I Major Paper Title: Contributing to the development of water-pollution awareness in 11th grade students, Class 4, at “Capitán Roberto Rodríguez” Pre-university School Author: Jorge David Pérez Chávez Adviser: MSc. Sirelda García Cabrera, Associate Professor Santa Clara, Julio 2020 II Este documento es Propiedad Patrimonial de la Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de Las Villas, y se encuentra depositado en los fondos de la Biblioteca Universitaria “Chiqui Gómez Lubian” subordinada a la Dirección de Información Científico Técnica de la mencionada casa de altos estudios. Se autoriza su utilización bajo la licencia siguiente: Atribución- No Comercial- Compartir Igual Para cualquier información contacte con: Dirección de Información Científico Técnica. Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de Las Villas. Carretera a Camajuaní. Km 5½. Santa Clara. Villa Clara. Cuba. CP. 54 830 Teléfonos.: +53 01 42281503-1419 III Thought “An important biological species is in danger of disappearing due to the fast and progressive destruction of its natural living conditions: humanity” “Tomorrow it will be too late to do what we should have done a long time ago” Fidel Castro Rúz (1992, U.N. Rio Earth Summit) IV Acknowledgment En primer lugar, quiero dar gracias a mis padres, por hacer de mí quien soy hoy, a mis abuelos, mi tía y a mi esposa, quienes me han acompañado y apoyado todo este tiempo. Debo dar gracias además (y sin temor a sonar infantil) a los videojuegos, quienes me motivaron desde edad temprana la pasión por los idiomas extranjeros, sinceramente, sin ellos no estaría donde estoy. A mi hermano menor, por ser simplemente quien es, por permitirme ser quien dibuje su camino a seguir, gracias a ello ya somos dos angloparlantes en la familia. A todos los profesores que han depositado su valioso tiempo en mí, a esos con la más sacrificada de las profesiones, la única que crea otras. Agradecimientos especiales a todos mis profesores, especialmente a aquellos que con su maestría y carisma me llegaron, profesores como Guillermo Alonso, Paula Camacho, Diana Morales, Pedro Cabezas, Eida de la Paz, Deyse Fernández, Berta Salvador, Consuelo Mora y Sirelda García , quien además he tenido el inmenso placer de tener como tutora y guía durante el trayecto de esta tarea. A todos, con total sinceridad, muchas gracias por tenerme paciencia y dedicarme su tiempo. A mis mejores amigos de toda la vida, quienes se han mantenido al tanto de mi situación académica de esa manera única que solo ellos saben. A mis compañeros de carrera, que tengo el placer de poder llamar amigos, Bayron, Jose, Arley y Richard, a Alejandro, que se nos quedó atrás junto a Lixandra, y un especial agradecimiento a Yasiel y a Alain, mi hermano, que ha sido un amigo incondicional desde 1er año. A todos ellos muchas gracias por compartir junto a mi esta etapa de mi vida que es sin dudas una de las mejores. V Abstract The objective of this major paper is to propose a system of lessons and project works to increase water pollution awareness in 11th graders at “Capitan Roberto Rodriguez” Pre-university School in Santa Clara. This study highlights the importance of including environmental education in the English curriculum. The students’ strengths and weaknesses were assessed through the administration of different empirical methods such as interview, survey, document analysis. The results revealed that although the sample of students had some knowledge on environmental issues, they showed unawareness on the role they can play in reducing environmental problems. Accordingly, a system of lessons was designed to meet such needs. The proposal was submitted to the criteria of the specialists of the Department of Foreign Languages, from Varela Campus and teachers of English of the General System of Education who evaluated its quality, pertinence, and feasibility. In addition, they offered some suggestions that were essential to the improvement of the proposal. VI Contenido INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 DISCUSSION ............................................................................................ 6 1.Theoretical and methodological foundations about water pollution as an issue of environmental education. .............................................. 6 1.1. Evolution of the environmental education since 1960 onward. ........ 6 1.2. Concepts of Environmental Education (EE) .................................... 8 1.3 Environmental education in Cuba ................................................... 13 1.4 Water pollution as an issue on environmental education ............... 14 2. Needs assessment. .......................................................................... 17 2.1 Psychological characteristics of the sample of research: ............... 17 2.2 Empirical methods used: ................................................................ 17 2.3 Analysis of the results: .................................................................... 19 3. The proposal ..................................................................................... 24 3.1 Foundations of the scientific result ................................................. 24 3.2 Characteristics of the proposal ....................................................... 25 3.3 The System of Lessons and project works ..................................... 27 3.4 Evaluation of the proposal by specialists ........................................ 53 CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................... 54 SUGGESTIONS ...................................................................................... 55 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................... 56 ANNEXES ............................................................................................... 60 1 INTRODUCTION Humans have faced poor environmental conditions throughout history, but environmental problems became more common and apparent with industrialization and urbanization. As Pérez Morales (2018) states in the introduction of his major paper ‘…the planet is facing many environmental issues today such as: deforestation, air- pollution, drought, soil or land pollution and water-pollution. All of these environmental problems incited by mankind, which is not completely aware about the damage provoked to the natural legacy human beings have known.” The environment provides many “goods and services” for human beings, but we can simplify these into three general functions that it performs for human populations and all other species:  First, the environment provides us with the resources necessary for life, from clean air and water to food and shelter, as well as the natural resources used in industrial economies.  Second, in the process of consuming resources humans produce “waste” products, the environment must serve as a “sink” or “waste repository” for these wastes, by absorbing or recycling them into useful or at least harmless substances, when the waste products exceed the environment’s ability to absorb them, the result is soil, water and air pollution.  Third, like all other species, humans must also have a place to live, so the environment provides a “living space” for human populations. When we overuse a given living space, overcrowding and/or overpopulation result (Dunlap & Catton 2002, p.83) In sum, when humans overuse an environment’s ability to fulfill any single function, environmental “problems” in the form of pollution, resource shortages, and overcrowding and/or overpopulation are the result. One of the most dangerous results brought by the overuse of the environment is water contamination or pollution; but, what is this? And why is it so dangerous? Water pollution is the contamination of the water bodies (lakes, rivers, oceans, or groundwater) usually as a result of human activities. Water pollution results when contaminants are introduced into the natural environment. Many countries around the world are having problems with water pollution, and Cuba is not the exception. It is estimated that throughout Cuba about 430 million cubic meters of water 2 contaminated with agriculture, industrial and urban wastes are dumped into the sea annually (Nuevo Atlas Nacional de Cuba 1989) Much of it accumulated in rivers, ground waters and lakes. In Santa Clara water pollution is a concern of the population and governmental institutions. The city is surrounded by two rivers and small streams with polluted waters, which have been contaminated by the garbage and wastes poured to them by irresponsible and unconscious people and institutions through years. In the city there is also a very old drain/sewer system which needs to be replaced or restored to eliminate the pollution of potable water distributed to many neighborhoods. Many actions have been taken to stop these problems, but they are not enough. Education of the population is basic, that is why environmental education is of paramount importance. The term environmental education implies education within school system from primary school to universities. However, it also includes all efforts to educate the community and other audiences. To work on this issue some measures have been applied in the educational system, such as: changes in the curricula of the different school levels providing topics about the need to preserve the environment, schools are entrusted to contribute to the creation of consciousness regarding environmental pollution and they should continue working to attain better results precisely, on water-pollution. Negative manifestations can be seen every day, particularly in the Cuban society and it is a task for educators to change the present situation. As a 5th year Foreign Language pre-service student of the workers’ course at Universidad Central “ Marta Abreu” de Las Villas the author of this paper has been carrying out participant observations to the teaching learning process of English at ¨ Capitan Roberto Rodriguez ¨ Pre- university school, in 11th grade, Class 4. During the observations, he has noticed that:  the English subject has great possibilities to work on educational issues, included environmental ones  educational issues are part of the objective of almost all lesson, nevertheless few exercises are designed to accomplish it  local environmental issues are less worked out than global ones  water pollution has not been considered in any of the classroom activities  the students do not have access to potable water for drinking at school, most of them have to bring it from home  there is not plentiful water supply for the school bathrooms or any other personal use 3  the students are not totally aware of the role they can play on environmental issues, particularly on water pollution  They are not aware either on the importance on working on this issue through the English lesson Looking for a solution to the above problems let the author to search for previous studies and research projects on environmental education carried out by students and teachers of the Foreign Language Department of the Faculty of Secondary Education at the “Universidad Central Marta Abreu de Las Villas. The exploration brought about that plenty of papers regarding environmental education have been done. Examples are the major papers done by Víctor Manuel Pérez Morales (2018) related to audio-pollution awareness; Yaisniel Gámez Aday (2018) on increasing environmental Interest of 5th graders; Yuniel Cruz González (2017) about environmental education through reading activities for student teachers From the Foreign Language Associate Degree Program; Dayan Berges Coma (2015) who created an environmental club for elementary school students; Hanser Leonel Yanes García (2015) who designed a system of activities to strengthen environmental Education in 7th Graders. This has corroborated that no previous research has been done about water pollution awareness in the 11th grade students. Taking into account the problematic situation previously described the following scientific problem was derived: How to increase water-pollution awareness in the 11th grade students; class 4, at “Capitán Roberto Rodríguez” Pre-university School? Object of research: Increasing water-pollution awareness in the 11th grade students, class 4, at “Capitán Roberto Rodríguez” Pre-university School School Objective: To propose some lessons to increase water-pollution awareness in the 11th grade students, class 4, at “Capitán Roberto Rodríguez” Pre-university School. Scientific questions: 1. What theoretical and methodological bases support the development of water-pollution awareness? 