Assignment A

Text 2 – Upper intermediate

✔ This part of the assignment focuses on stages 3 and 4 of an upper-intermediate reading lesson.

✔ You should show what tasks you would set for the first and second reading.

✔ Read 'Advice on Approaching Assignment A' before you begin working on this template.

✔ Class: A strong upper intermediate (B2) class of 16 young adults, age range 18-23.
These students are highly motivated, well-educated and quick to learn. They are all learning English either to improve their job prospects or
because they are hoping to study at university in an English-speaking country.

The European Honeybee

You probably know there has been a fall in the world's bee population and that this is not good news. But, unless you are an entomologist
(/ˌentəˈmɒlədʒɪst/ ‒ an insect expert), you probably don't know that much about bees or why they matter so much to our lives. Most of us are
familiar with social bees, such as the honeybee or the bumblebee, which live in large groups, called colonies.
Worldwide, there are approximately 20,000 species of bee. Surprisingly, most of these are solitary, i.e., they live alone or in smaller groups.

In this article we will focus on the European honeybee (Apis mellifera). The behaviour exhibited by the honeybee is called eusociality
/jʊˌsoʊ.ʃi.'æl.ə.t̬i/. This has three key characteristics:
● generational overlap - mother and adult offspring live side by side
● cooperative care of offspring
● reproductive division of labour - only certain individuals can reproduce.
Within a colony there are different classes of bee, known as 'castes.' Each caste plays distinct roles in the group. The European honeybee has
three castes within a colony. The diet which female larvae1 are fed determines which caste they will belong to.

Queen
Larvae which are fed only royal jelly become potential queen bees. Queens are the reproductive caste. There is usually only one queen in a
colony. The queen is the only female bee in a hive that is able to reproduce. She lays around 2,000 eggs a day, each in an individual honeycomb
cell. Queens normally live for three to five years. However, not all queens survive, as newly emerged queens often kill each other in the nest.
Queens only leave the nest in order to mate or establish a new colony. When one leaves, she takes a large group of workers with her.
Worker

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 Worker bees develop from larvae that are fed royal jelly only for the first few days. They are then given nectar and pollen. Worker bees are
female bees, but they do not mate and do not generally lay eggs. Workers perform all the other duties needed to keep their colony functioning.
This includes a bee’s best-known behaviour; collecting nectar from flowers to turn into honey. Honey is the food that the bees live on in the
winter. When they are collecting nectar, bees pollinate the plants they visit. Worker bees can have other roles, such as making honeycomb.
Young ‘nurse bees’ feed the larvae and keep the nest clean. Worker bees live for between 6 weeks and five months.

Drone
Drones are male bees. Male bees are produced from unfertilised2 eggs and, as larvae, receive the same diet as workers. Drones' only function
is to mate with the queen, after which they die. A typical honeybee colony will usually contain between 20,000-50,000 bees. Only about 15%
of these are drones. Come winter, remaining drones are thrown out of the colony in order to save resources. Otherwise, the only reason drones
leave the colony is to mate with a new queen.

In recent years there has been a worrying decrease in the populations of many bee species. Honeybees are suffering from colony collapse,
where large numbers of workers leave the nest and do not return. Major causes of this decline are the use of pesticides3, climate change, loss
of habitat and loss of plant biodiversity4.

100 crops produce up to 90% of our human diets. 70 of those crops rely on bees for pollination. This means that a disaster for bees is a disaster
for humans too. Many of the plants that animals rely on are also pollinated by bees. Plants not only provide food, but they also perform many
other essential functions, including producing the oxygen we breathe. The death of bee populations could lead to widespread ecological
collapse.

1 larva (noun – singular) /ˈlɑrvə/, larvae (noun - plural) /ˈlɑrvi/ = an insect at the stage when it has just come out of an egg and looks like a
short fat worm - Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
2 fertilise (Am. Eng. fertilize) [to fertilise an egg or seed] Verb – transitive = To cause an egg or seed to start to develop into a new young animal
or plant by joining it with a male cell. unfertilised (adjective) /ʌn ˈfɜː.tɪ. laɪzd/ - not fertilised - Cambridge Dictionary
3 pesticide (noun – countable and uncountable) /ˈpestɪsaɪd/ = A chemical used to kill insects which damage plants - Cambridge Dictionary
4 biodiversity (noun– uncountable) /ˌbaɪəʊdaɪˈvɜːsəti/ = the existence of a large number of different kinds of animals and plants which make
a balanced environment. - Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

Lesson Aims:
✔ To further develop reading skills with particular focus on gaining an in-depth understanding of a text through intensive reading.
✔ To introduce and provide practice in using key vocabulary needed for understanding the text and further discussion.

