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Age range: 11 to adults
Theme: The UK trend for banning plastic bags
Lexical area: The environment; recycling, reusing etc.
Cross curricular links: The environment
Instructions for language assistants in italics
Classroom materials
Introduction:
This lesson can be used in conjunction with the Essential UK lesson plan on Climate Change. In the UK there is now a tendency to encourage consumers not to use plastic bags for their shopping due to their environmental impact. A village called Modbury in the south west of England became the first village to completely ban plastic bags in 2007 and now other cities are going to follow suit. The driving force behind the ban in Modbury came from a wildlife photographer called Rebecca Hosking who had filmed a documentary in Hawaii about the effects of plastic bags on the marine life in the area. Some countries are already very used to using bags and baskets when they go to the supermarkets so depending on where you are teaching, use the local attitude towards plastic bags, recycling and environmental issues in general as a starting point for discussion on the differences between the UK and the country you’re in.
The Task 1 is a simple picture dictation to introduce the lesson. Task 2 offers some statistics about plastic bag use and gives your students the chance to practise their high numbers in English. Task 3 gets students to think about the life cycle of a plastic bag and how it can be used and reused. Task 4 is a reading and discussion task for higher levels; Tasks 5 and 6 are group tasks where students work together on mini projects.
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1. Picture dictation
Ensure your students all have paper and a pen or pencil. Tell them to listen very carefully to what you describe and to draw it. Adapt the level of langauge according to the ability of the group you are teaching.
“Draw a straight line from left to right in the middle of the box. On the line, draw two fishing boats. Under the boats draw six fish swimming in the sea. Next to the fish draw three plastic bags in the water. In the top right-hand corner draw a circle and two birds flying close to the circle. At the bottom of the box draw a curvy (show this with your hands) line and under the curvy line draw two palm trees. In the trees there are four plastic bags!”
The idea is for the students to produce a beach scene with plastic bags in the sea and on the trees. You can then use the picture as a starting point to discuss some of the problems that an excess of plastic bags can cause.
Task 1 Picture dictation
Listen carefully to your teacher and draw what they describe in the box.
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2. Plastic bag – fact file
Source: http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php
This activity gives the students the chance to practise using high numbers. If these are new to your students, spend some time practising them before you begin. Students aren’t expected to know the statistics, but encourage them to guess the answers before you check as a group. Encourage your students to react to the facts they discover.
ANSWERS:
- one hundred billion
- one thousand
- Three hundred and twenty six
- Five hundred billion to a trillion
- Hundreds of thousands
- Twenty five
- One million
- One
Task 2 Plastic bag – fact file
Read the sentences and put the numbers in the box below in the correct place.
- There is approximately _______________________________tonnes of plastic floating around the world’s oceans.
- A plastic bag can take ______________ years to decompose and disappear.
- The average person in Australia uses approximately _____________ plastic bags every year.
- ________________________________ plastic bags are consumed world wide each year.
- ________________________ turtles, whales and other marine mammals die each year because they eat plastic bags that they think are food.
- Plastic bags were introduced only _________ years ago.
- ________________ bags are consumed worldwide every minute.
- In the UK, _____ in two hundred plastic bags is recycled.
- FIVE HUNDRED BILLION TO A TRILLION
- ONE
- THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY SIX
- HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS
- ONE THOUSAND
- TWENTY FIVE
- ONE HUNDRED BILLION
- ONE MILLION
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3. The life of a plastic bag!
Bring a plastic bag or two to the class for this lesson. Show them to your students and encourage them to think about the life of the bag. Ask them how many uses they can think of for the plastic bag once we’ve taken it from a shop to transport our purchases home. Brainstorm ideas as a class and then put students into pairs or small groups to think of the life of a ‘well used’ plastic bag. Ideas may include: freezer bags, bin bags, to carry sandwiches etc, to carry swimming or sports kit, to collect rubbish in the car etc. You can also discuss the final step in the life cycle which may be recycling the bag.
Task 3 The life of a plastic bag!
Listen to your teacher’s instructions.
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4. Plastic bag ban – what do you think?
This reading is aimed at higher levels. Put students into small groups and ask them to read the comments. If you like, each student can read one or two aloud to the group. Then students
Original source for ideas: http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/
Task 4 Plastic bag ban – what do you think?
We asked some people on the street: “ What do you think about the plastic bag ban?”
| Isabel, aged 18: I think it’s a great idea to ban plastic bags. You just don’t need one every time you buy something in a shop. We’ve just all got used to always taking a new bag, I think it’s brilliant that people are stopping to think about what they’re doing. |
| Danny, aged 21: Banning plastic bags is in fashion now but it’s not really very important. People want to be part of the ‘green revolution’ to look cool. There are other things in the world far more important like stopping wars and reducing poverty. |
| Sarah, aged 12: We have so many plastic bags at home it’s silly! We don’t want to throw them away so we put them all inside a giant plastic bag and try to reuse them, but there are always hundreds. It’s impossible to reuse them all. |
| Dave, aged 15: My mum reuses all the plastic bags for putting food in the freezer, for bin bags and we also use them to put our swimming costumes and towels in when we go to the pool. I think it’s useful to get a bag when you buy something – you need it to take your things home in. |
| Simon, aged 50: I think that supermarkets are wrong to charge customers for plastic bags and the idea of banning them completely is ridiculous. I mean people are too busy these days to remember to take a bag or a basket with them when they go shopping. It’s just not practical. |
| Ben, aged 27: I think that other countries are much better at looking after the environment than Britain. Using so many plastic bags is ridiculous, it’s just a bad habit. I think it’s the fault of the shops though, not the customers. I mean, if they didn’t give us bags we would have to use an alternative. |
- Who do you agree with? Why?
- Who do you disagree with? Why?
- What would you say if somebody asked you for your opinions on the plastic bag ban? Write your comments here:
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5. Give up plastic bags campaign
Put students into small groups and tell them that they have been asked to help their local council to develop a campaign to encourage young people to stop using plastic bags. They should think how they are going to convince people to do this. In groups students need to think of a slogan and design a poster for the campaign. Depending on the level of your students you will need to offer plenty of support and ideas from you including examples of slogans and suggestions for posters.
Task 5 Give up plastic bags campaign
The local council has asked you to help them develop a campaign to encourage young people to stop using plastic bags. Think of a slogan to use for the campaign and then design a poster.
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6. Design a reuseable bag
If you have any cloth bags that have been designed to replace supermarket plastic bags bring them into the class to show your students. If not, make sure students get the idea that reusuable bags are often bought in supermarkets and shops now. In the article about Modbury (see link below), there’s a photo of the bag that was designed there when the ban came into place.
Task 6 Design a reuseable bag
Work in pairs to design a bag that people can use instead of plastic bags. Before you begin consider the following points. Then draw your design below.
- What material is it made of?
- What shape is the bag?
- What logo, pictures or design will you have?
- Will you put a slogan on the bag?
- What colours will you make the bag in?
Now draw your bag and be prepared to explain your design to the class.
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Internet links
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