2. What strengths and weaknesses concerning water-pollution awareness do 11th grade students, class 4, at “Capitán Roberto Rodríguez” Pre-university School have? 3. What characteristics should a system of lessons have to increase water-pollution awareness in the 11th grade students, class 4, at “Capitán Roberto Rodríguez” Pre- university School? 4. What are the specialists’ criteria about the proposal? 4 Scientific Tasks: 1. Establishment of the theoretical and methodological bases that support the development of water-pollution awareness. 2. Diagnosis of the students' strengths and weaknesses concerning water-pollution awareness in students of 11th grade, class 4, at “Capitán Roberto Rodríguez” Pre- university School. 3. Designing of the system of lessons to increase water-pollution awareness in the 11th grade students, class 4, at “Capitán Roberto Rodríguez” Pre-university School. 4. Evaluation of the proposal by specialists. Scientific methods: From the Theoretical Level:  Historic-logical: It was followed to understand the evolution and development of the phenomenon object of study and describe the antecedents of the treatment of the scientific problem declared in this research  Analytic-synthetic: It was used during the whole research process but mainly to process theoretical and methodological information from different primary sources consulted to back up the scientific problem described in the introduction of this paper.  Inductive-deductive: It was also used during the whole research process to identify regularities after the administration of different empirical instruments and in the establishment of the general and particular theoretical considerations on the topic object of study.  Systemic Approach: It was used to explain the internal structure of the elements of the system of exercises designed to potentiate the water-pollution consciousness. From the Empirical Level:  Document analysis: English Syllabi, Textbook and environmental strategy of the school  Interview: to the teacher that guides the group  Interview: To the teacher of English of the group.  Survey: Administered to the 11th grade students, class 4, at “Capitán Roberto Rodríguez” Pre-university School. 5 • Triangulation: to determine the regularizes of the diagnosis process From the mathematical level • Percentage analysis: It was used to process the information obtained from the processing of empirical data obtained during the need’s assessment. All these methods were used to obtain the necessary data to verify the problematic situation already described. Population The Population of this research is composed of 134 11th grade students from “Capitán Roberto Rodríguez” Pre-university School. Sample The sample is a group of 30 students from 11th grade, class 4, at “Capitán Roberto Rodríguez” Pre-university School. The sample is purposefully selected on a non-probabilistic basis, since the author of the paper carries out observations to the teaching learning process in this class. And, also because the problem under study has a general connotation and can be found in any class from this level. It is a group that is at the threshold of the pre university level and has an English teacher willing to collaborate with the researcher. The paper is structured in: Introduction, Development, Conclusions, Bibliography and Annexes. The Development comprises the theoretical framework, needs assessment regarding the problem under research, the characterization of the proposal. 6 DISCUSSION 1.Theoretical and methodological foundations about water pollution as an issue of environmental education. 1.1. Evolution of the environmental education since 1960 onward. All over the world, more and more people have realized the destructive effects of the ecological crisis that is causing danger to society and nature in general. These effects can be observed in the health and the quality of the human life, in the biodiversity conservation, as well as in the historical evolution of human civilization. The peoples´ awareness on this environmental catastrophe has led to strengthen the role of educators, specialists on environmental issues and decision-makers of educational policies about the needs of a more efficient environmental education. Environmental education as an interdisciplinary approach and value oriented education has become the subject of multidisciplinary research since 1960, and it has led to curriculum improvements, and changes in the teaching and learning process of the different disciplines and subjects in the different levels of education so as to design and promote educational activities to get better results in students’ environmental education through curricular and extracurricular activities (UNESCO/UNEP, 1996). The roots of Environmental Education can be traced back to the first decades of the 18th century. However, in a period of only half a century, the environmental education, has experienced a more rapid, coherent and effective development due to the warnings initiated by universities, specialized research institutes, media, and governmental organizations. Lovan (cited by Eneji and Ogar, 2017). Some important investigations were carried out from 1968 to1972 by a team from Boston University researchers. They confirmed that the environment is a dynamic open system containing finite and limited resources, some even nonrenewable which were being exploited by society indiscriminately. As civilization was being menaced, specialists, journalists and professors worldwide discussed and analyzed issues that would provoke reduction of non-renewable resources, demoraphic growth, land degradation, and pollution. They also argued on how to prevent the harmful effects of pollution on human health, to preserve nature and to alleviate and overcome the ecological crisis. 7 Due to such difficult issues, different international organizations (United Nations (UN), UNESCO, OAA), governments, NGOs, public authorities, etc. put into practice some public policies to protect environment. One of those policies was aimed at the development of environmental education not only by education institutions but also by media, NGOs, churches, environmental organizations, voluntary associations in the area of environmental education as well. The environmental education in all educational levels was sustained at the UN Conference in June 1972, in Stockholm, accepted and endorsed by the international community. Since 1975, UNESCO has activated the International Program on Environmental Education. Since that moment onward teachers have centered their attention on how to deal with environmental issues with students from different educational levels. During the author´s research on several studies carried out about this issue, some environmental research papers linked to the teaching and learning process of English language were found. Among those papers the following were highlighted: Escobar (2008) who presents a strategy to link the environmental education to the teaching of English in secondary level in Mexico; Mayo and Ávila (2011) offer several actions applied to the teaching of English to foster an environmental culture; Rodríguez (2009) proposes a system of activities to contribute to the environmental education of ninth grade students through the English lessons; Fernández (2010) suggests some reading activities to enrich students´ environmental education in tenth grade; Gutierrez ( 2012) also suggested some activities to deal with environmental education through the topics dealt with in the subject Integrated English Practice of the foreign languages regular course at Varelas’ Campus. Some students majoring in the foreign language education program at the Pedagogical Campus “Felix Varela” have carried out different major papers on this issue too. The author of this paper read and analyzed the ones developed by Pérez Morales (2018) who presents a system to develop audio-pollution awareness in Non-University Teacher Education Crash Course, Gámez Aday (2018) that created an Environmental Interest Group for 5th grade students, class A at “Ramón Pando Ferrer” Elementary School, Cruz González (2017) who worked through reading activities the Environmental Education in Student Teachers From the Foreign Language Associate Degree Program, Berges Coma (2015) who created an Environmental Club in English language for Elementary School Students and Yanes García (2015) who created a system of Activities to Strengthen Environmental Education in 7th Graders from “José Ramón León Acosta” Junior High School Though all these studies were carried out in different contexts, they helped the researcher to be more conscious of the importance of environmental education and how much the English subject could contribute to it. 8 1.2. Concepts of Environmental Education (EE) To understand the concept of Environmental Education, it is important to know first, the concept of environment. The term environment refers to man’s surrounding which includes physical, biological, and socio- cultural aspects. It is a complex and dynamic system of ecological, socio-economic and cultural inter-relations, which develops through the historic process of the society. https://www.kullabs.com Thus, some concepts of environmental education are offered below:  Environmental Education is a learning process that increases people’s knowledge and awareness about the environment and its associated challenges, and foster’s attitude, motivations and commitments to make informed decisions and take responsible action Stohr, 2013 (cited in Eneji and Ogar, 2017).  