The Panama Canal is a very important water path that ships use to move things from one place to another. But now, it doesn’t have enough water because it hasn’t rained much. This is bad because the canal needs rainwater to work. Because there’s not enough water, fewer ships can go through, and they can’t carry as much stuff. This is causing problems for people and businesses all around the world who rely on these ships.

To fix this, the people in charge of the canal are planning to spend a lot of money on projects to save water. They want to use water over again, save more rainwater, and even make fresh water from the sea. They are also thinking about ways to make it rain more. But these ideas will take time and money to start working. Everyone is hoping it will rain soon so more ships can go through, but they know they need to find a good way to make sure the canal can keep working in the future.

Original news source: Can the Panama Canal save itself? (BBC)

🎧 Listen:

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📖 Vocabulary:

Group or Classroom Activities

Warm-up Activities:

– Charades
Instructions: Divide the class into small groups. Give each group a word or phrase related to the article (e.g. Panama Canal, rainwater, ships). One person from each group must act out the word or phrase without speaking, and the rest of the group must guess what it is. The group that guesses correctly gets a point. Repeat with different words or phrases.

– News Summary
Instructions: Have the students read the article individually or in small groups. Then, ask them to write a short summary of the main points of the article in their own words. Afterward, have a class discussion where students share their summaries and compare them to check for understanding.

– Opinion Poll
Instructions: Ask students to work in pairs or small groups. Have them discuss and answer questions related to the article, such as “Do you think it’s important to have a functioning Panama Canal? Why or why not?” or “What do you think are some possible solutions to the water shortage problem?” Afterward, have a few groups share their opinions with the class.

– Vocabulary Pictionary
Instructions: Write down key vocabulary words from the article on separate pieces of paper or on the whiteboard. Divide the class into two teams. Call out a word and one person from each team must draw a quick picture of the word on the board. The rest of their team must guess what the word is. The team that guesses correctly gets a point. Repeat with different words.

– Future Predictions
Instructions: Have a class discussion about the future of the Panama Canal. Ask students to make predictions about what might happen if the water shortage problem isn’t solved, or what could be the possible outcomes if the proposed solutions are successful. Encourage students to use vocabulary and phrases from the article to support their predictions.

🤔 Comprehension Questions:

1. What is the Panama Canal?
2. Why is it a problem that the canal doesn’t have enough water?
3. How are the people in charge of the canal planning to save water?
4. Why is it important for more ships to be able to go through the canal?
5. What are some ways the people in charge of the canal are thinking about making it rain more?
6. Why is it taking time and money for these ideas to start working?
7. What are people hoping for so that more ships can go through the canal?
Go to answers ⇩

🎧✍️ Listen and Fill in the Gaps:

The Panama Canal is a very important water path that ships use to move things from one (1)______ to another. But now, it doesn’t have (2)______ water because it hasn’t rained much. This is bad because the canal needs rainwater to work. Because there’s not enough (3)______, fewer ships can go through, and they can’t carry as (4)______ stuff. This is causing problems for people and businesses all around the world who rely on these ships.

To fix this, the people in charge of the canal are (5)______ to spend a lot of money on (6)______ to save water. They want to use water over again, save more rainwater, and even make fresh water from the sea. They are also thinking about ways to make it rain more. But these ideas will take time and (7)______ to (8)______ working. Everyone is hoping it will rain soon so more ships can go through, but they know they need to find a good way to make sure the canal can keep working in the future.
Go to answers ⇩

💬 Discussion Questions:

Students can ask a partner these questions, or discuss them as a group.

1. What is the Panama Canal?
2. How would you feel if you couldn’t go through the Panama Canal because there wasn’t enough water?
3. Do you like ships? Why or why not?
4. Do you think it’s important to save water? Why or why not?
5. How do you think the people in charge of the canal can save more rainwater?
6. What do you think about the idea of making fresh water from the sea?
7. How do you think they can make it rain more?
8. Why do you think it’s important for the canal to keep working?
9. Have you ever seen a ship? What did it look like?
10. What do you think people and businesses will do if the canal can’t work anymore?
11. How do you think people will feel if the canal can’t work anymore?
12. What would you do if you were in charge of the Panama Canal?

Individual Activities

📖💭 Vocabulary Meanings:

Match each word to its meaning.

Words:
1. important
2. ships
3. rainwater
4. projects
5. fresh
6. sea
7. planning
8. rely
9. problems
10. future

Meanings:
(A) Time that is coming, not now but later
(B) Water that falls from the sky when it rains
(C) Needing someone or something to help or support
(D) Clean and new
(E) Big boats that carry things across water
(F) Things that are not good and make us worry
(G) Big tasks or work that people want to do
(H) Something that is very special or needed a lot
(I) Thinking and making plans for what to do next
(J) A huge area of salty water
Go to answers ⇩

🔡 Multiple Choice Questions:

1. What is the Panama Canal?
(a) A road for cars
(b) A park for playing
(c) A water path for ships
(d) A building for living

