Unit 1 Earth alert!

5.1 GRAMMAR

5.1.1 Present Perfect

• Present Perfect Affirmative:

Short for m	Long for m
I, You ´ve changed	I, You have changed
He, She, It´ s  changed	He, She, It has   changed
We, You, They   ´ve changed	We, You, They have changed

• Present Perfect Negative:

I, You haven´t  changed  (*)

He, She, It  hasn´t  changed (**)

We, You, They    haven´t  changed

  *  haven´t     =         have not

 ** hasn´t        =         has   not

• Present Perfect Questions:

Have I (You) changed ?

Has He (She, It) changed ?

Have We (You, They) changed ?

• We use the Present Perfect to talk about an action that started in the past, when the time period is not finished.

                     Past-----------------                     Now-----------------

   Example: Pollution has caused changes in the climate

• We also use the present perfect to talk about experiences.

   Example: I´ve travelled to the USA.

• The past participle of irregular verbs is usually different from the past simple.

   There are no rules for the formation of irregular verbs. Each verb is different.

5.1.2 Ever and Never  with the present perfect:

 - We use ever in questions to mean at any time in our life up to now.

    Example: Have you ever visited the Amazon?

- We use the negative form never to mean at no time in our life up to now.

    Example: I´ve never seen a great white shark.

 • Check understanding of the Grammar.

5.2 VOCABULARY

5.2.1 Nouns, Adjectives and Verbs

Nouns: 

-        Acid rain

-        Aids

-        Alert

-        Camel

-        Canoe

-        Central heating

-        Change

-        Civilization

-        Climate

-        Competition

-        Consequence

-        Cure

-        Custom

-        Danger

-        Death

-        Disease

-        Ecology

-        Effect

-        Environment

-        Existence

-        Extinction

-        Fauna

-        Flora

 -        Global warming

-        Government

-        Habitatt

-       Rainforest 

-        Recycling

-        Red cross

-        Rubbish

-        Sickness

-        Solution

-        Species

-        Statistic

-        Survival

-        Tent

-        Tonne

-        Tribe

-        Trip

-        Whale

-        Wood

-        (The) World

• Adjectives:

    - Poor

    - Sick

    - Polluted

    - Extinct

    - Hungry

    - Native

    - Poor

    - Sick

    - Polluted

Irregular Verbs	Regular Verbs
- Become      - Break      - Eat      - Find      - Have      - Learn      - Meet      - See      - Speak      - Spend      - Throw	- Cause      - Destroy      - Disappear      - Explain      - Happen      - Increase      - Pollute      - Protect      - Recover      - Survive      - Try

5.3 READING AND LISTENING

5.3.0 Comment the following video

5.3.1 Progress?

The World has changed a lot in the last thousand years, but is it a better place? We asked three young people what they think:

Mary

Yes, I´m sure that the world has changed a lot, but it isn´t better. Our lives are easier, but we don´t think about the consequences of our actions. The Earth is sick because it´s really polluted. Pollution has caused changes in the climate. Also, a lot of animals have become extinct because we haven´t protected them.

Peter

Well, there is some poverty in the world, but I think that our progress in science and  has been technology fantastic. We´ve invented incredible machines – cars, telephones, computers. We´ve also discovered new medicines and. we´ve started to explore space. So, yes, I think that the world is a better place. It´s very exciting, really and I´m optimistic about the future.

John

Yes, the  world is better for some people, but so many people are sick and hungry. I work for the Red Cross: I´ve travelled to some very poor countries and I´ve seen some terrible things. We haven´t found cures for malaria or AIDS, and we´ve tried to find peace, but the world is still a violent place. We haven´t learned from the past. I think that is really sad.

• Activity: Students express their opinions about this question.

• Ask students: Are there any animals in our country which are in danger of extinction?

• Check understanding of the vocabulary.

5.3.2 The Rainforests

Rainforests, or rain forests, are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750 mm and 2000 mm (68 inches to 78 inches).

