hearts
to understand and care. This book is about helping all those wonderful brains, and
sincere hearts cooperate to improve the Earth for everyone.
THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND COOPERATIVE LEARNING

One map for improving the Earth is the United Nations’ Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs). Many of us already know about the SDGs, and we may have
different opinions about the SDGs, just as we have different opinions on many
matters. Nevertheless, perhaps we can agree for the sake of this book that the
SDGs can be a flexible starting point for seeking improvement.
Just as there are different opinions about the SDGs, there also exist different views
on how to attempt to achieve the SDGs. In this book, we focus on education, and
within education, we focus on a method known as cooperative learning (CL). It
goes by other names, such as collaborative learning, but for the sake of simplicity,
we will call it cooperative learning. With CL, students of all ages work together with
peers and others to achieve learning and other goals.
AN INCLUSIVE BOOK
In this book on using cooperative learning to achieve the SDGs, we, the authors,
try to be inclusive in several ways. First, we try to write without jargon, in
reasonably simple terms, using many examples to explain the ideas we are
sharing. By the way, many of the concepts and ideas in this book have been
inspired by a wide variety of sources and authors. We share these ideas with you
and hope you will share them with many others.
Another way we try to be inclusive with this book is by making the book available
for free online. Many books can be expensive, and the costs go even higher with
shipping fees. Free online books can be obtained by anyone with access to the
internet and shared readily. However, we do realize that too many of us, eight
billion humans, do not have easy Wi-Fi access or do not speak English, the
language of this book. We need to improve.
One more way that we hope to make this book inclusive is by having examples of
all the 17 SDGs, and examples that work for many different students and teachers,
regardless of age and other background factors, including where people live. Of
course, we cannot provide examples that work for everyone. This is where we
need your help. We need you, and those with whom you learn and strive, to
develop more examples. Thank you.
ii
CONTENTS COOPERATIVE LEARNING AND THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
1. COOPERATIVE LEARNING 6
• The Cooperative Learning Principles

• Introduction to the Chapters on Cooperative Learning
• Make any Lesson a Cooperative Learning Lesson
2. COOPERATIVE LEARNING TECHNIQUES 13
• 7S
• Cooperative Debate
• Cooperative Dialog Journals
• Dictogloss
• Everyone Can Explain
• Exchange-a-Question
• Forward Snowball
• Gallery Tour
• Group Investigation
• Group Projects
• Jigsaw
• K-W-L-S
• Skits
• SUMMER
• The Circle Family of Techniques
• The Tell Family of Techniques
• Think Aloud Squares
• Think-Pair-Share
3. COOPERATIVE LEARNING TEACHING TIPS 48
• Brainstorming
• Friendly Spy
• Helping Groups Function Well
• Sponge Activities
• Talking Chips
4. THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS 59
• SDG History: 1975 Environmental Education Objectives

• Individual and Everybody Changes
• Introduction to the Chapters on the SDGs
iii
5. THE 17 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS 66
• SDG 1: No Poverty
• SDG 2: Zero Hunger
• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being
• SDG 4: Quality Education
• SDG 5: Gender Equality
• SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
• SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
• SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
• SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
• SDG 10: Reduced Inequality
• SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
• SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
• SDG 13: Climate Action
• SDG 14: Life Below Water
• SDG 15: Life on Land
• SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
• SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals
6. HOW CL AND THE SDGS FIT TOGETHER 101
• In the Spirit of the SDGs and CL

• The Books That Inspired Us
• Introduction to the Chapters on SDGs Activities With CL Techniques
7. SDGS ACTIVITIES WITH CL TECHNIQUES 109
• Overview of the SDGs (All SDGs)

• Overview of the SDGs 2 (All SDGs)
• Reading Newspapers (All SDGs)
• Talking Business (SDG 1)
• The Freerice Game (SGD 2)
• What’s in a Chocolate Bar? (SDG 2)
• Our Class in Data (SDG 3)
• Teen Pregnancy (SDG 3)
• What Happened Next? (SDG 3)
• Inclusiveness in Education (SDG 4)
• Would You Like to be a Teacher? (SDG 4)
• Finding a ‘Why’ for a ‘What’ (SDG 5)
• A Matter of Life and Death (SDG 6)
• Family Energy (SDG 7)
iv
• Youth Employment (SDG 8)

• Businesses and the Community (SDG 9)
• Food Meets Technology (SDG 9)
• Ageism (SDG 10)
• Education for the Hearing Impaired (SDG 10)
• The Luck of the Draw (SDG 10)
• Community Projects (SDG 11)
• Fact Checking Veganism (SDG 12)
• Plastic, Plastic Everywhere (SDG 12)
• Water Waste (SDG 12)
• Climate Change in Benin (SDG 13)
• Peer Practice (SDG 13)
• The Incredible Journey (SDG 14)
• The Shape of Poetry (SDG 14)
• What Do You Know About Forests? (SDG 15)
• Cocreating the Guidelines (SDG 16)
• The Energy Waste Tour (SDG 17)
• Teachers as Role Models (SDG 17)
ABOUT THE AUTHORS XXXVII

COPYRIGHT INFORMATION XXXIX
© Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
v
COOPERATIVE
LEARNING
Cooperative learning (CL) is a teaching method
that consists of concepts and practical strategies
for helping students and others to work together to
learn and achieve other important goals, such as
making progress toward the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), and simple goals,
such as feeling satisfied.
THE
Cooperative learning (CL) is a teaching method that consists of concepts and
practical strategies for helping students and others to work together to learn and
COOPERATIVE achieve other important goals, such as making progress toward the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs), and simple goals, such as feeling satisfied. Many
LEARNING concepts play key roles in CL. Some of these concepts are called CL principles,
PRINCIPLES and different people have different lists of principles. Table 1 shows and explains
one list of eight CL principles.
TABLE 1: ONE LIST OF CL PRINCIPLES
CL Principle Meaning Examples/Explanations
Group members check

that all members have
Group members feel that
made progress in learning
what helps one group
the materials (e.g., the
Positive member helps all group
geography of Africa) or
Interdependence members, and what
skills (e.g., adding
harms one group member
fractions with different
harms all group members.
denominators) that the
group is studying.
7
Everyone in the group feels a need to do

In the middle of an activity, everyone
their fair share to help the group
takes a turn to share how they feel about
Individual Accountability succeed. Everyone needs to let others
the activity so far (e.g., what might be
know what they know/do not know, can/
challenging, interesting, or enjoyable).
cannot do, and what they experienced.
One group member has the role of

Encourager, who encourages everyone
to participate, sharing knowledge as well
Everyone has a chance to take part in
Equal Opportunity to Participate as feelings. Some members may wish to
what the group is thinking and doing.
delay sharing until they have more time
to think and learn. Quiet thinking time is
fine too.
Students’ peers are the other students.

Students discuss in pairs, and then pairs
Students talk, write, and collaborate with
combine to form foursomes for further
their groupmates. Often, these peer
discussion. Students read about the
interactions involve students going
Maximum Peer Interactions problem of a lack of clean water (SDG
beyond the information given to them by
6). They imagine what they would do if
teachers, materials, and other sources.
they were without clean running water
Students are thinking, not only
for a day.
repeating.
A class has a policy of TTT = Team Then

Teacher, meaning students ask their
groupmates first before asking their
teacher. Or, 3 + 1 B4 T = Ask your (3, 2,
Groups learn from teachers and others, or 1) groupmates first and one other
Group Autonomy but they first try to learn from and with group before asking the teacher. In
their group members. whatever case, the teacher is there to
help, just not as the first option. This
prepares students to rely on themselves
and peers as much as possible, instead
of immediately turning to experts.
8
Student groups contain members with

different levels of past achievement,
depending on what the class is studying.
Groups usually have diverse
When students teach each other, both
membership based on factors such as
the teachers and the students can learn.
Heterogeneous Grouping past achievement, gender, race, religion,
Also, when students learn with peers
and nationality. Of course, these factors
different from themselves, initial
will vary in different situations.
discomfort is to be expected. Teacher
guidance to overcome that discomfort
can be helpful.
The hundreds of cooperative skills

include praising others with reasons and
Many skills facilitate group interaction. giving examples when explaining. It is
Teaching Cooperative Skills People need to learn these skills as well not easy for students to reach a stage
as practice using them. where these valuable skills are used
routinely. Teacher modeling and
guidance can be crucial.
This principle of Cooperation as a Value

may be fundamental to linking CL with
The feeling of positive interdependence
the SDGs. Cooperating with others,
can expand beyond a small group of
Cooperation as a Value even on the other side of the world, and
two, three, or four members to include
recognizing the mutual benefits of such
other people and even other species.
cooperation are essential to the
objectives of this book.
9
INTRODUCTION TO THE CHAPTERS ON COOPERATIVE LEARNING

In 1968, in one of his last speeches, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and civil rights advocate Martin Luther King, Jr. eloquently
stated ideas that very much apply more than 50 years later to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and cooperative
learning (CL).
Through our scientific and technological genius, we have made of this world a neighborhood and yet we have not had the
ethical commitment to make of it a brotherhood [and sisterhood]. But somehow, and in some way, we have got to do this. We
must all learn to live together as [sisters and] brothers or we will all perish together as fools. We are tied together in the single
garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.
For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you
ought to be until I am what I ought to be.
Working toward achieving the SDGs recognizes what Dr. King stated about us being “caught in an inescapable network of
mutuality,” and CL provides a light to lead us humans along the varied paths we need to take to live in the spirit of that mutuality.
Many techniques have been developed to facilitate CL, and each of these CL techniques offers a variety of variations. Plus, no
doubt, more techniques and variations will be developed by you, the readers of this book. The chapters in this section of our
book provide brief descriptions of a selection of these CL techniques and some of their variations. Teachers and students are
encouraged to develop more. Furthermore, teachers and students are the ones whose brains and hearts bring to life the power
of Dr. King’s words and of the SDGs.
MAKE ANY LESSON A COOPERATIVE LEARNING LESSON

It is great that many lessons have been developed to teach about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The good news
is that teachers can add an extra dimension to any of these lessons by adding a cooperative learning (CL) element.
Please remember that CL lessons do not mean students spend 100% of their time interacting with their peers. Usually, a CL
lesson includes—in no set order—teacher talk including possible audiovisual material, thinking time for students (i.e., students
working alone), and time for peer interaction. Each of these elements can occur multiple times during the same lesson. The
formula for making a CL lesson is simple: take a lesson you like and add one of the many existing CL techniques—or create
your own—and you and your students have a CL lesson. Here is an example of turning a lesson plan into a lesson plan that
includes a CL element.
EXAMPLE LESSON
SDG: 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) CL Technique: Circle of Speakers,

Everyone Can Explain - Mobile
Inspired by: Flores, C. (2017). Sustainable Development Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and
promote well-being for all at all ages. In A. Maley & N. Peachey (Eds.), Integrating global
issues in the creative English language classroom: With reference to the United Nations
Sustainable Development Goals (pp. 41–47). British Council.
10
TABLE 1: ORIGINAL AND CL VERSIONS OF A LESSON
Original Version of the Lesson CL Version of the Lesson
Individual and Whole Class Activity:

Students think individually about things that
they think are beautiful. As a whole class, Same
students name some of these things.
Groups do the CL technique Circle of

Speakers after they have had time to read the
lyrics individually. Each group member takes
turns asking a question or commenting about
Peer Interaction: Students form groups of 3–
the lyrics, and peers try to answer questions or
4 and discuss the lyrics to the song Beautiful
respond to comments. The teacher calls upon
by Christina Aguilera.
a few students randomly. Those students
share questions, answers, comments, and
responses. Teachers and other groups may
reply.
Whole Class Activity: The class listens to

Same
the song.
Groups of three do the CL technique Everyone

Can Explain – Mobile.
Step 1: Each group member has a number
and does their own drawing.
Group Activity: Each group has a large
Step 2: They take turns sharing and
piece of blank paper and markers. They draw
explaining their drawing.
what the song conjures about body image.
Step 3: The group creates a combination or
composite drawing.
Step 4: The group checks that everyone can
explain their drawing(s).
11
COMPARING THE LESSONS

In the activity with the CL technique Circle of Speakers, the peer interaction was more structured to promote the CL principles
Individual Accountability (i.e., everyone has pressure to do their fair share) and Equal Opportunity to Participate (i.e., everyone
has opportunities to participate in the group’s task). Too often, without such structuring, one or two group members do most or
all of the talking and thinking for their group.
The CL technique Everyone Can Explain - Mobile might have improved the lesson in two ways. First, it encouraged all of the
groupmates to participate in creating the group’s drawing. Second, too often when a group presents to the class one member
does all of the talking. As the members know in advance who their Presenter will be, only that person prepares. In addition,
seeing many presentations on the same topic can become tiring. Everyone Can Explain - Mobile promotes the CL principle of
Maximum Peer Interactions - Quantity, which means that many presentations are happening simultaneously.
12
COOPERATIVE
LEARNING
TECHNIQUES
This chapter contains a collection of techniques
that can be used to encourage cooperative
learning in the classroom.
7S TECHNIQUE
Everyone needs to move their bodies, including older people, and especially
children and youths. Unfortunately, most of the time in class, students are sitting.
Typically, cooperative learning (CL) activities are the same. The 7S CL technique
gives us one way to add some movement to activities.
As with all CL techniques, 7S can be done in a variety of ways. Here is the basic
procedure.
Step 1: Stand – Everyone stands up.
Step 2: Slide – Students push their chairs under their desks to provide more
classroom space.
Step 3: Stretch – Everyone stretches in whichever way feels comfortable.
Step 4: Sip – Everyone takes a sip of water (as hydration is essential for health
and thinking, the hope is that students regularly bring a water bottle to class).
Step 5: Stir – Students move around the classroom individually, not with their
groupmates.
Step 6: Stop – When the teacher or someone else says “stop,” everyone stops
stirring and forms a pair with whoever is nearest. If the class has an odd number
of members (e.g., 49 students in the class), there can be one group of three, or
the teacher can join a group.
Step 7: Speak – The pairs discuss whatever topic the class has prepared for.
14
POSSIBILITIES
A) The class can do multiple rounds of Stir, Stop, and Speak. For example, for the second round, students can tell their new
partner what their first partner said.
B) Instead of walking regularly, students can walk like animals (e.g., kangaroos or elephants).
C) For virtual learning, most of the 7 steps can be done in the same way, with the exception of Stir.
D) In classrooms without enough space to perform Stir, students can do the other steps and talk to students who are seated
next to them. Once paired, the seated students can Stand, Stretch, and Sip.
15
COOPERATIVE
Debates can be a great way to motivate learning. However, traditional debates
emphasize competition, not learning. Cooperative Debate is a cooperative
DEBATE learning (CL) technique that can show a different, more enjoyable way to debate,
with an emphasis on learning and using learning to achieve the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs). Cooperative Debate highlights the CL principle of
Group Autonomy because the groups depend on their members for points to raise,
and points to disagree with.
Cooperative Debate consists of seven steps.
Step 1: The class decides on a debate topic. For example, a debate topic might
be “To achieve the SDGs, should people eat food from animals, or should we get
protein from plants and other sources, not from animals who were raised for
food?” This topic connects to many SDGs, including SDG 13 (Climate Action),
SDG 14 (Life Below Water), and SDG 15 (Life on Land).
Students form groups of four that then divide into two pairs. Each pair spends time
researching points supporting their assigned position. The debate points could
include students favoring food from animals (e.g., meat, eggs, and dairy) or
alternative food sources (e.g., plant-based proteins). Then, each pair member
chooses half of the researched content to use in the coming steps.
Step 2: Each foursome member has a fixed amount of time to present their points
(e.g., two minutes). The other pair are Timekeepers. Every speaker tries to take no
more or less than the assigned amount of time. Students take notes while the
other pair is presenting.
16
Step 3: Students have two minutes to talk to their partners and think of what to say to disagree with the points raised by the
other pair in Step 2. Then, each student has a fixed amount of time, perhaps one minute, to disagree politely with points raised
by the other pair in Step 2. After everyone has had a chance to disagree politely, the group has more time to continue their polite
disagreement exercise freely.
Step 4: Next, students change their assigned position. In this example, the pair in favor of food from animals is now in favor of
protein alternatives to meat, eggs, and dairy; the pair that favored alternatives now favors nutrition from food from animals.
Again, each pair has time to research points and divides the information equally with their partners. Students try to think of new
conversation points and new ways to deliver the points (e.g., drawings or mind maps).
Steps 5 and 6: Identical to Steps 2 and 3, but with their newly assigned positions.
Step 7: Students no longer have assigned positions and are no longer in pairs. Instead, in each foursome, students tell
groupmates their actual opinions on the debate topic. This could be one of the two assigned positions or something different.
They try to convince their groupmates.
POSSIBILITIES
A) For Steps 4–6, pairs can exchange with pairs from another foursome to have a greater variety of points raised on both
sides of the topic.
B) Before Step 7, students can have silent time, perhaps three minutes, to think about their own views on the debate topic.
C) One groupwork skill that fits well with Cooperative Debate is disagreeing politely. Many ways exist to use this tool.
Non-verbally, students can smile instead of looking angry, or can avoid interrupting group members with different
opinions. What students can say to disagree politely includes paraphrasing what others have said before disagreeing
with them, and using starter phrases before disagreeing, such as “You may be right, but …,” “Another way to look at this
might be …,” and “Thanks for your opinion; mine is a little different.”
17
COOPERATIVE
Dialogue journals have long been used in education. ‘Reflective journals,’ ‘learning
diaries,’ and ‘journaling’ are other names for the same great idea. In their dialog
DIALOG journals, students can write on such topics as:
JOURNALS • something they learned
• something they have difficulty with
• how they feel about their classes
• what they did on the weekend
• whatever is on their minds.
Each time students write, it is called a journal entry. Entries can be done in
notebooks, on separate pieces of paper kept in a file, or with an electronic device.
Typically, the only people who read students’ dialog journals are their teachers. It
is unfortunate for three reasons if no one else other than teachers read students’
journal entries.
Students have an audience of only one person (i.e., their teacher), but many
students enjoy sharing with more than one person.
Other students lose the chance to learn from their classmates.
It is a lot of work for teachers to respond to the entries of an entire class.
Therefore, students often must wait a long time to receive feedback on their
writing.
18
Cooperative learning (CL) principles were applied to address this situation, and Cooperative Dialog Journals were created. Here
are the steps.
Step 1: The class discusses possible topics for their next dialog journal entry. Possible topics include what is currently being
studied in class, projects students are working on, student suggestions for improving the class or improving a cooperative
learning group they are in, or a free topic (i.e., students can write on any topic they want). Unrestricted topics can lead to
students choosing completely different topics.
Step 2: When students write their entries, they leave ample space for feedback. For example, they have large margins on each
side of the page or write on every other line. Of course, with word processing, this is not necessary.
Step 3: Students exchange entries with a partner in their CL group. The partner provides feedback. Usually, the feedback is
based on the content of the entry, not on surface matters (e.g., spelling or grammar). Writing feedback gives students
opportunities to practice their cooperative skills. Types of feedback can include:
• questions (e.g., for clarification or what the reader wants to know more about)
• reactions (e.g., what was surprising, exciting, sad, or happy in the entry)
• similarities and differences between the writer’s experiences and the reader’s experiences
• friendly disagreements with opinions in the entry
• praises (e.g., what the reader enjoyed about the entry)
• suggestions (e.g., what else the writer could talk about next time; actions to take in response to what was discussed in the
entry).
Step 4: Partners return the entries to the writers. More than one partner can give feedback on the same entry, in which case,
they might like to use different colors and let the writer know which color they used. Groups can discuss their entries.
POSSIBILITIES
A) All the members of the group can write on the same topic as a way to share ideas. For instance, groups can write about
how to improve the interaction in their group.
B) The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be a topic for dialog journals. For example, group members can share
with each other something they saw or read related to one or more of the SDGs.
C) Students can reflect on what they have learned during class. Such reflections allow the students reading the journals to
benefit from the writer's learning.
19
DICTOGLOSS
Dictation is a well-established language teaching technique that has also been
used in other subject areas. The standard procedure for dictation involves
teachers reading a passage slowly enough and as many times as necessary for
students to write down the passage correctly. Some educators have criticized
standard dictation as a form of rote learning in which students do little thinking.
As an alternative, Ruth Wajnryb invented dictogloss. While like all teaching

techniques dictogloss has variations, the two main features that make dictogloss
unique are that the teacher only reads the passage twice, and students do not
need to make an exact copy of the original text, as long as the original meaning
remains intact, and the grammatical choices make sense. For the purposes of this
book, we present a cooperative learning (CL) version of Dictogloss.
Step 1: The class discusses the topic of the passage that the teacher will read
aloud. Of course, for this book, that topic will relate to the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs). To help students reconstruct the text later in the
activity, the class might also talk about text types (e.g., narratives, instructions,
arguments, explanations) as well as the language features of the passage, such
as grammar.
Step 2: The teacher has selected a passage that fits students’ interests and
current comprehension level. Perhaps the teacher has modified the passage or
has pre-taught background knowledge or vocabulary. Then, the teacher reads the
passage aloud at their normal speaking speed while the class listens—for
comprehension—but does not write. The teacher then rereads the text at their
normal speed, or perhaps a bit more slowly, and this time the students take notes.
Of course, the students are just trying to capture key ideas; the teacher’s reading
speed is likely too fast for most students to write down every word.
20
Step 3: In groups of 2–4, students attempt to create a reasonable reconstruction of the original passage. This should be
performed by writing complete sentences, not as a collection of scattered points. The meaning remains more or less the same,
but the words and sentence structure can change. The group makes a plan for how all group members can be involved. For
example, each member can take turns sharing points from their notes or can take a turn to be the primary writer of the textual
reconstruction.
Step 4: The teacher shows the original text. Group members take turns identifying how their reconstruction is similar to and
different from the original. Are the differences reasonable? Different from does not necessarily mean ‘worse’ or ‘better.’ The
group discusses what they learned from their Dictogloss experience and how they could perform textual reconstructions even
better the next time.
Step 5: The class discusses what they learned about the SDG featured in the passage and what they might do to help achieve
it.
POSSIBILITIES
A) Dictogloss can be done in each group, instead of one passage for the entire class. Students can be the ones who select
dictogloss passages and who read aloud the passages to their groupmates.
B) After Step 3 groups can exchange their reconstruction with another group and provide them with feedback.
C) The CL Teaching Tip: Friendly Spy could be used after Step 3 to help other groups with their reconstruction and to bring
back suggestions for their own group.
21
EVERYONE CAN
Part of the cooperative learning (CL) principle of Maximum Peer Interactions
involves people using thinking skills. The following example demonstrates what
EXPLAIN thinking skills are, and what thinking skills are not.
Let us say that students have just read a passage about a cow named Ploy and
her daughter Achara. After reading the passage, students are asked, “What was
the name of the mother cow?” The answer can easily be found in the passage.
Thus, students do not need to go beyond the information given. In contrast, a
question that encourages students to go beyond the information given might be,
“How is the relationship between Ploy and Achara the same and different from the
relationship between you and your mother or another adult family member?” This
thought-provoking question encourages students to use the thinking skill of
connecting the information in the passage with their own lives.
Many other types of questions and tasks encourage students to employ various
thinking skills. Yes, using thinking skills is challenging, especially in a second
language. However, moving toward the achievement of the SDGs requires large
amounts of thinking skills. Fortunately, CL techniques can provide a great deal of
practice in thinking.
22
Everyone Can Explain is one of the many CL techniques that offer an example of how cooperation and thinking can be
connected. Here are the steps.
Step 1: The class forms groups of 2, 3, or 4 members, and each member has a number.
Step 2: All the groups undertake the same thinking question or task. Each member first works alone and then shares their ideas
with their group.
Step 3: The group seeks to agree on an answer. Furthermore, they need to agree on an explanation for their answer. After all,
this technique is called Everyone Can Explain. It is okay if the group does not achieve a consensus on an answer, or for the
explanation.
Step 4: A few students are randomly chosen to share their group’s answers and explanations. Such responses represent the
group, not solely the group member who provides the information.
POSSIBILITIES
A) In Steps 2 and 3 of Everyone Can Explain, many students are speaking: one per group. However, in Step 4, only one
student is speaking to the entire class. That is fine sometimes, but other times, it might be helpful to increase the level of
student activity by having one student per group speak.
B) A variation of Everyone Can Explain achieves this. It is called Everyone Can Explain - Mobile. This has nothing to do with
mobile phones, although mobile phones are an excellent tool for cooperation. Instead, after groups have finished Step 3,
one randomly selected student per group leaves their group and moves to another group. There, they give and explain
their group’s answer, and the other group, the host group, gives feedback and asks questions. Then, the visiting member
returns to their original group and shares the other group’s responses.
C) If the group’s answer can be made into a poster, Everyone Can Explain could blend into a CL Technique: Gallery Tour
activity in which all group members take turns explaining their group’s poster.
23
EXCHANGE-A-
Questions are precious. Going back thousands of years to Confucius and
Socrates, educators have appreciated the value of questions. However,
QUESTION encouraging students to ask questions other than “What’s going to be on the
exam?” can be difficult. Perhaps, the cooperative learning (CL) technique
Exchange-a-Question can help.
In Exchange-a-Question, students write questions for each other and evaluate