Environmental education is education in, about, and for the environment. Education in the environment helps people develop sensitivity to their surroundings and the natural world. Education about the environment promotes understanding of the natural, physical, and social systems that make up our environment. Education for the environment motivates people to work to improve the environment (Eneji and Ogar , 2017).  Environmental Education is concerned with the following four cardinal points: awareness and knowledge of environmental issues, individuals’ critical-thinking, individuals' problem- solving and decision-making skills. McCrea (N.d)  Environmental education is a process that allows individuals to explore environmental issues, engage in problem solving, and take action to improve the environment. As a result, individuals develop a deeper understanding of environmental issues and have the skills to make informed and responsible decisions. (https://www.epa.gov/education/what- environmental-education) After having analyzed the concepts above the author has considered that the last definition is the most appropriate for this study as it includes knowledge, and awareness, engagement and taking actions, all of them among the main objectives of environmental education. As there are also several core characteristics of EE that, when taken together, help define it as an endeavor such as:  EE relates to an environmental topic or issue.  EE is interdisciplinary, drawing upon many fields of study and learning.  EE is relevant to the needs, interests, and motivations of the learner. https://www.kullabs.com/ https://www.epa.gov/education/what-environmental-education https://www.epa.gov/education/what-environmental-education 9  EE is a lifelong learning process.  EE is based on accurate and factual information.  EE presents information in a balanced and unbiased manner.  EE makes use of the outdoors as a learning environment whenever possible and appropriate. The author thinks that several topics on environment can be studied through the English subject, i.e., environmental issues will always be considered as an interdisciplinary relation; all the topics are interesting for the students and they are excellent vehicles to motivate the students to learn English; at the same time they are being educated on environmental issues. Besides, the students’ scientific knowledge will be fostered with accurate and factual information and their enthusiasm to learn the language could be awaken with changes in the learning environment. Regarding the needs of environmental education, it is convenient to say that there was a moment in which Philosophers, eco-ethicists, sociologists and educators had not been satisfied with the actions carried out worldwide to protect environment. So, researchers began to focus the eco- education on individuals, on their moral, psychological, personal, attitudinal personality from a broader perspective of mankind´s history. The results of their study were presented in a summit of prime-ministers, in Rio de Janeiro, in 1992, UNCED. This Summit represents a historic moment for the development of the environmental education. The conference enacted a statement of principles and a long-time action plan for sustainable development, expended during the 21st century (Agenda 21). The national or international environmental education of all types, shapes, and levels, was integrated into the sustainable development process. (Lovan, 2015) Governments around the world unanimously accepted the new philosophy of sustainable development, and it was expected that the environment education turn towards sustainable development, to develop people’s environmental awareness and culture through the practical implementation of Agenda 21 in all educational structures as lifelong education included in the world-wide sustainable development education for every state and nation This concept represents the foundation of the guiding principles concerning the environmental education activities ((Lovan, 2015) Those guiding principles include the new concept of environment which embraces the biosphere, the abiotic environment and society with all its components; define environmental education as a continuous process developed throughout the human life; as a multi and interdisciplinary 10 education, which also integrates specific knowledge of social and human sciences as well; as an education that focuses on current and future issues of the environment addressed in terms of local, regional, national and international spheres; an issue that centers its attention on the training and development of the moral and civic responsibility for the environmental. They also include the aims to promote sensitivity to the environment, through training abilities and habits as well as the training of moral and civic attitudes, the critical and innovation thinking for the environmental education. Indeed, these principles are compatible with the emergence of very different situations such as: training, learning, assessment, cooperation, building skills and eco- attitudes in which the practical activities have a prevalent role. In the searching process, the author knew that the last two decades of research in science education, humanities and social science, educational philosophy and environmental ethics have led to rethinking the concept of environmental education due to the influences of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg (Rio + 10), August 26 to September 4, 2002, and the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development - 2012 (Rio + 20). The evolution of environmental education since 1970 until the emergence of sustainable development education has been centered on the development of the “green economy” which is the descendant of the “sustainable development” concept. Consequently, the environmental education expanded the scope to an-inter and transdisciplinary perspective. The national education systems all over the world gave a prioritized place to the environmental education and the training of environmental skills, feelings and motivation, guided by the moral values. Therefore, the formative role of humanities and social sciences, economics, law, literature, arts, civic culture gradually amplified. In the contemporary international context, the environmental education is getting closer and closer to the concept of education for the sustainable development of the planet, for the green economy and society. The major aim of Environmental Education is sustainable development which is a pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment and its resources so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but in the indefinite future. The term ´sustainable development´ was defined by the Brundt Land Commission “As development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the need of the future generations.” (UNESCO/UNEP, 1996) UNESCO has identified another important goal of Environmental Education, the one linked to the development of a world population awareness of, and concern about the environment and its 11 associated problems that has the knowledge, skills attitude, motivation and commitment to work individually and collectively towards the solution of current problems while preventing of new ones (Eneji and Ogar, 2017). However, UNESCO/UNEP Environmental Education Newsletter has outlined five cardinal objectives which should be a guide for teachers in their attempts to educate their students in environmental matters (UNESCO/UNEP, 1996).  Awareness- to acquire awareness and sensitivity towards the environment as a whole and issue questions and problems related to environment and development.  Knowledge- to gain experience in, and learn about the different requirements that are essential to create and maintain a sustainable environment.  Attitudes- to acquire a set of values and feelings of concern for the environment, and the motivation to actively participate in its protection.  Skills- to acquire the skills for identifying, anticipating, preventing and solving environmental problems  Participation - to provide opportunities and motivation to be actively involved at all levels in creating a sustainable environment. These aims are included in the general principles of EE, as represented below 12 The proposal of this study aims at the development of these five objectives in one or another way. The students will meet information about an important environmental problem nowadays, water pollution which will awaken their awareness towards it and enlarge their knowledge about the topic. The activities planned ask for the students’ active participation as they are centered on the students, and will contribute to develop their skills, and improve and reinforce their attitudes towards environmental matters. Indeed, the environmental education includes all environmental education practices that form the ecological personality profile, with positive attitudes towards environmental issues. The environmental education harmonizes legal and ethical standards as well as the development of citizenship. The present stage of mankind shaped the human right to a clean, healthy and balanced environment. Needless to say, that the environmental education will not achieve its aim without the understanding of national and international environmental law. The individuals’ environmental behavior, initiatives, decisions and environmental policies are regulated by the environmental law and by specific legal rules (Monroe and Krasny, 2013). They expressed that the active civic consciousness and people’s attitudes represent the corollary of the environmental education. Definitely, environmental education should also be present when people follow the environment legal regulations, the civic and ethical values which mean an individual and collective responsibility of every human being of the planet (Monroe and Krasny, 2013). To sum up, environmental education has become a complex system of moral, civic and aesthetic values oriented activities and an education that promotes human rights and values, centered on man and the benefits of mankind. All environmental education efforts aim directly to protect and preserve the habitats, to maintain the ecological balance and course, and indirectly, to ensure the quality of human life, the society health and sustainability, guaranteeing the fundamental human right to a clean and well preserved environment for today’s and future generations…”( Monroe and Krasny, 2013). So, the persistent worldwide interest to save environment is justified by the fact that the involuntarily destructive forces exerted by the human species on the environment turns back on the man himself and endangers his life, threatening the very existence and survival of mankind. 