Rainforests are home to two-thirds of all the living animal and plant species on the planet. It has been estimated that many hundreds of millions of new species of plants, insects and microorganisms are still undiscovered. Tropical rain forests are called the "jewels of the earth", and the "world's largest pharmacy" because of the large amount of natural medicines discovered there. Tropical rain forests are also often called the "Earth's lungs", however there is no scientific basis for such a claim as tropical rainforests are known to be essentially oxygen neutral, with little or no net oxygen production.

The undergrowth in a rainforest is restricted in many areas by the lack of sunlight at ground level. This makes it possible for people and other animals to walk through the forest. If the leaf canopy is destroyed or thinned for any reason, the ground beneath is soon colonized by a dense tangled growth of vines, shrubs and small trees called jungle.

This article is about the rainforest. For more specific information, see Temperate rain forest or Tropical rainforest. For Jenny Diski's novel, see Rainforest (novel).

• Activity: Students read and listen to this article. They can also make some questions about it.

• Activity: Comment the following video

5.4 SPEAKING AND FUNCTIONS

5.4.1 Discussing the Earth´s problems

• Activity: Talk about problems on the planet.

• Activity: Students ask and answer questions about problems on the planet.

• Work in groups. Ask and answer the questions:
 - Is pollution a problem in your area?

- Is your country rich or poor?

- What is AIDS?

 - Will humans become extinct in the future?

 - Do you know the names of any extinct area?

5.4.2 Asking about experiences

• Activity: Students ask and answer questions about their imaginary experiences as explorers.

• Activity: Ask students to imagine that they are explorers.

• Activity: In pairs, students ask each other questions using Ever and Never with the Present Perfect.

Reinforcement text:   

                                                      THE OZONE “HOLE”

For nearly a billion years, ozone molecules in the atmosphere have protected life on Earth from the effects of ultraviolet rays.

Center for Global Environmental Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies Japan

In the past 60 years or so human activity has contributed to the deterioration of the ozone layer. 

Only 10 or less of every million molecules of air are ozone. The majority of these ozone molecules resides in a layer between 10 and 40 kilometers (6 and 25 miles) above the Earth's surface in  the stratosphere.

Each spring in the stratosphere over Antarctica (Spring in the southern hemisphere is from September through November.), atmospheric ozone is rapidly destroyed by chemical processes. 

As winter arrives, a vortex of winds develops around the pole and isolates the polar stratosphere. When temperatures drop below -78°C (-109°F), thin clouds form of ice, nitric acid, and sulphuric acid mixtures. Chemical reactions on the surfaces of ice crystals in the clouds release active forms of CFCs. Ozone depletion begins, and the ozone “hole” appears. 

Over the course of two to three months, approximately 50% of the total column amount of ozone in the atmosphere disappears. At some levels, the losses approach 90%. This has come to be called the Antarctic ozone hole.

In spring, temperatures begin to rise, the ice evaporates, and the ozone layer starts to recover.

The Antarctic ozone hole was discovered in 1985 by British scientists Joesph Farman, Brian Gardiner, and Jonathan Shanklin of the British Antarctic Survey.

The ozone "hole" is really a reduction in concentrations of ozone high above the earth in the stratosphere. The ozone hole is defined geographically as the area wherein the total ozone amount is less than 220 Dobson Units. The ozone hole has steadily grown in size (up to 27 million sq. km.) and length of existence (from August through early December) over the past two decades.

After a series of rigorous meetings and negotiations, the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was finally agreed upon on 16 september 1987 at the Headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal. 

NASA/NOAA satellite data showing the rise in stratospheric chlorine and corresponding decline in ozone layer thickness from 1979 to 1997. As stratospheric chlorine declined in response to enactment of the Montreal Protocol, the first stage of ozone recovery began.

The Montreal Protocol stipulates that the production and consumption of compounds that deplete ozone in the stratosphere--chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), halons, carbon tetrachloride, and methyl chloroform--are to be phased out by 2000 (2005 for methyl chloroform). Scientific theory and evidence suggest that, once emitted to the atmosphere, these compounds could significantly deplete the stratospheric ozone layer that shields the planet from damaging UV-B radiation. 

