Raising the awareness of protecting the natural environment when teaching english for high school students

1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Reasons for the study It can be seen that the natural environment is the place in which all organisms live, and the human race is only one small species However, human beings have great influence on the rest of the world They are changing the natural environment by many ways, such as building cities and villages where forests once stood, or cutting down trees in the forests, or adding pollutants to the air, etc It can be said that humans are changing the environment in all aspects through their actions and by their habits This has resulted in many serious consequences Many kinds of animals and plants are killed, and even many of which are in danger of becoming extinct The natural habitat is badly destroyed and seriously contaminated Thus, it is vital to protect the Earth, the home of all organisms, from human beings’ harmful activities It is time humans did something on the problem of environmental pollution, which will help maintain the ecosystem Despite the fact that humans get lots of benefits from the nature, they still devastate it day by day and step by step They are throwing rubbish wherever they are They are cutting down many kinds of trees for wood and timber They are illegally hunting animals for fur, hide, meat and other products Many factories are discharging toxic smoke and waste into the environment, etc All these actions are seriously polluting the environment, including the air, water and soil As a result, the problem of environmental pollution are getting worse and worse However, there have still been many people, especilly the young, who are not aware of the importance of the natural environment to humans’ life and to other living things’ survival They are also not aware of the situation of the environmental contamination, which is becoming an alarming problem all over the world Moreover, they not realise that it is time for humans to stop making the problem worse and worse so that they will have good natural conditions to live and to flourish All reasons mentioned above led me to the following study “Raising the awareness of protecting the natural environment when teaching English for high school students” I hope that my study will help make a change in students’ attitude, awreness and actions, which may make them become activists who voluntarily many good things for the nature Purposes of the study As mentioned above, the Earth is the home of all organisms Therefore, protecting the earth, protecting the nature mean protecting humans themselves and their “friendly neighbours” It is obvious that humans cannot exist by themselves on earth They need animals and plants for food, and other living things for their other purposes in their daily lives Hence, it is essential for humans to stop polluting the nature and to make efforts to protect it This will help human beings and other organisms co-exist happily on the green planet, the Earth Doing this research, I would like to help my students realise that the nature play a vital role in humans’ life However, humans have been polluting it and destroying it Thus, the environmental pollution is becoming an international problem which reqiuires all countries to work together to find out possible solutions I would also like to help my students see and understand the situation of the problem They can see many types of pollution everywhere, at their home, in their school, on the ways and streets, in their neighbourhood, on the beach, on the farm, in the camping sites, in places of interests, etc Thus, they have to something to help clean up all of these places so that they will have somewhere clean, fresh, and safe to live Being aware of the importance of protecting the environment will lead students to useful actions Besides, I would really like to help them build good daily habits related to the environmental protection, such as cleaning up their house, classroom everyday, or putting rubbish into the dust bin, growing as many trees and flowers around their houses and in their neighbourhood as possible Furthermore, some of my students may love the topic of the nature They will try to become activists, or volunteers who voluntarily very useful things for the nature, to protect it from the harmful activities of the humans and to make the nature environment a ideal place to live The scope of the study In this study, only some aspects related to the main theme can be mentioned, such as the definition and types of natural environment, benefits from the nature, the definition of environmental pollution, causes and effects of pollution, and some solutions to the problem Hoping that readers will have a general view on the problem mentioned, then get themselves involved in many useful to protect the nature The methods of the study To fulfil this study, I apply many methods at the same time to make full use of each First, I used textbooks of English 10, 11, 12 as my first idea I used some Units and some parts of one unit mentioning about the natural environment to plan for my study For example, unit 10 (Conservation) in English 10; unit 10 (Nature in danger) in English 11 or unit 10 (Endangered species), in English 12 Second, I searched many information and images, pictures related to the scop of the study on the internet After that, I had to read carefully then choose which was the best for my study Third, I asked my colleages who teach English for some advices of good writing as well as those who teach geography and biology for some knowledge related And last, I use my lesson of language as a lesson of protecting the environment to raise my students’ awareness of the problem 2 MAIN CONTENT 2.1 THE FOUNDATION OF THE STUDY a What is the natural environment? According to some pretigous dictionaries, the natural environment is defined as below: The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species Climate, weather, and natural resources that affect human survival and economic activity The concept of the natural environment can be distinguished by components: • • Complete ecological units that function as natural systems without massive civilized human intervention, including all vegetation,microorganisms, soil, rocks, atmosphere, and natural phenomena that occur within their boundaries and their nature Universal natural resources and physical phenomena that lack clear-cut boundaries, such as air, water, and climate, as well as energy, radiation, electric