2. Why is there a problem with the Panama Canal?
(a) There hasn’t been much rain
(b) There are too many ships
(c) The water is too dirty
(d) The canal is broken

3. What do ships need to go through the canal?
(a) Food
(b) Water
(c) Gasoline
(d) Clothes

4. What are the people in charge of the canal planning to do?
(a) Close the canal forever
(b) Spend money to save water
(c) Build more ships
(d) Move the canal to a different place

5. What are some ideas to save water?
(a) Use more water
(b) Waste water
(c) Sell water to other countries
(d) Use water over again

6. What are some ideas to make it rain more?
(a) They can’t do anything
(b) They will pray for rain
(c) They are thinking about it
(d) They will build a big fan to blow clouds

7. What are people hoping for?
(a) Rain
(b) Snow
(c) Sun
(d) Wind

8. Why is it important to find a good way to keep the canal working?
(a) So people can swim in the canal
(b) So people can play in the canal
(c) So people can build houses near the canal
(d) So ships can keep going through

Go to answers ⇩

🕵️ True or False Questions:

1. The people in charge of the canal want to save water and make fresh water from the sea.
2. If there’s enough water, more ships can go through.
3. They want to make sure the canal can keep working in the future.
4. The canal has plenty of water because it has rained a lot.
5. The Panama Canal is a special path for ships to move things.
6. Nobody is concerned about rainfall, as plenty of ships can already go through.
7. They are not looking for a way to make it rain less.
8. These ideas will take time and money to start working.
Go to answers ⇩

📝 Write a Summary:

Write a summary of this news article in two sentences.

Writing Questions:

Answer the following questions. Write as much as you can for each answer.

1. Why is the Panama Canal important?
2. Why is it bad that the canal doesn’t have enough water?
3. What are the people in charge of the canal planning to do to fix the problem?
4. Why is it important to save water?
5. What are people hoping for so that more ships can go through the canal?

✅ Answers

🤔✅ Comprehension Question Answers:

1. What is the Panama Canal?
The Panama Canal is a water path that ships use to move things from one place to another.

2. Why is it a problem that the canal doesn’t have enough water?
It’s a problem because the canal needs water to work. If there’s not enough water, fewer ships can go through and they can’t carry as much stuff.

3. How are the people in charge of the canal planning to save water?
They want to use water over again, save more rainwater, and even make fresh water from the sea.

4. Why is it important for more ships to be able to go through the canal?
It’s important because people and businesses all around the world rely on these ships to move things from one place to another.

5. What are some ways the people in charge of the canal are thinking about making it rain more?
They are thinking about ways to make it rain more, but they haven’t said exactly how they will do it.

6. Why is it taking time and money for these ideas to start working?
It takes time and money because they need to plan and build the projects to save water. It also takes time for the rain to come.

7. What are people hoping for so that more ships can go through the canal?
People are hoping for rain so that more ships can go through the canal.
Go back to questions ⇧

🎧✍️✅ Listen and Fill in the Gaps Answers:

(1) place
(2) enough
(3) water
(4) much
(5) planning
(6) projects
(7) money
(8) start
Go back to questions ⇧

📖💭✅ Vocabulary Meanings Answers:

1. important
Answer: (H) Something that is very special or needed a lot

2. ships
Answer: (E) Big boats that carry things across water

3. rainwater
Answer: (B) Water that falls from the sky when it rains

4. projects
Answer: (G) Big tasks or work that people want to do

5. fresh
Answer: (D) Clean and new

6. sea
Answer: (J) A huge area of salty water

7. planning
Answer: (I) Thinking and making plans for what to do next

8. rely
Answer: (C) Needing someone or something to help or support

9. problems
Answer: (F) Things that are not good and make us worry

10. future
Answer: (A) Time that is coming, not now but later
Go back to questions ⇧

🔡✅ Multiple Choice Answers:

1. What is the Panama Canal?
Answer: (c) A water path for ships

2. Why is there a problem with the Panama Canal?
Answer: (a) There hasn’t been much rain

3. What do ships need to go through the canal?
Answer: (b) Water

4. What are the people in charge of the canal planning to do?
Answer: (b) Spend money to save water

5. What are some ideas to save water?
Answer: (d) Use water over again

6. What are some ideas to make it rain more?
Answer: (c) They are thinking about it

7. What are people hoping for?
Answer: (a) Rain

8. Why is it important to find a good way to keep the canal working?
Answer: (d) So ships can keep going through
Go back to questions ⇧

🕵️✅ True or False Answers:

1. The people in charge of the canal want to save water and make fresh water from the sea. (Answer: True)
2. If there’s enough water, more ships can go through. (Answer: False)
3. They want to make sure the canal can keep working in the future. (Answer: True)
4. The canal has plenty of water because it has rained a lot. (Answer: False)
5. The Panama Canal is a special path for ships to move things. (Answer: True)
6. Nobody is concerned about rainfall, as plenty of ships can already go through. (Answer: False)
7. They are not looking for a way to make it rain less. (Answer: False)
8. These ideas will take time and money to start working. (Answer: True)
Go back to questions ⇧