13 1.3 Environmental education in Cuba Globalization of the economy, associated to development models based on the laws of capital and ethical values, which justify the deterioration of the ecosystems and the loss of biodiversity, as well as the unfair distribution of wealth, and thus the extension of poverty, is essentially linked to the processes of cultural homogenization, which aims to export unsustainable consumption patterns that characterize economically developed societies and that constitute significant elements of the environmental issues. (http://www.medioambiente.cu) This panorama identifies education as the most important premise to achieve the processes of change that should bring mankind into a system of more harmonic relations between society and nature. This would allow a transit towards sustainable development levels and should promote an adequate and equitable quality of life for the society on Earth. In the case of Cuba, as a consequence of the political harassment, the economic blockade, and the threats against the Cuban security and sovereignty by the most powerful State of the world, Cuban people have had to rely on their own forces and resources as no other country in the world. In this context, the way the country manages its wealth and addresses its problems, as well as the strategy to integrate natural, social and cultural processes with economic development is extremely important. The situation described above has given the country the exceptional opportunity of developing a collective and creative process to find alternatives of scientific knowledge and practical solutions to environmental issues that constitute a concern for mankind as a whole. As a result Cuba has implemented a national strategy for environmental education with a broad public participation. In this way, Cuban education is responsible for environmental education, and the promotion of sustainable development to improve the peoples´ capacity to address environment and developmental issues. To attain this goal, environmental education should be an objective of all the disciplines and subjects included in the students´ curriculum, and all of them should design both curricular and extracurricular motivating activities because education takes place in all contexts with all types of learners. So, including a system of knowledge, skills, attitudes, aptitudes and values related to environmental issues in the school curricula would mean the inclusion of a well designed system of activities covering the whole curriculum, taking into account the gradual derivation of objectives. Environmental education is considered in Cuba as a theoretical, methodological and practical model surpassing the traditional educational system. http://www.medioambiente.cu/ 14 This restructured system of education includes all the global issues that may play an important role in the individuals’ development, and above all, environmental education is conceived as education for a sustainable development. This objective is achieved by the introduction of environmental issues in the teaching and learning process of the different subjects and in the different educational contexts. Some environmental issues in formal education in Cuba include environmental issues as an interdisciplinary subject; environmental issues in extracurricular activities and in activities linking schools to community; as well as pedagogical research of environmental education in science and technology schemes in higher education (CIDEA) 1.4 Water pollution as an issue on environmental education British poet W. H. Auden (https://wwwen.m.wikipedia.org) once noted, “Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.” Yet while we all know water is crucial for life, we trash it anyway. Some 80 percent of the world’s wastewater is dumped—largely untreated—back into the environment, polluting rivers, lakes, and oceans. This widespread problem of water pollution is jeopardizing people’s health. Unsafe water kills more people each year than war and all other forms of violence combined. Meanwhile, drinkable water sources are finite: Less than 1 percent of the Earth’s freshwater is actually accessible to people. Without action, the challenges will only increase by 2050, when global demand for freshwater is expected to be one-third greater than it is now. It is necessary to understand what water pollution is to be aware of the effects of this evil on people´s life “Water Pollution is a modification of the water provoked by people that make it not potable or drinkable” (https://www.nrdc.org/stories/water-pollution-everything-you-need-know) Water pollution occurs when harmful substances—often chemicals or microorganisms— contaminate a stream, river, lake, ocean, aquifer, or other body of water, degrading water quality and rendering it toxic to humans or the environment. Water may be easily polluted. Water as a universal solvent is able to dissolve more substances than any other liquid on Earth Toxic substances from farms, towns, and factories readily dissolve into and mix with it, causing water pollution. There are some categories of water pollution which should be managed by people in general: 1. Groundwater: Groundwater gets polluted when contaminants from pesticides and fertilizers make their way into an aquifer, rendering it unsafe for human use. https://wwwen.m.wikipedia.org/ https://www.nrdc.org/stories/water-pollution-everything-you-need-know 15 2. Surface water: Surface water from freshwater sources accounts for more than 60 percent of the water delivered to homes. But a significant pool of that water is in danger as nearly half of the rivers and streams and more than one-third of the lakes are polluted and unfit for swimming, fishing, and drinking. 3. Ocean water: Contaminants such as chemicals, nutrients, and heavy metals are carried from farms, factories, and cities by streams and rivers into the bays mainly; from there they travel out to sea. 4. Point source: When contamination originates from a single source, it is called point source pollution. 5. Nonpoint source: Nonpoint source pollution is contamination derived from diffuse sources. On the subject of the most common types of water contamination, it can be affirmed that agriculture is the leading cause of water degradation around the world. In many countries, agricultural pollution is the top source of contamination in rivers and streams, the second-biggest source in wetlands, and the third main source in lakes. It is also a major contributor of contamination to estuaries and groundwater. Every time it rains, fertilizers, pesticides, and animal waste from farms and livestock operations wash nutrients and pathogens into waterways. Sewage and wastewater is another type of water contamination. Used water is wastewater. It comes from the sinks, showers, and toilets and from commercial, industrial, and agricultural activities. The term also includes storm water runoff, which occurs when rainfall carries road salts, oil, grease, chemicals, and debris from impermeable surfaces into our waterways. Oil pollution is another type of water pollution. Big spills may account for the vast majority of oil pollution in seas, including oil and gasoline that drips from cars and trucks every day. With reference to radioactive waste, it is any pollution that emits radiation beyond what is naturally released by the environment. It is generated by uranium mining, nuclear power plants, and the production and testing of military weapons, as well as by universities and hospitals that use radioactive materials for research and medicine. To sum up water pollution may have effects on human health and on the environment. Within human health results, it is important to highlight people’s illness and deaths caused by contaminated water. Diseases spread by unsafe water include cholera, giardia, typhoid, skin rashes, pinkeye, respiratory infections, and hepatitis and cancer. Concerning environment, the main effect that should be emphasized is the one related to the fact that healthy ecosystem thrive relies on a complex web of animals, plants, bacteria, and fungi 16 which interact with each other and harm to any of these organisms can create a chain effect, putting in danger entire aquatic environments. The shortage of oxygen caused by plant and algae growth asphyxiates plants and animals and can even create dead zones. Chemicals and heavy metals from industrial and municipal wastewater also contaminate waterways as well. Water pollution can be prevented by an appropriate environmental education system of actions that may be carried out in all the spheres of society, with emphases in the ones with more possibilities in contaminating water in one way or another. The voice is also very important in preventing water pollution. One of the most effective ways to stand up for the waters is to speak out in support of the Clean Water Rules, which clarifies the scope and protects the drinking water. However, the best form to prevent water pollution is educating people on environmental issues. Environmental education should be centered on man. Any grown-up – perceived as a result of the environmental education, will behave in an environmentally ethical manner in its relations with the others (https://www.nrdc.org/stories/water-pollution-everything-you-need-know). The analysis of different sources let the author to rearrange the dimensions and indicators to corroborate the problematic situation already declared in the introduction. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/water-pollution-everything-you-need-know 17 2. Needs assessment. As a way of corroborating the problematic situation described in the introduction of this paper, several empirical methods were administered to the sample of research in order to obtain as much information as possible about the students´ weaknesses and strengths regarding their knowledge, attitudes, skills and capacity building on water pollution consciousness. 2.1 Psychological characteristics of the sample of research: The sample is thirty students from 11th grade, group 4 at “Capitan Roberto Rodriguez” Pre- university School. They are teenagers. All of them are 16 years old. They show interest to learn about different topics, environmental issues among them. They also would like to contribute to solve some of the environmental problems of the community but they lack knowledge, attitudes and awareness about water pollution as one of the environmental issues of Santa Clara City. 2.2 Empirical methods used: a. Document analysis: English Syllabus, Textbook and environmental strategy of the school. It was used to know about the treatment given to environmental education within the 11th grade English subject program and textbook. The environmental strategy was used to know about the guidelines established for the subject, the grade, and the entire school in the educative strategy.