charge, and magnetism, not originating from civilized human activity Natural environment means all living and non-living things that are natuarlly on Earth In a narrow sense, it is an environment that is not influenced by people Natural environment is often used as a synonym for habitat For instance, when we say that the natural environment of giraffes is the savanna The environment is something you are very familiar with It is everything that makes up our surroundings and affects our ability to live on the earth - the air we breathe, the water that covers most of the earth's surface, the plants and animals around us, and much more The sum total of all surroundings of a living organism, including natural forces and other living things, which provide conditions for development and growth as well as of danger and damage It is clearly that the natural environment is the place where all organisms should co-exist for their development and grow b Types of the environment The five main types of environments, or biomes, in the world are the aquatic, forest, desert, grassland and tundra biomes Each of these can be found in many areas around the world and contribute to the world's ecosystem Aquatic environments are found all over the world Roughly 75 percent of the Earth is covered by water, and all of this water is part of an aquatic environment The aquatic biome is further divided into saltwater oceans and freshwater environments, such as rivers and lakes Forest biomes are characterized by large trees and vegetation They can be found in cold and warm temperatures around the world These environments are important to the Earth because they release oxygen into the atmosphere and capture excess carbon dioxide Deserts are any type of environment that receives less than 10 inches of precipitation each year They can be very hot and sandy or very cold and icy Grasslands are large biomes characterized by huge open areas that receive between 10 and 30 inches of precipitation per year These areas are covered mostly by grass and have few trees and other types of vegetation They are home to a wide variety of animals that use the grass for food Tundra is the coldest biome of all of the different environments Tundras have long, cold winters and very short summers 2.2 The state of pollution a The environmental pollution Environmental pollution has existed for centuries but only started to be significant following the industrial revolution in the th 19 century Pollution occurs when the natural environment cannot destroy an element without creating harm or damage to itself The elements involved are not produced by nature, and the destroying process can vary from a few days to thousands of years (that is, for instance, the case for radioactive pollutants) In other words, pollution takes place when nature does not know how to decompose an element that has been brought to it in an unnatural way Pollution must be taken seriously, as it has a negative effect on natural elements that are an absolute need for life to exist on earth, such as water and air Indeed, without it, or if they were present on different quantities, animals – including humans – and plants could not survive Environmental pollution is an incurable disease It can only be prevented Environmental pollution consists of five basic types of pollution, namely, air, water, soil, noise and light Air pollution is by far the most harmful form of pollution in our environment Air pollution is caused by the injurious smoke emitted by cars, buses, trucks, trains, and factories, namely sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides Even smoke from burning leaves and cigarettes are harmful to the environment causing a lot of damage to man and the atmosphere Evidence of increasing air pollution is seen in lung cancer, asthma, allergies, and various breathing problems along with severe and irreparable damage to flora and fauna Even the most natural phenomenon of migratory birds has been hampered, with severe air pollution preventing them from reaching their seasonal metropolitan destinations of centuries Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), released from refrigerators, air-conditioners, deodorants and insect repellents cause severe damage to the Earth’s environment This gas has slowly damaged the atmosphere and depleted the ozone layer leading to global warming Water pollution caused industrial waste products released into lakes, rivers, and other water bodies, has made marine life no longer hospitable Humans pollute water with large scale disposal of garbage, flowers, ashes and other household waste In many rural areas one can still find people bathing and cooking in the same water, making it incredibly filthy Acid rain further adds to water pollution in the water In addition to these, thermal pollution and the depletion of dissolved oxygen aggravate the already worsened condition of the water bodies Water pollution can also indirectly occur as an offshoot of soil pollution – through surface runoff and leaching to groundwater Noise pollution, soil pollution and light pollution too are the damaging the environment at an alarming rate Noise pollution include aircraft noise, noise of cars, buses, and trucks, vehicle horns, loudspeakers, and industry noise, as well as high-intensity sonar effects which are extremely harmful for the environment Soil pollution, which can also be called soil contamination, is a result of acid rain, polluted water, fertilizers etc., which leads to bad crops Soil contamination occurs when chemicals are released by spill or underground storage tank leakage which releases heavy contaminants into the soil These may include hydrocarbons, heavy metals, MTBE, herbicides, pesticides and chlorinated hydrocarbons Light Pollution includes light trespass, over-illumination and astronomical interference b Causes of environmental pollution and the effects Let us first take a look at the causes of environmental pollution: - Industries: Industries have been polluting our environment especially since the beginning of the industrial revolution, as mentioned above, notably due to the increasing use of fossil fuels In the 19th century and for a significant part of the 20th century, coal has been used to make machines work faster, replacing human force Though pollution by industries mainly causes air pollution, soil and water contamination can also occur This is particularly the case for powergenerating industries, such as plants producing electricity (May they be a dam, a nuclear reactor or some other type