Environmental issues listening, speaking, vocabulary and critical thinking exercises
3rd August 2025
Climate Resilience Lesson
From emergency alerts buzzing on your phone to heated debates about green infrastructure, climate resilience isn’t just environmental science – it’s the language of our times. This lesson transforms climate vocabulary into a complete learning experience, weaving together emergency role-plays, visual vocabulary, collocations, grammar exercises with real world dialogues, and critical thinking . Find the complete lesson on Substack. Below are some sample exercises.
Climate Resilience Visual Vocabulary
Visual vocabulary matching connects new climate resilience terminology to memorable images, making complex environmental concepts more accessible for English learners.
Extract from Climate Resilience Visual Vocabulary
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Early Warning Alert Grammar Role Play
People constantly compare things when talking about emergencies – which warning system works better, which alerts are more urgent, which evacuation routes are clearer. This role play lets you practice these comparisons in English while learning about early warning systems. You’ll use comparative and superlative forms naturally as you discuss flash flood alerts, emergency kits, and community preparedness with a partner.
Extract from Early Alerts Role Play
Brainstorm Climate Resilience
Sort climate resilience solutions into categories: clean energy, adaptation, emergency preparedness, evacuation plans. Organize vocabulary to understand how climate strategies connect. Add your own ideas.
The Water Crisis
The exercises in this worksheet are about water conservation and the water crisis, including methods of conservation, causes of the crisis, sources of clean water, and opinions on water-related issues.
Extract from The Water Crisis (PDF)
Decarbonization
This is one of the most pressing topics of the 2020s! It’s a little more advanced than other exercises on this page, but it’s very interesting. The decarbonization and the clean energy transition lesson includes vocabulary, listening, comprehension, discussion, and review exercises covering key concepts, critical minerals, and geopolitical implications.
Extract from PDF (subscribe at Substack to get answers)
Environmental Issues cause/effect problem/solution
The listening/speaking exercise below is for discussing environmental issues in the classroom. Students have to try and describe the problem depicted in each picture and suggest causes. effects and possible solutions to each problem. Students can listen to the audio before or after filling in the worksheet, depending on the level of their language skills.
Environmental issues cause/effect worksheet)
Elements of the Contemporary Environment
The exercise below is for introducing and exploring academic vocabulary for environmental issues in the classroom. First, students listen to the audio and match the items to the pictures. Then they match the vocabulary to the pictures. Or vice versa.
Elements of the contemporary environment (PDF)
Describing Environmental Issues (listening)
The exercise below is for discussing and describing environmental issues in the classroom. Students listen to the audio and complete the sentences.
Describing environmental issues (PDF)
(see the video version on YouTube)
Climate Change
More exercises and options for teaching climate. This PDF includes vocabulary matching, sorting, question-answer matching, classifying, and ranking exercises about climate change concepts, causes, effects, and solutions.
Endangered Species
The exercise below is for introducing and exploring language for endangered species in the classroom. A teacher may ask students to work in pairs, groups, or as a class. First, students can match the vocabulary to the pictures. Then they can use the conversation cues at the bottom of the worksheet to discuss endangered animals. If they are weak, they should try and write a conversation before they practice with a partner.
Endangered species speaking activity (PDF)
Renewable Energy
As above, students are again encouraged to think critically about their familiarity with various types of renewable energy, the benefits associated with using renewable energy sources, and the challenges that renewable energy technologies face.
Environmental issues (speaking)
Another exercise for environmental issues ….. a teacher may ask students to work in pairs, groups, or as a class. First, students can match the vocabulary to the pictures. Then they can use the conversation cues at the bottom of the worksheet to discuss environmental issues. If they are weak, they should try and write a conversation before they practice with a partner.
Environmental issues vocabulary and speaking activity (PDF)
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Natural Disasters
The exercise below is for introducing and exploring language for natural disasters in the classroom. A teacher may ask students to work in pairs, groups, or as a class. First, students can identify the natural disasters depicted in the pictures. Then they can use the conversation cues at the bottom of the worksheet to discuss natural disasters. If they are weak, they should try and write a conversation before they practice with a partner. This exercise helps familiarize the students with the vocabulary of natural disasters in English.
Natural disasters vocabulary and speaking activity (PDF)
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