Activity Introduction

people swimming Gunlom Kakadu WWFQuick summary: Teachers can use this lesson to introduce Earth Hour to their students and promote participation in their Earth Hour Action. Students will watch a short video, participate in discussion and complete worksheet activities. This lesson helps teachers draw attention to the issues of climate change affecting the places we love in Australia. It meets selected Australian Curriculum outcomes for Years 7 and 8 in the subject of English.

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This lesson has been created in partnership with WWF-Australia. Earth Hour is the world’s largest community-driven climate change campaign. At the centre of Earth Hour is switching off lights to show a commitment to taking action. Thousands of teachers use Earth Hour’s education program to enrich their curriculum and provide pathways for young people to create change in their world.

For the most up to date Earth Hour dates, times, and events, check here.

Learning goals:

  • Students understand the aims of Earth Hour.
  • Students determine ways in which they can get involved with the Earth Hour movement.
  • Students consider steps they could take to raise awareness about climate change in their community.

General capabilities: Critical and creative thinking, Personal and social capability, Ethical understanding, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) capability

Cross curriculum priority: Sustainability OI.1, OI.6.

Australian Curriculum content descriptions:

Year 7 English:

  • Discuss aspects of texts, for example their aesthetic and social value, using relevant and appropriate metalanguage (ACELT1803)
  • Understand, interpret and discuss how language is compressed to produce a dramatic effect in film or drama, and to create layers of meaning in poetry, for example haiku, tankas, couplets, free verse and verse novels (ACELT1623)
  • Use prior knowledge and text processing strategies to interpret a range of types of texts (ACELY1722)

Year 8 English:

  • Recognise and explain differing viewpoints about the world, cultures, individual people and concerns represented in texts (ACELT1807)
  • Analyse how the text structures and language features of persuasive texts, including media texts, vary according to the medium and mode of communication (ACELA1543)
  • Apply increasing knowledge of vocabulary, text structures and language features to understand the content of texts (ACELY1733)

Syllabus Outcomes: EN4-1A, EN4-2A, EN4-5C, EN4-8D. 

Time needed: 60 minutes.

Resources required: Internet, Student Worksheet.

Key words: Climate change, Earth Hour, impacts, future.

 Cool Australia’s curriculum team continually reviews and refines our resources to be in line with changes to the Australian Curriculum.

Worksheets

Teacher Worksheet

mt ossa wwfTeacher preparation

You will need: Prepare copies of the Student Worksheet What on earth is Earth Hour? – one copy of each per student. Make arrangements to screen or digitally share the video https://youtu.be/XxIMib4e8f8 in the introductory phase of the lesson.    

Teacher content information: Earth Hour is a WWF-Australia initiative, and is the world’s largest community-driven climate change campaign. At the centre of Earth Hour is switching off lights to show a commitment to taking action. Thousands of teachers use Earth Hour’s education program to enrich their curriculum and provide pathways for young people to create change in their world.

Download the Earth Hour starter kit for your school: Earth Hour for Schools

Teaching sequence

5 minutes – Introductory presentation of video
15 minutes – Group discussion
10 minutes – The Pledge
20 minutes – Discussion and thinking about Earth Action Plan  
10 minutes – Student Worksheet activity

Work through this material in the foll

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- or - to view worksheets

Student Worksheet

Thought Starter: Who is most impacted by climate change?

Earth Hour 2015 Official Video (https://youtu.be/XxIMib4e8f8)

Apply the following reading strategies to work out which words are missing from the text:

  • The context of the sentence (ask yourself ‘What is the overall meaning of this sentence?’)
  • The rules of grammar (ask yourself ‘Which part of speech fits here?’)
  • Your prior knowledge  (ask yourself ‘What do I already know about this topic that could provide a clue?’)

Write the missing words in the spaces.

What on earth is Earth Hour?

Earth Hour was launched in Sydney in 2007, with 2.2 million people and 2,100 businesses participating in the ‘lights off’ event. Just one year later, Earth Hour became a global phenomenon with over 35 _______________ participating.

In 2014, Earth Hour was celebrated in over 162 countries and over 7000 cities and towns worldwide. The symbolic hour has grown into the world’s largest grassroots movement for the ____________________, insp

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