each other’s answers. This fits with student-centered education. So often in
education, almost all the questions are asked by teachers, who are the only ones
who evaluate the quality of students’ answers. Teachers, teacher questions, and
teachers’ evaluations of answers are still important in CL and other
student-centered methodologies. However, in CL, students play a more significant
and influential role.
Here are the steps in Exchange-a-Question.
Step 1: The class discusses types of questions. They discuss the difference
between searching questions and thinking questions. Searching questions are
those where students have already been given all the information they need to
form an answer. Such information is provided by their teacher or in their study
materials. The students’ task is to search for information based on the provided
study materials. Thinking questions ask students to go beyond the information
they have been given. Exchange-a-Question can work with searching and thinking
questions, but it is important to include thinking questions, because the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) require deep thinking.
24
Step 2: Students form pairs. Each member of the pair works alone to write one or more questions. They also write answers to
their questions. Why do students write answers to their own questions? When we teachers construct questions for our students,
it is also important for us to try answering our own questions as it encourages us to write questions that are doable in terms of
difficulty and the time required. Sometimes, we modify our questions after attempting to answer them.
Step 3: Students exchange questions, but not answers. They construct answers to their partner’s questions.
Step 4: Students compare and discuss their answers to each other’s questions.
POSSIBILITIES
A) The class as a whole can further discuss the questions, in order to learn more about thinking questions.
B) Pairs can work with other pairs to try to respond to each pair’s questions. Particularly interesting questions can be
brought up to the entire class.
C) Students may decide to continue exploring the questions that they and their classmates exchanged with each other.
25
FORWARD One of the advantages of groups is that they can produce more ideas. It is a kind
of 1 + 1 = 3 situation because groups of two students not only combine each
SNOWBALL member’s ideas (1 + 1 = 2) but can also spark new ideas from each other. In this
way, they achieve 1 + 1 = 3 or even more outstanding results. Then, to gather
more ideas, the members of one group can interact with the members of other
groups. This process resembles what happens as a tiny snowball moves down a
snow-covered hill; as the snowball moves forward, it grows larger and larger.
Similarly, in the cooperative learning (CL) technique Forward Snowball, a student’s
collection of ideas grows as they collaborate with more and more groupmates.
Here are the steps in Forward Snowball.
Step 1: Students form groups of four. Working alone, each member of a foursome
has a fixed amount of time (e.g., five minutes) to make a list of words. For
example, a list of words that can potentially be generated from the letters in the
word ‘cooperation’ (e.g., ‘train,’ ‘port,’ or ‘pin’). When the time is up, each member
counts the number of items on their self-generated list. They write that number at
the top of their paper.
26
Step 2: Pairs within foursomes combine lists by reading and explaining their lists to each other. Then, they try to add to their
combined list using any words sparked by hearing their partner’s list. For example, if their partner’s list includes ‘pin,’ that might
spark the words ‘tin’ or ‘pan.’ Like the previous one-person session, this two-person session ends when the time limit is
reached. Everyone counts the number of words on their combined list and writes that new number next to the number on their
original list. They put a square or other shape around their new tallied number.
Step 3: The two pairs in each foursome get together and make a new combined list. As in Step 2, additional items can be
generated based on sparks from the other pair’s lists. Afterward, they again count their lists. This time, they put a new shape
around their newly tallied total.
Step 4: The class discusses their Forward Snowball experience. Did the number of items rise after each round of cooperation?
This usually happens, demonstrating one of the benefits of cooperation. Of course, students can grow their lists even more with
further rounds of cooperation with new groupmates.
POSSIBILITIES
Reverse Snowball - Forward Snowball works on building the quantity of items. This is similar to brainstorming. In contrast,
Reverse Snowball focuses on the quality of ideas. As the name implies, in Reverse Snowball, the ideas become fewer, as
explained in the following steps.
Step 1: Everyone in a foursome works alone to generate or find 10 ideas, such as ideas to achieve one of the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs).
Step 2: Two students come together to explain their 10 items to each other. Their task is to then decide on a total of only three
items for a combined list. These items can come from the members’ lists or can be newly generated by the twosome.
Step 3: As a group of four, all the members collaborate to decide on just one idea they believe is best for achieving the SDG.
27
GALLERY TOUR
Gallery Tour, also known as Gallery Walk, is a cooperative learning (CL) technique
that involves groups working together with the goal of making a presentation to the
rest of the class or an even larger audience. One teacher who has made use of
the Gallery Tour technique is Navinder Kaur Dhiraj Singh, an upper secondary
school teacher in Malaysia. In Navinder’s case, the students worked in groups to
design posters and presentations about ecosystems; other classes and teachers
at their school were the audience.
Step 1: The teacher explains that in Gallery Tour, students work in groups of four
members to create posters. The class discusses the topics for their posters. For
example, each group could do a poster on a different Sustainable Development
Goal (SDG), or the entire class could all create posters on the same SDG.
Step 2: Each group member researches the topic of their group’s poster.
Step 3: The teacher leads a mini lesson in which students contribute ideas about
how to create attractive and informative posters, as well as very brief
presentations to accompany their posters.
28
Step 4: Each group designs a draft of their poster. They receive feedback from the teacher and other groups, perhaps using the
CL technique Friendly Spy, and then perform a presentation version of their poster. They also practice the very brief
presentation to accompany their poster.
Step 5: Groups all display their posters on the classroom walls, creating a poster gallery. One group member stands next to
their group’s poster. These students are the Presenters. The other group members tour the poster gallery. These are the
Tourists. The Presenters talk about their posters, and the Tourists ask questions and provide feedback.
Step 6: The roles of Presenter and Tourist rotate so that everyone has a chance to be a Presenter.
POSSIBILITIES
A) Instead of presenting to classmates, students can present to other classes at the same level, classes of younger
students, or to members of the public.
B) Instead of using posters, students can present on electronic devices such as tablets.
C) Instead of having one member of each group stand next to their poster to receive and respond to feedback, each group
can put a feedback box next to their poster. When members of other groups view the poster, they can leave notes with
their names on them, and the group that made the poster can respond in writing or in person.
29
GROUP
Students often work on classroom projects, and the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) can spark many projects. Projects most often require students to
INVESTIGATION work in groups. Fortunately, cooperative learning (CL) can facilitate these group
projects to function effectively and enjoyably.
Group Investigation was designed by Yael and Shlomo Sharan to be used with
group projects. This CL technique was inspired by John Dewey, a famous
educator of the first half of the 20th century. Dewey believed that education should
not merely prepare students for life; education should immerse students in life.
Here are the steps in Group Investigation.
Step 1: The class and teacher agree to investigate a complex problem they feel is
important. Such problems are also known as ‘fuzzy problems’ because they do not
necessarily have only one viable solution. Achieving the SDGs certainly creates
encounters with many fuzzy problems.
Step 2: Students form groups based on questions connected to the problem that
the class has chosen. For example, if the class has chosen to investigate Zero
Hunger (SDG 2), one group can investigate the hunger situation in a particular
country, and another group can investigate the food waste problem. Thus, the
class becomes one group containing subgroups.
30
Step 3: Each group plans the ‘what,’ ‘how,’ ‘who,’ and ‘when’ of their investigations. This includes the questions to investigate,
the resources to be used, which group members will investigate what, and when they will report back to the group. The groups
could construct a roster of who will do what and by when. For instance, if the group is looking at hunger in Guinea-Bissau in
West Africa, member(s) can look for basic information on the country (e.g., history, geography, population, economy, or
religions). The other member(s) can look at what local and international organizations are doing to address hunger-related
problems and solutions experienced by citizens of Guinea-Bissau.
Step 4: After the members report back to their group, the group discusses the questions listed below.
A) Do we need more information?
B) What can we do to find such additional information?
C) Do we have ideas for helping the situation with their chosen SDG?
D) Are such ideas practical?
E) How should we present our ideas to the class and others?
F) Is there anything else relevant that requires more research or discussion?
Presentations should be interactive and highlight main ideas, rather than repeating every detail the group learned during their
investigation. In keeping with the CL principles of Individual Accountability and Equal Opportunity to Participate, all group
members have a speaking part in their group’s presentation. Presentations should not be like teacher-centered lectures.
Instead, the rest of the class should be active by asking and answering questions and offering feedback. Presentation
rehearsals can improve the quality of presentations and help groups keep within the time limit decided by the class.
Step 5: Each group presents. Peer, teacher, and self-evaluations are done on the presentations using a rubric constructed by
the class. Based on the data and recommendations of the various groups, the class discusses the overall problem chosen in
Step 1 and considers what they might do on their own by reaching out to others to address the problem.
Step 6: The final stage is evaluation and reflection. In addition to the presentation assessments using the rubric constructed by
the students, the class can construct a test for student comprehension of the main ideas contained in the presentations.
Alternatively, other forms of assessment can be used, including essays related to the problems raised by the presentations.
31
GROUP Group projects are a common feature of student-centered classrooms. Whereas in

teacher-centered classrooms students often do short activities closely directed by
PROJECTS teachers, group projects allow students to be more independent and self-reliant.
This relates to the cooperative learning (CL) principle of Group Autonomy, which
encourages students to rely more on each other, rather than the teacher.
Other CL principles can also come alive in group projects. Thus, instead of
providing a set of steps for the CL technique, Group Projects, here are some CL
principles, and procedures for implementing those principles.
32
POSITIVE INTERDEPENDENCE
The feeling among group members that no one wins unless everyone wins is called Positive Interdependence. It can be
promoted in group projects in various ways. A few impactful examples are listed below.
A) Everyone has a unique role in the group, such as Facilitator, Checker (i.e., checking that everyone understands),
Questioner (i.e., asking groupmates about the decisions they have made), Language Captain (i.e., encouraging everyone
to use the target language when appropriate), and Roster Manager (i.e., checking that everyone is on schedule to
complete their tasks). This is known as Role Positive Interdependence.
B) Everyone has unique information and must share it for the group to succeed. For example, group members can collect
information online, through interviews, or from books and other print sources. This is known as Resource Positive
Interdependence.
C) The group members share a common identity. This common identity can be nurtured in such ways as a group name,
logo, motto, song, poem, colors, handshake, or cheer. This is Identity Positive Interdependence.
INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTABILITY
The feeling among members that they should each do their fair share in the group is the CL principle called Individual
Accountability. Ways to promote individual accountability in group projects are provided below.
A) Each member has a speaking part in any project presentation.

B) Each member writes reflection pieces about the project experience.
C) Groupmates evaluate each other’s contribution to the group.
D) A Facilitator encourages everyone to participate and assists those who require help.
E) The group has a roster indicating what each member has agreed to do, the date by which they are supposed to do it, and
later, whether they succeeded in completing the work that they initially set out to do.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE

When all group members have multiple chances to take part in and learn from participation in the group’s project, it is referred to
as the CL principle of Equal Opportunity to Participate. Many of the ways to promote Equal Opportunity to Participate are the
same as those to promote the CL principle of Individual Accountability, and two more are listed below.
A) The group understands that the project's success is determined less by the quality of the product the group produces,
such as a poster, video, or presentation, and more by the individual learning accrued by each group member. Only by
participating will members learn, and will other members learn from them.
B) Some members may prefer to think, read, and reflect for a while before participating. Thus, just because they do not
speak immediately during group discussions does not mean they lose the ability to participate.
33
JIGSAW
Jigsaw is a well-known cooperative learning (CL) technique with many variations.
First, we will describe the basic Jigsaw technique. Later, we will explain two
variations.
Step 1: Students are in Home Groups. These heterogeneous groups have four
members each. Teachers have information divided into four pieces, like jigsaw
puzzle pieces. For example, a Jigsaw lesson on Sustainable Development Goal
(SDG) 10 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) can have information about four
different career fields (e.g., health care, education, information technology, and
business). For each career field, the information students receive could explain
professions, salary, working conditions, required qualifications, and what people
like and dislike about the field. Each Home Group member receives a different
Jigsaw piece: the health care piece, the education piece, the information
technology piece, or the business piece. Each member works alone to read and
understand their piece. Teachers can help by simplifying the text that appears on
the Jigsaw pieces, providing a glossary, or allowing students to read their pieces
before class.
34
Step 2: Students move into Expert Groups composed of members with the same Jigsaw piece. Each Expert Group has about
four members. Thus, there may be more than one Expert Group for each piece. The job of the Expert Groups is to understand
their piece, make a plan to teach their piece, and check that all the members of their Expert Group can teach their piece to their
Home Group members in a set amount of time. Experts should prepare to teach, not read, their pieces to Home Group
members. Experts could prepare a mind map or other visuals to help. Teachers can prepare questions for Expert Groups to help
them focus on key points written on their pieces.
Step 3: Students return to their Home Groups. Each Home Group member has a fixed amount of time to present. This can
include time for questions by other members of the Home Group, or presenters can ask comprehension and discussion
questions.
Step 4: The purpose of this step is for Home Group members to bring together the information from all four Jigsaw pieces.
Ways to do this include a quiz on all four pieces or a discussion. On the SDG 10 topic of Decent Work and Economic Growth,
perhaps a discussion on which field most interests each Home Group member, and why, could be appropriate.
POSSIBILITIES
Jigsaw II
In Jigsaw II, students receive all the Jigsaw pieces instead of only receiving one piece, but they only become Experts for one
piece. Jigsaw II works well for texts where students must read everything to understand their piece. For example, how can
students understand the end of a story if they have not read its beginning and middle?
Bring Your Own Piece Jigsaw

In Bring Your Own Piece Jigsaw, instead of teachers supplying the Jigsaw pieces, students find their own with help from the
internet, fellow Expert Group members, and their teachers' guidance.
35
K-W-L-S
We teachers are a wise and creative group of professionals, and we have the
wisdom to identify effective teaching techniques and the creativity to modify these
techniques to fit different situations. Combining the K-W-L-S technique with
cooperative learning (CL) is a result of such a wise and creative process. Here is
the story.
The original technique was K-W-L, which stands for ‘Know,’ ‘Want to know,’ and
‘Learned.’ ‘Know’ means what students already know about a topic, such as
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities).
‘Want to know’ means what else students want to know about the topic, in this
case, SDG 11. After students have read, viewed, and/or discussed about SDG 11,
in the ‘Learned’ step, they share what they learned about that topic. Thus, K and
W take place before studying, and L takes place after studying. Of course,
learning is a lifelong process, and we will always face the need to learn more
about achieving the SDGs and maintaining the gains we achieve. To encourage
this spirit of lifelong learning, S was added to K-W-L to create K-W-L-S, with the S
standing for ‘Still want to know.’
Originally, K-W-L-S was designed to be taught by teachers, with students working

alone—which is acceptable in some instances. However, at other times, it can be
beneficial for students to collaborate with their peers. Fortunately, it is easy to
convert K-W-L-S into a CL-based lesson, and here are one set of possible steps.
36
Step 1: Students in groups of 3 have one K-W-L-S chart per group. A sample chart is pictured below.
K-W-L-S Table on _______________________

What We KNOW What We WANT to What We LEARNED What We STILL Want
Know to Learn
Step 2: The groups write their topic in the blank field above the table. Next, they discuss what they already know about the topic
and how they know it. For example, maybe they learned it from a documentary, a website, or personal experiences. Then,
students write what they know in the ‘Know’ column of the table.
Step 3: The groups discuss what they want to know and why they want to know it. The ‘Want to know’ points go into the second
column.
Step 4: After the class has studied the topic, groups write in the L and S columns. For the L column, they also discuss how they
learned this information, and for the S column, they discuss how they might learn what they still want to know.
POSSIBILITIES
A) The class can add a U column to the K-W-L-S table. The U stands for ‘Use,’ that is, how they can ‘Use’ the information to
achieve the SDGs.
B) To encourage equal participation, each group member can have a different color to write with in the table. For instance,
one student can have a pencil, one a black pen, and one a blue pen. Their table should have a roughly equal distribution
of colors.
37
SKITS Drama can make language come to life in a way that scripted textbook dialogues
cannot. Skits are short dramas that can be written by students themselves. Thus,
skits can function as student-centered activities when students create skits and
perform the skits they created.
Skits also fit well with the student-centered concept of Multiple Intelligences (MI).
With MI, students come to appreciate their many talents, and by learning in
multifaceted ways, students learn more deeply. Examples of MI include
musical-rhythmic intelligence, visual-spatial intelligence, interpersonal and
intrapersonal intelligence, and bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. When learning via
bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, students often do hands-on learning or leave their
seats to do activities. Skits provide excellent opportunities for students to get up
and moving during class.
38
Specific points must be considered to perform skits in cooperative learning (CL) ways, such as the examples listed below.
A) Everyone Has a Speaking Role – If possible, everyone should have a speaking role (e.g., nobody should be only in
charge of the props). After all, this book is about learning a language while promoting the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs).
B) Everyone Has the Opportunity to Write – Sometimes, these opportunities can be provided by students first working
alone before sharing ideas with the group. Also, more proficient writers can assist peers. Another way to promote the CL
principle of Equal Opportunity to Participate is for everyone to write reflections about the topic of the skits and/or the skit
experience. If students are willing, they can share their reflections with groupmates who can provide reactions to each
other’s reflections.
C) Everyone Works on Cooperative Skills – For example, students can work on the cooperative skill of praising each
other by adding reasons to the praise they give to their group members, instead of only giving vague praise, such as ‘well
done.’ One suitable time for students to provide such praise is while groups rehearse their skits. Performing can be very
anxiety-provoking; so, support from groupmates can be incredibly helpful.
Another idea for performing skits in a CL way comes from the CL principle of Maximum Peer Interactions. This principle includes
Maximum Quality of Peer Interactions, the use of thinking skills, plus Maximum Quantity of Peer Interactions (i.e., how many
peer interactions are taking place at the same time).
Typically, when students perform skits, each group comes to the front of the class one by one to perform their skit. Therefore,
only one class member is talking at any time, and the rest of the class listens. This one-person-at-a-time-talks arrangement has
value; however, an alternative has more of the class speaking simultaneously. In this alternate arrangement, each group
presents to another group at the same time. Therefore, in a class of 40 students divided into 10 groups of four, five
presentations are occurring simultaneously, in line with the CL principle of Maximum Peer Interactions - Quantity.
Another advantage of this groups-present-to-groups arrangement is that it saves class time. Furthermore, more time is saved if
groups can present more than once. Such repeated performances provide students with another opportunity for meaningful
language practice.
39
SUMMER
Reading is an important skill, but too often, we teachers only invite students to
read; we do not teach them how to read. As a result, some students cannot build
reading comprehension skills effectively, and such students may lack the reading
comprehension required to understand the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs). SUMMER is a cooperative learning (CL) technique designed by cognitive
scientists to mimic some of the reading techniques skilled readers employ.
Research suggests that students read more effectively after utilizing SUMMER
with a partner, or even by themselves.
Students perform SUMMER in pairs using a text divided into sections. Sometimes,
teachers can help decide where to divide the text into sections, or students can
decide for themselves. Using the subheadings in a text as dividing points may also
be helpful. SUMMER is an acronym consisting of six steps, one step for each
letter in the word SUMMER. The first and the last steps are done only once, while
the other four steps are repeated for each section of the text. Here are the six
steps.
Step 1: Set the Mood – Students form pairs that are mixed according to reading
proficiency levels. Before they begin reading, the pair members set the mood by
having some light chit-chat to set a friendly atmosphere and perform a quick
review of the six steps used in SUMMER.
40
Step 2: Understand by Reading Silently – The partners each silently read the first section of the text. If anything is not clear,
they can ask each other. If both members have difficulty understanding the same part of the text, they can ask another student,
the teacher, or consult reference material (e.g., a dictionary).
Step 3: Mention the Main Ideas – This is when the cooperation really begins. One student does the first M, by mentioning the
main ideas in the section. In other words, they summarize the ideas in the section that the pair just read. The student doing the
first M provides the summary without looking at the text, reinforcing the idea that they are summarizing the section, not reading
it aloud.
Step 4: Monitor the Summary – Their partner’s task is to do the second M, monitor the summary. Are important ideas left out?
Are there inaccuracies in the summary? Are not-so-important ideas included in the summary? The roles of mentioning the main
ideas and monitoring the summary rotate with each section.
Step 5: Elaborate – This is the most enjoyable step in SUMMER, except maybe for setting the mood. Here, the pair take turns
elaborating on the main ideas in the section. Elaborating is easier because of the two Ms, and students only need to elaborate
on the main ideas in the section.
Elaborations on the ideas in the section can be of many types, including:
A) connections to the students’ lives and/or the SDGs

B) examples
C) explanations
D) disagreements
E) additional information
F) questions (e.g., students do not understand or want to know more)
G) reactions (e.g., surprise, happiness, or sadness).
Step 6: Review – When the pair has completed the U, M, M, and E for all the sections, they do the final letter in SUMMER, R: a
review of the main ideas in the entire text.
POSSIBILITIES
A) The whole class might want to pause the activity periodically during SUMMER and discuss some of their Elaborations as
a class.
B) SUMMER can also be done with videos. Instead of doing the M, M, and E after reading each section, the M, M, and E
can be done after watching each section of the video. The R can be done after the video is finished.
41
THE CIRCLE
Circles fit well with cooperation. Circles imply connection, as all the points in a
circle join together. Circles also imply equal access, as no one is in front of anyone
FAMILY OF else or behind anyone else. A circle concept that fits well with the SDGs is the
TECHNIQUES concept of Circle of Compassion, which means that we feel compassion for
everyone within our Circle of Compassion, but we care much less for those
outside that circle. With the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we hope to
expand people’s Circle of Compassion to care for people and other species
anywhere in the world.
What do students do in the Circle Family of cooperative learning (CL) techniques?

Many possibilities exist. Let us start with Circle of Speakers. In the example below,
students are in groups of three, but groups of two or four are also possible.
Step 1: Student A speaks, Student B speaks, and then Student C speaks.

Everyone has a chance to speak, and a Timekeeper can encourage everyone to
speak for approximately the same amount of time. Also, students can take time
before speaking to think or write. Additionally, the teacher can lead a
brainstorming session or invite students to research the discussion topic before
class begins.
42
Step 2: Students can go around the circle multiple times each taking a turn to speak, or group members can speak in random
order. Perhaps, one member can play the role of Encourager who participates in the discussion while encouraging everyone to
take turns.
Step 3: Students in different groups are chosen randomly to report on some of the discussions in their group. The Reporter
student focuses on what their partners say, not their own ideas.
POSSIBILITIES
Circle of Writers - Other Circle Family possibilities include Circle of Writers, Circle of Interviewers, and Circle of Drawers. Circle
of Writers has two possible formats. In Circle of Writers - One at a Time, the group has only one piece of paper or one device
(e.g., a tablet), and everyone takes a turn to write while the others wait. For example, Circles of Writers - One at a Time might
be the right choice for tasks such as remembering country locations on a map of Africa, or the parts of the brain and their
corresponding functions.
When each person needs more writing time, Circle of Writers - All at Once might be a better option. With this member of the
Circle Family of CL techniques, each groupmate has one piece of paper or device, and everyone writes at the same time. After
a specified amount of writing time, students rotate the paper/device and continue writing on the paper/device they just received.
For example, they could continue a story, a reflection, or a brainstorming session. The rotation continues until the paper/device
finds its way back to the person who started the writing circle. That person silently reads what the others have written; then, they
compose an ending or summary, which can be reported to the group.
Circle of Interviewers - In Circle of Interviewers, groups of four form themselves into twosomes. The two members of each
subgroup interview each other. Then, they take turns reporting to the other pair about what they learned from their interviews. Of
course, students report not about themselves but about their partners. The other pair asks questions.
Circle of Drawers - Drawing can be a valuable tool for comprehending, communicating, and remembering. For example, mind
maps can involve not just writing words but also using drawings. Groups can create mind maps in the style of Circle of Writers -
One at a Time or Circle of Writers - All at Once. One way to encourage Equal Opportunity to Participate when mind mapping is
for everyone to use a different color for their contributions to their group’s mind map, making the resulting map more colorful.
Do you have any additions to the Circle Family of CL techniques?
43
THE TELL FAMILY

One of the eight cooperative learning (CL) principles explained in this book is
Teaching Cooperative Skills. Many lists of cooperative skills exist. To create your
OF TECHNIQUES own list, visualize positive examples of pleasant, efficient interactions, and you
can visualize many cooperative skills in action. On the other hand, visualize
unpleasant, inefficient interactions, and you can picture many cooperative skills by
noting their absence.
The Tell Family of CL techniques all begin when one pair member tells a partner
something, and the partner responds in a designated way. For example, if a pair of
students (e.g., Student A and Student B) are doing Tell/Paraphrase, paraphrasing
is the cooperative skill being practiced.
After Student A tells something to Student B, B paraphrases A’s statement. Next, A

checks the paraphrase for accuracy. Then, it is B’s turn to tell, and A’s turn to
paraphrase. An example is provided below.
Student A: “Yesterday, I didn’t go to the video arcade. Instead, I played video

games at home, and I used the money I saved to donate two dollars to help
hungry children.”
Student B: “You donated one dollar yesterday in aid of children without enough
food. You saved the money by playing video games at home instead of paying to
play at a video arcade.”
44
Student A: “Good paraphrase. You changed some words as well as the order of my words. Only one small mistake. I donated
two dollars, not one dollar. Maybe my pronunciation was not clear. Sorry.”
Student B: “Thanks for the correction. Next time, I will take notes. It was very generous of you to make a donation.”
Many techniques in the Tell Family involve repair strategies, in other words, strategies we use when we do not clearly
understand what someone says. Here are some examples of using the Tell Family of CL techniques to practice repair
strategies:
A) tell/ask for repetition
B) tell/ask for spelling
C) tell/ask for a greater volume
D) tell/ask what a word means
E) tell/ask for slower speaking.
Tell Family CL activities can also invite students to practice praising and thanking. Here are examples, based on the
Tell/Paraphrase example above: “Yesterday, I didn’t go to the video arcade. Instead, I played video games at home, and I used
the money I saved to donate two dollars to help hungry children.”
A) Tell/Praise with Reasons – “That sounds like an excellent way to save money to help others.”
B) Tell/Praise with Suggestions – “Well done. Maybe you could also save money by eating less ice cream and cake. Fruit
is sweet like ice cream and cake but cheaper and healthier than junk food.”
C) Tell/Thank with Praise – “Thank you so much for your generosity.”
D) Tell/Thank with an Offer to Return the Favor – “Thanks. Please tell me if my friends and I can do anything to help
you.”
Disagreeing politely can also be practiced via the Tell Family technique. This cooperative skill is especially useful with the CL
technique of Cooperative Debate.
A) Tell/Disagree with Thanks for Expressing an Opinion – “Sorry, I don’t completely agree, but thanks for sharing your
opinion.”
B) Tell/Disagree with Paraphrase – “I think I don’t agree, but first let me check if I understand what you said.”
C) Tell/Disagree with Respect – “I respectfully disagree.”
D) Tell/Disagree with Partial Agreement – “You do have a point. On the other hand, please consider. . . .”
Of course, paraphrasing, repairing conversational breakdowns, praising, thanking, and disagreeing politely are only a few of the
many cooperative skills that students can experience using the Tell Family of CL techniques.
45
THINK PAIR
Think-Pair-Share is a short, simple, and well-known cooperative learning (CL)
technique with many variations. Below, the basic Think-Pair-Share technique as
SHARE well as possible variations are described.
Step 1: The class has a task to complete (e.g., a mathematics/science question or

a language item). Students are in groups of two, and each member works alone to
Think about a response.
Step 2: The two members of the pair are invited to come together (i.e., Pair) and
discuss their responses. Maybe they agree, maybe they do not, or maybe they
change their ideas during their discussion. They could also ask another student,
the teacher, or consult a resource (e.g., the internet).
Step 3: A few students are randomly selected. These students are invited to
Share with the teacher and the rest of the class. The key is that they Share their
partner’s response or group’s discussion rather than only sharing their individual
response. This form of Share encourages students to listen carefully to their
partner and to speak carefully so that their partner can understand their ideas.
46
POSSIBILITIES
Think-Pair-Share has three parts: Think, Pair, and Share. Other parts can be added or can replace the three parts. Also, the
order of the parts can be rearranged. Here are some other possible additions and combinations thereof:
A) Write: Teachers and groupmates cannot see what students Think, but teachers and groupmates can see what students
Write. Thus, sometimes we can invite students to replace Think with Write and do Write-Pair-Share. Write gives students
a chance to put their thoughts into words, thereby preparing them for the Pair step. Additionally, Write can be added later
in the technique to encourage students to think more deeply about what they have learned in the activity, resulting
perhaps in Write-Pair-Share-Write.
B) Square: Instead of Share, which means the pair shares their ideas with the teacher and the rest of the class, students
can be invited to Square. That means two pairs come together to form groups—resembling a four-sided square. Then,
each pair performs Share with the other pair. New discussions can also take place, beyond just using Square with the
previous discussions that were had in pairs.
C) Switch: Another alternative to Share could be to Switch partners with another pair. For example, Students A and B are in
one pair, and C and D are in the other pair. For Switch, A and C exchange partners to form a new pair, and B and D do
the same. As a reminder, we want to highlight that the students tell their new partner, not what they individually thought,
but what their original partner said and about their discussion with them.
D) Draw: In keeping with ideas from the theory of Multiple Intelligences, words are not the only way for students to think and
communicate. Creating visuals, such as drawings or mind maps, provides alternatives for self-expression. In pairs or
foursomes, students can also present skits to represent their ideas.
In addition to Think, Pair, Share, Write, Square, Switch, and Draw what other parts can be used, and in what order can students
use them?
47
COOPERATIVE
LEARNING
TEACHING TIPS
This chapter contains a collection of tips to help
you integrate cooperative learning in your
classroom.
BRAINSTORMING
In many of the activities in this book, the class brainstorms ideas. What is
brainstorming? Brainstorming is when people share ideas on the same topic to
express things they already know, get fresh ideas, or look at an issue from new
perspectives. However, brainstorming sessions can sometimes be challenging if
not set up carefully. Here are some tips about how to have successful
brainstorming sessions.
HAVE CLEAR GOALS

People tend to succeed when they have a clear idea of what they need to do.
Although brainstorming is about generating many ideas, to have clear goals can
help give everyone increased focus. If the topic is “How can we save the Earth?” it
might be difficult to get ideas because the question is too general. If the topic is
“How can we reduce our electricity use at home?” it might be easier to generate
ideas, because it is more relatable to the class. The brainstorming session can
expand to include other scenarios such as how the school could reduce its use of
electricity, or even the city or the country.
49
CREATE A RELAXED ENVIRONMENT

In brainstorming sessions, many ideas will be given, and some might seem a little unusual to a few people. Other ideas might
not be grammatically correct, which is fine. Everyone should be comfortable giving their ideas without worrying if everyone
agrees with them, or if they are making a mistake. A relaxed environment full of kindness, acceptance, and maybe even laughter
can be useful in generating many original ideas during a brainstorming session.
USE GROUP DISCUSSIONS

Some people may find it hard to think of their own ideas quickly. Some people might have a great idea but are not confident
about explaining it in front of the class. In a group, students might be more willing to contribute in many ways such as:
A) sharing their ideas

B) adding to someone else’s idea
C) looking up the words using resource materials
D) explaining the idea to the rest of the class.
Students who have a few minutes to brainstorm in their groups may produce better ideas to share with the class.
USE ACTIVE LISTENING

Brainstorming is about thinking and speaking but also about active listening, thinking, and speaking. Whenever someone is
providing their ideas, it is essential for everyone else to listen carefully. After all, someone else’s ideas might turn out to be an
idea or suggestion that can be shared with the class. Ideas usually do not come out complete and perfect; they need to be
worked on and improved. The more people that help to work on ideas, the better.
CONNECT TO THE NEXT ACTIVITY