(annex Nº1) b. Interview: Administered to the teacher that guides the group. This interview was used to get information about what is done to increase environmental knowledge, awareness, and attitudes in the students taken as sample. (annex Nº3) c. Interview: Administered to the teacher of English of the group. This interview was used to get information about the treatment given to environmental education through English lessons. (annex Nº4) d. Survey: Administered to the 11th grade students, class 4, at “Capitán Roberto Rodríguez” Pre-university School in order to have more information about their 18 knowledge, attitudes, capacity building and awareness in relation to environmental education and specifically about water pollution. (annex Nº2) e. Triangulation: This method allowed the author to identify the regularities about the scientific problem detected using the data obtained through the administration of the different empirical methods. The following dimensions and indicators were followed in the process of needs assessment of in this research. They revealed the ways to operate with water-pollution consciousness during the research and covered the elements that were prominent for the objective of this paper. Dimensions Indicators 1. Knowledge: help the social groups and individuals to acquire knowledge of environment, environmental pollution and environmental degradation - Definition of main environmental concepts. - Identification of different kinds of pollution. - Awareness of the consequences of water pollution. 2. Attitudes and Awareness: To help social groups and individuals to acquire a set of values for environmental protection. - Recognition of values towards water pollution. - Demonstrated values towards water pollution. 3. Actions and Capacity Building: To help social groups and individuals to develop skills required for making discriminations in form, shape, sound, touch, habits and habitats. Further, to develop ability to draw unbiased inferences and conclusions. - Development of skills and capacities while doing the classroom activities to raise students’ awareness about water pollution - Active involvement in fighting against water pollution in the school - Implementation of actions/activities created by themselves or by someone else to raise awareness in the school/community 19 2.3 Analysis of the results: The following information was gathered by first analyzing the results of each instrument administered to the sample during the needs assessment phase, and later by triangulating these results according to the dimensions and indicators defined above in order to identify the regularities.  Analysis of documents (annex Nº1): Analysis of 11thgrade English syllabus Objectives: There are 11 objectives in the English syllabus and none of them is aimed at the development of students’ environmental education and specifically to develop their awareness of water pollution or any kind of pollution. However, there are potentialities in several objectives for the development of this issue in the English lessons. There are objectives aimed at understanding texts, processing information from texts, summarizing information from texts and developing project work. That is, reading is one of the abilities to be developed in the grade, and this allows teachers include texts about environmental education as part of the English lessons or as projects to be developed. Contents: The 11th grade English program comprises five (5) units distributed in 92 class hours as follows. Unit Title Time allotted 1 What have I Done? 20 2 Telling Stories 16 3 What will you be done? 16 4 What would you like to eat? 16 5 Professions 24 Total 92 20 The map of the essential contents for each unit includes the following aspects: Unit title, communicative function, grammatical structure, hours allotted, vocabulary, pronunciation, comprehension of reading and writing expression. As a result of the analysis of the contents it could be observed that only knowledge and language skills are considered within the unit contents, no reference is made to the development of attitudinal contents, among the ones environmental education should be. Nevertheless, it was observed that the unit contents offer potentialities to include environmental issues through oral and written texts or project works. As a global issue, this topic can be developed when practicing any communicative function or grammar structure. The author considers that only vocabulary linked to this global issue will be new for the students. Each unit has the same structure. There is a project work, reading time (different topics), writing time, cultural note and exercises to practice the communicative function and grammar point mainly. Analysis of 11th Grade English Workbook The analysis of workbook carried out reveled that it comprises 96 exercises distributed into five units of the subject program as followed: Unit Title Amount of exercises 1 What have I Done? 19 2 Telling Stories 14 3 What will you be done? 16 4 What would you like to eat? 15 5 Professions 32 Total 96 The workbook also includes 14 reading texts with their correspondent before, while and after reading activities. It also includes a language summary section with other 41activities. However, there is no activity devoted to improve or acquire knowledge about environmental problems mainly to develop students´ water pollution awareness at all. Analysis of the School Educational Strategy The school educational strategy includes 20 actions. After reading and analyzing the strategy, it was observed that only action 20 is aimed at the development of environmental education as it deals with Tarea Vida, which is a national strategy to work on the effects of climate change 21 as well as to raise the students´ awareness about water pollution or environmental education topics. However, there are some other actions that should be arranged to include activities to develop students´ environmental education and basically students´ awareness about water pollution. Actions dealing with educative activities, the integration of school, family and community and the themes to be developed at family education schools, etc. Methodological guidelines: One may find many suggestions about the teaching of the contents of the subject. However, there is not any suggestion to deal with global issues. There has been emphasis on developing students´ research abilities while developing their project works but the topics to deal with should be linked to the contents of the different units.  Analysis of the survey done to the students (Annex Nº2): The survey administered to the sample (thirty students) showed that the total of them (100%) students could define environmental concepts such as: environment and environmental pollution. All the students (100%) identified the environmental problems deforestation, land pollution and ozone layer pollution. Eighteen students (60%) identified water pollution; and 26 students (86.6%) identified the loss of marine and coastal life. All the students recognized the importance of water for the environment and peoples´ life. Only 17 students (56.6%) knew very well the water care measures carried out by the school. No more than 11 students (36.6%) knew about the quality of the school water and 10 students knew where the school water comes from. Nevertheless, all of them knew that polluted water was dangerous for peoples´ health. Finally, all the students’ considered that everyone should be responsible and involved in the protection of environment. This means they are aware of their role as active individuals but they have not carried out any action. They also expressed in their final reflections that they were afraid of having activities in English lessons dealing with any environmental topic because they are aware of their difficulties to communicate in English using simple sentences and of their lack of vocabulary.  Analysis of the interview done to the teacher that guides the group (Annex Nº3): The interview to the teacher that guides the group brought to light that students do some activities related to environmental education such as care and maintenance of green areas, curricular projects to welcome the world environmental day (June 5th) as well as some other research projects about the different pollution problems around the world, which help students 22 to identify different kind of pollutions and its definitions. However, despite the fact that all students recognized the need to protect the environment, eleven of them (36,6%) do not behave like that as they do not care about their discipline and disrupted behaviors linked to environmental education. Regarding fresh water the students demonstrate their concern as many of them brings water from home. They do not care about saving this liquid at school as they do not censure or criticize the students who waste water unnecessarily at school. The teacher does not know if there is any school strategy for student’s environmental education. He stated that there are activities in some subjects, such as Geography, Biology and Chemistry dealing with environmental issues. He made emphases on the fact that it was not possible for the English subject to deal with this matter because there was not any unit or topic devoted to it. He added that the teacher of English has not planned any extracurricular activity to deal with environmental matters. Therefore, the English teacher neither contributes to students´ environmental education nor to develop their awareness about the importance of water as the most important liquid for humanity. To sum up, the students do not show awareness about protecting the environmental, they are not aware of the value and need of water resources either, as they waste this liquid indiscriminately. However, they are concerned with the quality of the water they drink.  Analysis of the interview to the teacher of English (Annex Nº4): An interview was made to the English teacher of the group. He expressed that, he has tried several times to deal with environmental problems in his lessons, even though, the syllabus does not offer any content related to this subject. He has dealt with topics such as the importance of the environment and some civic education matters such as discipline, organization of the classroom, students´ interaction and communication. The English teacher does not know if there is any school methodological orientation to deal with environmental education. He expressed that the students were not aware of the importance of saving water. They do not care whether water is being dripped at school. He added that there was not any available material to deal with this topic in the English lessons. Besides, the students have many difficulties in the language and their vocabulary is not enough to talk, write and understand texts about environmental matters. So there is not any action in the English lessons aimed at highlighting the importance of water for peoples´ life and the need to save it.  