Lesson Plan: : Listening Comprehension: Talk by Climate Activist, Greta Thunberg

Here is a step-by-step guide to using this lesson plan in the classroom/laboratory. We have suggested these steps as a possible plan of action. You may customize the lesson plan according to your preferences and requirements.

Step 1: Topic introduction and preliminary discussion

1. Begin with an open discussion in your class based on the following questions:
   1. What do you think of climate change?
   2. What do you think of your role as a child/young adult in reducing climate change?
   3. Do you find yourself having different views than your family or friends about climate change?
2. Use a news report, ‘Greta Thunberg: 16-year-old climate activist inspired international youth movement’ by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), to introduce them to Greta Thunberg, the speaker of the recorded TED talk, which is the primary text. Thunberg is one of the most well-known faces in climate activism and is herself of school going age. Discuss her primary achievements, her personal struggles, and her arguments for activism among young adults.

Go to the News Report

Step 2: Listening comprehension and discussion

1. Play the video of Greta Thunberg’s TEDxStockholm talk titled, ‘The disarming case to act right now on climate change’. Allow them to listen to it in its entirety.
2. The recording is about 11 minutes long. Encourage them to listen carefully and try to gather their overall impressions of the speech and speaker, as well as to note down or retain important pieces of information.
3. Then give them a questionnaire, which is based on the video, in print form, to answer on their own as per the instructions for each question.
4. Play the video recording once again so that they can correct their answers. You may spend some time discussing their responses.
5. Then give them a questionnaire, which is based on the video, in print form, to answer on their own as per the instructions for each question.
6. Play the video recording once again so that they can correct their answers. You may spend some time discussing their responses.

Go to the TEDx Video

Go to the Questionnaire

Go to the Answer Key

Step 3: Optional Activity or Homework Assignment

1. Use the link, ‘How to Write informal Letters in English (With Examples)’ by Owlcation.com, to introduce your students to the basic rules of letter writing (salutations, sign off, and structure).
2. Instruct the students to use this format to write a letter (homework assignment) to Greta Thunberg as a response to her talk.
3. To complete this assignment, ask the students to think about climate change and how individuals can change the situation. Direct your students to use their impressions of Thunberg’s speech, coupled with their own ideas about climate change activism and their view of themselves as activists to form the bulk of a letter that they will address to Greta Thunberg.
4. Instruct the students to include the following points in their letters:
   1. their choice of what they found most important in the talk
   2. how they feel about the issue of climate change
   3. what they do (or wish to do) about climate change
5. Thus, this letter writing exercise enables two crucial skills to be tested and reinforced: one, the ability to glean and summarize information from an external source, and two: the ability to articulate one’s thoughts and opinions on an important issue and connect that to the information obtained.

Guideline for writing an informal letter

Use the tools and the concepts learned so far to discuss and determine answers to the following questions:

1. What is significant about Greta Thunberg’s arguments on climate change?
2. Do you also see yourself as a young activist for climate change?
3. What do you do, or would like to do, to counter climate change?

The tools in this lesson plan will enable students to:

1. practice listening comprehension from a spoken text in English
2. learn to catch overt and implied information in a spoken text
3. combine the gleaned information and one’s personal opinions and articulate it in writing
4. practice writing an informal letter as a response to the speech/spoken text
5. integrate a climate science topic with a core topic in English Language

If you or your students would like to explore the topic further, these additional resources will be useful.