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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

Saturday 6 December 2014

Peru's glaciers melting quickly

Level: Intermediate B1

Please click the 'Print Friendly' icon at the bottom of the page if you want to print this exercise.

Glaciers in Peru are melting very quickly.
What does that mean for the people who live there? Watch this short (two minute) video too find out.
When you have watched the video, answer the following questions:

1) How many people depend on the glaciers?
2) How much have the glaciers reduced in the last four decades?
3) What do locals use the glacier water for?
4) How much has the temperature in the Andes increased by since 1951?
5) Where is the current climate conference being held?


Answers below!


ANSWERS!

1) 30 m (thirty million)
2) 40% in four decades
3) Hydro power and irrigation
4) 1.75 degrees Celsius
5) Lima

Thursday 4 December 2014

Plastic in the oceans

The build up of plastic in the oceans is one of our biggest environmental problems.
But how much do you know about it?
Here is a great article about the problem, written by Morgana Mattus from FIX.

Plastic Build Up in Our Oceans



Major deltas could be drowned

Level: Intermediate B1

Please click the 'Print Friendly' icon at the bottom of the page if you want to print this exercise.

The world's river deltas are under threat. Read this article to find out why.
When you have read the article, answer the following questions:

1) Why are deltas under threat?
2) How many people live in deltas?
3) How are deltas formed?
4) Which delta is the most extensive wetland in the EU?
5) True or false: the UK has many deltas?


Answers below!




ANSWERS!

1) Rising sea levels and river engineering
2) 0.5 bn (half a billion)
3) Rivers depositing sediment faster than the sea can remove it
4) The Danube delta
5) False

Tuesday 2 December 2014

Wastewater treatment

Level: Upper-intermediate B2

Please click the 'Print Friendly' icon at the bottom of the page if you want to print this exercise.

Do you know what wastewater is and how it is treated? Here is a great article about it.
Read the article and then answer the following questions:

1) What is wastewater?
2) Why do we need to treat it?
3) What three types of process can be used to treat wastewater?
4) In India, what is the main focus of water pollution control?
5) In India, which simple techniques can save thousands of lives?


Answers below!




ANSWERS!

1) Water which is polluted, contaminated or affected in quality
2) So that it can meet quality standards
3) Physical, chemical and biological
4) Controlling waterborne diseases
5) Filtration and chlorination