Regularities: Strengths: 23 1. The majority of students recognized environment problems 2. All the students recognized the importance of water for peoples´ life. 3. All the students are aware of the consequences of drinking polluted water. Weaknesses: 1. Most of the time the students do not demostrate values toward water pollution. 2. Students do not participate in any activity to develop skills and capacities to protect the water around and in the school. 3. Several students are not aware of the value and need of water resources. 4. The students do not involve actively in figthing against the wasting of water at the school . 5. Though there is an educative environmental strategy at school, neither the students nor the teachers are aware of its actions. Taking into account the importance of the environmental problems specifically water pollution and the needs assessment process done allowed the author to design a proposal which will contribute to increase water-pollution awareness in 11th grade students, class 4, at Capitan Roberto Rodriguez Pre-university School. . 24 3. The proposal 3.1 Foundations of the scientific result  From the philosophical point of view: The present paper takes its philosophical foundation from the Dialectic Materialism of the Marxist-Leninist philosophy, so it assumes the cognoscibility of the world as an objective reality and considers all the phenomena as interconnected, in constant evolution and with internal contradictions. It also assumes the cognitive process as a complex reflection in the subject's conscience and takes practice as a starting and finishing point within the theory of knowledge.  From the sociological point of view: The present proposal assumes education as a social phenomenon oriented towards the training of men for life. Within educational institutions, it also takes into account the incidence of inter- group relations (teacher-student, teacher-class, student-student, and student-class) in the environmental education of children, as well as the role of the processes of socialization and individualization in dialectic integration.  From the psychological point of view: The proposal was designed upon psychological foundations that mirror the Socio-cultural- historical theory developed by L. S. Vygotsky, therefore the system of lessons takes into account that whatever the students are able to do at present with levels of help, they will be able to do on their own in the near future.  From the pedagogical point of view: The proposal assumes the union between the cognitive and emotional aspects in learning, as well as the integration of education and development in the students' personality. From the pedagogical perspective, the system of activities bases upon the laws and principles of Pedagogy as a science, assuming the dialectic integration of instruction and education, teaching and learning. The proposal also considers that teaching goes at the forefront of development directing it and should aim at the maturing functions rather than at functions that are already developed.  From the methodological point of view: The system of lessons harmonizes with the philosophy behind the communicative approach; consequently, it was conceived taking into consideration the students' learning needs, their interests and motivations, it favors the conscious involvement of the students in learning, and uses a holistic approach when dealing with the language system, and provides flexibility when dealing with errors. (Camacho Delgado, 2002) 25 3.2 Characteristics of the proposal The proposal is based on an understanding of language as a unity. Focusing in communicative competence according to CLT by providing the necessary knowledge, abilities and values required to increase water pollution awareness in the students and, consequently, being able to communicate intelligibly in the foreign language. The proposal designed is a system as it is a unified whole with organized relationships among its different and dependent components that contributes to a same goals. This is explicitly shown in the following graphic representation: Goals of the TLP of English in Cuba To develop a basic level of communicative competence in the FL To help students develop personally for life. Speaking Listening Reading Writing Project work System of English Lessons Attitudes Water Pollution Awareness Knowledge Skills & Capacity Building 26 As it can be observed in the graphic above the components of the system are ruled by the two main goals of the English curriculum in Cuba: • To develop a basic level of communicative competence in the foreign language. • To develop personally for life These two objectives are accomplished in the different types of lessons designed, and also through the project works, in which the students develop not only language and research skills, but also their personality for life by cultivating values and education, environmental education in this case, related to global and local issues, as water pollution is, by increasing their knowledge and by developing their attitudes, skills and capacity building. The proposal comprises five lessons and two project works. The second project work is divided into two parts. There are three speaking lessons, a listening lesson and a reading lesson. The speaking lessons cover the three stages of teaching speaking: from presentation to controlled practice, controlled practice, and from controlled practice to free practice. They form a system as well in the sense they follow a PPP model and that the order of grammar points were taken into account. Some lessons are accompanied by teaching aids and materials that should help the students in understanding and developing the activities of the lessons. As it was said before, the lessons follow the communicative language teaching approach. They not only contribute to increase water-pollution awareness in the 11th grade students; class 4, at Capitan Roberto Rodriguez Pre-university School but they also contribute to practice the English language using vocabulary related to environmental issues as well. There is a variety of exercises in each lesson and all of them ask for students’ interaction in the classroom. The project works were designed to contribute to develop students’ research abilities and, at the same time, they learn about environmental issues specifically water pollution and enhance their vocabulary. The teachers who would consider necessary to use these lessons with their students may adapt the lessons to their students’ language level, interests and needs and decide in what part of the mapping of the course they can be included. 27 3.3 The System of Lessons and project works (annex Nº7) Grade: 11th Lesson 1 Type of lesson: speaking Stage: from presentation to controlled practice Topic: Environmental pollution Objectives: The students will reproduce questions and answers in simple conversations using the vocabulary related to environmental issues by working in pairs, so as to develop a level of awareness of the causes and effects of pollution. Time: 45 minutes Material aids & resources: pictures related to types of environmental pollution, a pdf worksheet I. Warm up 1. Greet the students and call the roll, 2. Organize the classroom 3. Work with the date and write it on the board. 4. Work with the words ENVIRONMENT and POLLUTION: first, ask the students if they know their meanings, second, ask them to think of synonyms; e.g., Environment: habitat, ambient, surroundings, and atmosphere. Pollution: contamination, dirtiness. Follow by writing on the board the phrase ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION and have the students guess a similar phrase: contamination of the habitat, for example. Then, brainstorm about types of environmental pollutions and causes. Make a concept map, like the following one, with what they say T y p es o f en v ir o n m en ta l p o ll u ti o n s Air pollution by car gases Soil pollution by fertilizers Water pollution by garbage Noise pollution by high music 28 5. Set the lesson objective and write the topic on board II. Follow up Task 1: Pre- teaching vocabulary Techniques: teacher – students’ interaction, techniques to convey the meaning of words: analogy, mime, explanation, and synonym/antonym Aids: pictures, blackboard Procedures: a. Introduce new vocabulary items related to the topic: Environmental Pollution by having the students answer these questions:  What environmental issues do you know?  What type of pollution is this? (showing pictures) b. Have the students group the vocabulary items into verbs and nouns Task 2: Work in pairs and try to answer the following questions: 1. What are the basic causes of Environmental Problems? 2. What can you do to help prevent pollution? 3. What can we do to protect forests? And water bodies? 4. What’s the most polluted country of the world? 5. What’s one of the worst environmental disasters in history? 6. What is acid rain? 7. What’s a hybrid car? How does it help the environment? 8. What’s the greenhouse effect?  Soil pollution  Water pollution  Air pollution  Noise pollution  Global Warming  Greenhouse Effect  Acid Rain  biodegradable  carbon dioxide  to dump  Fumes  Prevention  Preservation  To protect  ecosystem  emission  Renewable  Reusable  Wind Energy  Waste  destruction  to disappear  29 Task 3: Introduce the following questions and phrases/ chunks to talk about environmental pollution Questions Phrases / chunks What is environmental pollution? What environmental issues do you know? What are the main causes of environmental pollution? What should we do to prevent ……?  Environmental pollution is…  I think we should…  I think that one of the biggest causes of …  One of the measures that we can take …  One way to prevent soil/water/air/noise pollution is…  Another way to prevent soil/water/air/noise pollution is… c. write them down on the board d. have the students practice questions and answers in pairs Task4: Look at the pictures and match each one with the statements that best suit to them: 1 2 3 4 5 6 30 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Statements: ____Dirty water causes bacterial infections ____Longer droughts are a big problem for farmers ____Pesticides kill many kinds of wildlife. ____Consumerism creates a lot of garbage. ____Nuclear power plants are potential biohazards. ____Global warming is increasing the temperature of the earth’s atmosphere. ____Fracking can contaminate water supplies. ____Acid rain kills trees, plants and animals. 