Environment & sustainability.
The topic students are tired of hearing about — until you ask them what they would actually give up.
Warm-up · ask three
- What is one thing you do for the environment without thinking about it?
- What is one thing you know you should change and have not?
- Is your city greener than it was five years ago?
05
B2 course unit 5
Environment and Sustainability
These prompts reuse the environment and sustainability vocabulary from Unit 5, so students meet the same ten items in the reading, the workbook and here.
Let’s talk
Discussion questions
Project the generator and let it cold-call a question. Filter by level, then give a student 60 seconds to answer without stopping. Browse the full decks below.
Random question generator
Press “New question” to put one on the board.
Deck 1
Where you live
- How green is the place you live, honestly?B2
- Is there a natural place near you that is worth protecting?B2
- Has the weather where you live changed in your lifetime?B2
- What could your town do tomorrow that would actually help?B2
- Do cities protect nature better than they destroy it?C1
Deck 2
What you do
- What do you recycle, and what do you give up on?B2
- How do you usually travel, and could you change it?B2
- Have you ever bought something because it was sustainable?B2
- Do small individual actions matter, or are they a distraction?C1
- Would you pay more for a product that does less harm?B2
Deck 3
Nature and wildlife
- Why does biodiversity matter to people who live in cities?B2
- Should we bring back species that disappeared — rewilding?B2
- What endangered species would you most want to save, and why?B2
- Is any habitat worth protecting if it costs people their jobs?C1
- Is nature more resilient than we give it credit for?C1
Deck 4
Energy and industry
- Where does the electricity in your home come from?B2
- Is renewable energy realistic for every country?B2
- Should companies be allowed to offset emissions instead of cutting them?C1
- Who should pay for the change — companies, governments or consumers?C1
- Is nuclear power part of the solution or part of the problem?C1
Deck 5
The bigger argument
- Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the next twenty years?B2
- Do young people take this more seriously than older generations?B2
- Should there be limits on how much people can fly?C1
- Is it fair to ask developing countries to grow more slowly?C1
- What would genuinely change your own behavior tomorrow?B2
Talk for longer
Useful language
The words students need to argue about the environment with some precision. Pre-teach a handful, then challenge them to slip three into the discussion or the debate.
Sentence starters
Scaffolding for B2 — finish the sentence about you.
Making a case
Conceding a point
Talking about change
Being realistic
Words & phrases
The unit’s target vocabulary — the same ten items as the workbook.
the variety of living things in a place
“Forests are rich in biodiversity.”
a community of living things and their environment
“A coral reef is a fragile ecosystem.”
restoring nature and letting it manage itself
“Rewilding brought the beavers back.”
a type of animal or plant at risk of dying out
“The lynx was an endangered species.”
the natural home of an animal or plant
“Wetlands are an important habitat.”
the protection of nature and wildlife
“Conservation saved the elephants.”
to grow and do very well
“Wildlife thrives in the new wetland.”
to balance out harm, e.g. emissions
“They offset flights by planting trees.”
energy from sources that don’t run out
“Solar is renewable energy.”
able to recover quickly from difficulty
“Nature is more resilient than we think.”
Environment word bank
Quick words for the debate and the discussion.
Classroom debate
Solution Showdown
Two real environmental measures go head-to-head. Vote, watch the split — then make one student defend the winner and another rescue the loser.
Which would do more good?
Round 1
How to play: Read both measures, take a vote and tap the totals in. Then one student defends the more popular choice, and another argues why the loser still matters. No measure is useless — that is the debate.
Model dialogue
Lena & Ondrej disagree about a plan
Read it together, notice the underlined phrases, then act it out — and finally take on the roles below.
A student council meeting. Two members are drafting a proposal for the school.
If we only do one thing this year, it should protect the meadow behind the school.
The habitat project? It is lovely, but it changes almost nothing.
It changes the biodiversity on our own doorstep.
Compared with the heating bill? We could switch the building to renewable energy.
With what money?
The council has a fund. And nature is more resilient than the meadow project assumes.
That is exactly the argument people use to do nothing.
Fair. But I do not want to offset our impact and call it solved.
Then do both. Small ecosystem, big energy bill.
A meadow where wildlife can actually thrive, and a roof full of solar panels.
And if we find an endangered species out there, the council cannot refuse.
Now that is a proposal. Write it up — I will do the numbers.
Now build a proposal together
Student A - the local activist
Start where you stand
Real change is visible and nearby: the meadow, the recycling, the school garden. If people cannot see it, they will never believe in it.
Student B - the systems thinker
Go where the numbers are
Symbolic projects make people feel good and change little. Energy, transport and buildings are where the real emissions sit.
Your mission
- Each argue for one measure your school should adopt this year.
- Challenge your partner on cost, and answer the same question yourself.
- Agree on one proposal you would both sign.
- Present it to the class in 60 seconds — use at least three phrases from the Useful language section.
Wind down & write
Choose your writing task
Pick one task to finish in class or as homework. Every option pushes the unit vocabulary into writing.
01
Describe one environmental problem in your area and propose a realistic solution.
02
Write a proposal to your school asking for one specific green change.
03
Do individual actions make any difference? Write an opinion piece giving your view.
04
Write an article persuading readers to change one everyday habit.
05
Should richer countries pay for the climate costs of poorer ones? Write an essay.
Exit ticket · 60 seconds
Before you leave
Quick round-the-room close: each student answers in one sentence. A fast way to check the target language landed.
“Name one thing you would genuinely give up — and one you would not.”