Australia to dump sludge in Great Barrier Reef

Australia to dump sludge in Great Barrier Reef (4th February, 2014)

The Reading / Listening - Level 4

Australia has OK'd a plan to dump 3 million cubic meters of sludge in the Great Barrier Reef. The mud will come from widening a coal port on the nearby coast. Australia's Environment Minister gave the go-ahead. Environmentalists are angry about the possible damage. They say it is shocking that profits are put ahead of such an important marine environment. Authorities say the sludge will not be dumped on top of any coral.

The reef is the world's largest and most famous coral reef system. It stretches 2,600km and covers around 344,400 square kilometres. It gets special protection to limit damage from fishing and tourism. Climate change is bleaching and killing the coral. The reef creates $3 billion a year from tourism. Greenpeace said the dumping, "is one more body blow…which further threatens marine life". The WWF said it was "a sad day" for the reef and its future.

Try the same news story at these levels:

Level 5 or Level 6

Sources

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/31/world/asia/great-barrier-reef-dump-approved/
http://www.smh.com.au/national/grief-for-great-barrier-reef-say-environmentalists-20140131-31sjj.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Barrier_Reef

Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice, drag and drop activities, crosswords, hangman, flash cards, matching activities and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

The Activities

MATCHING

PARAGRAPH ONE:

1.	Australia has OK'd	a.	on the nearby coast
2.	3 million cubic	b.	environment
3.	widening a coal port	c.	meters of sludge
4.	Australia's Environment Minister gave	d.	on top of any coral
5.	such an important marine	e.	a plan
6.	the sludge will not be dumped	f.	the go-ahead

MY e-BOOK

ESL resource book with copiable worksheets and handouts - 1,000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers / English teachers

See a sample

PARAGRAPH TWO:

1.	coral reef	a.	and tourism
2.	344,400 square	b.	blow
3.	limit damage from fishing	c.	system
4.	Climate change is bleaching	d.	and its future
5.	one more body	e.	kilometres
6.	a sad day for the reef	f.	and killing the coral

LISTEN AND FILL IN THE GAPS

Australia has OK'd (1) ___________________ 3 million cubic meters of sludge in the Great Barrier Reef. The mud will (2) ___________________ a coal port (3) ___________________. Australia's Environment Minister gave the go-ahead. Environmentalists (4) ___________________ possible damage. They say it is (5) ___________________ are put ahead of such an important marine environment. Authorities say the sludge will not be dumped (6) ___________________.

The reef is the world's (7) ___________________ famous coral reef system. It stretches 2,600km (8) ___________________ 344,400 square kilometres. It gets special protection (9) ___________________ fishing and tourism. Climate change is (10) ___________________ the coral. The reef creates $3 billion a year from tourism. Greenpeace said the dumping, "is one more (11) ___________________ threatens marine life". The WWF said it was "a sad day" for (12) ___________________.

OCEANS SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about the oceans in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper.

When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.

Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.

Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

WRITE QUESTIONS & ASK YOUR PARTNER(S)

Student A: Do not show these to your speaking partner(s).

a)	________________________________________________________
b)	________________________________________________________
c)	________________________________________________________
d)	________________________________________________________
e)	________________________________________________________
f)	________________________________________________________
g)	________________________________________________________
h)	________________________________________________________

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Student B: Do not show these to your speaking partner(s).

a)	________________________________________________________
b)	________________________________________________________
c)	________________________________________________________
d)	________________________________________________________
e)	________________________________________________________
f)	________________________________________________________
g)	________________________________________________________
h)	________________________________________________________

FREE WRITING

Write about the ocean for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner's paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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