Overview

 English for Academic Purposes: Note Making and Summary Writing Using Climate Literature

As a high school or undergraduate English teacher, you can use a climate change related spoken text to help you in teaching note making and summary writing, as part of English for Academic Purposes (EAP). The lesson involves training students to listen to an academic talk carefully, make notes, and then turn the notes into a summary. This talk titled ‘How to Transform Apocalyptic Fatigue into Action on Global Warming’ by Per Espen Stoknes is about climate change communication.

Thus, the use of this lesson plan allows you to integrate the teaching of a climate science topic with a core topic in English Language, English for Academic Purposes (EAP) or Functional English.

Grade Level: High School, Undergraduate
Discipline: Humanities, Functional English, English for Academic Purposes (EAP)
Topics: Note Making Skills, Summary Writing, Climate Change Communication, Rhetorical or Persuasive Strategies in Communication
Climate Topic: Introduction to climate change
Location: Global, England
Languages: English
Access: Online (some material can be downloaded for offline use)
Duration: 80-90 min

Learning outcomes

The tools in this lesson plan will enable students to:

• make notes from a spoken text (video with some visual cues)
• create a summary based on notes
• understand the obstacles in communicating about and engaging with climate change
• discuss strategies for better communication of topics such as climate change