intro

Welcome! This site is for students to practice their English and keep up to date with environmental issues.

TEN MINUTES OF ENGLISH A DAY!
You can find a mixture of reading, crosswords, videos and short English lessons: these will normally be vocabulary, but I may also treat you to some grammar!

There are now over 260 lessons on this blog. Look through the Blog archive, Post labels and Popular Posts to find what you want.

If you want to print a lesson, click on the lesson title and then look for the Print Friendly icon.

''Let nature be your teacher''
William Wordsworth, poet, 1770-1850

''Joy in looking and comprehending is nature's most beautiful gift''
Albert Einstein, physicist, 1879-1955

''... to find the word, or words, by which [an] idea may be most fitly and aptly expressed''
P.M. Roget, lexicographer, 1779-1869

Tuesday 28 February 2012

UK consumers go bananas for Fairtrade

Level: Upper intermediate / B2

Here is an interesting article in the Guardian newspaper about Fairtrade products.
Read the article and then answer these questions:
1) By how much did the sales of fairly traded products increase in the UK last year?
2) What was the main factor in this growth?
3) Who were the first major sugar brand to convert to Fairtrade?
4) Where does M&S Fairtrade tea come from?
5) What does 'go bananas' mean?!

Answers below!

Have a look at Faitrade banana day!








ANSWERS!
1) 12%
2) Major supermarkets selling Fairtrade goods at the same price as conventionally produced goods
3) Tate & Lyle
4) Kenya
5) 'To behave in a very excited, angry or emotional way about something'
(from Online English Lessons)

Friday 24 February 2012

Phrases for comparing - grammar lesson 6


The UK and Australia: the same or different?

Level: Intermediate / B2

Complete the sentences comparing the UK and Australia with these words:

as (x2)             completely      different         from                less

more                similar              slightly            the                   to

1. The climate in Australia is different                                                the climate in the UK.

2. Australian coins look similar                                                                        British coins.

3.  A lot of wild animals in Australia are                                             different from the wild animals that you find in England.

4. Supermarkets in Australia are exactly the same                   supermarkets in the UK.

5. The cost of living in Sydney is very                                    to the cost of living in London.

6.  Houses in the British countryside look very                                   from houses in the Australian countryside.

7.  Australian TV programmes are                               or                                 the same as British TV programmes.

8. Australian road signs are                                          different from road signs in the UK.

9. Daily life in Australia is about                     same                daily life in the UK.
 Adapted from New Cutting Edge Intermediate, Longman, 2005

Answers below!







ANSWERS!
1. from
2. to
3. completely
4. as
5. similar
6. different
7. more    less
8. slightly
9. the     as


Sunday 19 February 2012

Proportion of land area covered by forest

Level: Upper intermediate / B2


Charts bin a good site with lots of visual material on environmental (and other) issues.
Have a look at this map of Proportion of Land Area Covered by Forest and then answer these questions:
1) Which European country has the largest percentage of forest cover?
2) Who has more forest cover - the USA or Canada?
3) Which countries have zero forest cover?!
4) By how much did forest cover fall in Brazil from 1990 to 2010?
5) True or false: forest cover in the UK has fallen


Answers below!






ANSWERS!
1) Finland
2) Canada
3) Oman, Greenland
4) From 69% to 65.6%
5) False

Sunday 12 February 2012

English course

English Language Course for Environmental Professionals

15th – 22nd August 2012
Juniper Hall Field Centre, Surrey, England

A repeat of last year’s very successful and enjoyable Environmental English course in the UK at the Juniper Hall Field Centre in Surrey, just south of London.
Please see the photos on the right of this page. 

More details to follow soon, or email:
mark@envenglish.com