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Lesson Outline:
✔ Because the students are planning to study in English-speaking universities or use English for professional purposes, it is
important that they develop their reading skills. You have decided to make the detailed reading questions challenging so that they will
really need to focus on the content of the text and the meaning of the language. You will allocate timings as follows:
1. Lead into topic (warmer) - 9 mins
2. Vocabulary pre-teaching - 15 mins
3. First reading - 6 mins
4. Second reading - 18 mins
5. Follow-on activity (communicative speaking task) - 12 mins
You need to show the tasks you would set for stages 3 and 4.
First two stages of the lesson:
✔ You have decided to lead into the lesson by asking the students to discuss what they know about bees in small groups.
✔ They will then discuss this in whole-class feedback. The teacher notes main points, and especially any differences of opinion on
the board.
✔ In the vocabulary pre-teaching stage, you will pre-teach these items. Some of these items should already be familiar, and some
can be checked with only pictures, so 15 items will not overload this class.
▪ a fall in/decrease in something (e.g.,
▪ a hive ▪ to mate
population, student numbers)
▪ a bumblebee ▪ to reproduce, reproduction, reproductive. ▪ pollen, pollinate, pollination
▪ come + time, e.g., come winter,
▪ offspring (noun C, sing and plural) ▪ royal jelly (noun U) come Monday, come next year
(collocation)
▪ to lay an egg/ eggs (irregular verb: lay –
▪ to play a role ▪ honeycomb (noun C or U)
laid -lain)
▪ newly emerged (emerged is adjective. ▪
▪ distinct (adj) a collapse, to collapse
Verb- to emerge)

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 1. First Reading Task
✔ In this space show the task you would set for the first reading (2 or 3 skimming and/or scanning questions). Skim questions are more
useful.
✔ Say how you would set the task (e.g., write it on the board, include it in a handout, etc.).
Task:
Of the allocated 6 minutes, I will give the class 4 minutes to read through the text and 2 minutes to answer the following 3 “skim” questions.

1. What is the article about? (Facts about the European honeybee and concern around the decline in the bee population)
2. What is the most obvious difference between drones and workers? (Drones are male and workers are female)
3. Give 2 reasons that contributes to the decline in the bee population. (Any 2 of the following answers: pesticides, climate change, loss of
habitat and loss of plant biodiversity)

How this task would be set:

I would explain that we are going to read a text about bees and answer some questions about it.

I would give handouts with the text on the one side and the questions on the other, so once the reading time is up, they have to turn the pages
over and answer the questions. There are only 16 learners in the class, so it will be easy to spot if someone tries to turn the page back to look for
the answers.

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 2. Second Reading Task
✔ In this space, show 7-10 open-ended comprehension questions that require full understanding of the language and ideas in the text
✔ Include 1 or 2 questions to encourage readers to think about their own responses to the text.
✔ Say how you would set the task (e.g., write it on the board, include it in a handout, etc.).
Task:
You have 18 minutes to read through the text and answer the following questions:
1. How many honeycomb cells will a queen bee need every day to lay her eggs? (around 2000)
2. Explain the concept of colony collapse and the reason for it. (It is where large numbers of bees leave the nest and do not return due to
pesticides, climate change, losing their habitat or change in biodiversity)
3. What do you call a person that is an expert in insects? (An entomologist)
4. What are the 4 tasks that worker bees do? (collect pollen, build the honeycomb, feed the larvae and clean the nest)
5. What types of food will no longer exist if there are no bees, and why? (Fruit, grains and vegetables. These plants rely on bees for pollination to
produce crops)
6. What is the meaning of “solitary”? (living alone, or in small groups)
7. Why is it surprising that most bee species are solitary? (People assume because we often see beehives, or large swarms flying, that all bees are
the same)
8. Which bees gets thrown out of the colony and how would the remaining bees benefit? (Drones. There will be more food during winter)
9. What do you think you as an individual can do to help preserve bee populations? (Answers along the line of: use organic pesticides, plant
gardens/pots with flowers and plants that attract bees, call a professional to remove bees if they nest in a place that humans or pets frequent
– don’t kill them, educate friends and family about the importance of keeping bees alive, become a beekeeper yourself)

How this task would be set:

I will explain to the students that they will have more time to read through the same text again, and will get a second handout (with “scan”
questions) that they will have to answer. They must read through the 9 questions first and then read the text again to find for the answers.

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