Ecotourism – Breaking News English Lesson – ESL

WARM-UPS

1. ECOTOURISM: Students walk around the class and talk to other students about ecotourism. Change partners often and share your findings.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, talk about these topics or words from the article. What will the article say about them? What can you say about these words and your life?

 

ecotourism / booming / helpful / natural areas / rare species / journal / habitat / endanger / human presence / cautious / at risk / mortality / essential / situations

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. TOURISM: Complete this table with your partners and share what you wrote. Change partners often.

 

What is it?

How much I would like it

Why?

Ecotourism

 

 

 

Space tourism

 

 

 

Medical tourism

 

 

 

Educational tourism

 

 

 

Sports tourism

 

 

 

Sustainable tourism

 

 

 

4. NO-GO AREAS: Students A strongly believe large parts of the earth’s natural areas should become no-go areas for humans; Students B strongly believe otherwise.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. ANIMALS: Rank these with your partner. Put the best animals to see in the wild at the top. Change partners often and share your rankings.

  • koala

  • panda

  • whale

  • leopard

  • elephant

  • python

  • Galapagos turtle

  • polar bear

6. NATURE: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word “nature”. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if  a-h  below are true (T) or false (F).

a.

The article says the ecotourism business is booming.

T / F

b.

A new report describes the benefits of ecotourism for nature.

T / F

c.

The report said that ecotourism helps nature more than it harms it.

T / F

d.

The report wrote about how tourists totally stopped turtles laying eggs.

T / F

e.

The report says animals are becoming bolder because of humans.

T / F

f.

Animals are more at risk from predators because of humans.

T / F

g.

The report says animals become more guarded when they see humans.

T / F

h.

The report called for research into how humans put animals at risk.

T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

1.

cite

a.

interfering with

2.

pristine

b.

thorough

3.

disrupting

c.

gathered

4.

problems

d.

more confident

5.

congregated

e.

imperil

6.

bolder

f.

refer to

7.

endanger

g.

exact

8.

cautious

h.

difficulties

9.

comprehensive

i.

unspoilt

10.

precise

j.

wary

3. PHRASE MATCH:  (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.

Ecotourism is a booming

a.

understanding

2.

protected and

b.

species

3.

rare

c.

habitat

4.

animals in their natural

d.

habits

5.

watch the turtles’ nesting

e.

at risk

6.

ecotourism is making animals

f.

business

7.

they may let down their

g.

conditions

8.

develop a more comprehensive

h.

bolder

9.

precise

i.

pristine natural areas

10.

human exposure might put them

j.

guard

GAP FILL

Ecotourism is a booming business that many tour (1) ____________ cite as being helpful to nature. Every year, millions of people descend on protected and (2) ____________ natural areas to observe rare species. However, a new report casts (3) ____________ on the value of this form of tourism. In fact, it (4) ____________ that ecotourism is more damaging than helpful to nature. Details are in a report (5) ____________ in the journal ‘Trends in Ecology and Evolution’. Researchers believe tourists are (6) ____________ animals in their natural habitat. They pointed to a recent event where sea turtles in Costa Rica had problems laying their eggs because of the (7) ____________ of tourists who had congregated to watch the turtles’ nesting (8) ____________.

 

 

doubt
operators
published
hordes
suggests
habits
pristine
disrupting

The report says that ecotourism is making animals (9) ____________ and that this could (10) ____________ the animals. A regular human presence might make animals tamer and less (11) ____________ about other animals around them, and this could put them at risk of being attacked by their natural threats. “Then they will suffer higher (12) ____________ when they encounter real (13) ____________,” the report says. It added: “When animals (14) ____________ in ‘benign’ ways with humans, they may let down their guard.” The report said it was essential, “to develop a more (15) ____________ understanding of how different species in different situations respond to human visitation and under what precise conditions human (16) ____________ might put them at risk.”

 

predators
endanger
comprehensive
cautious
bolder
exposure
interact
mortality

 

LISTENING – Guess the answers. Listen to check.

