Climate
Change in the English Language Classroom
Education
about climate change is meant to raise awareness of this relevant issue and
foster
creative solutions to it. The integration of material on climate change
educates
students
to deal with the effects of climate change and gives them the tools they need
to
make positive changes towards a more sustainable way of living. Climate change
education
goes beyond simply knowing how to adapt to changing weather patterns.
It
entails broadening up attitude shifts on how climate change might be con-
trolled
and addressing politicians on the need for immediate action to mitigate
climate
change on both national and international levels.
Students
must be knowledgeable about the impacts of climate change, how to
mitigate
those impacts, and ways to lessen their own personal carbon footprint.
As
such, Climate Change Education aids in strengthening the resilience of comm-
unities
that are particularly at risk from climate change's negative impacts.
Incorporating
key sustainable development issues like climate change, disaster
risk
reduction, and others into education in a way that addresses the inter-
dependence
of environmental sustainability, economic viability, and social
justice
is central to the philosophy of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).
Increasing
'climate literacy,' particularly among young people, and helping them
comprehend
the impact of global warming is essential.
Why
bring up climate change in the English classroom?
Education
is now concerned about global development. The necessity to change
And deal
with the unexpected has been more apparent than ever. Training the next
generation
of global leaders to deal effectively with ambiguity and find workable
solutions
to tomorrow's challenges is a necessity. The OECD (2018) suggests that
ecological,
international, and sociological issues are most likely to be at the root
of
such concerns in its study on the state of education in the future. Here is
when
global
warming comes in to play.
Issues
like climate change require students to acquire a wide range of abilities
in
addition to standard English language proficiency. Competencies such as
creativity,
critical thinking, problem solving, and cultural sensitivity are essential.
As learning a language requires us to think
and learn about a wide range of issues,
from
family to space exploration, the language classroom is an appropriate space
for
establishing this broad collection of competences, as shown by studies like
those
conducted by Tuzlukova et al. (2017) and
Liddicoat (2018).
The
question then becomes, how do we integrate climate change into our English
classrooms
if we agree that (a) it is necessary to equip our students with the language,
knowledge, and abilities to engage with
climate change and (b) the language classroom
is one area in which we can accomplish that? A
good resource to look at is the Cambridge
Life
Competencies Framework. We can break down the Social Responsibilities
competency
into its three main areas as follows:
Knowing
one's place in a community and accepting accountability for one's actions
Demonstrating
an awareness of other cultures
Insight
into international problems
Incorporating
work on climate change into students' curriculum strengthens these
fundamental
areas while also preparing them to collaborate effectively in a more
interconnected
and globalized environment. That means they will get an idea of
how
they can help with the battle against climate change, how to accept personal
responsibility
for their part in solving this global problem, and how to answer ques-
tions
as, "What is climate change, and how does it relate to my own life?"
As
awareness of climate change grows around the world, it is crucial to
incorporate it
into
our classes. Incorporating the development of life competences into our lessons
is
most
successful when it is paired with the acquisition of a linguistic competency.
First of
all,
we should pre-teach the vocabulary related to climate change before reading,
listening,
writing or speaking activities. The Cambridge
English Corpus provides a wealth of data that
can be mined for answers to these concerns.
Some useful keywords that may aid our
students
in discussing the concerns, such as climate and environment, come from an
analysis
of a subcorpus of around 300,000 words of data with a climate-change subject.
Interestingly,
carbon- and energy-related words, such as: decarbonisation, Net-zero,
zero-carbon,
low-carbon. Second, put the students age in mind as activities and
teaching
methods differ according to age range. Young learners need more
scaffolding.
Adults
can create products. Third, remember Bloom Taxonomy while preparing your
lesson
and think about how students will reach higher thinking skills.
Here are some helpful resources that can help teachers integrate climate change in their curriculum:
Climate change resources | British Council
Climate change resources for schools | WWF
strange_weather-final-ning.pdf (state.gov)
How to turn your classroom green - BBC Teach
Resources for Teaching About Climate Change With The New York Times - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
For Educators – Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet (nasa.gov)
27 Climate change English ESL worksheets pdf & doc (islcollective.com)
References
Liddicoat,
A.J. (2018). Language teaching and learning as a transdisciplinary
endeavour:
Multilingualism and epistemological diversity. AILA Review, 31 (1), 14-28.
OECD
(2018). The future of education and skills: Education 2030. OECD.
Tuzlukova,
V., Al Busaidi, S., & Burns, S. L. (2017). Critical thinking in the
language
classroom:
Teacher beliefs and methods. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences &
Humanities,
25 (2), 615-634.
