[Lesson Plan] Environmental Problems and Survey

Over the past week, I’ve been doing an environmental survey with the students, which was lots of fun and led to students shouting “greenhouse effect…OHHH!” and drawing farting cows and landfills on the board:

It was fun to see what the students already knew about and it didn’t hurt that a lot of vocab was pretty similar between English and French. I also got to try out some Beaujolais wine in the teachers’ lounge (apparently it’s the law here that employees are allowed to drink wine, beer, or cider at work)! Check out the lesson plan and some preliminary survey responses under the cut!

Lesson 3b

Environmental Problems and Survey

What I ended up doing:

• Brainstorming environmental problems: I’d tell the students that we were going to talk a little about the environment. Generally their faces would be totally blank so I’d write the word “environment” on the board and they’d say “ohhh environnement” and know exactly what I was talking about.
  • I’d then ask them if they could name some environmental problems, and their responses were often pretty consistently “pollution.” I’d ask what causes pollution and they’d say “cars” and we’d usually continue with some other sources of air pollution.
  • Some would mention something that sounded like “déchets,” a word that I didn’t know, so I’d ask students to explain to me. I eventually figured out that they were talking about litter, so I’d crumple up paper and throw it on the floor to confirm, which they found hilarious. I’d ask where they can find litter (in the streets, in the park, etc.).
  • We would then talk about where you can throw paper: to be recycled. We’d then talk about other things that can be recycled; they often wouldn’t know the word for “glass,” so sometimes I’d point to someone’s glasses and they would get it.
  • We’d also talk about what can be done with food. Last time, I’d talked to them about composting pumpkins, and I was happy to see that at least some of them remembered what we’d talked about! I’d then ask “where” you can compost and “what” can be composted.
  • Some classes would also mention “réchauffement climatique,” so we’d talk about climate change a little and review “hot,” “cold,” and “warm” as necessary. Some of them even brought up CO2, which was pretty cool.

• Environmental Survey: Next, I’d pass out a survey that I’d made: Environmental Survey. I ended up adding some questions last minute and I’ll probably revise it since it isn’t the most scientific, but I feel like it went much better than I expected and the results were pretty interesting. For most classes, I’d have a student read a question and we’d discuss it together, although there were a couple in which students were able to do the questions on their own, so I’d let the students who finished earlier help students who were having a bit more trouble.
  • Do you turn off the lights when you leave a room? I had this whole routine down for this question by the time the week was over: I would walk over to the light switch and show what “turn off” and “turn on” the lights means. I would then ask if they knew what “leaves” means and would then show them by walking out the door, which they also thought was hilarious.
    • I’d also make sure that they understood what “Always,” “Sometimes,” and “Never” mean. The older students were usually able to say that they meant “toujours” and “jamais.” I generally avoid using any French in class, so when students didn’t know, I’d try to explain “never” first with hand motions/facial expressions, and once they understood what it was, I’d say that “always” was the opposite. They’d usually be able to figure out “sometimes” from there. I’d then tell them to circle their answers.
  • Do you turn off your computer/TV when you’re done using it? I made sure that they understood “turn off” again. Not sure why I put in “computer/TV,” but it was a good opportunity to review what “computer” means (one of my rooms had a computer, so I’d ask them to point to the computer in the room to make sure they knew what it was). When explaining this question, I’d say “when you’re finished using it” since that was more similar to the French word “finir.”
  • Do you turn off the water while brushing your teeth? I’d make sure they knew what “water” was and would mime brushing my teeth if they didn’t already know what it was.
  • Do you hang clothes to dry after washing them? I would first make sure that they knew what “clothes” were and would point to my shirt if necessary. I would mime hanging clothes, and I would then usually end up drawing a picture of a clothesline with clothes on it. For the younger students, I’d sometimes write that “dry” means “secher” on the board since I was worried that they just thought that I was asking them if they hang their clothes at all. I would probably end up taking this question out, but I did think it was a good chance to review “clothes.”
  • Do you take a bag with you to the supermarket? I would check that they understood what “bag” means and they’d usually understand supermarket; if not, I’d mention Carrefour or Auchan.
  • Do you go to the farmers market? This is another question that I’d probably take out, especially for the younger students; I would first try to make sure that they understood “market.” I would explain that on Mondays there’s a market on the grand place where farmers sell vegetables and fruits.
    • Usually the 3emes would understand at this point and I’d ask them to explain what else you can find at a farmers market to make sure that they understood (which was a good opportunity to review “eggs,” “cheese,” etc.).
    • If they still didn’t get it, I’d try to get them to make the connection between “supermarket” –> “supermarche” –> “marche” and then between “farm” –> “ferme” –> “farmer” as a person who has a farm. I think that some of the students may have interpreted the question as asking whether they go to a farm to buy food, so I probably wouldn’t keep it in.
  • Do you recycle? This one was pretty easy, and if we hadn’t done so already, we’d review what can be recycled.
  • Do you compost? Again, if we hadn’t done so already, we’d review “where” they can compost (in the garden) and “what” can be composted.
  • Do you talk about the environment with your friends or family? I would use hand motions to make sure they understood what “talk” meant, and they were usually fine with the rest of the question. I would probably change the choices though from Always/Sometimes/Never.
  • Do you care about the environment? I think this was a last minute addition; they generally didn’t understand what “care” means so I’d usually ask them if they were “interested” in the environment and say that “care” is similar to “like.”

Extra time: I wanted to get a sense of what the students already knew about Thanksgiving, so when I had a few minutes left over for a couple of classes, I used it as a chance to find out. Some students thought it was in December; most would know that there was a “dinde,” although some said it was a chicken; and I think one student told me that it had to do with Native Americans when I asked about the history.

This lesson ended up being a lot of fun for me and it seemed as if the students enjoyed it too. It was made easier by the fact that there are a lot of words that are similar in English and French, but there was also a lot of room to review or learn other vocabulary. I tried to make sure that every student had a chance to read a question out loud, but I probably should have had the students practice forming more complete sentences through the lesson.

It was also really fascinating to see what their responses were. Here are the results from one of my classes, with the rest to come soon!