Who Cares About the Environment? An Interactive Approach to Literacy and ESL

Lori A. Dunn is an ESL teacher and editor of the Toronto women’s
magazine Feminie.

With the societal concern about the environment, materials on that theme
aimed at the student of English were anticipated and required. This
two-book set is aimed at the intermediate and high-intermediate student,
with the first book, The Environment and You, pitched at a higher level.

Both books consist of units broken up into sections: “To the
Teacher,” “Starting Out,” vocabulary, a reading, comprehension and
discussion questions, and a wide variety of classroom activities. The
activities and projects are designed to get the student out of the
classroom and interacting in the community, developing interpersonal as
well as grammatical and written skills. The authors hope to encourage
students to learn to express their personal opinions with ease and
comfort. No answers are provided, to encourage students to compare
notes, and to understand that there is usually more than one perspective
on any issue.

A good topical resource for the teacher, perfect for being interspersed
with lessons from other sources (as the one-theme approach would pall on
many after a few units). Essential to a teacher’s library, since the
environment is such an important issue, and all the information is from
a purely Canadian perspective.