1)

Ecotourism is a booming business that many tour operators cite as being ______

 

a.  helpless to nature

b.  hippest to nature

c.  helpful to nature

d.  hapless to nature

2)

people descend on protected and pristine natural areas to ______

 

a.  observe rarely species

b.  observe reared species

c.  observe raring species

d.  observe rare species

3)

a new report casts doubt on the value of this ______

 

a.  forms of tourism

b.  form of tourism

c.  formed of tourism

d.  former of tourism

4)

Researchers believe tourists are disrupting animals in ______

 

a.  their natural habitats

b.  their natural habitation

c.  their natural habitual

d.  their natural habitat

5)

the hordes of tourists who had congregated to watch the turtles’ ______

 

a.  nested habits

b.  nesting habits

c.  nest in habits

d.  nest tin habits

6)

ecotourism is making animals bolder and that this could ______

 

a.  endanger the animals

b.  endangers the animals

c.  endangered the animals

d.  endangering the animals

7)

A regular human presence might make animals tamer ______

 

a.  and less cautious

b.  and less caution

c.  and less causes

d.  and less caustic

8)

they will suffer higher mortality when they encounter ______

 

a.  real predators

b.  reality predators

c.  really predator

d.  real predator

9)

When animals interact in ‘benign’ ways with humans, they may let ______

 

a.  down their grade

b.  down their gourd

c.  down their geared

d.  down their guard

10)

under what precise conditions human exposure might ______

 

a.  put them to risk

b.  put them by risk

c.  put them on risk

d.  put them at risk

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

Ecotourism (1) ___________________ business that many tour operators (2) ___________________ helpful to nature. Every year, millions of people descend on protected (3) ___________________ areas to observe rare species. However, a new report (4) ___________________ the value of this form of tourism. In fact, it suggests that ecotourism is more damaging than helpful to nature. Details are in a report published in the journal ‘Trends in Ecology and Evolution’. Researchers believe tourists (5) ___________________ animals in their natural habitat. They pointed to a recent event where sea turtles in Costa Rica had problems laying their eggs because of the hordes of tourists (6) ___________________ to watch the turtles’ nesting habits.

The report says that ecotourism is making (7) ___________________ and that this could endanger the animals. A regular human presence might make animals tamer (8) ___________________ about other animals around them, and this could put them at risk of being attacked (9) ___________________. “Then they will suffer higher mortality when they encounter real predators,” the report says. It added: “When (10) ___________________ ‘benign’ ways with humans, they may let down their guard.” The report said it was essential, “to (11) ___________________ comprehensive understanding of how different species in different situations respond to human visitation and under what precise conditions human exposure might (12) ___________________.”

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1.

What adjective did the article use to say ecotourism was doing well?

2.

How many people visit pristine natural areas every year?

3.

What is ‘Trends in Ecology and Evolution’?

4.

In which country did the article say turtles were laying eggs?

5.

What did people gather to watch?

6.

What did the article say ecotourism is doing to animals’ confidence?

7.

What kind of presence makes the animals tamer?

8.

What might the animals encounter that could put them at risk?

9.

What did the article say animals let down when they are near humans?

10.

What does the last sentence say human exposure does to animals?

MULTIPLE CHOICE – QUIZ

1.

What adjective did the article use to say ecotourism was doing well?

6.

What did the article say ecotourism is doing to animals confidence-wise?

 

a) booming

b) good

c) amazing

d) blemished

 

a) making them shier

b) making them bolder

c) nothing

d) making them fearful

2.

How many people visit pristine natural areas every year?

7.

What kind of presence makes the animals tamer?

 

a) billions

b) hundreds of millions

c) millions

d) tens of millions

 

a) predatory

b) human

c) psychic

d) supernatural

3.

What is ‘Trends in Ecology and Evolution’?

8.

What might the animals encounter that could put them at risk?

 

a) an Internet site

b) a journal

c) a university department

d) a TV show

 

a) quicksand

b) hunters

c) guns

d) predators

4.