Brainstorming is great for getting us thinking, but it is even more valuable when it is a starting point for further and deeper
thinking. Taking the ideas from the brainstorming session and using them in the rest of the lesson will mean the class is more
invested in the topic. Because they are the class’s ideas, they will feel rewarded when they connect those ideas to the next
activity and move seamlessly toward deeper learning.
50
FRIENDLY SPY
The cooperative learning (CL) principle of Maximum Peer Interactions focuses on
enhancing peer interactions in two ways. First, we want more peer interactions.
Second, we hope for interactions involving thinking skills instead of rote repetition
(e.g., drills). Friendly Spy enhances peer interactions in both these ways and can
be used in many classroom activities that involve group work.
In Friendly Spy, one student per group is chosen randomly to visit another group
to ‘spy’ on them, that is, to obtain ideas from the group they visit to improve their
own group’s work. The spies are friendly because they are not only taking ideas
but also providing suggestions to the groups they are visiting. All the groups in the
class want each other to do well, which corresponds with the CL principle of
Positive Interdependence. Thus, the groups being ‘spied on’ are glad other groups
can learn from them. After all, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) benefits everyone. The steps below exemplify how Friendly Spy could be
used with the CL technique Gallery Tour. The four steps are described below.
Step 1: The class is divided into groups. The groups work on the same task or a
related task. In this case, all the groups are preparing a poster.
51
Step 2: After the groups have had some time to work on their task, but before they have finished, one student per group is
chosen randomly to be the Friendly Spy. Such random selection of the spies fits the CL principles of Individual Accountability
(i.e., everyone does their fair share of work) and Equal Opportunity to Participate (i.e., everyone has a chance to be active in
what the group is doing).
Step 3: The spies each visit a neighboring group. Only one spy at a time is permitted to enter a group. The groups tell the spy
what they are doing, and the spy asks questions and provides suggestions.
Step 4: The spies return to their home group. Before the spies leave, they are thanked by the group whom they visited. Spies
report to their original group. The group discusses whether they want to make changes based on what their spy has learned.
The class may wish to do multiple rounds of Friendly Spy, each time with a different spy. For online lessons, spying can be done
in different ways. Spies can go to another group’s breakout room. Also, groups can use email or direct messages to share what
they are planning with other groups.
52
HELPING
Many teachers and students are reluctant to do cooperative learning (CL),
because they have had negative experiences with group activities. Here are 10
GROUPS tips for helping groups function well. Some of the tips come from the best-selling
FUNCTION WELL book When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing (Pink, 2018).
1. Give people a chance to stand and otherwise move their bodies in a variety of
ways. Chair yoga, deep breathing, and stretch breaks can also be useful.
2. Spending time socializing is fine. Group activities do not need to be all

business. Also, if schools allow it, food and drink can be part of meetings.
3. Express gratitude to fellow group members and others, including people being
grateful to themselves as well. Gratitude messages should include reasons,
such as “I appreciated that Carlos took the time to organize all our files,
because that helps us think more clearly,” or “I’m proud of this group for trying
to do our part to address the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”
4. Stop regularly to discuss how well the group is functioning. This can be an
opportunity to express gratitude, and it can also be an opportunity to highlight
problems. For example, maybe group members need to communicate more
often and clearly, and groups also need to ensure that all members feel fully
included.
53
5. Figure out how the group will communicate outside of class. Nowadays, many possibilities exist, including phone calls,
emails, and social media-based groups. However, not everyone has access, and different people have different preferences.
6. Feel free to express sadness. When talking about the SDGs, sadness comes easily. People and nonhuman animals are
suffering every minute of every day because we have not made enough progress on the 17 SDGs. Furthermore, the efforts
of classroom groups can only do so much.
7. Books on CL talk about Identity Positive Interdependence. This means that sharing a common identity can motivate the
group. Ideas for promoting this common identity include making a group name, motto, logo, handshake, cheer, clap, proverb,
or mascot.
8. For the SDGs, groups can have a hero. This hero might be someone who has already done impressive work toward one or
more SDGs. Similarly, groups can have a person to help. For example, in the case of SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), the group could
use a photo of a starving child. This provides a visual reminder of the importance of the group’s work. Some charities
matchmake donors with children in need of basics such as food, clothing, and school supplies. A modest monthly amount is
usually sufficient.
9. Groups also want their activities to enhance the personal development of each group member. For example, perhaps one
member wants to use the activity to improve their writing skill. In this case, the other members would give this person more
opportunities to write, with the others acting as coaches.
10. Rotating roles get everyone involved and help everyone to feel valuable. Roles can be as simple as Timekeeper. Another
role could be that of Facilitator who promotes group functioning, by asking questions and encouraging everyone to speak.
Rotating roles allow everyone to equally develop their classroom skills.
54
SPONGE
This chapter aims to provide an easily appliable tip to address a common issue
involving group work in cooperative learning (CL) lessons. In a group, one or more
ACTIVITIES members sometimes finish a task before others; as a class, some groups finish
before others. The most widely known solution written about in CL books and
spoken about in CL workshops is to use ‘sponge activities.’ In kitchens, sponges
soak up extra water on counters and tables. During CL classes, sponge activities
soak up extra time when individual group members or groups finish ahead of
others.
Sponge activities can be divided into two types: generic and activity-specific. A
generic sponge activity can be used with almost any CL activity. However, before
we move on, we should point out that just because students say they have
finished does not mean they have fully completed their task. Sometimes, the
individuals and groups that finish last complete the task the best. Please
remember the CL principle of Maximum Peer Interactions. Much of CL's magic
happens in group members’ discussions, when they brainstorm, teach each other,
debate, add perspectives, and provide feedback.
55
When students have thoroughly finished a task, perhaps the best generic sponge activity guides them to help peers still working
on the task, whether the peers they help are groupmates or members of other groups. Such peer-based assistance flows from
the CL principle of Positive Interdependence and its extension of Cooperation as a Value. In other words, groupmates and
classmates feel as though they sink or swim together. No one is finished until everyone in the group has achieved the learning
objectives and can independently do the task the group has been attempting. Other generic sponge activities include working on
homework, reading books (e.g., extensive reading programs), and doing puzzles (e.g., crossword or logic puzzles).
In addition to generic sponge activities, the other type of sponge activity is activity-specific. These can also be called enrichment
activities because they encourage students to go beyond the learning that they have just completed. Students can design their
own sponges, or teachers can make suggestions. For lessons concerning the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a great
form of activity-specific sponge involves students considering how they can use their learning to have a real-world impact
related to the SDGs the class is studying. For example, students could consider how to raise money for an NGO that is working
on the SDG they are studying.
56
TALKING CHIPS
In cooperative learning (CL), everyone needs to take an active role in group
discussions. Talking Chips can be used in any group discussion during a lesson.
Talking Chips promotes the CL principles of Individual Accountability (i.e.,
everyone does their fair share) and Equal Opportunity to Participate (i.e.,
everyone has several chances to participate in the group work). In this way,
everyone learns, and everyone helps everyone else learn. With increased output
from all group members, discussions are livelier and deeper.
Step 1: All group members begin with three chips. Chips can be made of small
pieces of cardboard or anything readily accessible.
Step 2: As the group performs a talk-based task or discusses a topic, group

members surrender a chip each time they talk. The group can ask a member to
volunteer for the role of Chip Master, who will monitor the chips.
Step 3: Once a member has surrendered all of their chips, they cannot speak until
the next round except to ask questions to those who have chips remaining.
Step 4: When no one has any chips remaining, everyone once again receives
three chips, and the process restarts.
57
Step 5: After the group has finished their task or discussion, they can discuss what they learned using Talking Chips. Usually,
some group members quickly surrender all of their chips, while others require many questions to use theirs.
The number of chips given at the beginning of each round can vary. The fewer the chips, the sooner some students surrender
all their chips and have to stop talking—except to question group members.
58
THE SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
GOALS
This chapter looks at the origins of the sustainable
development goals.
SDG HISTORY:
Human beings have long known about the damage we are doing to the
environment. Before ‘sustainability’ became a buzzword, we knew we had to do
1975 something to repair this damage. Thus, Environmental Education (EE) was born.
ENVIRONMENTAL EE exists to help students and teachers become more aware of humans’ role on
EDUCATION Earth and to make it a more Earth-conscious role.
OBJECTIVES
In 1975, the United Nations Environment Program proposed six Environmental
Education Objectives. These objectives may be helpful in understanding how to
promote the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Table 1 explains and
exemplifies the objectives.
60
TABLE 1: 1975 UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION OBJECTIVES
Environmental Education
Meaning Example
Objective
1. Awareness Students are aware that Students know that water

environmental issues exist. pollution exists (SDG 14) and
that this pollution means less
water for drinking, washing,
and other needs of humans
and other animals.
2. Knowledge Students have a basic Students know that water

understanding of pollution has causes, such as
environmental issues and a lack of sanitation and
humans’ role in these issues. various industrial processes
that cause pollutants to enter
bodies of water.
3. Attitude Students care about Students want to provide

environmental issues and feel sanitation facilities (SDG 6) to
the motivation to address people to protect these
them. people’s health and to reduce
water pollution.
4. Skills Students have and are further Students know how sanitation
developing the scientific, facilities can be built and how
language, and other skills to encourage people to
needed to overcome participate in building them.
environmental problems.
5. Evaluation Many means are proposed for Students know what the best,
addressing environmental most affordable, and long-
concerns. As citizens, lasting ways are to build
students need to assess sanitation facilities that will fit
which are the best means. a community’s ecosystem.
6. Participation The other five objectives must Students find ways to support
be operationalized by plans, including using their
students’ participation in own labor, enlisting the
environmental protection. involvement of companies,
governments, the media, and
NGOs so that sanitation
systems can be built and
maintained.
61
INDIVIDUAL AND
As we strive to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), many
changes need to be made. This chapter suggests one of many ways to classify
EVERYBODY these changes. Individual Changes are those that individuals can make on their
CHANGES own. Examples of Individual Changes include turning off the lights when we leave
a classroom to save electricity and reduce fossil fuel use (SDG 13).
In contrast, Everybody Changes usually need to happen at the societal level.

An Everybody Changes that advances SDG 13 is when governments and
companies adapt to alternative energy sources (e.g., solar). It is called an
Everybody Changes because if the government in a city changes to alternative
energy or uses more alternative energy, everyone in that city uses more
alternative energy. Citizens of such cities do not need to take individual action
because when they turn on the lights in the classroom, they are powered by
alternative energy.
Of course, individuals can promote Everybody Changes (e.g., by urging

governments to promote the use of alternative energy). When discussing changes
that can help achieve the SDGs, we should consider both Individual Changes, and
Everybody Changes.
62
The quiz below may increase your understanding of Individual Changes and Everybody Changes. To complete each quiz item,
choose either ‘Individual Change’ or ‘Everybody Change’ at the end of each item. Of course, some changes combine Individual
Changes and Everybody Changes, and require Everybody Changes to make them a reality. Thus, the following quiz has no
correct or incorrect answers.
A) Students use social media to encourage the government in their country to grow alternative energy, for example, by
giving money for research on how to produce alternative energy inexpensively. Individual Change or Everybody Change?
B) Students construct gardens at their schools, homes, or local communities to grow vegetables instead of buying all the
vegetables at supermarkets. Individual Change or Everybody Change?
C) Students work with an NGO to create individual sanitation systems for homes without them or raise money to help
people create such sanitation systems for their own homes (e.g., https://safewatergardens.org). Individual Change or
Everybody Change?
D) Students communicate with governments in their country or other countries to ask what government officials are doing to
reduce plastic pollution in the oceans. Students can also make suggestions to the governments. Individual Change or
Everybody Change?
E) Students bring their own containers and reusable bags to reduce the use of disposable plastics. Individual Change or
Everybody Change?
F) Students create books for younger people and post them online. These books can be used by children who do not have
enough reading materials. Individual Change or Everybody Change?
63
INTRODUCTION
This book is about how we teachers can boost our students’ and our own
awareness, understanding, concerns, skills, evaluation abilities, and participation
TO THE to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The
CHAPTERS ON purpose of the 17 chapters in this section of the book, one chapter for each of the
THE SDGS 17 SDGs, is to provide teachers and their students with background knowledge
about each SDG. Toward that end, the chapters contain the following sections
listed below.
WHAT IS THIS SDG?

This section provides a short introduction to what areas of sustainability and
development the SDG involves.
KEY TERMS
Frequently used vocabulary related to the SDG with explanations and examples.
HOW ARE WE DOING ON THIS SDG?

Some statistics and other information on the situation regarding the SDG at the
time this book was written. Most of the statistics are estimates that come from
various UN websites.
64
THIS SDG AND OTHER SDGS

The SDGs form a kind of network. Progress on one SDG can lead to progress on other SDGs, just as a lack of progress on one
SDG harms progress on others.
HOW TO PROMOTE THIS SDG

This section of each of the book’s SDG chapters provides a short list of small-picture and big-picture actions (also known as
Individual Changes and Everybody Changes) that students, teachers, and others can take in support of each chapter’s SDG.
65
THE 17
SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
GOALS
This chapter is an introduction to each of the
goals.
SDG 1: NO
WHAT IS NO POVERTY?
One definition uses money to define poverty. A person lives in extreme poverty if
POVERTY they have less than US$1.90 to live on per day. They need to obtain food and
water, a place to live, clothing, school supplies, and other essentials for
themselves and each of their family members, and they need to do this with only
$1.90 per person per day.
Sometimes, people receive food, housing, and other needs from governments and
organizations. If a natural disaster, such as a hurricane occurs, or war begins,
more people may fall into poverty.
KEY TERMS
Unemployment Benefits: Services provided by the government to help people
who do not have a job. This can be financial support, but it also includes services
to help people get a job, such as onsite job training.
The Poverty Line: The minimum amount of income that is considered to be

sufficient to live. The poverty line is different for each country.
67
Inflation: When the cost of products and services increases, it is called inflation. Inflation can be caused by many things, such
as economic problems, war, natural disasters, or pandemics. Inflation means it can be more difficult for people to buy enough of
what they need to live.
HOW ARE WE DOING ON NO POVERTY?

About one-tenth of the people in the world live in extreme poverty. Even having a job does not guarantee that you will have
enough money; more than 7% of workers and their families are below the poverty line.
NO POVERTY AND OTHER SDGS

Poverty links to other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For example, people living in poverty often lack enough food
(SDG 2), cannot maintain good health (SDG 3), cannot receive quality education (SDG 4), lack clean water and sanitation (SDG
6), and lack access to energy, such as electricity (SDG 7). Females are more likely to live in poverty (SDG 5), and children in
poverty often must work instead of going to school.
HOW TO PROMOTE NO POVERTY
A) Write a list of everything you use in one day. Now put the list in order of how important they are. How many of the things
on the list can you buy for $1.90?
B) Do you know any charities that help poor people? How do they try to fight poverty? Perform research about a charity and
make a presentation about what kind of donations the charity takes and how they allocate donations.
C) Volunteer at a local food bank or soup kitchen.
68
SDG 2: ZERO
WHAT IS ZERO HUNGER?
One day, you wake up late and have no time to eat until noon. You will probably
HUNGER feel hungry, but that is not the definition of hunger discussed in Sustainable
Development Goal (SDG) 2. Zero Hunger is about a lack of sufficient food to meet
basic nutritional needs for a sustained period.
KEY TERMS
Food Security: Reliable access to enough affordable and nutritious food. War,
natural disasters, climate change, pandemics, and poverty impact food security.
Malnutrition: Deficiencies in the intake of nutrients and calories.
Stunting: Lack of growth due to hunger and malnutrition. This includes a lack of
mental development.
HOW ARE WE DOING ON ZERO HUNGER?

One in ten people worldwide suffers from hunger: 800 million people, and 150
million children under age five suffer from stunting. The United Nations estimates
that 25,000 people, including more than 10,000 children, die daily from hunger
and related causes. ‘Related causes’ means that hunger makes people more
susceptible to diseases and injuries.
69
ZERO HUNGER AND OTHER SDGS

Hunger links to other SDGs. For example, hunger deprives people of the energy and capability to earn money to avoid poverty
(SDG 1) and obtain a quality education (SDG 4). Of course, hunger relentlessly impacts health (SDG 3).
HOW TO PROMOTE ZERO HUNGER
A) Donate to food banks and volunteer for such organizations.

B) Reduce the consumption of meat and other foods from animals, because producing these foods is an inefficient use of
the plant foods that hungry people could eat.
C) Donate to UNICEF and other charities that provide food to people without food security.
D) Encourage your government to provide food aid to people at home and abroad who are living in hunger.
E) About one-third of food is wasted. Can you think of any examples of how food is wasted? What could you do to stop this
food waste?
F) Develop food-bearing plants that can grow in areas impacted by climate change.
70
SDG 3: GOOD
WHAT IS GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING?
Good health and well-being include physical and mental health. People of all
HEALTH AND ages, from babies to seniors, as well as pregnant women and nursing mothers are
WELL-BEING included in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3. How long people live (i.e., life
expectancy) and how many years people live in good health are part of the SDG.
SDG 3 is a prerequisite to achieving the other SDGs.
KEY TERMS
Infant and Child Mortality: Infant mortality is death before the age of one year,
and child mortality is death before the age of five.
Maternal Mortality: According to the World Health Organization, maternal

mortality is women dying because of pregnancy-related problems.
Vaccine: Vaccines are biological preparations that protect against specific

diseases. Vaccines have significantly reduced the spread of diseases such as
smallpox, polio, measles, and tetanus.
71
HOW ARE WE DOING ON GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING?

Between 1990 and 2017, maternal mortality declined by 40%. At the same time, maternal mortality continues to claim the lives
of hundreds of women every day. In general, infant and child mortality rates have fallen dramatically. In Germany during the 19th
century, every second child died before age five. SDG 3 includes a target for all countries to achieve a child mortality rate of 2.5
by 2030. In other words, at least 97.5% of newborns will live to at least age five regardless of where they are born. Currently, the
rate is 3.9%, and about 15,000 children below five years of age die daily. While vaccines have made a huge difference in
children’s health, hundreds of millions of children do not receive basic vaccines, such as those for polio and hepatitis B.
GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING AND OTHER SDGS

Good Health and Well-Being links to other SDGs. For example, poverty (SDG 1) limits access to health care, such as vaccines,
trained healthcare workers, and medical facilities. Achieving SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and SGD 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) link
powerfully to SDG 3. Also, SDG 4 (Quality Education) boosts health and well-being by providing the knowledge people need to
attain proper nutrition. It also helps individuals take actions to boost their mental health, such as maintaining social relations,
feeling grateful and expressing gratitude, and promoting a healthy self-image.
HOW TO PROMOTE GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
A) Organize a running/walking/biking event to raise money for charities that provide food to people suffering from hunger.
The exercise at the event will boost participants' health, and the generated food donations may be lifesaving for the
recipients.
B) Move away from meat to boost our health. The cholesterol and bad fats in meat are viewed negatively by many
researchers. Also, meat production is inefficient because massive amounts of plant food are fed to chickens and other
animals to produce small amounts of meat.
C) Move away from private motor vehicles to reduce the number of people killed and injured in motor vehicle accidents.
Plus, motor vehicles release greenhouse gasses and cause air pollution.
D) Encourage governments to build biking/walking paths and better public transport.
E) Create a skit, song, or poem to promote good health and well-being. Capture a video of your creation and share it online.
72
SDG 4: QUALITY
WHAT IS QUALITY EDUCATION?
The UN describes Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 as education that is
EDUCATION inclusive, equitable, and promotes enduring learning opportunities for everybody.
Many people do not have access to education at all. Other people can attend
kindergarten or perhaps elementary school, but then they need to start working
from a young age to help support their families.
Quality Education begins with governments having access to enough resources to

build an educational infrastructure, not only in central cities, but also in the
countryside. Although some economically disadvantaged countries can provide
decent education options for those living in big cities, people who cannot commute
into such cities have fewer education options.
KEY TERMS
Inclusive: The concept of not leaving anybody outside of advantageous situations
(e.g., education).
Equitable: Providing education-related opportunities equally to everyone

regardless of gender, finances, or sexual orientation.
Enduring: Something that lasts for a long time. In the case of Quality Education,
the UN has set targets for education that endures for a lifetime. Thus, even senior
citizens can continue to attend classes.
73
HOW ARE WE DOING ON QUALITY EDUCATION?

Globally, 260 million children are not attending school. There is no single cause, but rather a variety of issues that prevent
youths from attending school. Some of the issues relate to politics and gender (e.g., women are excluded from attending higher
education). Another issue is poverty; students who do not have access to healthy food cannot focus during class time. Another
issue relating to poverty is that many families require the help of the younger members of the family to produce income for daily
food and living supplies. Regional conflicts, wars, and pandemics also have a negative impact on school attendance.
QUALITY EDUCATION AND OTHER SDGS

Quality Education is essential because young people who do not have equal access to quality education are having their futures
predetermined by a lack of education. The next generation of doctors, lawyers, teachers, researchers, and tradespeople should
have balanced representation between and within countries. To reduce poverty (SDG 1), countries must provide youths with
quality education programs. Youths who have completed education programs can progress in the world and share their
knowledge and skills with younger generations; this helps Quality Education prosper.
HOW TO PROMOTE QUALITY EDUCATION
A) Donate previously used education materials locally, overseas, or online.

B) Provide free tutoring to youths at local community centers.
C) Write letters of petition to your country’s minister of education requesting better education standards.
D) Actively discuss the SDGs with friends and colleagues to raise awareness regarding the quality of education.
74
SDG 5: GENDER
WHAT IS GENDER EQUALITY?
Gender Equality does not infer that females and males are equal in every way, but
EQUALITY it does mean that they should have equal access to rights and opportunities.
Historically, females have had fewer rights and opportunities. Significant
improvements have been made, but much more needs to be done. An equal world
for females will mean a better world for everyone.
KEY TERMS
Gender Pay Gap: The average difference between what women and men are
paid. Part of the difference is caused by differences in the occupations that women
and men have.
Sex Ratio at Birth: The ratio of boys to girls at birth. In some countries, some
people use scanning technology to determine the sex of the fetus and may
terminate female fetuses.
Unpaid Care Work: All the work within a home conducted without payment. This
includes caring for family members who cannot care for themselves (e.g., children,
people with special needs, and seniors). Unpaid care work also includes cleaning
and food preparation. In contrast, paid work usually is more highly valued.
75
Zero Tolerance of Sexual Harassment and Violence: Acts of verbal or physical aggression with explicit or implicit sexual
overtones will be punished the first time they occur rather than a warning being issued. Instances of sexual harassment will
never be overlooked (i.e., zero tolerance).
HOW ARE WE DOING ON GENDER EQUALITY?

Women’s share in national parliaments and similar bodies rose from 22.4% in 2015 to 26.2% in 2022. In some countries, such
as the UK, the gender pay gap has been shrinking. South Korea, China, and India have banned sex-selective abortion—
although these bans have not been 100% effective. Females spend an average of 3.2 times more than men on unpaid care
work. Additionally, although the situation has improved, the United Nations estimates that two-thirds of adults who cannot read
are women.
GENDER EQUALITY AND OTHER SDGS

Gender Equality links to other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For example, poverty (SDG 1) can be addressed by
raising the pay and improving the benefits of occupations where more women work and by paying for what is now unpaid care
work. These changes also link to decent work and economic growth (SDG 8). Furthermore, gender equality is necessary to
achieve peace, justice, and strong institutions (SDG 16), because women in some regions lack full legal rights, such as the right
to own property.
HOW TO PROMOTE GENDER EQUALITY
A) Who receives more talking time in class and group discussions between females and males? Do males speak more?
Studies have found that males usually speak more. Why might that be? Can you do anything to change it?
B) In films, tv shows, and other media, notice the roles of female and male characters. Contact the producers of these
shows, tell them what you noticed, and give them your suggestions.
C) Learn about gender equality in your own country. What progress has been made? How was the progress made? What
still needs to be improved? What can you do to support improvements?
D) Are there gender equality organizations in your country? Can you help? What roles can males play in these
organizations? Do these organizations have connections to other countries?
76
SDG 6: CLEAN
WHAT IS CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION?
So many of us take it for granted that when we are thirsty, we can easily get clean
WATER AND water to drink, and when we need to use the toilet (i.e., the restroom, washroom,
SANITATION or lavatory), we have one to use in our home, school, or workplace. However, for
billions of people, clean water and sanitation cannot be taken for granted, and
every day, thousands of people fall sick, and some die for lack of these two basic
development needs.
KEY TERMS
Hand Hygiene: Having clean hands reduces our chances of catching diseases
from the things we touch. Hand hygiene is especially important for patients’ safety
in medical facilities, but it also matters everywhere else. To have clean hands, we
must use clean water, soap, or another cleaning agent to kill germs and bacteria.
Hydration: Every day, our bodies use water to function. Hydration means
replacing the water our bodies use. We get hydrated by drinking water and other
drinks, as well as by eating food. Dehydration means that our bodies lack the
water we need to function well. Dehydration causes headaches, lack of clear
thinking, and even death. Diarrhea is a dangerous cause of dehydration.
77
Potable Water: This is water that can be used for drinking and food preparation. Usually, potable water needs to be treated in
some way to ensure it does not contain microorganisms, bacteria, toxic chemicals, viruses, or fecal matter.
Waterborne Diseases: These are diseases spread by drinking or otherwise consuming unclean water. Deadly waterborne
diseases include botulism, cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, E. coli infection, hepatitis, polio, and typhoid fever.
HOW ARE WE DOING ON CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION?

The MDGs (Millennium Development Goals, 2000–2015) came before the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which
began in 2015. The MDGs included goals to cut in half the number of people without clean water and the number of people
without sanitation. The goal for clean water was reached, but not the sanitation goal, which requires massive sanitation
redevelopment in some regions. The United Nations estimates that by 2030, 1.6 billion people will lack safely managed drinking
water, 1.9 billion will be without reliable hand hygiene facilities, and 2.8 billion will be without safely managed sanitation facilities.
CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION AND OTHER SDGS

Clean Water and Sanitation links to other SDGs. For example, it links to quality education (SDG 4) because students need clean
water to learn well and a safe place to relieve themselves. SDG 6 also links to gender equality (SDG 5) because women and
girls often must travel long distances daily to find water, and sometimes those trips are dangerous. The list of deadly waterborne
diseases in the Key Terms section above shows the crucial connection between SDG 6 and SDG 3 (Good Health and
Well-Being).
HOW TO PROMOTE CLEAN WATER AND SANITATION
A) Celebrate World Water Day (22 March) and/or World Toilet Day (19 November). Find out what, if anything, is planned in
the place where you live.
B) Where you live, are public sanitation facilities available for disabled people, including seniors? If so, when did such
facilities become available? What is the history of the change?
C) Learn about the connection between climate action (SDG 13) and clean water and sanitation. How is climate change
disrupting access to clean water and sanitation? What can be done about it?
D) About 60% of our bodies are water, and the percentage is above 70% for our brains and hearts. Do you get enough
water? Keep a record. We learn better when we have proper hydration.
E) Many charities work with local people to bring clean water and sanitation. Find out about these charities. Can you help
them?
78
SDG 7:
WHAT IS AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY?
Have you ever gone without electricity and other forms of energy, such as gas for
AFFORDABLE cooking? It is fun for a day or two while camping perhaps, but after that, life
AND CLEAN becomes difficult. To live a modern life, we need energy we can rely on, energy
ENERGY that we can afford. We also need clean energy that does not release greenhouse
gasses or cause pollution. The air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels creates
health problems responsible for at least 5 million premature deaths annually.
Moreover, who wants to see blackened mucus when they blow their nose? For
sure, that same black mucus gets into our lungs, too.
KEY TERMS
Fossil Fuels: These energy sources come from dead plants and animals that
have decomposed over thousands and millions of years. Thus, they are not
renewable. The primary fossil fuels are coal, natural gas, and oil. These fuels use
up the Earth’s resources, and more than two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions
come from fossil fuels, not to mention all the pollution caused by burning fossil
fuels.
Alternative/Renewable Energy: This term refers to energy from sources other

than fossil fuels. These sources do not contribute to climate change and can be
renewed. Examples include solar energy, wind energy, hydropower, and nuclear
power.
79
Energy Mix: The combination of different primary energy sources (e.g., coal, solar, and hydropower) that produce the electricity
and other energy that people use. The hope is that a city or country's energy infrastructure will have a larger share of renewable
energy sources.
HOW ARE WE DOING ON AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY?

