Earth Day – April 22

earth_dayEarth. It is such an important concept and relationship for students. A must to use in our curriculum, I don’t care what you teach. Take the opportunity to do something with your class this Earth Day, this spring! Revel in the gift that she gives, mother earth.

Here are some resources, videos, ideas you might use or that might spark a lesson. Downloads for EFL Classroom 2.0 members.

My fav. videos.

HOME is a definite classic now. This video really gives an appreciation of the variety and abundance of our earth.

The Pale Blue Dot. Here is the transcript. Use this amazing kinetic typography video along with the original video. Another teacher, has a nice version too, translated into Farsi – find it here.

Pale Blue Dot from ORDER Productions Ltd on Vimeo.

Find more videos like this on EFL CLASSROOM 2.0

The Story of Stuff. Educational materials also there. A perfect documentary showing how we must change our relationship with mother earth.

Cosmic Zoom. Outstanding way to show the vastness of this world.
My fav. sites.

Geography at the Movies. Browse their archive for great geography related, teacher made and produced video and content.

One Day in the World. I participated in this project. (find my video in Vancouver! Robson Ave.). Browse the map and choose authentic video all shot on 10/10/10 to celebrate the earth!

Animal Face-off.  Really cool resources using videos from the acclaimed TV program.

Time Lapse photography. Take your pic – I love this one of a forest and many seasons.

Get all the “earth day” videos on EFL Classroom 2.0

My fav. ideas for lessons.

1. Get out of the classroom if possible. Field trips, excursions, pick up garbage in the school yard. But speak English!

2. The 3 Rs. Do a lesson plan around Reduce | Reuse | Recycle. Students simply brainstorm ideas and make a poster to present to the class. How can your school do better?

3. Make a mini book. Students fold one piece of paper, make a book called, MY EARTH. Students draw pictures, label, the things that make their earth important.

4. REAL English. Write a letter to a member of parliament, the UN., the WWW, about what you want our leaders to do. Save animals, plant trees, fight pollution. The ideas are important and students will get motivated by a REAL task.

Other links / things.

1. The World Sunlight Map.

2. World Stats clock. Social Media world stats.

3. Games: Climate Challenge. | Sweat Shoe shop | 3rd World Farmer

4. Songs: Earth Song. | We are the World | Big Yellow Taxi | What a Wonderful World | Beds are Burning

5.Woices. Browse authentic audio recordings. Make your own. All on a handy map from all over the world.

So many ideas! Share your own……

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ddeubel

Teacher trainer, technology specialist, educational thinker...creator of EFL Classroom 2.0, a social networking site for thousands of EFL / ESL teachers and students around the world.

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4 Responses

  1. Great post with tons of ideas, thanks !!
    http://slides.diigo.com/list/susanacanelo/our-planet?mode=full&sid=5345
    I prepared an activity there, but I can’t let anybody else to see the notes. I can’t find any other option than “private”. But you can check the sites we worked with.
    And obviously the official site.
    Thanks again, be sure it’s a great inspiration. I’ll use it

  2. Mohammad reza Minoosepehr says:

    Thanks a million for sharing these great sources David, Of course for me The Pale Blue Dot is top-notch.That’s so inspiring and I’ve used it in many different ways so far. I really appreciate your kindness for linking to my note.I’ll save this page to consider its great materials in detail ..Thanks again..

  3. ddeubel says:

    Some great pages Susana – thanks for sharing! Also, a nice example of using diigo slideshow for this type of highlighting of content and webpages. I used to use it a lot, will have to return!

  4. ddeubel says:

    Mohammad,

    Always welcome and I know I sometimes get over enthusiastic with the stuff in my head! Yes, an excellent video isn’t it – touches me every time I watch/think about it…. we may be a dot on a dot but then again, what isn’t?

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