In which country did the article say turtles were laying eggs?

9.

What did the article say animals let down when they are near humans?

 

a) Canada

b) Cameroon

c) Curacao

d) Costa Rica

 

a) their bottom lip

b) their friends

c) their guard

d) themselves

5.

What did people gather to watch?

10.

What does the last sentence say human exposure does to animals?

 

a) turtles laying eggs

b) a sunset

c) leopards hunting

d) a TV show

 

a) makers them overcautious

b) puts them at risk

c) nothing

d) makes them happy

ROLE PLAY

Role  A – Leopard

You think the leopard is the best creature to see in the wild. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their creatures aren’t so interesting to look at. Also, tell the others which is the least interesting of these (and why): whale, python or polar bear.

Role  B – Whale

You think the whale is the best creature to see in the wild. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their creatures aren’t so interesting to look at. Also, tell the others which is the least interesting of these (and why): leopard, python or polar bear.

Role  C – Python

You think the python is the best creature to see in the wild. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their creatures aren’t so interesting to look at. Also, tell the others which is the least interesting of these (and why): whale, leopard or polar bear.

Role  D – Polar bear

You think the polar bear is the best creature to see in the wild. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their creatures aren’t so interesting to look at. Also, tell the others which is the least interesting of these (and why):  whale, python or leopard.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘natural’ and ‘habitat’.

natural

 

habitat

 

 

• Share your findings with your partners.

• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:

• cite
• rare
• journal
• believe
• event
• habits

• bolder
• regular
• risk
• suffer
• guard
• under

ECOTOURISM SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about ecotourism in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper.

When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

 

STUDENT 1

_____________

STUDENT 2

_____________

STUDENT 3

_____________

Q.1.

 

 

 

 

Q.2.

 

 

 

 

Q.3.

 

 

 

 

Q.4.

 

 

 

 

Q.5.

 

 

 

 

• Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.

• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

ECOTOURISM DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1)

What did you think when you read the headline?

2)

What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘ecotourism’?

3)

What are the problems of ecotourism?

4)

What do you think about what you read?

5)

Should we leave animals alone in their natural habitat?

6)

Where would you like to go as an ecotourist, and why?

7)

What rules should ecotourism tour operators have to follow?

8)

Should people be fined if they interrupt animals in the wild?

9)

What animals would you most like to see in the wild?

10)

Should parts of the world be off limits to humans?

—————————————————————————–

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

11)

Did you like reading this article? Why/not?

12)

What do you think of ecotourism?

13)

What are the benefits of ecotourism?

14)

What problems are there if animals become tamer?

15)

Why do people feel they must visit animals in the wild?

16)

How can we best help animals in the wild?

17)

What will ecotourism look like in the future?

18)

How can we respect animals more?

19)

What will be the state of animals’ natural habitat in the future?

20)

What questions would you like to ask the researchers?

DISCUSSION (Write your own questions)

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1.

________________________________________________________

2.

________________________________________________________

3.

________________________________________________________

4.

________________________________________________________

5.

________________________________________________________

6.

________________________________________________________

—————————————————————————

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

1.

________________________________________________________

2.

________________________________________________________

3.

________________________________________________________

4.

________________________________________________________

5.

________________________________________________________

6.

________________________________________________________

LANGUAGE – CLOZE

Ecotourism is a (1) ____ business that many tour operators cite as being helpful to nature. Every year, millions of people (2) ____ on protected and pristine natural areas to observe rare species. However, a new report (3) ____ doubt on the value of this form of tourism. In fact, it suggests that ecotourism is more damaging than helpful to nature. Details are in a report published in the journal ‘Trends (4) ____ Ecology and Evolution’. Researchers believe tourists are disrupting animals in their natural (5) ____. They pointed to a recent event where sea turtles in Costa Rica had problems laying their eggs because of the hordes of tourists who had (6) ____ to watch the turtles’ nesting habits.