Fewer and fewer people live without access to electricity, even though the world’s population continues to increase. In 2010, 1.2
billion lacked electricity. By 2020, that number had fallen to 733 million; by 2030, it is estimated to fall again to 679 million.
Renewable energy is also on the rise, but as of 2019, only about 15% of the energy people use came from renewable sources.
AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY AND OTHER SDGS

Affordable and Clean Energy links to other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For example, poverty (SDG 1) deprives
people of access to electricity. Schools need electricity to provide quality education (SDG 4). Without electricity students do not
have access to audiovisual presentations by their teachers, or electronic devices such as computers or tablets. Unclean energy
from fossil fuels is a significant cause of climate change (SDG 13). Decent work (SDG 8) and industry (SDG 9) often depend on
a reliable, affordable energy source. Cities and communities in temperate regions rely on sustainable energy sources to protect
them during cold weather months (SDG 11).
HOW TO PROMOTE AFFORDABLE AND CLEAN ENERGY
A) Find out whether universities, governments, banks, and other institutions invest in and otherwise support the use of fossil
fuels.
B) Find out what people in other places (e.g., schools, cities, countries, and continents) are doing for affordable and clean
energy. Maybe you can communicate with them and learn from one another. Perhaps local NGOs can help you.
C) What type of renewable energy would work best where you live? For example, solar power could work well if there is lots
of sunshine, and wind power could work if there are strong winds. Share what you learn with your local government.
D) Where does the energy where you live come from: renewable energy or fossil fuels? What is the energy mix? What about
50 or 100 years ago? Have there been changes?
E) Talk to your local utility provider. Do they use any alternative energy? What can your family or school do to use less
energy? How much money can your family or school save by making changes?
80
SDG 8: DECENT
WHAT IS DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH?
Sustainable development is part of economic growth. This growth increases the
WORK AND possibility that people can find decent work, which allows them to provide for their
ECONOMIC families. Decent work also means safe work that allows people to learn and be
GROWTH physically and mentally healthy. Children should be in school, rather than working,
and slavery must not continue. In other words, economic growth needs to be
sustainable.
KEY TERMS
Decent Work: This includes that employees make a fair salary and receive health
insurance and other protections for their families. Workplaces must be safe, and
female workers need equal opportunities and treatment. Also, workers need a
voice in what happens in their workplaces.
Employment/Job Creation: Too many people who want jobs do not have jobs.
This includes people with special needs, older people, and many young people
who have left formal education.
Social Protection: This includes financial assistance to people who do not have
decent work, as well as skills training to help people find work. People who need
to stay home to care for young children and other family members also need
support.
81
Growthism: A focus on economic growth without any attention to the effect of this growth on the environment or on whether the
needs of society are being served. For example, do people need the luxury products that are being produced?
HOW ARE WE DOING ON DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH?

The United Nations estimates that about 160 million children work in child labor. At the same time, almost 500 million adults are
unemployed or underemployed. The situation is worse among women, and millions of people are forced to work as slaves
without any rights. According to the United Nations, one in five people has suffered violence or harassment at work in physical,
psychological, or sexual forms.
DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH AND OTHER SDGS

Decent Work and Economic Growth links to other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For example, decent work includes
gender equality (SDG 5), as women should have equal treatment and opportunities. It also links to quality education (SDG 4)
because lifelong learning includes the ability to learn on the job to improve opportunities at work. Ending poverty (SDG 1) also
depends on people finding decent work. Industry, innovation, and infrastructure (SDG 9) play a significant role in the right kind of
economic growth.
HOW TO PROMOTE DECENT WORK AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
A) If you feel comfortable doing so, talk to your family members. Do they feel that they have decent work? How do they
define decent work?
B) New businesses are essential to economic growth. Interview people who have started new businesses or consider
starting your own.
C) Tourism is a source of jobs for many people. Learn about sustainable tourism. Consider whether tourism in your country
is sustainable.
D) Learn about child labor. Do you buy any products made from child labor? How can you help children who must work
instead of going to school? If you are a child, have you ever had a job? If you are an adult, did you have a job as a child?
For example, some of the authors/editors of this book delivered newspapers and worked at restaurants part-time when
they were teenagers. Is such work suitable for children?
E) Are there any traditional jobs held by males that you think more females should/can enter? How about men joining
workforces that have been traditionally staffed by females? Try brainstorming and sharing your list with your friends and
classmates.
82
SDG 9:
WHAT IS INDUSTRY, INNOVATION, AND INFRASTRUCTURE?
Question 1: Does your home have reliable electricity for lighting, a refrigerator,
INDUSTRY, computers, and other equipment?
INNOVATION, Question 2: Does that electricity come from a sustainable source, such as solar
AND power?
INFRASTRUCTURE Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9 addresses these and related questions.
The world needs the ‘D’ (Development) in SDG so that people have access to the
innovations of science, such as: electric devices, medical products, infrastructure,
sanitation, clean water, and comfortable living situations. Question 1 above
features examples. Question 2 looks at the ‘S’ (Sustainable) in SDG. Everyone
enjoys the benefits of development when it is accomplished in a sustainable way.
To achieve that central goal, we need innovation to provide sustainable industry
and infrastructure.
KEY TERMS
Inclusive and Sustainable Industry: Are the products of industry, such as
computers and food, accessible to everyone? Is the industry powered by
sustainable practices? Does the industry contribute to pollution?
83
Innovation: Technology and science have produced many convenient innovations. Yet, these innovations have downsides. For
example, cars and other motor vehicles produce large amounts of greenhouse gasses, and more than a million people die
annually in motor vehicle accidents. Also, does society have the educational resources to allow a large variety of citizens to
participate in innovation? Can such innovation be directed toward a sustainable form of development?
Resilient Infrastructure: Infrastructure means the basic foundation that makes a comfortable life possible. Examples of
infrastructure include transportation systems (e.g., buses and trains), power plants that provide energy, internet networks that
provide access to the internet, and financial networks that allow people to bank, borrow (e.g., for housing mortgages), and send
money. Resilient means that this infrastructure is not easily disrupted. Climate events, poverty, and social instability are just
some of the possible disruptors.
HOW ARE WE DOING ON INDUSTRY, INNOVATION, AND INFRASTRUCTURE?

Here are some infrastructure statistics. According to Our World in Data, almost one billion people lack access to electricity.
Progress has been made in this area. For example, in Indonesia, in 1990 only about 62% of the population had electricity
access, but currently about 98% have access. Unfortunately, in 2019, worldwide, only about 11% of energy came from
renewable technologies. Housing is also a key part of infrastructure, but the UN estimates that about 40% of the world’s
population lack adequate housing options.
INDUSTRY, INNOVATION, AND INFRASTRUCTURE AND OTHER SDGS

Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure link to other SDGs. For example, industry links to decent work and economic growth
(SDG 8), and infrastructure links to sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11). Without quality education (SDG 4) which is
open to everyone and serves everyone’s needs, innovation will be slow.
HOW TO PROMOTE INDUSTRY, INNOVATION, AND INFRASTRUCTURE
A) Consider how what you learn—or teach—might contribute to attaining SDG 9.

B) Stay updated on innovations that promote SDG 9. What can you do to raise awareness and increase use of these
innovations?
C) Encourage public transport construction extensions and oppose increased use of roads for private transport.
D) Learn about people who live without proper infrastructure, such as electricity, Wi-Fi, and housing. What can you do to
help them?
E) What plans are in place where you live, study, or work to provide resilient infrastructure? For instance, what would
happen if the electricity was not functioning where you study?
84
SDG 10:
WHAT ARE REDUCED INEQUALITIES?
The first step to reducing inequality is to understand that some people are less
REDUCED well off than we are and need more assistance than we do. It is about providing a
INEQUALITIES helping hand to the disadvantaged, whether that is by making sure they earn a
decent salary or by creating laws which prevent them from being discriminated
against. All people should have the same opportunities no matter who they are
and where they are from. We need Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10 to
reduce inequality both within and among countries in order to give everyone the
chance of a brighter future.
KEY TERMS
Migrants: People who travel within or between countries looking for improved
living standards for themselves and their families. People might be forced to
migrate because of war, changes to the environment, or to escape from poverty.
Discriminatory Laws: Rules that are unfair to different groups of people

depending on, for example, their age, gender, ethnicity, or religion.
Marginalized Communities: Groups of people who are ignored or are not

included when considering how something will affect the population. They may
also be unable to use basic government services or to have similar opportunities
to the rest of the population.
85
HOW ARE WE DOING ON REDUCED INEQUALITIES?

Although for many years the income gap was slowly narrowing between people in developed and developing countries, recently
it has started to widen again. Because of war and climate changes, the number of refugees increased by 44% between 2015
and 2019. Furthermore, within countries, 20% of people have experienced some kind of discrimination.
REDUCED INEQUALITIES AND OTHER SDGS

For children who face discrimination it may affect their chances of getting a quality education (SDG 4), and in some countries
women are not given the same educational opportunities as men (SDG 5). Decent work and economic growth (SDG 8) should
not be denied to marginalized communities or groups that are discriminated against by unfair laws. To prevent this we need
peace, justice, and strong institutions (SDG 16).
HOW TO PROMOTE REDUCED INEQUALITIES
A) Think about all the different cultures and nationalities that live in your country. What do you know about them? Find out
more about one ethnic group and what kind of challenges they face living in your country. Are their challenges different
from yours?
B) Research what schools are like around the world. Find pictures of classrooms from 10 countries in different regions and
try to spot the differences. What do all the classrooms have? What do some classes have that other classes do not?
C) Have a discussion about your school’s rules. Which ones do you think are fair? Which are the most important? Which do
you think should be changed? How would you change those rules and why?
86
SDG 11:
WHAT ARE SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES?
Sustainable Cities and Communities are places which are inclusive and make
SUSTAINABLE people feel safe. They support the more vulnerable members of a community such
CITIES AND as those with disabilities and the elderly by providing smooth access to
COMMUNITIES transportation and necessary facilities. They are also places where children can
grow up in a supportive and stimulating environment. Such environments provide
opportunities to visit museums, places of cultural interest, and green public
spaces. By building cities to be safe, clean, and sustainable we can ensure that
everyone can enjoy a comfortable living situation.
KEY TERMS
Urban Sprawl: Big cities keep on expanding because they have the best job
opportunities, so more people want to live in them. However, when cities grow
quickly, they are not planned very well. This can lead to problems with traffic,
pollution, and damage to the environment.
Urban Resilience: The ability of a city to adapt to difficult circumstances, such as

natural disasters and climate change.
87
Quality of Life: A standard of living to do with how healthy, happy, and comfortable people are. Access to safe schools, green
public spaces, and decent public transportation are important for a good quality of life.
HOW ARE WE DOING ON SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES?

Half of the world’s population now live in cities; so, it is even more important to make those cities safer and more comfortable.
Only about 37% of people have access to reliable public transportation, only 82% of peoples’ garbage is collected, and 99% of
people living in urban areas breathe polluted air. All around the world, people and government officials are taking urban planning
more seriously, and more than 50% of countries are making or implementing plans to improve the quality of life in cities.
SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES AND OTHER SDGS

Having a comfortable and safe place to live allows people to focus on improving other aspects of their lives. To achieve many of
the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), people need a stable living situation such as clean water and sanitation (SDG 6),
and access to energy (SDG 7). Having these basic needs fulfilled means people can focus on their education (SDG 4) and
secure a decent job (SDG 8).
HOW TO PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES
A) What is it like where you live? How far is it to the nearest public transportation location? How about the closest green
public space? Or a public library? Find out how many minutes it takes to get to those places from your home.
B) Write a detailed list of the public facilities in your area. What is missing? What would improve the quality of life for the
people in your area? Interview people about which facilities they would like and send a letter to a local government office.
C) Imagine you have to expand your town or city. How would you do it? Create a newly imagined area for your city. Design a
map, places to go, and anything else that you feel matches the objectives of SDG 11.
88
SDG 12:
WHAT IS RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION?
Have you ever ordered an extra-large sized meal, and not been able to finish it?
RESPONSIBLE That might be caused by your eyes being bigger than your stomach, but it can
CONSUMPTION have a negative influence on the food chain. If you order more than you need,
AND restaurants will start making more food than they need. So, the restaurants will
PRODUCTION order more food from suppliers than they need, and so on. And at every point
along this food chain, some amount of food is being wasted. This happens not just
with food, but with all consumer products. So, whether it is food, furniture, or
electronics, we need to think carefully about whether we are buying something
because we want it, or because we need it.
KEY TERMS
Sustainable Consumption: Being responsible about how much we consume.
Everything we buy uses energy and resources. So, to minimize our impact on the
planet, we should consider reducing what we use, or reusing and recycling what
we have.
Sustainable Production: Sustainable products make as little impact on the

environment as possible. This could be by reducing the amount of chemicals in
them or using packaging which can be recycled.
89
Food Loss: Food loss happens before it even makes it to the supermarket shelves. For example, food might be stored poorly
and spoil, or the packaging could look too damaged to be sold.
Food Waste: Food waste can happen when we cook more than we can eat, or we order too much from a restaurant.
HOW ARE WE DOING ON RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION?

The global material footprint (i.e., the resources we use to make products) is increasing, but the rate at which that increase is
happening is slowing. From 2000–2014 it was growing by 2.8% every year, whereas from 2015–2019 it grew by 1.1%. However,
the amount of food loss and waste has not changed, with 13% of food being lost before it can be sold, and 17%, or 931 million
tons, being wasted by consumers.
RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION AND OTHER SDGS

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 is about being responsible in our consumption and production to reduce the strain we
put on the environment. This reduction of our global material footprint helps climate action (SDG 13). By carefully choosing what
food we buy and how much we buy of it, we do not need to use as many resources from life below water (SDG 14) and life on
land (SDG 15).
HOW TO PROMOTE RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION
A) Think carefully about the food you buy. Write out a list before you go shopping and stick to it. Try not to go to a
supermarket when you are hungry—which can lead to the over-purchasing of groceries.
B) Avoid single-use items, especially plastics. Use a reusable water bottle and bags. Refuse to use plastic drinking straws.
C) Get as much use as possible out of your possessions. Rather than throwing something away, check if you can give it to a
friend, donate it, or repurpose it. Do you own anything that has been handed down to you by a friend or family member?
90
SDG 13: CLIMATE

WHAT IS CLIMATE ACTION?
The world has been becoming increasingly warmer. In fact, the eight warmest
ACTION years on record have been since 2014. But this warmer weather does not mean
sunny summer days and gentle winter nights, because increasingly warm weather
can cause the Earth’s sea levels to rise and for more extreme weather events to
occur. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 is called Climate Action, because
it is something we have to take into our own hands right now. We must take
action and do whatever we can to fight climate change.
KEY TERMS
Extreme Weather: When the weather is very different from historical weather
records, it is called extreme weather. It can be very cold or very hot and can lead
to tornadoes, cyclones, and floods.
Climate Refugees: People who are affected by extreme weather might be forced
to move from their homes, cities, or even countries. To escape from problems
caused by extreme weather, like droughts, they search for safer places to live.
91
The 1.5 Degrees Celsius Concept: The goal is to stop the temperature of the Earth from increasing by over 1.5 degrees
Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels—when burning fossil fuels started to become widespread. 1.5 degrees Celsius is the
point at which damaging changes to the environment will start occurring (e.g., 70–90% of the Earth’s coral reefs could
disappear).
HOW ARE WE DOING ON CLIMATE ACTION?

The world is now 1.2 degrees Celsius warmer than it was in the second half of the 19th century. There is now a 50:50 chance
that the temperature will go over the 1.5 target by 2028. But countries around the world have woken up to the importance of
climate action, and by 2022, 198 parties (i.e., countries and groups of countries) made promises that they would take measures
to fight climate change. More people understand that the choices we make today can have a large impact on our collective
tomorrow.
CLIMATE ACTION AND OTHER SDGS

Climate change affects the whole planet, whether it is life below water (SDG 14) or life on land (SDG 15). The impact of climate
change leads to people being relocated from their homes which can stop them getting quality education (SDG 4), clean water
and sanitation (SDG 6), affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), and decent work and economic growth (SDG 8). The key to
fighting climate change is through the actions we take. It is up to us to be responsible as individuals in our consumption and
production (SDG 12) and to form global partnerships (SDG 17) to make sure climate actions are being performed all over the
world.
HOW TO PROMOTE CLIMATE ACTION

The United Nations Act Now Campaign for Individual Actions consists of 10 actions we call all take to fight climate change:
1. save energy at home

2. walk, bike, or take public transport
3. eat more vegetables
4. consider your travel
5. throw away less food
6. reduce, reuse, repair, recycle
7. change your home's source of energy
8. switch to an electric vehicle
9. make your money count
10. speak up.
Which of the ten listed points are most significant to you? What are you already doing to fight climate change? Is there anything
else you can do? Choose some of the actions you do not think you are doing and brainstorm how you could change your daily
life to incorporate pro-climate actions.
92
SDG 14: LIFE

WHAT IS LIFE BELOW WATER?
The oceans contain a huge amount of animal and plant life, and they are
BELOW WATER responsible for absorbing CO2 (i.e., carbon dioxide) and creating oxygen. Although
we have mapped out every inch of Earth’s land, we have barely scratched the
surface on what lies below the surface of the ocean. The oceans provide us with
food and water, jobs, hydropower, and a place to play. They are the lifeblood of
Earth, and protecting their ecosystem's inhabitants is as important as anything on
the surface of the Earth, which is why we have Sustainable Development Goal
(SDG) 14.
KEY TERMS
Overfishing: It might seem that the oceans contain a near infinite amount of life,
but the truth is that life under the water can be as vulnerable as it is on land. When
so many fishes are caught that the population of that area cannot recover, it
affects the entire marine ecosystem.
Microplastics: When plastic is dumped into bodies of water, it often breaks down
into tiny pieces. These pieces of plastic which are 5mm or smaller—about the size
of a sesame seed—are called microplastics. They can end up being eaten by
plankton and small fishes who in turn are eaten by bigger fishes.
93
Acidification: The CO2 absorbed by the oceans causes a chemical reaction which makes the water more acidic. This
acidification of their habitats means that some marine life cannot survive.
HOW ARE WE DOING ON LIFE BELOW WATER?

More than ever, we need to stop the spread of single-use plastics. More than 17 million metric tons of plastic entered the ocean
in 2021. This number is expected to double or triple by 2040. Microplastics are now being found inside of fish—they are making
it into our food chain. A major source of plastic pollution is discarded fishing gear, such as nets.
LIFE BELOW WATER AND OTHER SDGS

The oceans support all life on Earth by absorbing CO2 and producing oxygen; so, life on land (SDG 15) relies on life below
water. The oceans are also keeping the Earth cool, taking in solar energy from the sun and releasing it gradually. The state of
the oceans directly impacts the weather around the world and protecting them is important to climate action (SDG 13). By being
responsible about what we eat, we can ensure there is sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12).
HOW TO PROMOTE LIFE BELOW WATER
A) Take a look around you. What can you see that is made of plastic? Make a list and decide, do those items need to be
plastic? If it is a single-use item, it probably does not. And yet these kinds of items are the ones that end up being
dumped into the ocean.
B) Check the labels on the fish products that you purchase. Are they from local sources? Are they certified? Small-scale
fisheries need support for the livelihood of the people who work in them, and we need to stop illegal fishing.
C) If there is a natural source of water near you, it could probably benefit from community action. Find some friends and
organize a cleanup at a local river or beach. You will be leaving a positive impact on your local environment and making
the area more beautiful for everyone.
94
SDG 15: LIFE ON

WHAT IS LIFE ON LAND?
From tigers in jungles to ants under the ground, Sustainable Development Goal
LAND (SDG) 15 (Life on Land) includes all animals and the environments they live in.
Animals and their living spaces are connected, and a change to one affects the
other. Cutting down trees destroys the habitats of animals and puts them at risk.
We need to stop the deforestation of rainforests, not just for the animals, but also
for human life. Trees absorb CO2 and produce the oxygen which makes our air
breathable. So, we should protect them as much as possible.
KEY TERMS
Deforestation: Large areas of trees are cut down for materials, or to provide
space, usually for farming.
Biodiversity: A wide variety of different kinds of animals and plants living in the
same area.
Extinct: A once living species that can no longer be found on the planet. The dodo
is an example of an animal species who once lived but can now only be seen in
books.
95
HOW ARE WE DOING ON LIFE ON LAND?

About 10 million hectares of forest are destroyed annually. This means an area roughly the size of Iceland is cut down every
year, and 90% of this deforestation is for farming. Much of the farming feeds the cows, chickens, etc. whom humans later eat.
Deforestation also means fewer wild animals; around 40,000 species are at risk of becoming extinct over the next few decades
due to deforestation.
LIFE ON LAND AND OTHER SDGS

Besides the loss of biodiversity, deforestation is damaging to the planet itself. Like life below water (SDG 14), life on land affects
climate action (SDG 13). We need to think harder about what we eat and how much we eat to encourage responsible
consumption and production (SDG 12).
HOW TO PROMOTE LIFE ON LAND
A) Is the paper you are using recycled? Using recycled paper-based goods reduces the need to cut down trees.
B) Think about what you cook. The food we eat takes a lot of energy to produce. So, it is important not to waste it.
C) Learn more about the food you eat. Where is it from? How did it get to your supermarket? The more we know about our
food, the better decisions we can make. Locally produced food has less distance to travel; therefore, it may have a
smaller carbon footprint.
D) Is the food you eat produced in a sustainable way? Food sourced from animals takes a lot of resources to produce. Can
you swap out some of the meat in your diet for something else?
E) Where do you usually go on holiday? How do your trips affect the environment? Think about how your travels might
impact the local areas you are visiting and the Earth as a whole. How can you travel in a more eco-friendly manner?
96
SDG 16: PEACE,

WHAT IS PEACE, JUSTICE, AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS?
We might think that wars only happen in faraway places, and do not affect many
JUSTICE, AND people’s lives. In fact, a quarter of the world’s population lives in countries affected
STRONG by conflicts. But peace is not only about stopping wars, it is about peace of mind.
INSTITUTIONS Peace is about feeling safe in your own neighborhood. If you do not feel safe
when you walk around your own neighborhood, can you truly say you have a
peaceful life?
Whenever there is crime, on a large or small scale, we also need justice, so that
crime can be reduced and conditions that lead to crimes can be improved. To
protect justice, there need to be strong institutions which can act fairly, free from
corruption. Government institutions need to be transparent; so, they can be held
accountable just the same as everyone else.
KEY TERMS
Corruption: Corruption is when people use money, gifts, or promises to get an
advantage in a process which is supposed to be fair.
Accountability: The idea that people are responsible for the actions that they
take.
97
Transparency: Everyone can see what decision was made and why it was made. It is important for everyone to give their
opinions on such decisions without being afraid to speak.
HOW ARE WE DOING ON PEACE, JUSTICE, AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS?

A quarter of the world lives in a country affected by war, and 100 million people have had to move away from their homes
because of war. One-third of the population does not feel safe walking in their own neighborhoods at night. Across the world,
one in six businesses say they have been asked for a bribe by public officials.
PEACE, JUSTICE, AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS AND OTHER SDGS

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 links to the other SDGs. Feeling safe is important for our health and well-being (SDG
3), and inequality between men and women (SDG 5) is the reason many women do not think it is safe to walk in their
neighborhood at night. Children also need to feel safe to grow and achieve their full potential. When children are forced to move
from their homes by war and do not have a safe place to live, they cannot be guaranteed quality education (SDG 4), the chance
for decent work and economic growth (SDG 9), and sustainable cities and communities to call their own (SDG 11).
HOW TO PROMOTE PEACE, JUSTICE, AND STRONG INSTITUTIONS
A) What do you know about your local politicians? Find out what they believe in and learn which ones you agree and
disagree with.
B) Teach others about the importance of having your opinion heard by the people in power. Encourage letter writing to
officials about something you strongly believe in.
C) Get involved in your community. Are there any events you can take part in? Are there events you can organize? A close
community with lots of communication is one that is safer.
D) Treat other people fairly and with respect.
98
SDG 17:
WHAT ARE PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOALS?
Partnerships are when people work together to achieve a goal. To achieve the
PARTNERSHIPS Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we need global partnerships because no
FOR THE GOALS single country can achieve them alone. We need people in all of the countries
around the world working together to try and achieve the SDGs. Richer countries
and their citizens need to provide aid and contribute to the infrastructure of poorer
countries to help them to develop and prosper. Even within countries, very large
wealth gaps exist. By helping countries and people in need to develop in a
sustainable manner, we can provide everyone around the world with a safe,
comfortable living environment.
KEY TERMS
Investment: Putting money into a project to help it succeed.
Implementation: Taking the actions necessary to make an idea a reality.
Debt: The amount of money owed to someone. Some countries borrow money
from other countries or organizations and need to pay back the amount over time.
99
HOW ARE WE DOING ON PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOALS?