of plant) 10 Also, the transportation of this energy can be harmful to the environment We can take an example of the transportation of petrol through pipelines; if there is a leak in the pipeline, soil will automatically be polluted At the same time, if the tanker transporting the petrol from its production plant to the place where it will be consumed leaks or sinks, the water will get contaminated - Transportation: Ever since men abandoned animal power to travel, pollution of the environment has become worse and worse Its levels have only been increasing until now Similarly to industries, pollution caused by transport can mainly be attributed to fossil fuels Indeed, humans went from horse carriages to cars, trains (which, before electricity, used to be propelled by coal), and airplanes As the traffic is increasing every day, pollution follows that evolution - Agricultural Activities: Agriculture is mainly responsible for the contamination of water and soil This is caused by the increase in the use of pesticides, as well as by the intensive character of its production Almost all pesticides are made from chemical substances and are meant to keep diseases and threatening animals away from the crops However, by keeping these forms of life away, harm is almost always made to the surrounding environment as well Furthermore, as agriculture gets more and more intensive to feed the increasing world population, more environments and ecosystems are destroyed to make space for the crops Some of them, like rapeseed –used to make oil – demand a lot of space for a relatively small output - Trading Activities: Trading activities including the production and exchange of goods and services Concerning goods, pollution can be caused by packaging (which often involves the use of plastic, which is made from fossil fuels) or transport, mainly - Residences: Finally, residential areas provide their fair share of pollution as well First, to be able to build homes, natural environment has to be destroyed in one way or another Wildlife and plants are driven away and replaced by human constructions As it requires the work of industries, construction itself is also a source of contamination of the environment Then, when people settle in, they will produce waste every day, including a part that cannot be processed by the environment without harm yet The state of being polluted will affect on the followings - Effects on Humans: The effects of environmental pollution on humans are mainly physical, but can also turn into neuro-affections in the long term The best-known troubles to us are respiratory, in the form of allergies, asthma, irritation of the eyes and nasal passages, or other forms of respiratory infections Notably, these well spread affections can be observed when air pollution is high 11 in cities, when the weather gets hot, for instance On top of that, environmental pollution has been proven to be a major factor in the development of cancer This can happen for example when we eat reminiscences of pollutants used in the production of processed foods, or pesticides from the crops Other, rarer, diseases include hepatitis, typhoid affections, diarrhoea and hormonal disruptions - Effects on Animals: Environmental pollution mainly affects animals by causing harm to their living environment, making it toxic for them to live in Acid rains can change the composition of rivers and seas, making them toxic for fishes, an important quantity of ozone in the lower parts of the atmosphere can cause lung problems to all animals Nitrogen and phosphates in water will cause overgrowth of toxic algae, preventing other forms of life to follow their normal course Eventually, soil pollution will cause harm and sometimes even the destruction of microorganisms, which can have the dramatic effect of killing the first layers of the primary food chain - Effects on Plants: As for animals, plants, and especially trees, can be destroyed by acid rains (and this will also have a negative effect on animals as well, as their natural environment will be modified), ozone in the lower atmosphere block the plant respiration, and harmful pollutants can be absorbed from the water or soil - Effects on the Ecosystem: In short, environmental pollution, almost exclusively created by human activities, has a negative effect on the ecosystem, destroying crucial layers of it and causing an even more negative effect on the upper layers c Pollution in Vietnam As mentioned above, pollution is not the problem within the boundaries of a certain country It is an international problem which requires all nations to join hands to solve Many “symptoms” of the desease called “pollution” have seriously affected humans’ life, such as ice-melting, global warming, greenhouse effect, which result in many natural disasters like floods, drough, stunami, earthquakes, hurricane, etc, There have been all types of pollution in Vietnam The air is being destroyed by smokes emitted from factories, exshaust from vehicles like cars, trains, buses including the dust from the roads which are downgraded by many reasons The water is polluted by industrial waste which can kill many kinds of aquatic animals Take the incident of Formosa as an example This company illegally poured their factories waste into the sea in Vung Ang Habour, in Ha Tinh province, which caused the death of million tons of sea animals along the 12 coastal provinces in the centre of Vietnam, namely Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien – Hue (A villager shows dead sea fish he collected on a beach in Phu Loc district, after the incident of Formosa) Furthermore, many beaches in Vietnam have been full of plastic bags, tin, glasses, cigarette butts, etc, which are left behind by the visitors This makes an ugly image of the beach, one of the places of interest in Vietnam Besides, farmers use a lot of pesticides, herbicides for their crops, which leads to the contamination of both soil and water 13 (chemical fertilizer isues) 2.3 Raising the awareness of students on protecting the environment while teaching some lessons in the textbooks It can be seen that the theme “nature” or “natural environment” is mentioned in textbooks English 10, English 11 and English 12 Hence, it is essential to something to raise my students’ awareness on protecting the environment through my lessons a The awareness of protecting the seas and oecans The oceans, seas, gulfs and bays cover 75 percent of the earth’s surface, excluding the rivers and lakes These environment supply a great source of sea animals