31 ____Contagious viruses can spread extremely quickly. ____Deforestation leads to increased flooding. ____Air pollution from factories is bad for our health ____Extreme weather causes death and destruction, ____Elephants are an endangered species due to hunting. ____Flooding is a big problem in low lying areas. ____Oil spills kill many kinds of sea life. Task 5: Look at the pictures on the worksheet (attached), they are all related to environmental issues, and determine:  Problem:  Cause:  Effect:  Solution: You may follow the example given Task 6 Based on the exercises above create short conversations about the environment and try to expand: A: What environmental issues are you concerned about? B: _________________________________ A: Why? B: _________________________________ A: And what can we do about it? B: _________________________________ Useful vocabulary Bacterial infections – biohazards – deforestation - contamination viruses - droughts - extreme weather – hunting - endangered species - pesticides – garbage - consumerism - air pollution - fracking - global warming - flooding - acid rain 32 A: _________________________________ B: _________________________________ III. Close up 1. Check students’ answer and correct general mistakes 2. In plenary discuss about the accomplishment of the lesson objective by determining strengths and points of improvement 3. Have students evaluate the level of participation for this class. Each student should participate at least once. 4. For homework: Find information about water pollution, and make a list of words and phrases related to this environmental issue. To do it you may: a. Consult any encyclopedia, internet and a bilingual dictionary b. Interview your teachers of Geography, Biology, chemistry, and Physics Possible Answers for task 3: 1- Air pollution from factories is bad for our health. 2- Dirty water causes bacterial infections 3- Nuclear power plants are potential biohazards. 4- Pesticides kill many kinds of wildlife. 5- Consumerism creates a lot of garbage. 6- Global warming is increasing the temperature of the earth’s atmosphere. 7- Fracking can contaminate water supplies. 8- Acid rain kills trees, plants and animals. 9- Elephants are an endangered species due to hunting. 10- Deforestation leads to increased flooding. 11- Longer droughts are a big problem for farmers. 12- Extreme weather causes death and destruction, 13- Contagious viruses can spread extremely quickly. 14- Flooding is a big problem in low lying areas. 15- Oil spills kill many kinds of sea life. 33 Lesson 2 Type of lesson: speaking Stage: presentation Topic: What is water pollution? Objectives: The students will identify some questions and their possible answers to talk about water pollution and the meaning of vocabulary items related to the topic, through teacher-student interaction so as to foster awareness of the causes and sources of water pollution. Time: 45minutes Material aids& resources: concept map, PPT presentation/picture set, a computer/TV set, and bilingual dictionaries I. Warm up 1. Greet the students and call the roll, 2. Organize the classroom 3. Write the date on the board. 4. check the homework 5. Task: Concept map Aim: Activation of students’ background knowledge Technique: brainstorming Time allotted: 10 min Procedures: a. Write on the board “Water Pollution”. b. Ask each student in turn to give a word or phrase that relates to water pollution and write their responses attached to the central term as in the concept map presented at the end c. When every student has given one answer a concept map should be created, then, have the students go through the answers and make links between words and phrases to produce statements and add new statements as they come up. 6. Ask the students if they have ever seen examples of water pollution. Have them give details like location, type of water body, type of pollution, ask if they know about any effort to clean it up 7. Set the lesson objective and write the topic on board II. Follow up Task 1: Pre- teaching vocabulary 34 Techniques: teacher – students’ interaction, techniques to convey the meaning of words: mime, explanation, synonym/antonym, word formation, context, Spanish equivalent Time allotted: 10 min Aids: pictures, blackboard Procedures: a. Have the students answer these questions:  What is water pollution?  What are the causes of water pollution? (showing pictures) b. Introduce the vocabulary related to Water Pollution by using different strategies to convey the meaning: pictures, analogy, synonyms, explanation, translation, etc Example: contaminate (analogy); river (context: I live near Bélico River(word formation  chemicals  contaminate  microorganisms  stream  river  lake  ocean  aquifer  body of water  water quality  environment  Toxic substances  water pollution  groundwater  Surface water  Ocean water  Sewage  Waste water  Sinks  Water  Toilet  plastic consumption c. Classify them into nouns (N), modifiers (M), verbs (V) Task 2: Defining what water pollution is Technique: pair work Time allotted: 5 min Procedure 35 a. Have students work in pairs to discuss about the elements that should be considered when defining what water pollution is; then, have them write it. (5 min) b. introduce the concept of water pollution Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies (e.g. lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers and groundwater), very often by human activities. Task3: Slide show Technique: students-teacher interaction/questions and answers Time allotted: 20 min Procedures: a. Play a slide show of pictures of water pollution (see PPT). There are questions to ask the students for every picture. b. Have the students list vocabulary items (words and phrases) related to water pollution while answering the questions in the slide show c. Write on board possible questions and answers to talk about water pollution Possible Questions Possible answers What is water pollution? / What causes water pollution? Water pollution is…. Water pollution is caused by…. What is causing water pollution here? / What is the type of water pollution here/in that…? Why is that water not clear? I don’t know, maybe it is…. /I think it is… It is not clear because…. Is that water drinkable/clean? / Can we drink that water? I don’t think so because…. / Yes, of course; it is…/ No, it is not….. d. Have the students complete the answers e. Work with:  Language chunks (forms) used to talk about water pollution: structure of questions and answers  Sounds, Intonation rhythm and sentence stress f. Divide the class into two groups and have them repeat: group A repeats the questions and group B the answer. After, have them change role in repetition. g. Have them practice questions and answers in pairs. 36 III. Close up 1. In plenary discuss about the accomplishment of the lesson objective by determining strengths and points of improvement 2. Have students evaluate the level of participation for this class. Each student should participate at least once. 3. For homework: a. Search for possible causes and effects of water pollution. You may complete this chart Causes Effects Concept Map (for item c of the warm up) 37 (Adapted from https://sdwf.squarespace.com/operation-water-pollution-1/2017/2/2/lesson-1-water- pollution) https://sdwf.squarespace.com/operation-water-pollution-1/2017/2/2/lesson-1-water-pollution https://sdwf.squarespace.com/operation-water-pollution-1/2017/2/2/lesson-1-water-pollution 38 Lesson 3 Type of lesson: speaking Stage: From controlled to free practice Topic: Water pollution: causes and effect. Objectives: The students will talk about water pollution intelligibly (using grammatical forms, vocabulary items and pronunciation features) through teacher-student interaction, pair and teamwork to foster awareness of the causes and sources of water pollution. Time: 45minutes Material aids& resources: bilingual dictionary, two charts: one with the conversation questions, and the other with the items of task 1. I. Warm up 1. Greet the students and call the roll, 2. Organize the classroom 3. Write the date on the board. 4. Check the homework: to write down possible causes of water pollution to bring to class the next day. 5. Set the lesson objective and write the topic on board II. Follow up Task 1: Cause and effect, or a way to prevent water pollution? Read the options and identify if it is a cause and effect statement or a way to prevent water pollution. You may use a bilingual dictionary to look up the meaning of unfamiliar words. 1. Sewage and waste water:___________________________________ 2. Use water wisely:___________________________________________ 3. Do not throw chemicals down the sink:______________________________ 4. Septic Tanks:______________________________________ 5. Diseases:________________________________________ 6. Don’t throw rubbish to rivers:______________________________ 7. Don’t overuse fertilizers:____________________________________ 8. Disruption of food-chains:__________________________________ 9. Ocean and marine dumping:________________________________ 10. Don’t overuse fertilizers:_____________________________________ 11. Destruction of ecosystems:___________________________________ 12. Industrial waste:_____________________________________________ 13. Oil Pollution by Oil Industries:__________________________________ 39 14. Death of aquatic animals:_____________________________________ Task 2: Conversation questions Technique: team work Time allotted: 15 min Procedures: a. Have the students form circles of 7 to 8 students and select a team leader b. Have them read the questions below and get ready to answer c. The leader of the team will ask a question to the group, and will select the one who will answer and ask the rest if they agree or not, and why. Questions: 1. How can we control water pollution? 2. What are some solutions to toxic dumping in our oceans? 3. What is water pollution? 4. What are some types of water pollution? 5. How do we detect water pollution? 6. What is acid rain and how does it develop? 7. How does urbanization contribute to water pollution? 8. How does industrialization contribute to water pollution? 9. How does deforestation contribute to water pollution? 10. What can you do to prevent water pollution? 11. What are some water pollution sources? 12. What are the effects of water pollution on humans? 13. What are the effects of water pollution on animals? 14. What are some of the effects of plastic consumption in the environment? 15. What are some ways we can help people get clean drinking water? 16. How can water pollution be controlled? 17. Rivers in your country. How polluted are they? Would you swim in them Task 3: Questionnaire Technique: pair work Time allotted: 20 min Procedures 1. Give students prompts. Write them on board, then, have students use them to come up with complete questions themselves. Water in my house and neighborhood 2. Give them categories:  uses 40  drinking water quality  Water bodies near the community  Pollution types  Causes  Effects  Awareness of people living there  Actions done by your family and community organizations 3. Have students write the questions they will ask their partners based on the prompt and predict what they will say. 4. Have them make predictions about the possible answers his partner is going to give to the questions 5. Have students ask and answer the questions and check predictions 6. Have students report back to class what his/her partner thinks about the prompt and categories: Carla thinks water in her neighborhood/house is…. / Robert says the river near his house is… (use verbs for reporting) III. Close up 1. Correct general mistakes in relation to: language use: structure of questions, reported speech, pronunciation, vocabulary, other 2. In plenary discuss about the accomplishment of the lesson objective by determining strengths and points of improvement 3. Have students evaluate the level of participation for this class. Each student should participate at least once. 4. For homework: Plan an interview to the president of the school board in charge of the Environmental Education Strategy. Plan the questionnaire. You may ask about:  Uses of water at school  Quality of drinking water  Activities in the Strategy related to save water and to raise students’ awareness about water pollution.  