Global partnerships have meant that 63% of the population now have access to the internet, which is important to get new
information and knowledge, and $177.6 billion of assistance was given to developing nations. But there is still a huge gap
between richer and poorer countries, with the debt of sub-Saharan African countries taking up 43.7% of their national income.
Global partnerships need to help manage the debt of developing countries, so they can develop more quickly.
PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOALS AND OTHER SDGS

We have world-wide problems; so, we need world-wide solutions. Many of the SDGs require financial investment to achieve. If
we believe that the SDGs which guarantee basic human needs, such as no poverty (SDG 1), zero hunger (SDG 2), and clean
water (SDG 6) should apply to everyone, we need global, local, and regional partnerships. If we can agree that climate change
(SDG 13), life below water (SDG 14), and life on land (SDG 15), affect everyone globally, we can also agree that we need
partnerships.
HOW TO PROMOTE PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOALS
A) Learn about problems that people in different countries encounter. How are they different from problems in your country?
Find a charity which tries to solve the problem(s) that you found.
B) Make connections with students and teachers in other countries and find out about the challenges they face. Share
stories with other students and teachers about daily life, so we can better understand each other.
C) Does your city have a twin city in another country? Where is it? What is it like there? What can you learn from each
other? If you do not have a twin city, research a city or town that you would like your city or town to be twinned with.
D) Intranational partnerships, are important too. Consider how partnerships with other schools, cities, or regions within your
country might help improve people’s lives.
100
HOW CL AND THE

SDGS FIT
TOGETHER
This chapter explains the links between the SDGs
and cooperative learning and looks at the
inspiration for the book.
IN THE SPIRIT OF The purpose of this chapter is to explore types of thinking that make us more
enthusiastic to learn about and act in the spirit of the Sustainable Development
THE SDGS AND Goals (SDGs) and cooperative learning (CL). These overlapping ideas are
COOPERATIVE positive interdependence, abundance not scarcity, being more rather than having
LEARNING more, going deeper rather than going broader, freudenfreude, and kampung spirit.
Now, we will explore each of these topics.
POSITIVE INTERDEPENDENCE
This book often mentions Positive Interdependence, the key principle in

cooperative learning. Positive Interdependence means that we feel as though it
helps us to help others. An example can be seen in relations between two
neighboring countries: Indonesia and Singapore. Forest fires in Indonesia,
sometimes caused by agricultural practices, can produce massive air pollution
which blows over to Singapore. Thus, citizens in both countries suffer, not to
mention the global impact of the fires on the climate. Some people in Singapore
wanted to punish Indonesia for the fires, but others in Singapore felt positively
interdependent with their Indonesian neighbors and worked to help Indonesia
reduce the fires.
102
In education, Positive Interdependence normally refers to students helping their groupmates. A related CL principle, Cooperation
as a Value, seeks to take the feeling of cooperation that has been nurtured within small classroom groups and expand it
throughout the town, the city, the country, and the world.
ABUNDANCE NOT SCARCITY
When we operate with a feeling of scarcity, we worry that we will not have enough. This could mean worrying if we have enough
essentials, such as food, or enough nonessentials, such as opportunities to vacation in other countries. No amount is ever
enough; we feel as though we always need more. If we have a feeling of scarcity, we may not want to help others regarding
matters of money, time, or other forms of neighborly assistance.
Contrasted with a feeling of scarcity is a feeling of abundance. With a feeling of abundance, we believe that we have enough
and that in times of difficulty we can adjust. As Gandhi famously said, “The world has enough for everyone’s needs, but not
everyone’s greed.”
BEING MORE RATHER THAN HAVING MORE
Should we measure success by the objects we have accumulated? For example, how large our homes are, or how much
clothing, furniture, and jewelry we have? Accumulating objects uses a lot of the Earth’s resources. Instead of having more
possessions, we can strive to be more ourselves. For example, we can be more by learning (e.g., learning to play the drums, to
garden, or to do computer coding). Being more can also mean being more kind or patient.
GOING DEEPER RATHER THAN GOING BROADER
We can measure happiness in the variety of experiences that we have. We could decide to go broader by getting on an airplane
at every opportunity we have for tourism purposes. This worsens global warming. Instead of going broader, we can go deeper.
For example, we can sit in our home several times a week, alone or with others, reflecting more deeply about our lives.
Similarly, to go deeper, we can find a charity we like and volunteer there on a regular basis.
FREUDENFREUDE INSTEAD OF SCHADENFREUDE
Schadenfreude is a German word which means feeling happy when bad things happen to others, such as when a fellow student
stands up in class to answer a teacher’s question but answers incorrectly. On an international scale, an especially shameful
example of schadenfreude might be feeling happy when famine occurs in a distant part of the world rather than close to home.
Freudenfreude is the opposite of schadenfreude. With freudenfreude, we are happy when good things happen to others. We
celebrate other’s happiness. For instance, when another student performs a dance in front of the school, and everyone is
impressed by their talent. Or being happy for our opponent in badminton. We used to beat them, but now they have improved,
and they win instead. Any success, no matter how small, can be celebrated. Internationally, we can celebrate an invention in
another country that brings people there more jobs, more income, and more prestige.
103
KAMPUNG SPIRIT
Kampung is a Malaysian word for community or village. Traditionally, kampung spirit means that people look out for each other.
For instance, all the adults in a village look out for all the children in that village, regardless of who the children’s parents are.
When misfortunes (e.g., illnesses or storm damage) strike some of the villagers, everyone rallies to help their neighbors. The
SDGs are a bit like the kampung spirit but on a global level; we all help whoever needs help regardless of where they are
located. Everyone is our ‘neighbor.’
CONCLUSION
The SDGs were launched in 2015. Before the SDGs, between 2000–2015, many people worked hard to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals. By 2015, some progress had been made, but a great deal more needed to be achieved. That is why we
have the SDGs. However, achieving them will not be easy. To work toward the achievement of the SDGs, we require a boost
from tenets such as positive interdependence, abundance, wanting to be more, wanting to go deeper, freudenfreude, and
kampung spirit.
104
THE BOOKS THAT

From centuries before the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were launched
in 2015, the education profession has had a proud history of focusing not just on
INSPIRED US standardized test scores, but also on involving students on issues related to what
are now known as the SDGs.
In creating the book you are now reading, we are honored to stand on the
shoulders of the giants who have been involved with the SDGs and related
matters. It should be pointed out that these friendly giants granted us permission
to borrow their ideas, all toward similar goals. In particular, the activities in our free
online book were inspired by three previously published free online books as listed
below.
INTEGRATING GLOBAL ISSUES IN THE CREATIVE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

CLASSROOM: WITH REFERENCE TO THE UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT GOALS
The earliest of the three publications, from 2017, is Integrating Global Issues in
the Creative English Language Classroom: With Reference to the United Nations
Sustainable Development Goals, edited by Alan Maley and Nik Peachey and
published by the British Council. The following six-minute video introduces the
book:
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/publications/resource-books/integrating-global-
issues-creative-english-language-classroom
105
An outstanding feature of the British Council book is how it goes beyond the standard language learning activities to promote
creativity, via such means as poetry, to encourage students to understand and work toward the SDGs while concurrently
building their language skills. The book itself has 22 chapters. The first provides an overview of the SDGs. The following 17
chapters each focus on one of the 17 SDGs, providing a suite of activities for teaching that one SDG. The remaining four
chapters look at particular language learning strategies, including extensive reading and storytelling. The book begins with an
impactful written exchange between a member of the public and a teacher. The exchange is featured below.
The Teacher
(This is a poem for two voices: one a member of the public—in bold font—and the other—in
normal font—a teacher)
What do you do?

I’m a teacher.
What do you teach?
People.
What do you teach them?
English.
You mean grammar, verbs, nouns, pronunciation, conjugation, articles and particles,
negatives and interrogatives …?
That too.
What do you mean, ‘that too’?
Well, I also try to teach them how to think, and feel - show them inspiration, aspiration,
cooperation, participation, consolation, innovation.
… help them think about globalization, exploitation, confrontation, incarceration,
discrimination, degradation, subjugation,
… how inequality brings poverty, how intolerance brings violence,
how need is denied by greed,
how –isms become prisons,
how thinking and feeling can bring about healing.
Well I don’t know about that. Maybe you should stick to language, forget about
anguish. You can’t change the world.
But if I did that, I’d be a cheater, not a teacher.
106
CREATING GLOBAL CHANGE

CREATING CHANGE: GLOBAL ISSUES IN ELT IN AFRICA
The other two books from which we drew inspiration were edited by Linda Ruas, who also contributed a chapter to the British
Council collection discussed immediately above. Both of these two books were published free of charge online in 2020 by the
Global Issues special interest group of a large teachers’ organization, the International Association of Teachers of English as a
Foreign Language (IATEFL). Other teachers’ organizations also have a focus on global issues, such as the SDGs. For example,
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages has a TESOLers for Social Responsibility interest section. Indeed,
regardless of the subjects teachers teach, activities promoting the SDGs have great relevance.
The first book from IATEFL, Creating Global Change, is composed of 30 articles by teachers from 26 countries in different parts
of the world. These teachers describe what they, their students, colleagues, and others have done to make the world a safer
and more just place.
The second book is similar but focuses on Africa. The book, titled Creating Change: Global Issues in ELT in Africa, consists of
18 articles from 13 African countries. After reading this book, we echo Linda Ruas’ words in describing the contributors to this
collection:
All of the contributors share an amazing level of commitment to creating change. Please share this publication widely. Teachers
in many countries have a difficult life, but teachers in many African countries have more difficulties than most. If these teachers
can create this amount of change, what can the rest of us do?
To conclude, we greatly admire the contributors and editors of all three of the listed source materials. We see our role with our
current book as one of extending the lifespans of the dynamic ideas in the three books mentioned above. We believe that by
more explicitly linking the authors’ ideas with the tradition of cooperative learning, we are further empowering the contributors
and editors’ work. We call upon teachers to add their own ideas to further empower the proud traditions in education that see
learning, not as a tool by which individuals seek competitive advantage for themselves, but as a tool by which collectively we
strive to make the Earth a better place for all of us.
REFERENCES
Maley, A., & Peachey, N. (Eds.). (2017). Integrating global issues in the creative English language classroom: With reference to
the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. British Council.
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/PUB_29200_Creativity_UN_SDG_v4S_WEB.pdf
Ruas, L. (Ed.). (2020). Creating global change. IATEFL Global Issues SIG.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v6-fpgh2FmaWJ0qHIVSdwkbQU7s6c7Qj/view
Ruas, L. (Ed.). (2020). Creating change: Global issues in ELT in Africa. IATEFL Global Issues SIG.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19Dr8q1RAdR5RJ8tYl8MGnt7EjKBgHJjO/view
107
INTRODUCTION
The following section is the heart of this book. The subsequent activity plans
provide examples of how students can cooperate with peers and others to help
TO THE achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Many of the
CHAPTERS ON activity plans in this book come from previous books of lesson plans for the SDGs.
SDGS ACTIVITIES They are reused here with permission. We are gratefully standing on the
WITH CL shoulders of the teachers and students who created the original activities. We are
keeping alive the flame they lit, just like one group of singers adds their own touch
TECHNIQUES to a song originally written and performed by another group.
What makes the current book unique is that we have combined the principles and
techniques of cooperative learning (CL) with what were already excellent activities
for focusing students’ and teachers’ efforts on achieving the SDGs. We believe
that CL fits seamlessly with the spirit of the SDGs; just as students come together
in CL groups to help each other learn, with the SDGs, people around the world
come together to promote sustainable development for the good of all.
Please use the following activities as starting points and springboards. Obviously,
you and your students know yourselves and your ever-changing contexts best.
Please adapt the activities to best suit your needs. Please do reflect on your
experiences after using the activities, and share them with other teachers and
students as much as possible.
108
SDGS ACTIVITIES
WITH CL
TECHNIQUES
This chapter is a collection of classroom activities
that link cooperative learning and the SDGs.
OVERVIEW OF SDG: All 17 SDGs CL Technique: Tell/Check
THE Inspired by: Read, C. (2017). Developing children’s understanding of the
SUSTAINABLE
Global Goals. In A. Maley & N. Peachey (Eds.), Integrating global issues in the
creative English language classroom: With reference to the United Nations
DEVELOPMENT Sustainable Development Goals (pp. 11–19). British Council.
GOALS Background: The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were announced
in 2015 to encourage people to work together to make the Earth a more livable
place for humans and other animals. This activity briefly introduces students to
each of the 17 goals and, thus, prepares them for the book’s other activities.
The class begins with a review of vocabulary related to the SDGs. Students look
at the left column in Table 1 and ask questions about any vocabulary they do not
know. Possible difficult vocabulary could be: sanitation (i.e., safe removal of
human waste), renewable energy (i.e., energy from sources that can be recreated,
such as solar energy), infrastructure (i.e., physical structures needed in society
such as homes, power plants, railroad tracks, etc.), inequalities (i.e., when people
do not receive equal opportunities in education, jobs, health care, etc.), and
climate action (i.e., actions taken to stop or slow climate change).
110
The cooperative learning (CL) technique used in the activity, Tell/Check, encourages the CL principle of Positive
Interdependence, in this case, Positive Role Interdependence, in which students have rotating roles that they need to do in
order for the group to perform their task.
Step 1: Students form pairs. They take turns to match an SDG in the left column with an explanation in the right column. All 17
SDGs are listed.
Step 2: One pair member matches the odd numbered goals, and the other matches the even numbered goals. One goal at a
time, they take turns to be the Teller who tells their partner which explanation in the right column matches the goal in the left
column.
Step 3: The other partner acts as the Checker who checks their partner’s answer. If they agree, the Teller draws a line between
the goal and the explanation. If they do not agree, they discuss. If after discussion, the pair still disagrees, they ask another pair.
If the two pairs disagree, they ask the teacher.
Step 4: The group switches the roles of Teller and Checker until they have finished all 17 goals.
Step 5: Students take turns to choose one goal that is important to them and tell their partner why it is important. They check
that their partner has told them why they believe the SDG is important.
Step 6: The teacher calls a few students randomly to share the goal their partner chose and why.
111
Table 1: SDG Numbers and Explanations
Goal Number Explanation of the Goal

Goal 1: No Poverty To ensure that countries and organizations work
together to achieve the goals.
Goal 2: Zero Hunger To ensure that everyone has enough money to

live.
Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being To ensure that everyone has enough food to eat.
Goal 4: Quality Education To ensure that everyone has the right to medical
care.
Goal 5: Gender Equality To ensure that everyone has the opportunity to

go to school.
Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation To ensure that girls and women have the same
rights and opportunities as boys and men.
Goal 7: Renewable Energy To ensure that everyone has safe water and
healthy hygiene.
Goal 8: Good Jobs and Economic Growth To ensure that everyone has access to reliable,
sustainable energy.
Goal 9: Innovation and Infrastructure To ensure that everyone has the opportunity to
perform paid work.
Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities To ensure that industry is responsible in

protecting people and the environment.
Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and To ensure that countries have laws and societies
Communities that protect everyone equally.
Goal 12: Responsible Consumption To ensure that cities, towns, and villages have
water and electricity, and are clean and safe.
Goal 13: Climate Action To ensure the reduction of waste, for example
by recycling paper or glass.
Goal 14: Life Below Water To ensure action to slow down the impact of
global warming.
Goal 15: Life on Land To ensure action to protect oceans and seas.
Goal 16: Peace and Justice To ensure action to protect the environment and
endangered animals.
Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals To ensure the end of violence and war and give
everyone access to justice.
112
Answer Key: In Table 1, the explanation of each goal in the left column is in the right column, one cell below that goal. For
example, the explanation of Goal 1 (No Poverty), the first row in the left column, is in the second row in the right column, ‘To
ensure that everyone has enough money to live.’ The only exception is the explanation of Goal 17, which is in the first row in the
right column.
POSSIBILITIES
A) In Step 5, instead of a few students sharing with the entire class about the SDG their
partner chose and why they chose it, pairs form foursomes and each student takes turns
to share with the other pair.
B) Students take turns with their partner to give examples of what can be done to achieve
any one of the goals.
C) Students are only given the descriptions of the goals and they must try to name the
corresponding SDGs without looking at any text.
113
OVERVIEW OF SDG: All 17 SDGs CL Technique: Group Projects
THE Inspired by: Read, C. (2017). Developing children’s understanding of the
SUSTAINABLE
Global Goals. In A. Maley & N. Peachey (Eds.), Integrating global issues in the
DEVELOPMENT Sustainable Development Goals (pp. 11–19). British Council.
GOALS 2 Background: Visuals and stories can make the 17 Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) more understandable and more memorable. In this lesson,
students create icons and stories for each of the 17 goals.
The class looks at icons used for various purposes, such as indicating ‘No
Smoking’ or showing where the restrooms are, and which restroom is for
handicapped people, females, and males.
The class reviews the basics of story writing, such as the items listed below.
A) Setting – Where and when the story happens; who the characters are.
B) Plot – A series of connected events.
C) Conflict – A problem that the characters have to deal with; in this case, the
conflict would involve the SDG.
D) Resolution – How the conflict is resolved; in this case, maybe the stories
can have a happy ending.
E) Theme – Relates to the SDG that is the focus of the story.
F) Lesson Learnt – What readers can learn from the story.
114
Group projects have long been a feature of student-centered classrooms. Insights from cooperative learning (CL) can help
projects be more successful, in terms of learning, creating positive emotions, and achieving SDGs.
Step 1: The class looks at the icons that represent each of the 17 SDGs. They discuss whether the icons are easily
understandable.
Step 2: Students form groups of three. Each group chooses one SDG. Their task is to create a new icon for that goal and to
write a brief fictional story to help people understand and remember that SDG. The length of the story can vary with the
proficiency level of the class.
Step 3: Each group first brainstorms about the icon and then about a story. To prepare for the brainstorming, each group
member has three minutes to work alone. Then, they take turns to share their ideas and discuss them.
Step 4: After the brainstorming, the groups temporarily decide on their icon and their story. Then, they assign tasks to each
group member. The group member who is best at drawing should coach the others instead of doing the drawing. The same idea
applies to writing the story. Other roles could be Time Keeper, Materials Manager (i.e., managing group access to pens, pencils,
and crayons for drawing), and Questioner (i.e., asking about the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of the icon and the story).
Step 5: Each group is paired with another group. The two groups present to each other. Each group member has a speaking
portion during the presentation. Both groups provide detail-specific praise to the other group for their icon and story.
POSSIBILITIES
A) If the time is short, groups can just do icons or stories.
B) Presenting to other groups can happen multiple times, and groups can have time to
revise their icon and story after each round of presentations.
C) The class can brainstorm detail-specific praise to give to other groups.
D) As a class, students might want to create a new icon for each of the 17 SDGs, then
make a poster with all of the icons on it. The poster can be hung in the classroom.
E) The class considers how they can share their new icons and/or stories in order to raise
awareness of the SDGs.
115
READING SDG: All 17 SDGs CL Technique: SUMMER
NEWSPAPERS Inspired by: Divéki, R. (2020). One step towards becoming responsible global
citizens - or how I made my students read the news in eight months. In L. Ruas
(Ed.), Creating global change (pp. 132–136). IATEFL Global Issues SIG.
Rita Divéki’s teaching context was in Hungary.
Background: Figuring out how to accomplish the Sustainable Development

Goals (SDGs) can be difficult, as solutions are often complicated, and new
research and new inventions may change our understanding. Therefore, actions
to support the achievement of the SDGs needs to be supported by up-to-date
knowledge. This activity encourages students to do in-depth reading to build
their knowledge.
Research suggests that strategies based on scientific understanding of how our

brains function can improve reading comprehension and retention, as well as
encouraging students to go beyond the information provided by reading materials
and to ‘read between the lines.’ The cooperative learning (CL) technique called
SUMMER includes various reading strategies and promotes those strategies by
teaching students to use them with a partner. Later (i.e., post-lesson) students can
use the same strategies when reading by themselves. Thus, CL functions as a
form of scaffolding, with students first learning with support from teachers and
partners, and then, being able to do it on their own.
116
Step 1: The class discusses how students and their teacher learn about the news. Are they interested in current events in the
place they live, in their country, or internationally? Should they be interested? How do they get their news? Are the news
sources reliable?
Step 2: Based on suggestions from students and based on understanding students’ reading proficiency levels and interests, the
teacher chooses a text to use for SUMMER and divides it into three sections or more. The teacher, with one student as their
partner, models the SUMMER technique. The steps in the technique are as follows.
Set the mood – The pair chat for a couple minutes to set a friendly tone and to check that they both understand how to do
SUMMER. The S step is done only once.
Understand by reading silently – Both students silently read the same section of the text. As they read, they can ask questions if
anything is not clear.
Mention the main ideas – One student summarizes the main ideas of the section the pair just read. They do this summarizing
without looking back at the text.
Monitor the summary – Their partner looks at the text and gives feedback on the summary (e.g., too long, too short,
inaccuracies). The roles of Summarizer and Monitor rotate for each subsequent section of the text.
Elaborations – Members take turns to elaborate on the main ideas in the section they just read. Although not every type of
Elaboration listed below is required for each section, Elaborations can include the following:
A) connections to ideas and experiences; comparisons

B) how we can use the main ideas in our lives and to achieve the SDGs
C) things I do not understand or want to know more about
D) extra information, improvements, omissions
E) agreements and disagreements, other perspectives
F) reactions (e.g., surprise, happiness, disappointment)
G) visualizations (e.g., drawings, mind maps).
Review – After the group has done all the sections via the U, M, M, and E, they do an overall summary of the text. Research
suggests that after doing SUMMER with a partner, people will continue to summarize and elaborate when reading other
important texts.
117
POSSIBILITIES
A) If students have beginner level reading proficiency, SUMMER can be done with audio or
video. Audio, video, and text can be combined to help students.
B) SUMMER works in any language. Thus, once students learn SUMMER, they can use it
in their first languages, as well as their second languages.
C) Teachers choose a news article about the SDGs the students are studying. Students
could also look for news articles about the SDGs, and the teacher could choose the one
which they think is the right level for the students.
D) Students can further review the activity by writing down some of the most interesting
elaborations they or their partners made when discussing the text.
118
TALKING SDG: 1 (No Poverty) CL Technique: Everyone Can Explain
BUSINESS
- Mobile
Inspired by: Christopher, L. (2020). Improving youth’s socioeconomic

empowerment through enhanced English language skills. In L. Ruas (Ed.),
Creating change: Global issues in ELT in Africa (pp. 102–107). IATEFL Global
Issues SIG.
Liberty Christopher’s teaching context was in Uganda.
Background: One way for people to escape poverty is to start a business.

Many new businesses have a short lifespan, but governments and other
organizations can help by providing loans and other types of support. Students
can learn some of the basics about starting and running businesses and may
even want to try out their ideas while they are still in school.
In this activity, students work in groups to brainstorm a small business that they
might be able to start where they live. The business could also be based online.
Please note that if students actually attempt to start a business—and the students
are not yet adults—adult supervision will be necessary for any matters involving
money, laws, and regulations. The difference between the cooperative learning
(CL) technique Everyone Can Explain and its companion technique Everyone Can
Explain - Mobile is that in Everyone Can Explain, students—chosen at random—
report to the entire class and the teacher, whereas in Everyone Can Explain -
Mobile, they report only to another group.
119
Step 1: Students form groups of four. Each member receives a number (e.g., 1–4). Each member works alone to perform an
investigation about small businesses they could start in their community. What do people in their community need? What would
they pay for? Is the business practical? These questions are examples of market research. Students can also talk to small
business owners in their communities. What did such business owners need to do to start their business? What errors did they
make? Who helped them? What do people have to know to run a business (e.g., accounting, legal matters, and government
regulations)?
Step 2: After their research investigations, the class discusses small businesses they know about. What do the businesses do?
Are they successful? Are there any lessons that can be learned from the businesses? Do class members have family members
or family friends who started small businesses? The class brainstorms ideas for small businesses that might be successful
where they live.
Step 3: The class shares their knowledge about what is needed to start a business (e.g., bookkeeping, fundraising, talking to
customers, issuing sales receipts and invoices, writing a business plan, and making an elevator pitch). Not all of these examples
need to be included in the activity.
Step 4: The groups each choose a business to start and create a plan for starting it. The plan should include the benefits the
business will bring to society. This plan could be written in the form of a presentation. The businesses can each have a name,
slogan, motto, advertisement, logo, or song affiliated with it.
Step 5: A number (e.g., 1–4) is called randomly. The member of each group with the corresponding number trades places with
someone from a neighboring group with the same number. They tell the other group their business plan and explain their
thinking behind the plan. The host group asks questions and provides feedback. Visitors return to their home group and report
on the reaction their plan received. Based on this, groups may wish to revise their plans. The visiting of groups can be repeated
multiple times but with a different person presenting on behalf of their group.
POSSIBILITIES
A) As part of their plan, students try to make their businesses as eco-friendly as possible.
They include information about how their businesses will be powered, whether
recyclable/reused goods will be used, and how it will impact the local environment.
B) Each group should design a website for their business. This website can be designed on
a computer, or the homepage can be made as a hand-drawn poster.
C) After all the presentations have been created, each group’s business finds another
group’s business to pair with. The two businesses develop a joint project and explain
why a collaboration would be beneficial for both businesses and society.
D) Each group gives a presentation to the entire class about their business, including why
they think it will be successful, how it will make money, and how it will benefit the
community. The audience can ask questions and give feedback.
120
THE FREERICE SDG: 2 (Zero Hunger) CL Technique: Tell/Check and Record
GAME Inspired by: The United Nations World Food Programme: Freerice https://
freerice.com/
Background: Rice is a staple food in many cultures. For some people, a meal
is not a meal without rice. In 2007, a computer programmer named John Breen
invented a vocabulary game, and he connected the game to the United Nations’
World Food Programme. Every time someone answers a multiple-choice
question correctly, donors give 10 grains of rice. The game started with English
vocabulary questions, and now it includes questions on about 50 different
topics, including questions related to the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs).
Achieving each of the SDGs requires overcoming difficulties, but SDG 2 (Zero
Hunger) might seem to be the easiest goal to achieve. After all, humans already
produce enough food to feed the Earth’s entire human population; the problem is
equal distribution of such food. Unfortunately, this is a complex problem. An
example of food distribution complexity can be seen in the fact that a great deal of
plant food, such as soybeans and corn, is fed to the cows, chickens, and other
animals whom some humans eat. The people who raise such animals have more
money to buy soybeans, corn, and other food than do poor people who are
starving.
121
While trying to untangle the complex problems associated with hunger, we can help a little by playing the Freerice game. This
game can be played alone, but playing it in cooperative groups can be more fun and may improve overall learning.
Internet-based platforms, such as ‘Kahoot!’, can be used, but they tend to use time pressure, which makes cooperation more
difficult. One way to make the Freerice game into a cooperative game is to use the cooperative learning technique Tell/Check
and Record—part of the Tell Family of cooperative learning (CL) techniques. Tell/Check and Record promotes the CL principle
of Equal Opportunity to Participate because the roles rotate such that everyone has a chance to play the game, but they still
require a partner for support.
Step 1: Students form groups of two. They may want to use just one electronic device to encourage cooperation. They open the
Freerice game: https://play.freerice.com/
Step 2: To do Tell/Check and Record, the members of the group of two take turns to play the role of Teller and role of Checker
and Recorder. The Teller makes a guess about the answer to a multiple-choice question in the Freerice game. The person in the
Checker and Recorder role for that question agrees or disagrees with the Teller’s guess. The Teller makes the final decision and
uses the device to select the choice they think might be correct. If the Teller’s choice is correct, the person in the rotating role of
Checker and Recorder congratulates them. If the guess is wrong, the Checker and Recorder records the item for future study.
Step 3: The roles rotate for each multiple-choice item. When time is up, each group records how much rice they earned. The
class calculates the class total. Students can increase the class total by playing Freerice outside of class. Indeed, the game can
be seen as a competition: the class cooperates to compete against hunger.
POSSIBILITIES
A) The Freerice game can be used as a warm-up activity throughout the school year. The
class can keep a running total of how many grains of rice they have earned. A small
bowl of rice is about 5,000 grains of rice; so, the class can track how many meals they
have donated over the course of a year.
B) If the students need more help, Tellers from two groups could share their answers
before they make a final decision.
C) The Freerice game has lots of different question categories including pop music,
movies, science, and even some about the SDGs. Try many different questions, and if
you can speak other languages, take a vocabulary quiz in those languages too.
122
WHAT’S IN A SDG: 2 (Zero Hunger) CL Technique: Everyone Can Explain -
CHOCOLATE
Mobile
BAR?
Inspired by: Ruas, L. (2017). Sustainable Development Goal 2: End hunger,
achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable
agriculture. In A. Maley & N. Peachey (Eds.), Integrating global issues in the
Sustainable Development Goals (pp. 29–39). British Council.
Background: We live in a globalized world, where one food product, such as a