which become humans’ food and other valuable products Rivers and lakes provide humans with water for domestic uses, farming and industries However, the oceans, seas, rivers and lakes are now polluted badly by thousand tons of rubbish or toxic chemicals thrown away by humans’ activities Thus, before teaching unit 9: The Undersea World in English 10, I will ask my students to fulfil a “project” related to the seas or oceans as below First, I divide the whole class into groups, then choose one group leader for each All group memmbers have to work together (that means I have to explain to my students how to work in groups and what they need while working in team and how to ues the technique of brainstorming The skill of working in groups and the technique of brainstorming were mentioned in my own studies which were rated level C some years ago) They also have to use the help of the internet to search what they want Then I ask each group to find out as much information related to the following aspects as possible 14 - The benefits that humans get from the seas, oceans - How pulluted they are now - Causes of the state of pollution and effects - Some suggested solutions to protect the oceans and seas, Students have to try their best to read, to search the information related to their question After limited time of some days working in groups, students hand in their group work and I have to evaluate, remark and correct if necessary I may use this useful information in the warm-up stage in my lessons within the unit to activate my students To complete the task, my students have to read a lot, search many things and choose the best information for their answer This process helps them understand the state of pollution, see the need of saving the oceans and seas This may also help them know how to respect the oceans and leads them to good actions when spending their holiday in the beach, for instance they may not leave rubbish in the beach during their stay Or they may want to become a volunteer in the movement of “cleaning up the seas” b The awareness of protecting the natural habitat The natural habitat is the place where animals and plants live naturally without humans’interference However, it is damaged badly by the humans’ actions such as cutting down the forests for wood or for farming land, illegal hunting rare animals for fur, hide, meat and other products, and many harmful activities to the nature Therefore, many kinds of rare animals and plants have become extinct or endangered To raise the awareness of protecting the natural habitat I suggest one way as below Still making full use of group work, I ask my students to work in groups of to find information related to one of the following questions - The area of forests in Vietnam - The benefits that humans gets from the forests - The damage to the forests, animals and plants - The effects of cutting down the forests - Some possible solutions to protect the forests, animals and plants - List national parks in Vietnam and their advantages 15 The picture above brings us an overall view on the benefits of the forests The forsets including trees, plants and vegetation are considered as the two lungs of a living body, the earth They provide all living things on earth with great source of oxygen, they help clean the air, but “the lungs” are destroyed As a result, the body will get sickness and serious deseases The process of searching for the information helps students well understand the importance of the forests including animals and plants This may harbour the thoughts that they must take responsibility for the protection 2.4 The effects of my study As mentioned in the part 2.3, the process of searching information on the Internet, reading and watching images provides my students with plenty of useful information They know more about the state of pollution and the reasons for this state, then they try to find out how to solve the probem And the most important thing is that they change their attitude and action to the environment They learn how to respect the nature and know how to act with the nature so that they will have an ideal place to live This change results in daily activities They will not anything harmful to their neighbourhoods and their surroundings They will voluntarily make their classrooms, school, houses and neighbourhoods cleaner and fresher For the school, if each student has good action to the environment, the whole school will become cleaner and cleaner Conclusion and suggestions Conclusion In general, environmental pollution is a complicated problem which requires all nations to join hands to deal with Because many things benefiting 16 humans may become a factor that pollutes or damages the environment Once the nature is damaged, humans may be afftected The young is the future generations of each country They have to become good people having much scientific knowledge and having good actions When they are at school, it is important to help them attain knowledge, build skills and to raise their awareness of some crucial problems including the need of protecting the environment It is time humans stopped destroying the earth, the natural environment by their daily activities Raising humans’ awareness of protecting the environment is now essential to save the earth and humans themselves THE HEADMASTER’S IDEAS Thanh Hoa, 16 May 2016 I ensure that this study be written by myself, not be copied from anybody else Doãn Thị Bảo Chung 17 - References English 10, (the fifth edition), Vietnam Educational Publisher English 11, (the forth edition), Vietnam Educational Publisher English 12, (the third edition), Vietnam Educational Publisher Some websites: www.business dictionay.com www.merriam-webster.com www.oxforddictionary.com https://en.m.wikipedia.org https://simple.m.wikipedia.org www.uccee.org/environmental_pollution www.ask.com www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-effects-solutions 18 ... fertilizer isues) 2.3 Raising the awareness of students on protecting the environment while teaching some lessons in the textbooks It can be seen that the theme “nature” or ? ?natural environment? ?? is... destroying the earth, the natural environment by their daily activities Raising humans’ awareness of protecting the environment is now essential to save the earth and humans themselves THE HEADMASTER’S... understand the situation of the problem They can see many types of pollution everywhere, at their home, in their school, on the ways and streets, in their neighbourhood, on the beach, on the farm, in the