The report says that ecotourism is making animals bolder and that this could       (7) ____ the animals. A regular human presence might make animals tamer and (8) ____ cautious about other animals around them, and this could put them at risk of being attacked by their natural (9) ____. “Then they will suffer higher mortality when they encounter real predators,” the report says. It added: “When animals interact in ‘benign’ ways (10) ____ humans, they may let down their guard.” The report said it was essential, “to develop a more comprehensive understanding of how different species in different situations respond (11) ____ human visitation and under what precise conditions human exposure might put them at (12) ____.”

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.

(a)

brimming

(b)

booming

(c)

blooming

(d)

bombing

2.

(a)

rescind

(b)

descend

(c)

decant

(d)

reside

3.

(a)

lurches

(b)

spirals

(c)

peels

(d)

casts

4.

(a)

by

(b)

in

(c)

at

(d)

to

5.

(a)

habitual

(b)

habitat

(c)

cohabitate

(d)

inhabit

6.

(a)

congealed

(b)

congaed

(c)

congregated

(d)

congratulated

7.

(a)

engender

(b)

endgame

(c)

endanger

(d)

endemic

8.

(a)

lessen

(b)

lesser

(c)

less

(d)

lessening

9.

(a)

threatens

(b)

treaties

(c)

treats

(d)

threats

10.

(a)

with

(b)

by

(c)

at

(d)

of

11.

(a)

to

(b)

for

(c)

as

(d)

on

12.

(a)

riskiness

(b)

risky

(c)

risk

(d)

risked

SPELLING

Paragraph 1

1.

Ecotourism is a ngmboio business

2.

tour eopaorstr

3.

protected and petisrni natural areas

4.

animals in their natural itbaath

5.

ehodsr of tourists

6.

aorgecngted to watch the turtles

Paragraph 2

7.

reedgann the animals

8.

A regular human rcpeense

9.

encounter real tedsrraop

10.

interact in gebinn ways

11.

develop a more oenrceihmsvep understanding

12.

human urseeoxp

PUT THE TEXT BACK TOGETHER

Number these lines in the correct order.

(    )

where sea turtles in Costa Rica had problems laying their eggs because of the hordes of tourists

(    )

presence might make animals tamer and less cautious about other animals around them, and this could put

(    )

them at risk of being attacked by their natural threats. “Then they will suffer higher mortality

(    )

on the value of this form of tourism. In fact, it suggests that ecotourism is more damaging than helpful to

(    )

who had congregated to watch the turtles’ nesting habits.

(    )

nature. Details are in a report published in the journal ‘Trends in Ecology and Evolution’. Researchers believe tourists

(    )

The report says that ecotourism is making animals bolder and that this could endanger the animals. A regular human

(    )

visitation and under what precise conditions human exposure might put them at risk.”

(    )

ways with humans, they may let down their guard.” The report said it was essential, “to

(    )

when they encounter real predators,” the report says. It added: “When animals interact in ‘benign’

(    )

are disrupting animals in their natural habitat. They pointed to a recent event

(    )

develop a more comprehensive understanding of how different species in different situations respond to human

(  1  )

Ecotourism is a booming business that many tour operators cite as being helpful to nature. Every year, millions

(    )

of people descend on protected and pristine natural areas to observe rare species. However, a new report casts doubt

PUT THE WORDS IN THE RIGHT ORDER

1.

report   casts   doubt   on   the   value   of   this   form   A   new   .

2.

damaging   that   more   helpful   suggests   is   than  It   ecotourism   .  

3.

their   are   natural   disrupting   habitat   animals   in   Tourists   .  

4.

laying   their   eggs   Sea   turtles   in   Costa   Rica   had   problems   .  

5.

habits   nesting   turtles’   the   watch   to   Congregated   .  

6.

is   bolder   report   ecotourism   animals   The   that   making   says   .  

7.

human   tamer   presence   might   A   make   regular   animals   .  

8.

being   This   them   of   put   risk   attacked   could   at   .  

9.

to   Essential   understanding   comprehensive   more   a   develop   .  

10.

respond   situations   different   in   species   different   How   .  