chocolate bar, often has ingredients from multiple locations in the world. Even
something as seemingly simple as a chocolate bar requires many different
people, not to mention the nonhuman animals who are often involved. Can this
same international cooperation help us achieve SDG 2 (Zero Hunger)?
Long ago, people got food by looking for it (e.g., finding apples growing on trees).
Later in history, humans learned to grow apple trees, rice fields, and other food
sources. In this activity, students consider the complexity of food systems. For
example, countries where many people suffer from hunger send food to wealthier
people in their own country or other countries, because wealthier people can pay
a higher price for food. The cooperative learning (CL) technique Everyone Can
Explain promotes the CL principle Positive Interdependence because the group
‘sinks or swims together.’ Groups do not know which member might be called on
to answer; so, they need to prepare all group members to be able to provide and
explain their group’s answer. 123
Step 1: The teacher explains the story of a chocolate bar’s manufacturing process. A chocolate bar’s ingredients can include
chocolate from Africa, coconut and sugar from Asia and the Pacific, and cow’s milk—used for milk chocolate—from Canada and
the United States. Not only do chocolate bars contain many ingredients from many places, but people from many occupations
help to grow, harvest, transport, and process the materials used in the bars. Accountants, insurance providers, and food
companies are also needed in the interconnected process. Plus, what about the dentists who repair the teeth of people who eat
chocolate, and the people at NGOs who promote the rights of the agricultural workers and the cows?
Step 2: The class will use the CL technique Everyone Can Explain - Mobile. In groups of three, students choose another food
product and do research on the people and places involved in creating that food. Students can start by looking at the list of
ingredients on the packaging of food products. What are some places where the ingredients might come from? Other than
humans, are other animals involved? The websites of the companies that make the products are one place to find information,
but other sources should also be consulted.
Step 3: After the research has been completed, the groups combine their information to create a mind map that shows the
people, animals, and places that might be involved in the creation of their selected food. Each group member takes a turn to
practice using their mind map to talk about their product. Each group member has a number: 1, 2, or 3.
Step 4: A number (e.g., 1, 2, or 3) is chosen randomly, and the person with that number changes places with someone with the
same number in a nearby group. The visitors use their group’s mind map to explain about their food product. The host group
makes comments and asks questions.
Step 5: The visitors return to their home group and share the other group’s reaction to their mind map. The two members who
did not leave share what they learned from their visitor. Multiple rounds of visiting can be done, so that students can learn about
many food products.
POSSIBILITIES
A) Students can do research about Fairtrade chocolate products. What does Fairtrade
mean, and who does it benefit? Do you think it is important to buy Fairtrade chocolate?
B) How are the ingredients in chocolate transported around the world? Is it possible to
transport these goods a shorter distance or in a more eco-friendly manner?
C) What kinds of food does your country produce? Is it important to buy locally produced
food? Why or why not?
124
OUR CLASS IN SDG: 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) CL Technique: Exchange-a-Question
DATA Inspired by: Roser, M., Ritchie. H., & Dadonaite, B. (2013). Child and Infant
Mortality [Data set].
OurWorldInData.org. https://ourworldindata.org/child-mortality
Background: Words are impactful, but we can also use visuals to present and
understand data about situations, including the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs). These visuals include bar charts, pie charts, tables, and graphs. This
activity helps students to understand visuals created by others and to construct
their own for the sake of information sharing.
The website Our World in Data uses the work of 1000s of researchers to give
anyone with a device and an internet connection free access to the information
they need to understand the big problems the world faces. The cooperative
learning (CL) technique Exchange-a-Question promotes the CL principle of Group
Autonomy which is about students being less reliant on teachers. With
Exchange-a-Question, students ask each other questions and check each other’s
answers, instead of questions and answers coming only from teachers.
125
Step 1: The class looks at Figure 1, which is a bar chart about child mortality. The teacher helps the class to understand the title
of the figure, and how to read the bar chart, including the y-axis (i.e., the vertical axis), the x-axis (i.e., the horizontal axis), and
the legend (i.e., the colors and words that enable people to understand the figure). The class makes suggestions about how the
x-axis and the y-axis should be titled.
Figure 1: Global Child Mortality: The Share of the World’s Population Dying Before Age 6
Figure 1 depicts good and bad news. The good news is that there has been a huge increase in the number of children
worldwide who survive their first five years of life. The bad news is that millions of children still die before their sixth birthdays.
Step 2: The class discusses details from Figure 1, using the questions below.
(a) Which period had a bigger increase in survival: between 1800 and 1900 or between 1900 and 2017?
(b) What might be one reason that survival has improved?
(c) What can be done to help survival improve even more?
Step 3: Students create foursomes and then split into pairs. Each pair will collect data from their classmates and the teacher.
Then, the pair will make a bar chart of the collected data. First, the pair choose a topic. Examples include favorite books,
favorite sports, favorite fruits, most valued SDG, and which SDG they want to achieve the most. In each case, they will give their
classmates three choices (e.g., for sports: soccer, basketball, and badminton). For the SDG they want to help with, the choices
could be SDG 2 (No Hunger), SDG 4 (Quality Education), and SDG 14 (Life Below Water). After collecting data, students create
a bar chart.
126
Step 4: Each member of the pair makes questions about their bar charts. Example questions belonging to two separate
categories are posed below.
A) Questions which can be answered by referring to the information in the bar charts such as “What percentage of class
members said they prefer badminton over basketball or football?”
B) Questions which students answer by thinking about the data, such as “Why do you think badminton is most popular
among the members of our class?”
Step 5: After students write at least two questions, they also write answers to their own questions. Then, their partner checks
their questions and answers. Are the questions logical (i.e., are they answerable)?
Step 6: In their foursomes, students switch partners and exchange questions but not answers with their new partner. The new
partners answer each other’s questions and then compare answers.
POSSIBILITIES
A) Students experiment with different kinds of charts and different methods of presenting
their data. Which data presentation method is the most effective? Why?
B) Think of other ways to analyze the data. For example, what is the most popular sport by
gender? How about by height?
C) Each group uses their data to try and make proposals to the class. For example, if the
most popular school meal was curry, the group could make a proposal for the school
cafeteria to serve curry twice a week. If the SDG the class wanted to help with the most
was Life on Land, the proposal could be to make this the next class project.
127
TEEN SDG: 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) CL Technique: Jigsaw
PREGNANCY Inspired by: Soares, C. (2020). How can your English lessons help prevent
teen pregnancy in your school? In L. Ruas (Ed.), Creating change: Global
issues in ELT in Africa (pp. 12–14). IATEFL Global Issues SIG.
Celita Soares’ teaching context was in Cape Verde.
Background: Soares’ view was that students’ top priority should be education,
and that abstinence was the best policy for teens. Teen pregnancy leads to
social problems (e.g., pregnant teens seldom being able to finish secondary
education). This activity demonstrates how every issue affects more than one
SDG. Among the other SDGs affected by this issue are SDG 4 (Quality
Education), and SDG 5 (Gender Equality).
One day, Soares heard female students talking about how boys seem to be only
interested in sex, and male students talking about how they do not understand the
girls’ perspectives. So, the author decided to make her lesson about building
understanding on the topic. Here is how a lesson could be used to build
understanding on any issue using a modified version of Jigsaw. Jigsaw shows the
cooperative learning (CL) principle of Positive Interdependence in action. In this
case, it is Resource Positive Interdependence because different group members
have unique information which they need to share with groupmates.
128
Step 1: The class forms homogeneous groups of four composed of, in this case, all girls or all boys in each group. Their task is
to practice explaining their perspective to members of the opposite sex. The groups are called ‘expert groups’ (i.e., expert
groups composed entirely of girls or boys).
Step 2: The girl groups exchange members with other girl groups, and the boy groups exchange members with other boy
groups. For example, two boys rotate with two boys from another boy group. They share ideas between same-sex groups, learn
from each other, and check if they are explaining their ideas clearly. Also, they write out their ideas.
Step 3: The class now forms heterogeneous groups of four made up, if possible, of two girls and two boys. If the class has more
girls than boys, or vice versa, there can be groups of five with three of one sex, and two members of the opposite sex. The key
is that no group should have only one member of a sex, as that person might feel isolated.
Step 4: Each member of the heterogeneous groups of four takes a turn to speak. After everyone has taken two turns, the group
has time for free talk, but they need to rotate between a boy and a girl speaking. So, it can be boy, girl, boy, but it cannot be boy,
girl, boy, boy.
Step 5: The teacher leads a class discussion on lessons learned from the activity.
POSSIBILITIES
A) This can work with many topics, such as refugee students and local students, or
students who do well in school and students who do less well.
B) Controversial issues need to be handled with care. For example, before Step 4, it might
be useful to discuss how to disagree politely. This includes how we speak, such as
smiling, giving others time to finish speaking before we speak, and having a relaxed
posture. Disagreeing politely also includes what we say, such as “Thank you for sharing
those ideas,” “I learned something from you,” or “Let me try to repeat your ideas, so that
I can be sure I understand.”
C) Students can reflect on the activity by writing about what they learned and if there was
anything that was surprising for them. They could also write some questions that they
were uncomfortable about asking in person, and the teacher could present a list of these
anonymous questions to each group at the start of the next class.
129
WHAT HAPPENED SDG: 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) CL Technique: Dictogloss
NEXT? Inspired by: Ekembe, E. E. (2020). Learn English, reduce malaria: English
classes in Cameroon. In L. Ruas (Ed.), Creating change: Global issues in ELT in
Africa (pp. 52–58). IATEFL Global Issues SIG.
Eric Enongene Ekembe’s teaching context was in Cameroon.
Background: For students living in developed countries, it may be hard to

imagine the dangers connected to unclean water. This story warns about how
water can be connected to dangerous diseases. It is an adapted version of the
one in the chapter by Ekembe, who wanted to teach his students about proper
waste disposal. Although students may not be familiar with problems like
malaria, it is important that they learn about hygiene. Fortunately, technology
has provided some relatively low-cost solutions. Unfortunately, these solutions
have yet to be widely implemented.
Dictogloss is a cooperative learning (CL) technique which can be challenging for

students but encourages the use of cooperation to perform a textual
reconstruction. Dictogloss can be simplified with help from the CL principle of
Teaching Cooperative Skills.
130
Step 1: The teacher reads the first part of the story. The students listen, but they do not take notes. If there are any words they
do not understand, they can ask the teacher.
There was a woman named Aissata who collected and then sold used cans and bottles. All around her yard were cans and
bottles she had collected. Often, they had rainwater in them. Aissata’s young son, Joel, was always getting a fever. One day, the
boy had a terrible headache and a high fever. Aissata went to the store and bought medicine for Joel, but it did not bring the
fever down. Fortunately, she heard about a health worker close to her village. So, she went to see the health worker, Pascal,
and he went with Aissata to her house to see Joel.
Step 2: The teacher reads the first part of the passage again. This time, the students take notes. Then, in groups of four, they
try to reconstruct the part of the passage that the teacher has read. One cooperative skill that could be useful is the skill of
making suggestions. Phrases that go with making suggestions include “What about this?” “Maybe we could . . .,” and “Thanks
for your suggestion.”
Step 3: The teacher shows their part of the passage to the students and they compare their version with the original version.
Step 4: The students discuss in their group the answers to the questions below.
A) Why do you think the young boy was sick?

B) What do you think happens next in the story?
Step 5: Steps 1, 2, and 3 are repeated, this time with the second part of the story.
When Aissata and Pascal arrived, mosquitoes were buzzing everywhere because it was late afternoon. Pascal saw the cans
and bottles lying around with water in them. He found baby mosquitoes in the water. Pascal showed these to Aissata and told
her that mosquitoes biting her son had probably caused him to get malaria. Together, Aissata, Pascal, and Aissata’s father
cleaned up her yard. Then, Pascal suggested that Aissata bring Joel to the clinic every month so they could receive medicine for
malaria. The family became healthier, and all were happier.
Step 6: Students look at their previous answers to the two earlier questions and perhaps change their answers based on the
new information. The teacher tells the students that the woman’s name was Aissata Ndiaye, and this story was in Cameroon.
The class can then research more about how mosquitoes can carry malaria and how this can be prevented.
131
POSSIBILITIES
A) In Step 4, students can make their own questions that they want answered and ask
other groups.
B) Instead of doing dictogloss for the second part of the story, the groups of students can
try to design their own ending to the story. Then, they can compare their ending with the
real ending.
C) Before Step 1, the class could be told that the story is set in Cameroon. They could
brainstorm what they know about Cameroon or research information about Cameroon
on the internet to give them some background knowledge before they start the
dictogloss.
D) Teachers can use pictures which show the events of the story before they start the
dictogloss so that students can anticipate what the content of the story is, or students
can draw pictures to go with the story. In fact, drawing can be an alternative to the
writing portion of the dictogloss.
132
INCLUSIVENESS SDG: 4 (Quality Education) CL Technique: Group Investigation
IN EDUCATION Inspired by: Mafelanjala, D. (2020). Challenges faced by students with hearing
impairment in Mozambique. In L. Ruas (Ed.), Creating change: Global issues in
ELT in Africa (pp. 52–58). IATEFL Global Issues SIG.
Derreck Mafelanjala’s teaching context was in Mozambique.
Background: Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 (Quality Education)

highlights inclusive education, which welcomes everyone to enjoy the benefits
of learning, even if some people face learning challenges. The chapter by
Mafelanjala provides details about the situation of hearing-impaired people and
what can be done to help them participate in education.
Group Investigation is a cooperative learning (CL) technique in which students

become a group of subgroups seeking to understand real world situations. This
technique promotes the CL principle of Cooperation as a Value because students
expand their feeling of ‘nobody wins unless everyone wins.’
133
Step 1: The class discusses people who want to study but who face difficulties due to various types of challenges, and what can
be done to include these people in classrooms. Challenges include physical, mental, financial, and transportation hurdles.
Among physical challenges that make education difficult for people are vision and hearing limitations, problems with using arms
and legs, and diseases (e.g., cancer). Mental health challenges include anxiety, relative intellectual limitations (e.g., Down’s
syndrome), and autism. Financial challenges include students’ families not having enough money to pay school fees or
purchase the supplies needed for school. Sometimes, governments do not have enough money to build schools and pay
teachers. Also, some people need to work instead of studying. Last, but not least, some people cannot travel to school because
schools are too far away or because of war. Students and the teacher give examples of people who face such challenges.
Step 2: The class performs Group Investigation to better understand challenges to inclusion in Education and what can be
done. Students form groups of four. Each group selects one challenge to investigate. Some questions to investigate are listed
below.
(a) Why do people face this challenge? For example, maternal malnutrition can affect hearing.
(b) Can anything be done to prevent the challenge before it arises? For example, better maternal nutrition reduces the risk of
hearing problems in children.
(c) What can be done to help students with this challenge? For example, hearing aids can help some people with hearing
challenges.
(d) What is done in your school/country to help people with this challenge?
(e) What else do you think could be done? What about helping people with that challenge in other countries?
(f) Do you know about any organizations that work with people facing this challenge?
Step 3: Within each group, students create a roster of who will investigate what and by which date they will report back to the
group. If students find useful information or have ideas about a groupmate’s subtopic, they can share that as well. Also, students
try to interview people with personal experiences related to their research.
Step 4: Groups use the information gathered to make a presentation on the challenge they investigated. This presentation
should include ideas for what the students’ own school/class can do. Each group member has a speaking part in the
presentation. Visuals can be used to make the presentations more interesting.
POSSIBILITIES
A) Students could watch videos about schools that specialize in educating students with
challenges such as hearing impairment, vision impairment, and physical impairment.
Which facilities, tools, and techniques do such schools use to help their students? Could
any of them be introduced at your school?
B) Students walk around their school and assess how wheelchair accessible their school is.
They can make a report showing what changes could be made to make it more
wheelchair accessible.
C) Which lessons in particular do you think would have to be changed to be more inclusive
of people with challenges? What kind of changes could you make to the way they are
taught?
134
WOULD YOU LIKE SDG: 4 (Quality Education) CL Technique: 7S
TO BE A Inspired by: Djau, A. (2020). The environment in Guinea Bissau. In L. Ruas
TEACHER?
(Ed.), Creating change: Global issues in ELT in Africa (pp. 15–19). IATEFL
Global Issues SIG.
Ali Djau’s teaching context was in Guinea Bissau.
Background: In many countries, teachers’ salaries are extremely low. For

instance, in Guinea Bissau, teachers earn about $210 US dollars per month,
and sometimes, due to political instability and economic issues, teachers do not
get paid at all. As a result, many teachers need at least one other job, and they
have little time to prepare for class or to study to improve their teaching.
In circumstances where teachers are paid very low salaries, who would want to be
a teacher? How can we achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 (Quality
Education) without quality teachers? Teachers need time and energy to teach well
and to continue to improve. How can students and teachers in other countries help
poorly paid teachers?
135
Although teachers in many countries face difficulties, many kind and talented people are attracted to the teaching profession.
The benefits of becoming a teacher include:
A) the importance of education for helping the world, including achieving the SDGs
B) the thrill of helping others learn
C) the opportunities to learn while teaching students
D) the chance to work with interesting fellow teachers
E) the respect that teachers receive in many societies.
The activity uses the cooperative learning (CL) technique 7S. In 7S, students learn in pairs instead of only as a class unit. This
facilitates the CL principle of Maximum Peer Interactions because many peer interactions take place at the same time. For
instance, if a class consists of 57 students, there are 27 groups of two (i.e., 54 students) and one group of three (i.e., 54 + 3 =
57 students). Thus, 28 peer interactions take place. In contrast, in a class-based configuration, when the teacher talks—teacher
talk can be useful—no peer interactions take place, and when the teacher invites a student to talk, only one peer interaction
takes place (i.e., the one student speaking to the rest of the class).
Step 1: The lesson begins with a class discussion about the pros and cons of being a teacher, as was briefly examined above.
The class will interview each other about their views on joining the teaching profession. The class works together to develop
possible questions. Some examples are provided below.
(a) Has anyone in your family been a teacher? If so, were they happy with the profession? Why or why not?
(b) Would you like to be a teacher? Why or why not?
(c) What is the best age of students to teach? Why?
(d) What can students do to make teaching a better profession for their teachers? Why would these student actions help
teachers?
(e) Can students and teachers at your school help teachers in other places? If so, how can they do this?
Step 2: Students have time to work alone to develop responses to the questions.
Step 3: The class performs 7S.

Stand – Everyone stands.
Slide – Students slide their chairs under their desks to provide more space.
Stretch – Everyone stretches.
Sip – Everyone takes a drink of water.
Stir – Students move around the classroom, not with groupmates.
Stop – When the teacher or someone else says “stop,” everyone stops stirring and forms a pair with whoever is nearby.
Speak – The pairs discuss the questions developed in Step 1.
Step 4: Students return to their seats, and some students are called at random to share their partner’s most interesting answer.
136
POSSIBILITIES
A) Find out what subject or age level each student might like to teach if they became a
teacher. Why did they choose that subject? Make a list as a class of reasons why people
like a subject.
B) Older students can give teaching a try by mentoring younger students for a lesson.
Groups of four or more students are in charge of teaching a lesson to a class of younger
students. The older students have time to prepare a lesson plan, practice it, and to give
and receive feedback from other groups.
C) Students write about their favorite current or former teacher. Why were they a good
teacher? What qualities made them a good teacher? What parts of their teaching style
would you use if you became a teacher?
137
FINDING A SDG: 5 (Gender Equality) CL Technique: Exchange-a-Question
‘WHY’ FOR A Adapted from: Alghamdi, F. (2020). Empowering Saudi female students
‘WHAT’
through visible thinking. In L. Ruas (Ed.), Creating global change (pp. 92–94).
IATEFL Global Issues SIG.
Fawzia Alghamdi’s teaching context was in Saudi Arabia.
Background: Although students may think that men and women in their country
do not have equality, they might not realize how lopsided their situations are
compared to other countries. In this activity, students will research a question
about gender differences that they are interested in, and then discuss both
‘what’ the situation is, and ‘why’ the situation is the way it is. We need the full
participation of females to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Facts are interesting, fun, and also extremely important if we want to make global
changes. But facts need to be carefully analyzed so that they are not
misinterpreted. This activity uses questions and information as a starting point for
topics that involve a deeper level of thinking. By exchanging questions, students
are not just handing over a sentence, but rather, an invitation for a discussion to
new group members. The cooperative learning (CL) technique
Exchange-a-Question supports the CL principle of Individual Accountability
because everyone needs to take a turn to create and answer questions.
138
Step 1: Before class, students create a question about the different situations between men and women in their country and try
to find an answer on the internet. The answers should be facts, not opinions. Students could think of questions to do with jobs,
the law, home life, health, or any other area where there are perceived differences between men and women. The students try
to guess the answer to the question they have made before they look up possible answers. Students write the question and an
answer on a piece of paper. Example questions are provided below.
(a) What percentage of computer engineers are women?
(b) How many hours a week do men and women do housework?
(c) How long are maternity and paternity leave?
(d) What is the percentage of women in your country’s parliament (i.e., the legislative branch of government)?
Step 2: Students form pairs. One student asks their partner the question and the partner guesses the answer—multiple choice
answers can help to make this part of the lesson go more smoothly. The Questioner asks the Guesser “Why do you think so?”
The Guesser explains their reasons for their guess. The Questioner gives the real answer and explains what they thought the
answer was before they researched the answer. The pair discusses why the answer is what it is. For example, “Why do you
think there are more female elementary school teachers than male elementary school teachers?”
Step 3: After a set time limit (e.g., 3 minutes) the Questioner and the Guesser switch roles and they repeat Step 2.
Step 4: Once the students finish their discussions, they exchange questions, find a new partner, and repeat the process.
POSSIBILITIES
A) At the end of the activity the questions and answers could be posted on the wall of the
classroom. Students could write opinions about why the answers are what they are or
add additional information.
B) Students could discuss which answers they thought were the most surprising and why
they were surprised.
C) The whole class could work on only one question, but each student would do research
about a different country (e.g., “What percentage of elementary school teachers are
women in Brazil?”)
139
A MATTER OF SDG: 6 (Clean Water and CL Technique: Cooperative Dialogue
LIFE AND DEATH

Sanitation) Journals
Inspired by: Safe Water Gardens, an organization that builds sanitation

systems for people’s homes. https://safewatergardens.org
Background: More than a billion people lack adequate sanitation. As a result,

every day, millions of people fall sick from diseases, such as diarrhea and
typhoid, and many unnecessary deaths occur. Thus, sanitation is part of one of
the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The problem of a lack of sanitation
facilities is especially unfortunate because simple, inexpensive technology
already exists to solve this problem. The activity presented here describes an
experience that one of the authors of this textbook had in rural Indonesia while
assisting an organization that builds sanitation systems for people’s homes.
Cooperative Dialog Journals is a cooperative learning (CL) technique in which

students write about their thoughts and experiences and receive feedback from
groupmates. This process gives students opportunities to use the CL principle of
Cooperative Skills when they give feedback on peer’s journal entries and when
they respond to the feedback they receive on their entries from peers. For
example, Cooperative Skills includes asking questions and responding to
questions, praising others, and responding to praise.
140
Step 1: Many topics can be used, including ‘free topic’ (i.e., students can choose what to write about). However, for this lesson,
everyone writes about something they did outside of school—even at their own home—to promote the SDGs.
Step 2: Students share their journal entries with peers who provide feedback. Then, the writer of each journal entry reads the
feedback and talks to groupmates about their reaction to the feedback. Here is an example entry written by one of the authors of
this textbook. The words in brackets are possible feedback from groupmates.
Last weekend, I joined a group of students who took a boat ride [I have never been on a boat, did you get seasick?] from
Singapore to Bintan—an Indonesian island—to support the Safe Water Gardens organization. The organization works with
universities and schools to design and install inexpensive sanitation systems for homes in rural areas.
The boat trip lasted only an hour. Then, we traveled by van to a village with many small homes [We used to have villages like
that in Singapore, but not anymore]. To install the sanitation system for a family, we had to dig a hole in the backyard of the
family’s home. We installed a water filtration tank in the hole and then covered the hole with gravel and soil. The tank was
connected by pipes to the kitchen, the toilet, and the shower in the home. Thus, three sources of dirty water were sent to the
tank to be cleaned [Do you have any photos to show us?].
The sanitation system is called a Safe Water Garden because (1) dirty water is removed from the home and cleaned, and (2)
the cleaned water is used to grow plants. The family whose home we visited are going to plant chilies, because they enjoy
adding chili to their food, and it is expensive to buy chilies. I like a little chili with my food, but not so much [I like to put lots of
chili on my food].
Altogether, about 50 people worked to install the sanitation system: students, teachers, villagers, and people from the Safe
Water Gardens organization. It was fun working together [It sounds like a big team. Fun!]. I felt happy that I could help a little. At
my home in Singapore, I never have to think about clean water and sanitation. I just turn the faucet to get water and flush the
toilet to get rid of waste. Actually, in Singapore, we have a large version of Safe Water Gardens called Newater:
https://www.pub.gov.sg/watersupply/fournationaltaps/newater [At first, I didn’t want to drink Newater, but now, I don’t even think
about it. How about you?]
POSSIBILITIES
A) Teachers can also write dialog journal entries to share with the entire class or with a
different group each time.
B) Students can share their entries with other groups sometimes.
C) Students can write short summaries of their groupmates’ journals, highlighting things
they thought were especially interesting and things that made them think more deeply
about the topic.
141
FAMILY ENERGY SDG: 7 (Affordable and Clean CL Technique: Skits

Energy)
Inspired by: Wade, P. (2017). Sustainable Development Goal 7: Ensure

access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. In A.
Maley & N. Peachey (Eds.), Integrating global issues in the creative English
language classroom: With reference to the United Nations Sustainable
Development Goals (pp. 75–81). British Council.
Background: Energy plays a central role in sustainable development, because

access to energy is a major precondition for the development and use of
infrastructure. However, the majority of our energy sources are at odds with
sustainability. Electricity is a key form of energy; students can better understand
how to save electricity by role playing both positive and negative energy user
actions. Watching each other’s skits means students can see which actions
might be damaging to the environment.
Skits offer ways to help students see the advantages of the cooperative learning
(CL) principle of Heterogeneous Grouping because many different talents can be
used in skits: acting, singing, writing scripts, drawing props, and dancing.
However, skits can require a lot of time and rehearsal to prepare.
142
Step 1: As a class, students brainstorm what they do in the morning, from waking up, to walking out the door to go to school.
Then, they brainstorm what their parents do in the morning. When there is a morning activity which uses electricity, they put a
star next to it, or circle/underline it.
Step 2: Students make groups of four. Each student takes a role card and a personality card randomly.
Role A: You are a parent. You must go to work. Your goal is

to leave the house in five minutes.
Role B: You are a parent. You must prepare breakfast. Your

goal is to help everyone leave the house on time.
Role C: You are a child. You must wake up and get ready
for school. Your goal is to leave the house in five minutes.
Role D: You are a child. You must wake up and get ready
for school. Your goal is to leave the house in five minutes.
Personality A: You want to reduce electricity use because

you do not want to waste money.
Personality B: You want to reduce electricity waste

because you are worried about the environment.
Personality C: You are not interested in saving electricity.

You just want the most comfortable situation.
Personality D: You are interested in saving electricity, but

you forget things easily.
Step 3: Groups have 15 minutes to prepare skits which are a maximum of five minutes. Each character must perform at least
one activity which uses electricity, and each character must have a speaking part.
Step 4: Each group performs their skit. The skits will finish within five minutes. All roles should have been performed within the
five-minute limit. The students watching must guess who is playing Role A, B, C, and D and who is Personality A, B, C, and D.
At the end of the skit, students discuss their guesses with their group and give reasons based on what the characters did or
said.
143
POSSIBILITIES
A) You can change the time of day of the skits (e.g., evening), the season (e.g., winter), or
the location (e.g., school).
B) Students can give advice to the characters about how they could save energy. For
example, “Instead of using a heater, you could wear a sweater,” or “You shouldn’t turn
on the TV if you don’t really need to watch it.”
C) The audience can rank the characters in order of who wasted the most energy.
D) Students can make their own Role and Personality cards.
E) Students make a list of how they will try to conserve energy in the same situation as the
skits they watched.
144
YOUTH SDG: 8 (Decent Work and Economic CL Technique: Write-Pair-Square
EMPLOYMENT
Growth)
Inspired by: Peachey, N. (2017). Sustainable Development Goal 8: Promote

sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive
employment, and decent work for all. In A. Maley & N. Peachey (Eds.),
Integrating global issues in the creative English language classroom: With
reference to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (pp. 83–90).
British Council.
Background: In many countries, unemployment is a serious problem,

especially for youths. This activity helps students learn from people they know
outside school about employment, unemployment, and finding jobs. Plus, some
students are already adults and, therefore, may have their own experiences with
these matters.
The cooperative learning (CL) technique Write-Pair-Square has many variations.