Man-made chlorines, primarily chloroflourobcarbons (CFCs), contribute to the thinning of the ozone layer and allow larger quantities of harmful ultraviolet rays to reach the earth.

5.5 WRITING

5.5.1 Punctuation rules

1)     Question mark

       We use this at the end of a question, but not at the beginning of a question.

       Example: Are people destroying the rainforest?

                  

2)     Exclamation mark

                         

       We use this at the end of an exclamation, but not at the
       beginning of an exclamation.

       Example: Fantastic prizes!

3)     Full stop

                          

       We use this at the end of a sentence.

       Example: Our climate is changing.

                          

4)     Comma

                         

       We use this with lists and to indicate pauses in sentences.

       Example: Its ecology, its peoples and its problems.

5.5.2 A Letter

1)   Opening a letter. Usually forms are…

Dear John

Dear Mrs Jameson

Dear Sir

Dear Madam

Dear Sir or Madam

Dear Sir/Madam

Dear Sirs

                                                         

2)   Closing a letter. Usually forms are…

Sincerely yours (USA)

Yours faithfully (UK)

Best wishes

Regards

Yours (UK)

                                                                

• Exercise: Imagine that you have won a Holiday in the Amazon.
Write a Letter or a Postcard to a friend using the correct punctuation.

• Activity: Describe a competition prize for your country.

                  Examples: - Visit the Amazing Doñana National Park!

                                   - Travel by …

6 PRONUNCIATION AND STUDY SKILLS

5.6.1 Past Participle endings: /d/

• Read and repeat (visit http://www.wordreference.com/es/  to learn the pronunciation):

-        Cause – Caused

-        Change – Changed

-        Destroy – Destroyed

-        Disappear – Disappeared

-        Explain – Explained

-        Explore – Explored

-        Happen – Happened

-        Increase – Increased

-        Investigate  – Investigated

-        Live – Lived

-        Pollute  – Polluted

-        Protect – Protected

-        Recover – Recovered

-        Recycle – Recycled

-        Save  –  Saved

-        Stay – Stayed

-        Survive – Survived

-        Travel – Travelled

-        Try –  Tried

-        Use – Used

    

• Do you appreciate the difference? Pay special attention to the next verbs:

1     Live / Lived                        

2     Stay / Stayed

3     Use / Used                

4    Travel / Travelled

5.6.2 Learning irregular verbs

Infmitive	Past simple	Past participle
be	was / were	been
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
bite	bit	bitten
break	broke	broken
bring	brought	brought
build	built	built
burn	burnc, burned	burnt, burned
buy	bought	bought
can	eonld	-
caccb	caught	cauglit
cboose	chose	c lióse 11
come	carne	come
cost	cost	cost
cut	cut	cut
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
dream	d rea mi	dream t
drink	drank	Jiuiik
drive	drove	driven
eat	ale	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feed	fed	fed
feel	felt	felt
fight	foughi	fought
find	found	found
fly	flew	flown
forget	foigo t	forgo t ten
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	got
get up	got up	got up
give	gave	given
go	went	been / gone
grow	grew	grown
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
lude	liid	hidden
hit	h,t	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kepi
know	knew	known

learn	learnt, learned	learnt, learned
Ieave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
pay	paid	paid
put	put	put
read	read	read
ride	rodé	ridden
ring	rang	rung
run	ran	run
say	N.1KÍ	said
see	saw	seen
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
shine	shone	shone
shoot	shot	shot
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
speak	spoke	spoken
spell	spelt	spelt
spend	spend	spent
split up	split up	split up
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
swi m	swani	swum
swing	SU'Ullg	swung
take	took	raken
teach	taught	taught
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
throw	tlirew	chrown
understand	understood	understood
uake	woke	woken
wear	u'ore	worn
win	won	won
write	wrote	writren