People in Asia are coming up with new ways to help the Earth. One group in India made special dryers to help farmers save food that might go bad. This helps the farmers make money and is better for the air. Asia has many problems because of the weather changing, but many people are trying to fix these problems.
Another winner from Hong Kong has made a better battery for electric cars. They will use the prize money to make more batteries and sell them in other places. A group called WildAid is fighting against people fishing in the wrong way and hurting the ocean. A man named Aadith Moorthy is helping farmers grow more kinds of plants. The Earthshot Prize wants to make people and governments care more about keeping the Earth clean.
The Earthshot Prize is happy about the good ideas from Asia for helping the environment. Asia uses a lot of energy, so it’s important they find ways to stop hurting the Earth. The people who give the Earthshot Prize hope it will make more people and countries want to help. The winners show us that anyone, anywhere, can come up with great ideas to make the world better.
Original news source: Earthshot Prize: Asia leads the way in quest to repair planet (BBC)
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Group or Classroom Activities
Warm-up Activities:
– News Reporter Role-play
Instructions: Students are divided into pairs. One student is the news reporter, and the other is an expert on environmental innovations in Asia. The reporter interviews the expert about the new inventions and initiatives mentioned in the article, such as the special dryers in India, the better batteries for electric cars, and WildAid’s efforts. After the role-play, they switch roles.
– Sketch It
Instructions: In small groups, students are given a term or concept from the article (e.g., “dryers,” “electric cars,” “farming diversity”). Each group has a few minutes to draw a representation of their assigned term without writing any words. Other groups then guess what the term is based on the drawings.
– Vocabulary Pictionary
Instructions: Write down key vocabulary from the article on individual slips of paper (e.g., “save,” “better,” “fishing,” “grow,” “clean”). Students take turns picking a slip and drawing the word for their classmates to guess. The student who guesses correctly gets to draw next.
– Opinion Spectrum
Instructions: Clear a space in the classroom and create an imaginary line. One end represents ‘strongly agree’, the other ‘strongly disagree’. Read out statements related to the article (e.g., “Electric cars are the future of transportation,” “It’s important to support farmers in using sustainable practices”). Students place themselves along the line based on their opinion and discuss why they chose their position.
– Future Predictions
Instructions: Students think about the environmental issues presented in the article and work in small groups to make predictions about the future. They can use structures like “will,” “going to,” and “might” to discuss what changes they think will happen in the next decade regarding environmental technology and conservation efforts. Each group shares their predictions with the class.
Comprehension Questions:
1. What did a group in India create to help farmers save food?
2. Why is it good for farmers to save food that might go bad?
3. What is the person from Hong Kong doing with the prize money?
4. What is WildAid fighting against?
5. How is Aadith Moorthy helping farmers?
6. What does the Earthshot Prize want people and governments to do?
7. Why is it important for Asia to find new ways to help the Earth?
Go to answers ⇩
Listen and Fill in the Gaps:
People in (1)______ are coming up with new ways to (2)______ the Earth. One group in India (3)______ special dryers to help farmers save food that might go bad. This helps the farmers make money and is better for the air. Asia has many problems because of the weather changing, but many people are (4)______ to fix these (5)______.
Another winner from (6)______ Kong has made a better battery for electric cars. They will use the prize money to make more batteries and sell them in other places. A group called WildAid is fighting against people fishing in the wrong way and hurting the (7)______. A man named Aadith Moorthy is helping farmers grow more (8)______ of plants. The (9)______shot Prize wants to make people and governments care more about keeping the Earth clean.
The Earthshot Prize is happy about the good ideas from Asia for helping the environment. Asia uses a lot of energy, so it’s (10)______ they find ways to stop hurting the Earth. The people who give the Earthshot Prize hope it will (11)______ more people and (12)______ want to help. The winners show us that anyone, anywhere, can come up with great ideas to make the world better.
Go to answers ⇩
Discussion Questions:
Students can ask a partner these questions, or discuss them as a group.
1. What is a prize you have won before?
2. How would you feel if you won a prize for helping the Earth?
3. Do you like the idea of making special dryers for farmers? Why or why not?
4. Have you ever seen food go bad? What happened?
5. What do you think about using electric cars instead of cars that use gas?
6. Can you think of a way to help the Earth that you can do in your town?
7. Do you know what it means to fish in the wrong way? Why is it bad?
8. Have you ever planted anything? What did you grow?
9. Why do you think it’s important to grow more kinds of plants?
10. What is something you can do to keep the Earth clean?
11. Do you think it’s a good idea to give money to people who help the environment? Why or why not?
12. Do you believe that kids can come up with good ideas to help the Earth? Can you think of any?
Individual Activities
Vocabulary Meanings:
Match each word to its meaning.
Words:
1. Earthshot
2. Asia
3. farmers
4. battery
5. prize
6. environment
7. energy
8. winners
Meanings:
(a) The continent where many countries are located
(b) A device that stores and provides electricity
(c) The natural world around us, including plants and animals
(d) People who have been successful in a competition
(e) Something you win for doing something well
(f) A special award for good ideas
(g) People who grow food on a farm
(h) The power that makes things work
Go to answers ⇩
Multiple Choice Questions:
1. What are people in Asia doing to help the Earth?
(a) Ignoring the problems caused by changing weather
(b) Coming up with new ways to fix problems caused by changing weather
(c) Making the weather change even more
(d) Moving to a different continent
2. What did a group in India make to help farmers save food?
(a) Special refrigerators
(b) Special ovens
(c) Special dryers
(d) Special washing machines
3. How does using the special dryers help the farmers?
(a) It makes their food go bad faster
(b) It helps them lose money and is worse for the air
(c) It has no effect on their money or the air
(d) It helps them make money and is better for the air
4. What did a winner from Hong Kong make for electric cars?
(a) A better engine
(b) A better steering wheel
(c) A better battery
(d) A better horn
5. What will the winner do with the prize money?
(a) Buy a new car
(b) Make more batteries and sell them in other places
(c) Go on vacation
(d) Give the money to charity
6. What is WildAid fighting against?
(a) People fishing in the wrong way and hurting the ocean
(b) People fishing in the right way and helping the ocean
(c) People farming in the wrong way and hurting the ocean
(d) People farming in the right way and helping the ocean
7. Who is helping farmers grow more kinds of plants?
(a) WildAid
(b) The Earthshot Prize
(c) The group in India
(d) Aadith Moorthy
8. What does The Earthshot Prize hope to do?
(a) Make more people and countries want to help the Earth
(b) Make more people and countries want to hurt the Earth
(c) Make more people and countries want to ignore the Earth
(d) Make more people and countries want to leave the Earth
Go to answers ⇩
True or False Questions:
1. The special dryers made by a group in India help farmers save food that might go bad, which is good for the air and helps the farmers make money.
2. People in Asia are not finding new ways to help the Earth, like making special dryers to save food and making better batteries for electric cars.
3. A group called WildAid is fighting against people who fish in the wrong way and hurt the ocean.
4. Aadith Moorthy is helping farmers grow more kinds of plants.
5. Asia does not use a lot of energy, so it’s not important for them to find ways to stop hurting the Earth.
6. The winners of the Earthshot Prize do not show that anyone, anywhere can come up with great ideas to make the world better.
7. The Earthshot Prize wants to make people and governments care more about keeping the Earth clean.
8. The Earthshot Prize is not happy about the good ideas from Asia for helping the environment.
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. What did a group in India create to help farmers?
2. What does the special dryer in India do for the farmers?
3. What is the person from Hong Kong doing to help electric cars?
4. Who is WildAid and what are they trying to stop?
5. What is the Earthshot Prize trying to make people and governments do?
Answers
Comprehension Question Answers:
1. What did a group in India create to help farmers save food?
The group in India made special dryers for farmers to save food from going bad.
2. Why is it good for farmers to save food that might go bad?
It helps farmers make more money and it’s also better for the air.
3. What is the person from Hong Kong doing with the prize money?
They will use the prize money to make more batteries for electric cars and sell them in different places.
4. What is WildAid fighting against?
WildAid is fighting against people who are fishing in the wrong way and hurting the ocean.
5. How is Aadith Moorthy helping farmers?
Aadith Moorthy is helping farmers grow more types of plants.
6. What does the Earthshot Prize want people and governments to do?
The Earthshot Prize wants people and governments to care more about keeping the Earth clean.
7. Why is it important for Asia to find new ways to help the Earth?
It’s important because Asia uses a lot of energy, so they need to find ways to stop hurting the Earth.
Go back to questions ⇧
Listen and Fill in the Gaps Answers:
(1) Asia
(2) help
(3) made
(4) trying
(5) problems
(6) Hong
(7) ocean
(8) kinds
(9) Earth
(10) important
(11) make
(12) countries
Go back to questions ⇧
Vocabulary Meanings Answers:
1. Earthshot
Answer: (f) A special award for good ideas
2. Asia
Answer: (a) The continent where many countries are located
3. farmers
Answer: (g) People who grow food on a farm
4. battery
Answer: (b) A device that stores and provides electricity
5. prize
Answer: (e) Something you win for doing something well
6. environment
Answer: (c) The natural world around us, including plants and animals
7. energy
Answer: (h) The power that makes things work
8. winners
Answer: (d) People who have been successful in a competition
Go back to questions ⇧
Multiple Choice Answers:
1. What are people in Asia doing to help the Earth?
Answer: (b) Coming up with new ways to fix problems caused by changing weather
2. What did a group in India make to help farmers save food?
Answer: (c) Special dryers
3. How does using the special dryers help the farmers?
Answer: (d) It helps them make money and is better for the air
4. What did a winner from Hong Kong make for electric cars?
Answer: (c) A better battery
5. What will the winner do with the prize money?
Answer: (b) Make more batteries and sell them in other places
6. What is WildAid fighting against?
Answer: (a) People fishing in the wrong way and hurting the ocean
7. Who is helping farmers grow more kinds of plants?
Answer: (d) Aadith Moorthy
8. What does The Earthshot Prize hope to do?
Answer: (a) Make more people and countries want to help the Earth
Go back to questions ⇧
True or False Answers:
1. The special dryers made by a group in India help farmers save food that might go bad, which is good for the air and helps the farmers make money. (Answer: True)
2. People in Asia are not finding new ways to help the Earth, like making special dryers to save food and making better batteries for electric cars. (Answer: False)
3. A group called WildAid is fighting against people who fish in the wrong way and hurt the ocean. (Answer: True)
4. Aadith Moorthy is helping farmers grow more kinds of plants. (Answer: True)
5. Asia does not use a lot of energy, so it’s not important for them to find ways to stop hurting the Earth. (Answer: False)
6. The winners of the Earthshot Prize do not show that anyone, anywhere can come up with great ideas to make the world better. (Answer: False)
7. The Earthshot Prize wants to make people and governments care more about keeping the Earth clean. (Answer: True)
8. The Earthshot Prize is not happy about the good ideas from Asia for helping the environment. (Answer: False)
Go back to questions ⇧