The Write step promotes the CL principle of Equal Opportunity to Participate
because some students prefer to prepare first before speaking. Also, the writing
can let groupmates see that other group members are ready to take part in the
group activity because they have stopped writing and put down their pen/pencil.
145
Step 1: The class will be interviewing others about finding jobs, working, and being unemployed. Students and their teacher
brainstorm interview questions. The interviews can be done in English or other languages, and the interviews can take place
in-person or electronically. To practice interviewing, the class can interview the teacher or someone else who works at their
school. Here are some possible interview questions:
A) What was your first job? How did you find that job?
B) Were you ever unemployed? What did you do while you were unemployed? Did you eventually find a job? If so, how?
C) Did you ever start your own business? If so, did you do it alone or with other people?
D) What was the best job you have ever had? What made the job good? How did you find that job?
E) What needs to happen to increase youth employment?
F) What advice do you have for young people who will be looking for jobs?
G) What about jobs for senior citizens?
Step 2: Students interview two or three people. Students can do the interviews in pairs or alone. They do not have to ask all the
questions created in Step 1. Also, they can create their own questions, including follow-up questions. After each interview,
students summarize the interviewee’s responses.
Step 3: The class performs Write-Pair-Square. To do this, they form groups of four divided into pairs.
Write – Students have already written up summaries of their interviewees’ responses.
Pair – Students share their summaries with their one partner.
Square – The two pairs combine, and each of the four members tells the other pair about their first partner’s interviews. Each
member tells the others one idea that stands out for them from any of their group members’ interviews.
Step 4: The teacher calls students randomly to share some of the takeaway points from one of their group member’s interviews.
The class discusses how to increase employment and reduce unemployment, especially among youths, and how education can
help.
POSSIBILITIES
A) Human Library is a concept which involves students learning by interviewing people
instead of, or in addition to, reading books or other more traditional ways of information
gathering. The people who students interview are known as Human Books. A ‘Book’
could come to class to prepare students for their interviews.
B) The class could make a list of the pros and the cons of each of the jobs discussed by
the interviewees. Students could also think about what they would need to study and
the necessary skills required for various jobs.
C) In some countries, there is a stereotype that unemployed people do not have jobs
because they are lazy. It might be interesting to discuss this much-debated point.
146
BUSINESSES AND SDG: 9 (Industry, Innovation and CL Technique: Circle of Drawers
THE COMMUNITY
Infrastructure)
Inspired by: Fernando, D. (2020). Oil in Angola: the motivation and the
solution? In L. Ruas (Ed.), Creating global change (pp. 37–41). IATEFL Global
Issues SIG.
David Fernando’s teaching context was in Angola.
Background: Fernando believed that the foreign companies which have

profited from resources in Angola should be doing more to provide for the host
country. The author suggested that these companies pay for teacher training
and improved Wi-Fi to help the education system. This is because many of the
English learners in Angola have—or will one day have—jobs which are
connected to foreign companies.
Businesses (e.g., shops, restaurants, and movie theatres) should be a part of the
community. They hire people from the community, they sell products to the
community, and they use the same public services (e.g., electricity and water).
How can these companies do more for the community, including helping the
community achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? Students will
make a mind map showing how businesses and communities are interconnected.
How do we make this relationship better for everyone?
147
The cooperative learning (CL) technique Circle of Drawers is part of the Circle Family of CL techniques. These techniques
promote the CL principle of Cooperative Skills. For instance, one cooperative skill is turn taking, and turn taking provides all
group members with opportunities to share their ideas, to receive feedback on their ideas, and to experience peer pressure to
contribute to the overall group effort.
Step 1: In groups of four, students draw a rough map of the local area and label the main buildings (e.g., schools, hospitals, and
public transportation). Then, they write the names of some businesses in their local area. They could be big companies or small
ones.
Step 2: Students make this area map into a mind map by thinking about how the businesses affect the community both
positively and negatively. Do they hire people from the community? Do they pollute the environment? Do they support the
community (e.g., hosting special events)? Students draw lines connecting the businesses with parts of the local community,
showing how they interconnect. Students label the businesses with a list of pros and cons in the ways they affect the
community.
Step 3: Students take turns to add to the mind map about how businesses can support their host communities. For example,
supermarkets could donate unsold food to a food bank, hair salons could offer haircuts to homeless people, and movie theaters
could have free screenings of educational movies for children.
Step 4: Students can write letters with their suggestions of how the companies can contribute to the community, and students
and teachers can send them to those companies.
POSSIBILITIES
A) Small businesses need more support from the community than big companies. What
local businesses have you been to in your area? Which ones have you not been to? In
your class, discuss whether your family uses local shops, and why or why not.
B) What businesses that do not now exist would benefit your community? Why do you think
they would be beneficial?
C) If you could make electricity, public transportation, or internet free for your community,
which of those three would you choose and why?
148
FOOD MEETS SDG: 9 (Industry, Innovation, and CL Technique: Write-Pair-Switch
TECHNOLOGY
Infrastructure)
Inspired by: Zinsouvi, D. C. (2020). Vegetarianism: The Debate. In L. Ruas

Global Issues SIG.
Desiree Christel Zinsouvi’s teaching context was in Benin.
Background: The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) might sometimes

seem to be pushing in opposite directions. On one hand, the goals about
development seem to push for more food, homes, schools, hospitals, and
technology (e.g., wireless networks and mobile phones). On the other hand, the
goals about sustainability envision us using fewer resources. How can we do
both at the same time? Part of the answer lies in innovation. We need to
produce enough for everyone’s needs without using up and ruining the planet’s
resources. Will people accept innovation? This activity looks at innovation
regarding food.
Write-Pair-Switch is part of the Circle Family of cooperative learning (CL)

techniques. It was invented by a teacher who had learned about
Write-Pair-Square. In the ‘Square’ version of the activity two pairs form a
foursome, and in the ‘Switch’ version two pairs switch partners mid-activity with
another pair and continue the activity.
149
The creation of Write-Pair-Switch is a great example of how teachers and their students can modify CL techniques or even
invent completely new ones—bearing in mind CL principles.
Step 1: The class discusses how people can alter the food they regularly eat. The teacher shares their experience, and the
experiences of their family or friends. People’s taste buds can change. For example, some people used to enjoy food with a lot
of salt, but then they learned that salt can be unhealthy. As a result, they changed their eating habits, and now some foods
seem too salty to them. Also, in many countries, fast food restaurants (e.g., McDonald’s or Taco Bell) are common, and eating
meat two or three times a day is also common. However, 100 years ago, fast food restaurants were unheard of, and some
people rarely ate meat. Indeed, today, some people rarely or never eat meat, for various reasons.
Step 2: The class talks about alternatives to meat from animals who were raised and killed for meat. These meat alternatives
were developed for many reasons. Two key reasons are that this conventional meat is inefficient because many kilograms of
plant food must be fed to animals to produce just one kilogram of meat. Also, meat production is an important cause of pollution
and the greenhouse gasses that produce climate change. This is where food innovation can be important. Three sources of food
innovation are using technology to replace traditional meat:
(a) We can use plants to make food that looks, tastes, smells, and feels like meat.
(b) We can use fungi, such as mushrooms, to make meat-like products.
(c) We can use cells from animals (e.g., chickens and cows) and reuse the same cells to grow new cells into meat.
Step 3: Students form groups of four divided into pairs. They do Write-Pair-Switch. Each student talks to family members,
especially older ones if possible, to learn about changes over time in what their family eats. Also, what about small children? Do
they change their diets as they age? Each group member writes about changes in their own and their family’s diets.
Step 4: Students make a pair and tell their partner about what they wrote. Then, they ask each other questions. Next, within the
foursome, students switch partners and talk to their new partner about diet changes they could make and what diet changes
their partner might make. Finally, in the foursome, they discuss whether they would eat meat made from combining technology
with plants, fungi, or animal cells.
POSSIBILITIES
A) The class could do a taste test for several alternatives to meat and rank them for
tastiness.
B) Students research restaurants which serve meat alternatives. What kinds of dishes do
they have, what are the ingredients, and how much do they cost?
C) Students create a marketing campaign to get people to try meat alternatives. This could
be in the form of a poster, a slogan, or a video.
150
AGEISM SDG: 10 (Reduced Inequalities) CL Technique: Skits
Inspired by: Duarte, H. (2020). Teacher, are you old? Ageism in ELT. In L. Ruas
(Ed.), Creating global change (pp. 83–86). IATEFL Global Issues SIG.
Heloisa Duarte’s teaching context was in Brazil.
Background: The world’s population is aging. Already, there are more people
aged 65 and over than there are people under 5 years of age. By 2050, it is
estimated there will be more people aged 65 and over than between 15–24
years of age. Is this aging good or bad? What do we need to do to prepare for a
world with more senior citizens? Will an aging population make it easier or more
difficult to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?
Older people, also known as seniors, have knowledge, experiences, and power to
offer the rest of society. However, seniors sometimes face discrimination.
Discrimination against older people is known as ageism. Ageism can take the form
of physical and verbal abuse. Seniors may also face difficulty finding jobs, as well
as receiving decent wages for those jobs, and may get very low or no pension
benefits. Sometimes, older people feel as though they have been forgotten about
by society.
151
In the activity described here, students work in groups to learn about the lives of seniors and people’s attitudes toward seniors.
Then, students prepare and perform skits to share what they learned and their hopes for the future roles of seniors in society.
Skits provide students with opportunities to experience the cooperative learning (CL) principle of Positive Interdependence in
which the entire group ‘sinks or swims together’ because everyone needs to help each other to make the skit a success.
Step 1: The class has a discussion about the fact that, overall, the world’s population is aging, although the situation differs from
country to country. One definition of senior citizens is people aged 65 and older. Do class members know any seniors? How do
seniors differ from other adults? Someday, the members of the class will be seniors; are they looking forward to that?
Step 2: Students form groups of about four. Individually or in pairs, they interview seniors. They also interview people their own
age to learn about various attitudes toward older people. Students take care to write down or audio record the exact words that
their interviewees use. If the interviews were not done in the language of the classroom, they are translated into that language—
if possible.
Step 3: Students share their interviews with groupmates. The groups then use what they learned plus their own views to make
a skit about the life of seniors in society. The class decides how many minutes each skit should be. The skits can show seniors’
positive or negative experiences—or both. Using the exact words of the interviewees makes the skit more realistic, even though
they may be translated words.
Step 4: Groups rehearse their skits to improve and check if the skits fit the time limit set by the class. Music, dance, costumes,
can be added to make the skits more enjoyable. All group members need a speaking part in their skit.
Step 5: Instead of groups presenting their skits one at a time to the entire class, each group presents to one other group. After
each presentation, the other group shares how the skit made them feel about aging. These group-to-group presentations can be
repeated with other groups.
Step 6: The class has a discussion about what they as individuals—and as a class—can do to make life better for seniors now
and in the future.
POSSIBILITIES
A) Before Step 1, students should write a list of positives and negatives about aging. After
Step 6 they should revisit the list and write a new one based on what they have learned
through the activity.
B) Students research the retirement age in different countries. Why do you think the
retirement age is different in different countries? What does the retirement age mean to
you?
C) What kind of jobs do you see seniors doing in your daily life? How about on TV or in
movies?
152
EDUCATION FOR SDG: 10 (Reduced Inequalities) CL Technique: Cooperative Debate
THE HEARING Inspired by: Mafelanjala, D. (2020). Challenges faced by students with hearing
IMPAIRED
impairment in Mozambique. In L. Ruas (Ed.), Creating change: Global issues in
ELT in Africa (pp. 52–58). IATEFL Global Issues SIG.
Derreck Mafelanjala’s teaching context was in Mozambique.
Background: In Mozambique, there are about 300,000 deaf people, but only
three schools for deaf people. Many hearing-impaired students must go to
regular schools and might struggle to keep up. How can we help hearing-
impaired students to have a better education? If we want to achieve the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we must think about the needs of
other people. It can be hard to imagine the challenges that people face because
we do not share the same experiences as them, but in order to achieve SDG 10
(Reduced Inequalities), we have to be able to empathize. Hearing impairment is
a huge problem: over 5% of the world’s population need treatment for their
hearing loss.
Cooperative Debate is a cooperative learning (CL) technique that helps students

consider a problem from more than one perspective. This technique gives
students experience with the CL principle of Cooperative Skills, in particular, the
cooperative skill of disagreeing politely.
153
Step 1: In groups of four, students discuss how their lives would be different if they were hearing impaired. What challenges
would they face in their school life and other areas of life? The class thinks of ways to help hearing-impaired students in
schools. Here are some example solutions from Mafelanjala’s chapter:
(a) Sign language interpreters are present in lessons.

(b) Teachers learn sign language.
(c) Peers are trained to help hearing-impaired students.
(d) Teachers write out what they will talk about in each lesson.
(e) Hearing-impaired students take extra lessons to support their learning.
Step 2: From their groups of four, students divide into two pairs. Each pair chooses one of the solutions. The pairs think of
points to support their solution and divide these points between them. Students think about practical issues (e.g., how much
time, effort, money would be required) as well as how effective the solution would be in helping hearing-impaired students.
Step 3: Each person has two minutes—the class can adjust the time if they wish. When one pair is presenting, the other pair
should take notes.
Step 4: After all of the group members have given their points, the students have two minutes to talk to their partner and think of
how to disagree with the other pair’s solution. Then, they disagree politely with points raised by the other pair in Step 3.
Step 5: Next, students switch the solution they are supporting. Again, they have two minutes to think about points to support the
solution. Then, Steps 3 and 4 are repeated, but this time both pairs will be supporting the solution they were opposed to the first
time.
Step 6: Students are no longer part of a pair; they are on their own. They need to formulate their own solution for supporting
hearing-impaired students. It could be one of the two solutions discussed during the debate, or it could be a different solution or
a combination of solutions. Then, they try to politely convince their groupmates to agree with them, although perhaps they will
be convinced by their groupmates, or the entire group may develop a completely different solution.
POSSIBILITIES
A) After Step 4, both pairs can look for new pairs who support a different solution and have
another cooperative debate.
B) If money was not a factor, which solution do students think would be best for hearing-
impaired students?
C) One of the major problems for hearing-impaired students is that they are bullied. Why do
you think they are bullied, and how can we prevent this from happening?
D) Students can research some sign language and demonstrate it to their classmates.
Their classmates can try to guess what the signs means.
154
THE LUCK OF THE SDG: 10 (Reduce Inequality) CL Technique: Think Aloud Squares
DRAW Inspired by: Maley, A. (2017). Sustainable Development Goal 10: Reduce
inequality within and among countries. In A. Maley & N. Peachey (Eds.),
British Council.
Background: Over centuries, progress has been made on the Sustainable

Development Goals (SDGs), such as reducing poverty and hunger, and more
people having access to education, clean water, and sanitation. Nonetheless,
great inequalities continue to exist. SDG 10 calls for action to reduce these
inequalities.
In this activity, students read and reflect on a poem about inequalities that exist
between two people. Students think aloud as they consider each of the four-line
stanzas of the poem. The cooperative learning (CL) technique Think Aloud
Squares activates the CL principle Maximum Peer Interactions. The peer
interactions are maximized because students are not sharing superficial
information with each other, such as what page an activity is on. They are sharing
their thoughts and feelings with each other. Such sharing is where the magic of CL
occurs.
155
Step 1: The class discusses inequalities that exist in the world. These inequalities include the amount of access people have to
food, clean water, sanitation, medical care, education, good housing, good jobs, physical safety, clean environments, long life
expectancy, and justice. Together, the class reads the poem The Luck of the Draw by Alan Maley. In the poem, a wealthy man
tells a poor man not to complain about the large inequalities that exist between the two men. Square brackets have been added
to define terms used in the poem. The purpose of the class reading is to help students understand the poem, not to discuss the
poem, as the poem will later be discussed in groups.
The Luck of the Draw

[something caused by no one; something that should be accepted]
It’s the luck of the draw,

just the luck of the draw –
it’s nothing to blame yourself for –
It’s the luck of the draw [no one is to blame for inequality].
So if I’ve got pots of money

and you are dirt poor [very poor],
don’t blame me, dear boy.
It’s just the luck of the draw.
And if I live to 100

and you die at 34,
there’s nothing to be done.
So, if you get less and less,

and I get more and more,
that’s the way things are, old chap.
It’s the luck of the draw.
And if you work 15 hours a day

and I can sleep for 24 [hours],
don’t let it worry you.
And if you eat corn soup [very inexpensive food with few ingredients]
while I eat caviar [a very expensive food consisting of fish eggs],
why should I care?
156
And if I live in a mansion,

and you sleep on the floor,
I know it’s not fair
but it’s just the luck of the draw.
And if you end up in prison,

while I manipulate the law [my wealth enables me to receive special treatment from police and courts],
why moan [complain] about it, my friend?
And if you don’t like it, if it sticks in your craw [makes you angry],
my advice to you, old chap,
is simply to ignore it,
and move on [think about other things],
don’t feel sore. After all, it’s the luck of the draw.
Just the luck of the draw.
Step 2: Students form groups of four divided into two groups of two. In each pair, students discuss the poem one stanza at a
time. They take turns to be the Thinker and Coach for each stanza. Thinkers voice out what is happening in their minds as they
read the stanza, and Coaches provide encouragement and feedback, and record one or two points that the Thinker has
mentioned.
Step 3: The pairs in each foursome combine and take turns to share thoughts with the other pair.
Step 4: The foursome discusses the questions listed below. Students can add, subtract, or modify questions. Each group
member has a turn to go first to answer a question.
A) What inequalities do you notice in your own life?
B) Is anything being done by others to address these inequalities? Are you doing anything to address the inequalities?
C) In human history, have any equalities been reduced or erased?
D) Are some inequalities impossible to erase? For example, if someone is born blind, and science cannot yet solve this
problem, can this inequality be erased?
POSSIBILITIES
A) Students could write a poem about the inequalities they have noticed in their own life,
within their country, or in the wider world.
B) Students choose one type of inequality they have noticed (e.g., inequalities based on
race, gender, or class) and compare the situation in their country to that of other
countries.
C) In groups, students try to make a musical version of the poem The Luck of the Draw with
singing, instruments, and even acting.
157
COMMUNITY SDG: 11 (Sustainable Cities and CL Technique: Group Projects
PROJECTS
Communities)
Inspired by: Kane, P. (2020). Terrorism and Mali. In L. Ruas (Ed.), Creating
global change (pp. 16–22). IATEFL Global Issues SIG.
Patrice Kane’s teaching context was in Mali.
Background: When dealing with big problems, such as the Sustainable

Development Goals (SDGs), it can be difficult for students to believe that they
can do anything. How can they change the world from their classroom? There
are at least two responses to this concern. The first response is that every little
bit helps. As Helen Keller, the famous 20th century change leader, said, “I am
only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something;
and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I
can do.” The second response comes from the climate change leader Greta
Thunberg. While only a secondary school student, she led a student movement
for changing humans’ relationship with the planet. Greta has not been the only
young leader.
158
A frequent student complaint about doing group projects, and other cooperative learning (CL) activities, is that some group
members do not do their fair share of the work. In other words, these reluctant group members do not seem to experience the
CL principle of Individual Accountability (i.e., everyone does their fair share). Fortunately, CL has some solutions for dealing with
this issue. These ideas are not guaranteed to work, but they may be worth a try.
Step 1: Students look at four photos which show problems in the local area. These photos could show environmental damage
(e.g., litter, polluted rivers, unsorted garbage), societal problems (e.g., bullying, poor diet, homelessness), or a combination of
the two.
Step 2: In pairs, students discuss the problems and decide which one they think is the most important to solve and why.
Step 3: Students make groups of four based on which problem they think is the most important to solve. Their foursome will do
a project on that problem.
Step 4: Each member has a role. If there are more than four members in a group, two people can be given one role, or
additional roles can be used.
A) Facilitator – They run the discussion and encourage everyone to speak. If there are disagreements, the Facilitator seeks
solutions that everyone can agree to.
B) Research Head – They are responsible for coordinating the gathering of the data. This could be done via internet
research, doing interviews, or consulting with other groups in the role of Friendly Spy.
C) Designer – They decide on the visual aids that will be used in the presentation. This could be photographs, a poster, or a
video.
D) Language Captain – They check that the language used in the presentation and on the visual aids is clear and easy to
understand.
Step 5: Students think of how they will help the situation in their chosen picture. They make sentences using ‘can’ to express
the actions they will take to achieve their goal. For example, if the group’s chosen problem is littering, they might say, “We can
pick up litter when we see it,” or “We can make signs telling people to take their trash home.” Then, they make a deadline for
when they should take that action by.
Step 6: Each group makes a presentation explaining their problem and proposing solutions. Each member of the group speaks
in the presentation. It could be done within the space of one class, or over several classes depending on the size of the projects.
159
POSSIBILITIES
A) Students could make reports to the class at regular intervals about the actions they have
taken since delivering their presentations. These could include reporting changes in their
own behavior, if they have influenced the behavior of others, or if they have noticed any
differences as a result of their actions.
B) Other roles for the project could include Checker (i.e., checking that everyone
understands), Questioner (i.e., asking groupmates about the decisions they have made),
Roster Manager (i.e., checking that everyone is on schedule), or Director (i.e., planning
the presentation and leading the rehearsals).
C) Students can rank the solutions from easiest to hardest, and in order of how effective
they think they will be.
160
FACT CHECKING SDG: 12 (Responsible Consumption CL Technique: Group Investigation
VEGANISM
and Production)
Inspired by: Zinsouvi, D. C. (2020). Vegetarianism: The debate. In L. Ruas

Global Issues SIG.
Desire Christel Zinsouvi’s teaching context was in Benin.
Background: When students in Benin did research for a debate in favor of or

against vegan diets, they made some surprising discoveries. In this activity,
students will gain information as to whether their beliefs about veganism are
correct or incorrect and will try to make some discoveries of their own. Some
researchers believe that moving away from animal-based foods can help with
the achievement of many Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including
SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), SDG 13 (Climate
Action), and SDGs 14 and 15 (Life Below Water) and (Life on Land).
161
In Benin, veganism is very rare because it is thought to be unhealthy. Rather than having students argue for or against being
vegan or at least eating fewer foods from animals, students should consider what they believe about veganism, and then do
research on whether these beliefs are backed up by facts. Group Investigation is a cooperative learning (CL) technique which
can be used to tackle big issues to which there are different proposed solutions. Group Investigation can bring to life the
sayings, ‘Many hands make light work’ and ‘There is strength in numbers.’ In other words, we can accomplish tasks more easily
when more people participate.
Step 1: The class brainstorms a list of some things they believe about veganism. These points may be positive towards
veganism, such as believing a plant-based diet (i.e., a diet based mostly or completely on beans, grains, nuts, tubers, seeds,
fruits, and vegetables) helps fight climate change, or they may be negative, such as believing that we need meat to develop
muscles.
Step 2: The students make groups of four and each group chooses one of the beliefs to investigate. After some general
research on the topic as a group, each member of the group looks at one part of the topic to research individually. So, if the
topic is about whether a vegan diet can develop muscles, individual members may explore non-meat sources of protein, the
sports-based performance of vegan athletes, the nutritional value of vegan meals, or to compare the nutritional value of beef
and vegan burgers.
Step 3: The group members share their findings with each other and consider how to connect the information they have
gathered into a single group presentation. They also think about any further information they need to gather.
Step 4: Students rehearse their presentations. Presentations should be visually interesting and include interactive elements
which encourage audience participation.
Step 5: Students present their findings. After the presentations, the class reviews the main points from each presentation and
works to make one, class-sized presentation on the topic of the advantages and disadvantages of veganism. This presentation
will compare preconceptions regarding veganism with the discoveries that the students have made. The groups must try to find
a connection between their topic and another group’s topic so that they can transition smoothly. The class could make their
presentation in the form of a video, a presentation in a school-wide morning assembly, or to use the knowledge they had gained
to design social media posts and informative posters.
By linking these separate research projects into broader topics, students can learn the importance of expanding cooperation
beyond a small group into a larger pool of collective knowledge. This wider vantage of Positive Interdependence is the CL
principle of Cooperation as a Value.
162
POSSIBILITIES
A) Students plan a vegan diet for one week. They must use a variety of meals for
breakfast, lunch, and dinner over the one-week period. It must be a healthy and well-
balanced diet. Students discuss this with any people who they live with, such as family
members and housemates.
B) The students look at some of the discoveries that Zinsouvi’s students made. Which ones
do they find surprising? They can research the ones they find interesting.
● Agriculture generates more profit and feeds more people.
● People are still meat eaters because it is difficult to change eating habits.
● There are some religious impediments to veganism.
C) These are some other discoveries Zinsouvi’s students made. Are these also true in your
country?
● It is very easy for Beninese to become vegan or vegetarian.
● The difference between vegans and vegetarians is that vegetarians may eat eggs
and dairy.
● More than half of the everyday dishes in the student’s diets were already vegan.
● Colonization changed eating habits in Benin to a meat-eating diet because of the
economic benefit for large food companies.
163
PLASTIC, PLASTIC SDG: 12 (Responsible Consumption CL Technique: Forward Snowball
EVERYWHERE
and Production)
Inspired by: Zabor-Zakowska, S. (2020). ‘I’ve got an eco idea’ - working with
children creatively on environmental issues. In L. Ruas (Ed.), Creating global
change (pp. 137–142). IATEFL Global Issues SIG.
Sylwia Zabor-Zakowska’s teaching context was in Poland.
Background: Plastic is so much a part of modern life that we do not stop to

consider whether we need it or not. Plus, many people may not be aware that
plastic comes from petroleum, which is a fossil fuel. Thus, plastic also relates to
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13, Climate Action. Children should be
aware of just how much plastic we use on a daily basis, and that using plastic is
harmful to the Earth. Then, students can decide for themselves whether we
need to use as much plastic and, if not, how to reduce our use of it.
Nowadays most people know that it is important to recycle plastic bottles, and that
we should bring our own bags and bottles when shopping and eating rather than
using plastic ones. But what else should we be doing to reduce our use of
plastics? One of the problems with plastic is that so much of it surrounds us that
we do not even notice it anymore. This activity uses the cooperative learning (CL)
technique Forward Snowball to get students to make a list of how much plastic is
in their daily lives, then consider ways to reduce that list.
164
Forward Snowball uses the CL principle Group Autonomy because students see how many ideas they can generate working
together with their peers. This is why when doing Forward Snowball and other CL techniques, we have to be careful that tasks
are not too difficult. Otherwise, students will lose confidence in the benefits of peer power.
Step 1: Students think of plastic items they use every day. They can think about their daily routine and what items they use that
are made of plastic. Their plastic use could be connected to eating and drinking, washing, school items, or entertainment.
Students have two minutes to work alone to write a list. They count the number of items on their list and write it at the top of the
page.
Step 2: Students make a pair with another person and explain each item on their list within three minutes. Then, they combine
their lists. When sharing their lists, if they can think of any other items, they can add them to their joint list. They count the
number of items on their new, combined list and write it next to the first number.
Step 3: The pair joins another pair, and both pairs share their joint lists. Again, they combine their lists and add any new items
they can think of in four minutes. They count the number of items on their new list and write it next to the first and second
numbers.
Step 4: Each group reports how many items they have and calls out the plastic items on their group list. The whole class makes
a list together by combining all the lists and writing them on the board at the front of the class. The class counts the total number
of items on the class list and writes a total class number.
Step 5: The students think of ways to substitute the plastic items on the list for ones made from renewable materials. If they can
think of a substitute item, they can erase it from the class list. For example, if one of the items is a plastic ruler, a student could
say “Instead of plastic rulers, we could use wooden rulers.” Then, this student can delete the item from the list on the board. The
aim is to erase as many items from the class list as possible.
POSSIBILITIES
A) To reduce the number of items, the list could be limited to a location. For example, it
could be about plastic items in the kitchen, the bathroom, or in the classroom.
B) In Step 5, instead of doing the activity as a class it could be done as another Forward
Snowball activity, starting from one person, to a pair, to a foursome.
C) Some items might seem difficult or impossible to erase from the list (e.g., reusable
drinking bottles). At the end of the lesson you can discuss whether these items have to
be plastic, and if they do, how we can use them less, or use them more carefully.
D) The class can learn about substitutes for plastic, such as plastic wrap made from algae.
165
WATER WASTE SDG: 12 (Responsible Consumption CL Technique: 7S

and Production)
Inspired by: Too, W. K. (2017). Sustainable Development Goal 6: Ensure

availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. In A.
Maley & N. Peachey (Eds.), Integrating global issues in the creative English
language classroom: With reference to the United Nations Sustainable
Development Goals (pp. 65–74). British Council.
Background: Water conservation is an important part of protecting the planet

because water, especially drinkable water, is a finite resource. We need to think
about how we can use water efficiently at home to ensure that it is a sustainable
resource.
7S is a cooperative learning (CL) technique that works well with discussions about
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12, because taking a sip of water reminds
us of just how precious a resource water is. This reminder is made even more
effective when we consider how much water we inadvertently waste every day.
Using real data can help students think of ways they can reduce their water waste
at home or at school.
166
7S provides a way to use the CL principle of Heterogeneous Grouping because students have to be ready to talk with anyone in
the class; they cannot choose who they will talk with, as whoever is nearest to them when they hear ‘Stop’ becomes their
partner, if only for a short time.
Step 1: The class brainstorms ways in which water is used in their homes. Which areas of the house have water sources? What
are those water sources used for? Someone writes all the ways we use water at home on the board.
Step 2: In groups of four, students choose one of the ways we use water. They make some interview questions about how
water is used for that activity. For example, if their activity is showering, they could make questions such as:
A) How often do you take a shower?

B) How long do you usually take a shower?
C) Do you ever stop the water while you are taking a shower?
D) Do you brush your teeth in the shower?
Step 3: Students follow the 7Ss.

Stand – Everyone stands up.
Slide – Students push their chair under their desk.
Stretch – Everyone stretches.
Sip – Everyone takes a sip of water.
Stir – Students move around the classroom.
Stop – When the teacher or someone else says “Stop,” everyone stops stirring, and forms a pair with whoever is nearest and
was not in their group of four.
Speak – The pairs interview each other using the questions they made related to their group’s water saving topic. They make a
note of who they interviewed and what their answers were.
Step 4: Step 3 is repeated several times so students can have Maximum Peer Interactions.
Step 5: Students return to their group and combine their data. If someone is interviewed by more than one group member, their
answers should only be used once. Then, they present the data to the class. For example:
A) 75% of people interviewed take a shower every day.