CIRCLE THE CORRECT WORD (20 PAIRS)

Detailsareinareportpubl
ishedinthejournal’TrendsinEcologyandEvolution’.Researchersbeliev
etouristsaredisruptinganimalsintheirnaturalhabitat.Theypointedtoa
recenteventwhereseaturtlesinCostaRicahadproblemslayingtheireg
gsbecauseofthehordesoftouristswhohadcongregatedtowatchthetur
tles’nestinghabits.Thereportsaysthatecotourismismakinganimalsb
olderandthatthiscouldendangertheanimals.Aregularhumanpresenc
emightmakeanimalstamerandlesscautiousaboutotheranimalsaroun
dthem,andthiscouldputthematriskofbeingattackedbytheirnaturalth
reats.”Thentheywillsufferhighermortalitywhentheyencounterrealpr
edators,”thereportsays.Itadded:”Whenanimalsinteractin’benign’w
ayswithhumans,theymayletdowntheirguard.”Thereportsaiditwases
sential,”todevelopamorecomprehensiveunderstandingofhowdiffere
ntspeciesindifferentsituationsrespondtohumanvisitationandunderw
hatpreciseconditionshumanexposuremightputthematrisk.”

FREE WRITING

Write about ecotourism for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

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ACADEMIC WRITING

Ecotourism is a bad idea with no benefits for animals. Discuss.

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

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HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find out more about ecotourism. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. ECOTOURISM: Make a poster about ecotourism. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. HUMAN EXPOSURE: Write a magazine article about the effects of human exposure on wild animals. Include imaginary interviews with people who are for and against it.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s).

5. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? Write a newspaper article about the next stage in this news story. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your articles.

6. LETTER: Write a letter to an expert on wildlife. Ask him/her three questions about ecotourism. Give him/her three ideas on how to make sure animals do not suffer. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

A Few Additional Activities for Students

Ask your students what they have read, seen or heard about this news in their own language. Students are likely to / may have have encountered this news in their L1 and therefore bring a background knowledge to the classroom.

Get students to role play different characters from this news story.

Ask students to keep track of this news and revisit it to discuss in your next class.

Ask students to male predictions of how this news might develop in the next few days or weeks, and then revisit and discuss in a future class.

Ask students to write a follow-up story to this news.

Students role play a journalist and someone who witnessed or was a part of this news. Perhaps they could make a video of the interview.

Ask students to keep a news journal in English and add this story to their thoughts.

Also…

Buy my 1,000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers eBook. It has hundreds of ideas, activity templates, reproducible activities for:

• News
• Warm ups
• Pre-reading / Post-reading
• Using headlines
• Working with words
• While-reading / While-listening
• Moving from text to speech
• Post-reading / Post-listening
• Discussions
• Using opinions
• Plans
• Language
• Using lists
• Using quotes
• Task-based activities
• Role plays
• Using the central characters in the article
• Using themes from the news
• Homework

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ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE (p.4)

a

T

b

F

c

F

d

F

e

T

f

T

g

F

h

T

SYNONYM MATCH (p.4)

1.

cite

a.

refer to

2

pristine

b.

unspoilt

3.

disrupting

c.

interfering with

4.

problems

d.

difficulties

5.

congregated

e.

gathered

6.

bolder

f.

more confident

7.

endanger

g.

imperil

8.

cautious

h.

wary

9.

comprehensive

i.

thorough

10.

precise

j.

exact

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS (p.8)

1.

Booming

2.

Millions

3.

A journal

4.

Costa Rica

5.

Turtles’ nesting habits

6.

Animals are becoming bolder

7.

Human

8.

Predators (natural threats)

9.

Their guard

10.

Puts them at risk

MULTIPLE CHOICE – QUIZ (p.9)

1.

a

2.

c

3.

b

4.

d

5.

a

6.

d

7.

b

8.

d

9.

c

10.

b

ALL OTHER EXERCISES

Please check for yourself by looking at the Article on page 2.
(It’s good for your English 😉