B) The average shower time is 10 minutes.
C) 60% of people interviewed never stop the water when they are taking a shower.
D) 10% of people interviewed brush their teeth in the shower.
Step 6: Using the data, students think about how they could save more water at home.
167
POSSIBILITIES
A) If an interview finishes quickly, a good sponge activity would be to ask the interviewee
how they could use less water in the activity being discussed.
B) The groups could present their data and ideas for how to save water as a poster in the
CL technique Gallery Tour.
C) Students should be made aware that although it is important to save water, hydration
(i.e., drinking enough water) and cleanliness are two things that we should not be
reducing. Students should remember that the Sip part of 7S is extremely important
because drinking water keeps us hydrated and healthy.
D) The class can talk about what people do who are without running water.
168
CLIMATE SDG: 13 (Climate Action) CL Technique: SUMMER
CHANGE IN Inspired by: Tchada, D. (2020). Empowering English clubs on climate change.
BENIN
In L. Ruas (Ed.), Creating change: Global issues in ELT in Africa (pp. 39–42).
Dorothée Tchada’s teaching context was in Benin.
Background: The Winners’ English Club in Atlantique wrote a speech about

climate change and how it affects life in Atlantique, Benin. In this activity, using
the SUMMER technique, students will read the speech, section by section, to
check their understanding of it and compare the situation in Benin to that of their
home country. It can be surprising to discover how different our situation is from
the situation of people in other countries, and it can also be surprising to
discover similarities in our situations. Understanding others can increase our
dedication to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on an
international scale.
The cooperative learning (CL) technique SUMMER helps students to understand

reading passages by breaking them down into smaller sections, finding main
ideas, and analyzing them in cooperation with their groupmates.
169
SUMMER promotes the CL principle Maximum Peer Interactions because students need to do higher order, complex thinking
together when they identify main ideas and elaborate on those main ideas. The following speech by The Winners’ English Club
could be separated into sections by number or by paragraph depending on the level of the students.
(1) Good morning, everybody! My name’s Féridia Akindélé. It is an honor to be here today and to talk about a threatening
issue that poses a grave and growing danger to the people around the world. That problem is climate change.
(2) Without looking up the phrase in an encyclopedia, in basic terms, climate change is a change in the world’s climate. In
other words, climate change occurs when changes in Earth’s climate system result in new weather patterns that remain
in place for an extended period of time.
(3) In Benin, as well as in many other parts of the world, climate change can be noticed through weather events—rainy and
dry seasons, among other things. What generally happens is that sometimes rainy seasons are longer or shorter than dry
seasons or vice versa.
(4) These weather changes can result in drought, flood, and higher than average temperatures. The changes can worsen
hunger, and make people leave their homes in search of food. Also, climate change, more often than not, comes along
with diseases such as malaria, cholera, etc.
(5) And at this point, only awareness campaigns, with students invested in the sensitization, could bear fruit and help
alleviate [reduce] a lot of suffering. And doing things such as avoiding deforestation and promoting the use of green
energy could be helpful.
Students can go through the speech in pairs or groups of three using SUMMER.
Set the Mood – Students can review the steps of SUMMER and discuss what they know about climate change.
Understand by Reading Silently – Students both read the same section and ask each other or the teacher about any words they
don’t understand.
Mention the Main Ideas – One student summarizes the main points of the section without looking at the passage.
Monitor the Summary – Their partner looks at the speech and checks if the summarizing student ideas is missing any points or
has made any mistakes.
Elaborate – The pair tries to add their own examples, information, and ideas to the section. It is okay for students to question or
disagree with what is in the section.
Review – When the pair have finished the whole speech, they review the main ideas of the speech.
The S (i.e., Set the mood) and R (i.e., Review) are only done once, but the other letters are done for each section. SUMMER is
especially useful for texts like this because there are many ways in which students can elaborate. For example, in section (1)
the students could talk about why they think climate change is dangerous and in section (2) they could think of new weather
patterns they’ve seen. The cooperative learning (CL) principle of Heterogeneous Grouping can be used so lower-proficiency
students be helped by higher-proficiency students because without support, long, difficult texts can be intimidating for some
students. By explaining to peers, higher-proficiency students can strengthen their language and content knowledge.
170
POSSIBILITIES
A) A word or part of a sentence from each section is deleted and students guess what is
missing then share their ideas with the class. For example, in section (4), ‘These
weather changes can result in _____,’ or in section (5), ‘And doing things such as _____
and _____ could be helpful.’
B) Pairs of students choose one section and draw a diagram which explains the contents.
They can present their diagrams to other groups.
C) Compare the effects of climate change you have seen in your country. Are they the
same as the issues described in the speech above? Are they different? If so, how?
171
PEER PRACTICE SDG: 13 (Climate Action) CL Technique: Circle of Writers
Inspired by: Suwaed, H. (2020). Integrating environmental issues in the

English writing classroom. In L. Ruas (Ed.), Creating global change (pp. 42–45).
Hameda Suwaed’s teaching context was in Libya.
Background: Writing about climate change involves a lot of new vocabulary

and requires learners to explain complicated processes. Pair work can give
support to students who have to use new vocabulary, and through peer
feedback, they can continue to improve their writing so that it can be clearer and
easier to understand.
Getting support from your peers is key to cooperative learning (CL). The CL
principle of Group Autonomy is the idea that learners can learn from and with their
group. This is especially important for writing because teachers are not able to
give feedback to all their students quickly. Students should feel that getting
information and advice from other students can be as valuable as getting it from
their teacher.
172
Step 1: Students brainstorm some of the causes of climate change. Here are some examples: fossil fuel, deforestation,
manufacturing, transportation, producing food, and waste.
Step 2: Students choose one cause they are interested in and make a pair with another student who chose the same climate
change issue.
Step 3: The pairs brainstorm a list of words they think they will need. They write down the word in their first language, then look
up the words in English and write them on a shared piece of paper. At any point in the activity, if they realize they need a new
word, they should write it on the paper.
Step 4: Together students sketch out a rough explanation of how their topic causes climate change. They can then make notes
on the shared piece of paper, or just talk about their ideas. They can do some research at this stage if they need more
information.
Step 5: Students write a paragraph individually explaining how their topic causes climate change.
Step 6: Students switch their paper with their partner. Both read their partner’s paragraph and try to understand it. They should
say something nice about their partner’s paragraph, and can also ask questions or offer advice.
Step 7: Students revise their paragraph based on the suggestions from their partner. Then, they join with another pair and
exchange paragraphs with them, also giving them the dictionary sheet they made when writing their paragraph. The new pairs
read their partner’s paragraph, say something nice about the paragraph, and can also ask questions or offer advice.
Step 8: Students revise their paragraph based on the suggestions from their new partner.
POSSIBILITIES
A) The most important thing is for the reader to understand the text. In Step 7, if the new
partner doesn’t understand the paragraph, the original pair can explain it together.
B) Students can look for specific clarity and language problems when reading the
paragraph. For example, if the teacher has noticed that many students forget to write
periods at the end of sentences, they can direct the students to look for that error.
C) Once they have created the paragraph, they can form groups of four with other pairs
who have the same climate cause and think of climate actions they can use to tackle the
problems.
D) Visuals, such as drawings and photos from the internet, can accompany the paragraphs.
173
THE INCREDIBLE SDG: 14 (Life Below Water) CL Technique: Circle of Writers - All at
JOURNEY
Once
Inspired by: Hadfield, J., & Hadfield, C. (2017). Sustainable Development Goal
14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for
sustainable development. In A. Maley & N. Peachey (Eds.), Integrating global
issues in the creative English language classroom: With reference to the United
Nations Sustainable Development Goals (pp. 137–144). British Council.
Background: Some activities get the students to create narratives from the
perspective of animals and objects. This helps the students to imagine and
experience environmental issues. Indeed, stories have a special power to
connect to our minds. Some research suggests that a story about one person or
one nonhuman animal has more power than statistics about 1000s of
individuals in the same situation. This is an important fact to remember when
promoting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The students will create the story of a salmon who travels from the ocean, to the
coast, and then to a river to lay or fertilize eggs. Along the way, the students will
imagine the many challenges the salmon will face that were caused by pollution.
The activity uses the cooperative learning (CL) technique Circle of Writers, so that
each member is contributing one part of the story.
174
All the students need to write to make the story complete; so, the CL principle of Individual Accountability is important. However,
each student will be receiving support from other students doing the same part of the story as them, in accordance with the CL
principle of Positive Interdependence.
Step 1: The teacher tells the class that when salmon give birth, they travel all the way from the sea where they live, back to the
river where they were born. They can travel thousands of miles, so even if they live in the sea around Japan, they might travel
all the way home to America.
Step 2: The students are going to write a story about the journey of one salmon and give that salmon a name, such as Sammi.
The story tells Sammi’s journey from her home back to where she was born. Each group brainstorms some information about
their fish such as its name, current home, and birthplace.
Step 3: In groups of three, students choose whether they want to write about the ocean, the coast, or the river.
Step 4: The students from different groups who are doing the part of the story about the ocean make groups of three, as do the
students who will do the coast part of the story, and the river part of the story. As a group, they brainstorm the kind of challenges
that the salmon might face in their type of water.
Step 5: Each student writes about a challenge their fish faces in their type of water and how they overcome that challenge.
Step 6: The students go back to their original groups and put their story together.
Step 7: The groups pair up with other groups and share the story of their salmon’s journey.
POSSIBILITIES
A) Students draw the fish and label the drawing with extra information such as its
personality and its special skill. This will help students to imagine their fish more clearly
and make it easier to write from the salmon’s perspective.
B) In Step 4, the teacher can provide pictures—or students can find them—showing the
environmental damage that can happen in water. For example, the teacher could show
pictures of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the pollution in rivers, or busy beaches.
C) Students can create a picture book to show to their classmates when telling their story.
D) There are many other migratory animals, such as birds. Students can also tell their
stories.
175
THE SHAPE OF SDG: 14 (Life Below Water) CL Technique: Group Investigation
POETRY Inspired by: Hadfield, & J., Hadfield, C. (2017). Sustainable Development Goal
14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for
sustainable development. In A. Maley & N. Peachey (Eds.), Integrating global
issues in the creative English language classroom: With reference to the United
Nations Sustainable Development Goals (pp. 137–144). British Council.
Background: We have so many ways to communicate ideas. Prose writing is

probably the most common, and new technology has brought us so many more
great ways to communicate. Another communication tool, like prose, goes back
thousands of years: poetry. Fortunately, we can enjoy many different forms of
poetry, some of which are simple: shape poems and acrostic poems. We need
all different forms of communication to involve people in promoting the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Some cooperative learning (CL) techniques, such as Everyone Can Explain, can
take just a few minutes of class time. Other CL techniques take more time and can
involve more complicated interactions among students. Group Investigation is one
such technique. The CL principle of Positive Interdependence can be especially
useful here. When students feel a sense of common identity with their
groupmates, they are more likely to cooperate enthusiastically. Common identities
can be built via group names, logos, mottos, songs, poems, or handshakes.
176
Step 1: The class uses a variation of the cooperative learning (CL) technique Group Investigation. The class becomes a group
of groups investigating different marine animals. Each group selects a different marine animal, such as sharks, as their topic.
Step 2: Each group member works alone to research a subtopic of their group’s topic, such as hammerhead sharks, shark
reproduction, or how sharks maintain marine ecosystems. The group sets a date on which all members will share what they
learned with their groupmates. Of course, groups can share with each other before that date. For example, members can share
sources with each other, and while investigating their individual subtopic, students might find information on a groupmate’s
subtopic. Also, students having trouble finding information can seek help from groupmates and, if the groupmates are unable to
help, the teacher can help them.
Step 3: Students report to their group about what they learned on their subtopic. Each group selects what they believe is
especially important information to share with classmates and others from the perspective of the SDGs. For example, if the
group investigates octopuses, they might like to share unique characteristics of their animal, the impact of humans on
octopuses, and what can be done to protect their animal as part of safeguarding Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 (Life
Below Water).
Step 4: The teacher introduces shape poems and acrostic poems. The words in shape poems, also known as concrete poems,
take the shape of the topic of the poem. For instance, in a shape poem about an octopus, the words are written in a form similar
to the shape of an octopus. Or, the writers can start with a drawing of an octopus, and put their words inside that drawing.
In acrostic poems, writers write the letters of the word or words of their topic vertically. Then, they write word(s) horizontally, but
they must begin with the letters of the vertically arranged word(s). The words in shape and acrostic poems usually do not rhyme.
Here is an acrostic based on the word ‘happy’ in which the words tell about what makes the writers happy.
Helping others
Asking questions
Pineapples
Popcorn
Yellow
Step 5: Groups make a shape poem and/or an acrostic poem to use as a part of their report. Instead of reporting to the entire
class, groups report to other groups.
177
POSSIBILITIES
A) The class can discuss other audiences with whom to share their poems as part of a
larger effort to protect life below water. For example, they could display their poems
around the school or at a local library.
B) If the class shares a theme, such as sea creatures, they could all do shape poems in the
shape of different sea creatures. Then, they could put all the sea creatures on a cross-
section poster of the sea and put their creature at the depth it lives in the sea.
C) Students can color their sea creature shape poems red if they are endangered, yellow if
they are vulnerable, or green if they are not in danger. This will help them see which
creatures are most at risk. The class can then research how to help them.
178
WHAT DO YOU SDG: 15 (Life on Land) CL Technique: K-W-L-S
KNOW ABOUT Inspired by: Papalazarou, C. (2017). Sustainable Development Goal 15:
FORESTS?
Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems,
sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land
degradation and halt biodiversity loss. In A. Maley & N. Peachey (Eds.),
British Council.
Background: When discussing the importance of forests—one of the key parts

of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15—some words like ‘air,’ ‘water,’ and
‘food’ will be familiar to students, but others like ‘biodiversity,’ ‘floods,’ and
‘timber’ might not be. This activity gives students the chance to share their
knowledge of forests using words they already know, as well as learning new
words. They can also gain more knowledge about the importance of forests
from their peers.
The cooperative learning (CL) technique used in this activity is K-W-L-S. The
K-W-L-S activity animates the CL principle of Positive Interdependence, in
particular, Resource Positive Interdependence, because each person is likely to
have unique Ks, Ws, Ls, and Ss.
179
Step 1: Students are given a list of words connected to the value of forests. Papalazarou’s list contains these words: air, noise,
water, shade, temperature, wildlife, oxygen, biodiversity, floods, food, timber, medicine, homes for people and wildlife, and
carbon dioxide.
Step 2: Students write about how the words are connected to forests in the ‘What We KNOW’ column of a K-W-L-S table by
themselves. For example, next to the word ‘noise’ a student might write ‘leaves on the trees absorb sound.’ If they do not know
the word or how it connects to forests, they write the word in the ‘What We WANT To Know’ column.
Step 3: The students make pairs and discuss the words they know and how they are connected to forests. They can also tell
their partner about how they learned this information.
Step 4: The pairs split up and make new groups of four students. The students show each other their lists and explain the words
and their connections to forests if another group member does not know them. If the student understands, they can move the
word from the ‘What We WANT To Know’ to the ‘What We LEARNED’ column and write an explanation of the word’s connection
to forests.
Step 5: The students go back to their original pair and explain what they learned in the group. If there are any connections they
still do not know, they can raise their hand and ask the whole class.
Step 6: The students choose one topic and make a question they want to know the answer to. For example, “What medicine
comes from forests?” or “How do forests stop floods?” They write these questions in the ‘What We STILL Want to Learn’
column. They will research the answers to this question and make a presentation during the next lesson.
POSSIBILITIES
A) The Think-Aloud-Squares CL technique could be used with the vocabulary list, with
students choosing a word and saying what they know about the word, how the word is
connected to the importance of rainforests, what thoughts or feelings are connected with
the word, and any questions they have about the word.
B) In Step 3, the students can travel around in pairs and keep going from pair to pair until
they have learned the meaning of all the words and their connection to the importance of
forests.
C) Students can draw a picture of a forest and label it with the words and explanations on
the K-W-L-S sheet.
180
COCREATING SDG: 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong CL Technique: Cooperative Debate
GUIDELINES
Institutions)
Inspired by: Zeh, C. M. (2020). Human rights and punishment: English

teachers can help. In L. Ruas (Ed.), Creating change: Global issues in ELT in
Africa (pp. 46–51). IATEFL Global Issues SIG.
Catherine Moto Zeh’s teaching context was in Cameroon.
Background: Too many classrooms are too teacher-centered, with teachers

making all of the decisions. If we want to involve everyone in making a better
classroom and a better world, everyone has to be jointly involved in decision
making. This activity gives an example of how that can happen. Teachers and
students co-construct the guidelines of a classroom together because everyone
needs to follow them. When it comes to guidelines, honest and open discussion
is helpful, and people may have very different views about what is a good
guideline.
Students are likely to have strong opinions on classroom guidelines because they
affect them directly. The cooperative learning (CL) technique Cooperative Debate
empowers student voices via the CL principle Equal Opportunity to Participate
because everyone has a chance to formulate and share their views.
181
In the case of this activity, students must consider which guidelines are appropriate for their class and why. Even if they do not
agree with the final decision of the class, they will understand that there are many different viewpoints from their own.
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 is about having justice and transparency, something which is very important for this
activity.
Step 1: The class brainstorms a list of possible guidelines. Two examples are, ‘We must get to school on time’ and ‘We should
not interrupt people when they are talking in class.’
Step 2: In groups of four, students choose a guideline to debate.
Step 3: From their groups of four, students divide into two pairs. One pair is assigned to be in support of the guideline, and the
other will be against it. The pairs think of points to support their assigned opinion and divide these points between them.
Step 4: Each person has two minutes to give their ideas. When one pair is presenting, the other pair should take notes.
Step 5: After all of the group members have given their points, the students have two minutes to talk to their partner and think
about how to disagree with the other pair. Then, they take turns to disagree politely with points raised by the other pair in Step 3.
Step 6: Next, students switch the position they assigned to support. Again, they have two minutes to think about points to
support their solutions. Steps 3 and 4 are repeated, but this time, both pairs will be supporting the position they were opposed to
the first time.
Step 7: Now, students no longer have an assigned position on the issue. Instead, each individual decides their own position. It
could be yes, no, or a third, modified position. They attempt to convince their groupmates.
Step 8: The class votes on if they consider the guideline or some modification of the guideline to be appropriate for their class.
POSSIBILITIES
A) Do one cooperative debate per lesson for one guideline. This gives the teacher and the
students time to get to know each other and to add or change guidelines before
everyone signs a contract.
B) Once all the guidelines are decided, the class holds a contract signing ceremony. The
ceremony should be as official as possible and once it has been signed by everyone,
including the teacher, the class hangs the contract on the classroom wall or posts it
online.
C) If guidelines need to be changed over time, the class can wait for a natural break in the
academic year, such as the end of a semester, and make a revised set of rules.
D) Students find guidelines they can see in the world around them, such as at swimming
pools, libraries, or in parks. Students can bring the guidelines to class and do
cooperative debates to consider if they are fair. Countries also follow guidelines.
182
THE ENERGY SDG: 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) CL Technique: Gallery Tour
WASTE TOUR Inspired by: Verschoor, J., & Menezes, A. M. (2017). Sustainable Development
Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global
partnership for sustainable development. In A. Maley & N. Peachey (Eds.),
British Council.
Background: Students look around their homes or schools and identify places
where energy is wasted. They then share their findings with their classmates
and propose ways to reduce energy waste. When students investigate real-life
problems in their surroundings, it is a great chance for students to influence the
world around them. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 17 emphasizes the
importance of creating local and global partnerships to implement the SDGs,
and this activity highlights how partnerships within a school can lead to real
changes.
The cooperative learning (CL) technique Gallery Tour highlights the CL principle of
Positive Interdependence. One of the types of Positive Interdependence facilitated
in Gallery Tour is Celebration Positive Interdependence.
183
Please remember the slogan ‘Nobody wins unless everyone wins.’ Each group has only one poster to display during the Gallery
Tour. When classmates and others praise a group’s poster, that is a win for the entire group, and they can all celebrate together.
Step 1: In groups of four, students go around the school and choose a location such as the gym, the library, or a classroom. The
group writes a list of all the ways in which energy is used in their location.
Step 2: Back in the classroom, the groups brainstorm ways that energy waste can be prevented at their location. Using the
technique Friendly Spy, students can also get suggestions from members of other groups and see what other groups are doing.
Step 3: Each group draws an eye-catching poster which explains their ideas for how to prevent energy waste at their particular
spot and hangs the poster on a wall at the location.
Step 4: The class goes on a tour around the school. When they arrive at one of the posters, the group members present their
poster and explain their ideas.
POSSIBILITIES
A) Students collect observational data. In schools that have air conditioners, students can
observe what temperature the unit is kept at or how many electrical appliances are on
standby in the room. Even small changes can add up to bigger changes. Data will make
their presentations even more convincing.
B) Give an energy waste tour to your school principal. If they see where energy is being
wasted, they might be able to make some Everybody Changes to go along with the
Individual Changes.
C) Make a video tour of your school energy saving tips and share it with another school,
whether in the same country or overseas. Watch their video tour and see if they have
any ideas you can use in your school.
184
TEACHERS AS SDG: 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) CL Technique: Write-Pair-Square
ROLE MODELS Inspired by: Jacobs, G. M. (2020). Community engaged educator for kindness
towards farmed animals. In L. Ruas (Ed.), Creating global change (pp. 117–
122). IATEFL Global Issues SIG.
George Jacobs’ teaching context was in Singapore.
Background: In so many areas of education, teachers and other educators can

have a significant impact as role models for students, while at the same time,
students can be role models for teachers. However, in many instances, students
seem to think teachers’ entire lives are consumed with what they do in
classrooms. Although teachers do devote a great deal of time to their class
roles, their lives often consist of much else as well. The activity encourages
teachers to be role models for students in seeking to achieve the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs).
The cooperative learning (CL) technique Write-Pair-Square facilitates the CL

principle Individual Accountability, as in each of the three parts of the technique,
students are called on in front of one or more partners to do their fair share in the
group. Of course, ‘fair share’ does not necessarily mean equal share, and
groupmates can assist anyone having difficulties. If groupmates cannot help,
perhaps teachers can.
185
Step 1: The class discusses teachers’ role in advocating for the SDGs. Of course, this includes what teachers and students do
as part of class activities, but teachers also have other aspects to their lives (e.g., their families, homes, and hobbies or
interests). The teacher can give examples from their own life and the lives of their own teachers and colleagues.
Step 2: Students will interview teachers about what they do to promote the SDGs. These can be simple actions, such as
avoiding disposable plastic when buying food. The students can interview teachers from their school and schools they attended
when they were younger. Also, students may have family members and neighbors who are teachers, were teachers, or are
studying to be teachers. The class brainstorms possible questions, such as those listed below.
(a) When did you first hear about the SDGs? What do you already know about the SDGs? Do you have any stories from
your own life that show why the SDGs are important?
(b) What do you already do to promote the SDGs? What else could you do?
(c) What can schools do to promote the SDGs? What about governments?
(d) Do you belong to any organizations or online groups that promote the SDGs or could promote them?
Step 3: Students make groups of four. They work in pairs to interview two teachers per pair. Interviews can be done in person,
on the phone, or electronically. Each member of the pair should write a summary in English of one of the interviews. This is the
Write step in the CL technique Write-Pair-Square. Students check their partner’s summary and make any changes, if needed.
This is the Pair step of Write-Pair-Square.
Step 4: Each pair reports back to the other pair in their foursome. This is the Square step of Write-Pair-Square.
Step 5: The group discusses what they can do to support their teachers’ efforts to promote the SDGs. This support could
include joining in the teachers’ efforts or starting similar efforts in different situations.
POSSIBILITIES
A) Groups can share what they discussed in Steps 4 and 5 with other groups.
B) Students look through their interviewees’ answers and see which of them they could do
by themselves—Individual Changes—and which ones need to be organized by a bigger
group—Everybody Changes.
C) Although students may not be able to influence Everybody Changes, they can influence
one group in their life: their family. Students make a list of Family Changes to help
promote the SDGs that they could request their family to try. Examples include eating a
vegan meal once a week, taking public transportation during family trips, and having
family time in the same room for one evening a week to save electricity.
186
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Steven Lim has been teaching at various positions in Japan since

2005 and is an assistant professor in the Department of English at
Meikai University. He has published articles on speech
modification, teacher beliefs and practices, and CALL. His current
research interests include CLIL, the SDGs, and learner autonomy.
Jesse Reidak hails from Toronto, Canada and has been living in
the Kansai region of Japan since 2008. He is currently teaching
content-based courses at an elementary school in Kyoto. His
primary research interests include sustainability-related topics,
cooperative learning, and task-based language teaching.
Meng Huat Chau teaches himself, students and fellow educators in

Malaysia and beyond. He enjoys growing and learning about life
(especially from kindest souls like George M Jacobs!), speaking
and writing on topics that promote a sustainable world (his next
invited talk on this is to be given at a three-day teacher training
programme in Jerusalem), and mentoring doctoral researchers
who share similar interests.
Chenghao Zhu is currently pursuing his PhD in the Faculty of

Languages and Linguistics at Universiti Malaya. He holds a
master’s degree in Applied Linguistics from Beijing Language and
Culture University. Before embarking on his PhD research journey,
he was a teacher of Chinese modern and contemporary literature
in China. He ardently believes in the power of collaboration.
Qingli Guo is a Ph.D. student in the Faculty of Education at

Universiti Malaya. She earned her master’s degree in teaching
Chinese as a Second Language at Beijing Language and Culture
University. Her research interests include Chinese teaching and
learning, and ecolinguistics.
clxxxvii
Tanner Brooks has been teaching in Japan since 2014 and is currently
teaching collaborative, communicative-based lessons at a private high
school in Tokyo. He holds a master’s degree in TESOL from Temple
University Japan and has interest in pursuing research related to
collaborative learning and writing proficiency.
Jasper Roe is a teacher, researcher, and avid life-long learner. Jasper

is currently Head of Department at James Cook University Singapore’s
language school. He likes to collaborate with others on research
regarding the environment, linguistics, sociology, education, and
sustainability.
George M Jacobs teaches students and teachers, including himself, in

Singapore and beyond. He enjoys writing about cooperative learning,
other forms of student-centered learning, ecolinguistics, and
sustainable diets. He recently co-edited a free online book, this one on
teacher authenticity, for Peachey Publications.
clxxxviii
COPYRIGHT
© Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
clxxxix

Cooperative Learning and The SDGs

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Cooperative Learning and The SDGs

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

desideriotorres@yahoo.com.

COOPERATIVE LEARNING AND THE SUSTAINABLE

Published by PeacheyPublications Ltd UK 2023

THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND COOPERATIVE LEARNING

CONTENTS COOPERATIVE LEARNING AND THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

• The Cooperative Learning Principles

2. COOPERATIVE LEARNING TECHNIQUES 13

3. COOPERATIVE LEARNING TEACHING TIPS 48

4. THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS 59

• SDG History: 1975 Environmental Education Objectives

5. THE 17 SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS 66

6. HOW CL AND THE SDGS FIT TOGETHER 101

• In the Spirit of the SDGs and CL

7. SDGS ACTIVITIES WITH CL TECHNIQUES 109

• Overview of the SDGs (All SDGs)

• Youth Employment (SDG 8)

ABOUT THE AUTHORS XXXVII

© Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International

TABLE 1: ONE LIST OF CL PRINCIPLES

CL Principle Meaning Examples/Explanations

Group members check

Everyone in the group feels a need to do

One group member has the role of

Students’ peers are the other students.

A class has a policy of TTT = Team Then

Student groups contain members with

The hundreds of cooperative skills

This principle of Cooperation as a Value

INTRODUCTION TO THE CHAPTERS ON COOPERATIVE LEARNING

MAKE ANY LESSON A COOPERATIVE LEARNING LESSON

SDG: 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) CL Technique: Circle of Speakers,

TABLE 1: ORIGINAL AND CL VERSIONS OF A LESSON

Original Version of the Lesson CL Version of the Lesson

Individual and Whole Class Activity:

Groups do the CL technique Circle of

Whole Class Activity: The class listens to

Groups of three do the CL technique Everyone

COMPARING THE LESSONS

Step 1: Stand – Everyone stands up.

Step 3: Stretch – Everyone stretches in whichever way feels comfortable.

Cooperative Debate consists of seven steps.

As an alternative, Ruth Wajnryb invented dictogloss. While like all teaching

In Exchange-a-Question, students write questions for each other and evaluate

Here are the steps in Exchange-a-Question.

Here are the steps in Forward Snowball.

Here are the steps in Group Investigation.

GROUP Group projects are a common feature of student-centered classrooms. Whereas in

A) Each member has a speaking part in any project presentation.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE

Bring Your Own Piece Jigsaw

Originally, K-W-L-S was designed to be taught by teachers, with students working

K-W-L-S Table on _______________________

Elaborations on the ideas in the section can be of many types, including:

A) connections to the students’ lives and/or the SDGs

What do students do in the Circle Family of cooperative learning (CL) techniques?

Step 1: Student A speaks, Student B speaks, and then Student C speaks.

Do you have any additions to the Circle Family of CL techniques?

THE TELL FAMILY

After Student A tells something to Student B, B paraphrases A’s statement. Next, A

Student A: “Yesterday, I didn’t go to the video arcade. Instead, I played video

Step 1: The class has a task to complete (e.g., a mathematics/science question or

HAVE CLEAR GOALS

CREATE A RELAXED ENVIRONMENT