What students can do to help avoid water pollution in the community https://busyteacher.org/classroom_activities-grammar/reported_speech-worksheets/ 41 Lesson: 4 Type of lesson: listening Topic: Causes and Effects of Water pollution Objective: The students should be able to deduce causes and effects of water pollution while watching a video that promotes awareness-raising about this topic, through listening stages and tasks that follow a top-down approach. Material aids: a video and pictures I. Before-listening tasks Skills: Predicting Using one’s own knowledge of the subject to help one understand. Techniques: Teacher-student interaction & using synonyms & antonyms as techniques to convey meaning of words Procedures a. Ask the students about worries concerning water in our country and in our city (setting the context). b. Have the students predict the words or/and phrases that come to their minds when looking at the following pictures c. Copy on the chalkboard key words that come up in the interaction, use techniques to convey their meaning (pre-teaching key words). d. Write the title of the video on the chalkboard Causes and Effects of water Pollution and ask them to list the causes and effects of water pollution they know. e. Orient the objective of the lesson II. While-listening tasks Task 1: Watch the video and say if the causes and effects of water pollution you listed are mentioned in it. Procedures: 42 Task 2: Skill: Identifying relevant points, rejecting irrelevant information Aim: Deduce causes. Activity: a. Watch the video again and tick the causes of water pollution mentioned ____ Dumping of industrial wastes ____ Pesticides used in agricultural fields ____ Illegal discharges from factories ____ Accidental spillage of oil ____ Accidental spillage of oil ____ Garbage discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies Task 3 Skill: Identifying relevant points, rejecting irrelevant information Aim: Deduce effects. Watch the video once again and match the causes of water pollution you identified above with their effects Task 4 Skills:  Guessing at unknown words or phrases without panicking;  Recognizing cohesive devices 1. Watch the video while reading the script and fill in with the missing words: Effects: ___ Alteration of water by reducing the oxygen in its composition ___ Deforestation ___ Disappearance of biodiversity and aquatic ecosystems ___ Illnesses ___ Marine species in danger ___ Rivers contaminated Causes: a. Dumping of industrial wastes Pesticides used in agricultural fields b. Illegal discharges from factories c. Accidental spillage of oil d. Accidental spillage of oil e. Garbage discharged directly or indirectly into water bodies 43 Water is a basic resource that guarantees the life of all living beings on the planet. ________its scarcity and _______ cause millions of people to have poor access to this much-needed asset. Humans are the main cause of _____ pollution, _______ is triggered in many ways: by the dumping of _______ waste; due to the temperature rise, that cause the alteration of water by reducing the oxygen in its composition; or due to _________, which causes sediments and _______to appear under the soil and, therefore, contaminate groundwater. In the _____ way, the pesticides used in agricultural fields filter through underground channels and reach the consumption networks; and also as a result of accidental spillage of oil. And, what are the main consequences of this? Firstly, the disappearance of biodiversity and aquatic ecosystems. Also, humans are harmed by the alteration in the food chain and by contracting _______when drinking or using _________ water. For all this, we must ensure water availability, its sustainable management and sanitation for all. List of words: However, industrial, illnesses, which, water, bacteria, same, contaminated, pollution, deforestation, spillage 2. Read the script of the listening text and under line those words that you do not know and try to understand the meaning by: a. Understanding the surrounding information (context) b. Identifying synonyms/antonyms c. Similarity to a Spanish word (Analogy) 3. Listen to what is said in the video while reading its script and: a. Place a slash (/) in the pauses you hear, b. underline the stressed words/phrases c. Read aloud shadowing what is said in the video, make the necessary pauses and stress the words or phrases you underlined above. 44 III. After listening tasks 1. Work in pairs and discuss if the purpose of the video is:  To entertain.  To inform about water pollution  To explain what water pollution is  To raise awareness about water pollution. 2. Check students’ answer and correct general mistakes 3. In plenary discuss about the accomplishment of the lesson objective by determining strengths and points of improvement 4. Have students evaluate the level of participation for this class. Each student should participate at least once. 5. For homework: Exam your WATER SENSE by answering the test (Attached); and be ready to share the results with your classmates Script of the video Causes and Effects of Water Pollution Water is a basic resource that guarantees the life of all living beings on the planet. However its scarcity and pollution cause millions of people to have poor access to this much-needed asset. Humans are the main cause of water pollution, which is triggered in many ways: by the dumping of industrial waste; due to the temperature rise, that cause the alteration of water by reducing the oxygen in its composition; or due to deforestation, which causes sediments and bacteria to appear under the soil and, therefore, contaminate groundwater. In the same way, the pesticides used in agricultural fields filter through underground channels and reach the consumption networks; and also as a result of accidental spillage of oil. And, what are the main consequences of this? Firstly, the disappearance of biodiversity and aquatic ecosystems. Also, humans are harmed by the alteration in the food chain and by contracting illnesses when drinking or using contaminated water. For all this, we must ensure water availability, its sustainable management and sanitation for all. 45 Lesson: 5 Type of lesson: reading comprehension Topic: Water Objective: the students should be able to summarize the relevant ideas developed in the reading passages, related to water while encouraging their knowledge and awareness of the importance of water for life. Time allotted: 45 min Material aids: reading passage I. Warm up 1. Greet the students and call the roll, 2. Organize the classroom 3. Work with the date and write it on the board. 4. check the homework Before-reading tasks Skills: Predicting, anticipating and using one’s own knowledge of the subject to help one understand. Techniques: Teacher-student interaction and techniques to convey the meaning of words as: context, synonym/antonym; mime, explanation; word formation, translation and the like Time allotted: 5min Procedures: a. Write on the board the following questions:  What is water?  How did water get to the Earth?  Is groundwater safe to drink?  Why is it important to drink water? b. Have the students answer them in pairs. Then, discuss about the answers in plenary c. Ask the students to select one of the questions, the one that they would like to read about and answer. Be sure that the four are selected. d. Form teams with those who selected the same topic. Give them the reading passage. 46 III. Follow up While reading tasks 1. Read the text rapidly and check if your answer is given in the passage or if it is not. Be ready to say the paragraph and line where the answer appears. Skills: scanning Aim: checking predictions Time allotted: 5 min 2. Read the text again and determine what the main topic discussed in the passage is Skill: skimming Aim: Identifying the main point or important information Distinguishing the main idea from supporting details Time allotted: 5 min Procedures: Have the students:  Read the title of the text, the subtitles, any accompanying picture(s), pay attention to bold typed words and phrases, or in italic type,  Then, read the 1st paragraph and determine the main idea (topic), then the last paragraph, then, check if both main ideas are related.  If any particular vocabulary item (key word) hampers understanding, try to guess what it means by: analogy (similar/equivalent to any Spanish word), the surrounding context, word formation (if it is simple of compound, if you know a part of the word (root, affixes), or look it up a bilingual dictionary.  If, on the contrary, you cannot understand the main idea for any grammatical reason try to: determine subject and predicate, the core of subject and its modifiers if any, the core of the and the types of connections within the different parts of the predicate(syntagms), as well as the type of relations among the sentences of the paragraph.  Read the 1st and the last sentences of the in—between paragraphs and check if they expand the main idea of the 1st paragraph, do not stop in unknown words. 3. Read the text again and, in pairs: a. Try to give each paragraph a “title”. To do it: underline key words b. Read the text again and do the multiple choice exercise (attached) c. Read the text once more and answer the questions (attached Skill: Distinguishing the main ideas from supporting details Time allotted: 15 min 47 4. Make a concept map with the main ideas and their expansions Skill: summarizing Time allotted:5 min Main idea supporting ideas General idea Main idea supporting ideas Main idea supporting ideas III. Close up After reading activities 1. Check students’ answers: Technique: debate Time allotted: 10 min a. Form teams of students who read the same type of text and debate about their answers (The teacher can use the answer key attached) b. Have them explain to class what the topic they read was about and what they learned from it in terms of language and knowledge of the topic). 2. In plenary discuss about the accomplishment of the lesson objective by determining strengths and points of improvement 3. Have students evaluate the level of participation for this class. Each student should participate at least once. 4. For homework: Write a letter to one of your best friends explaining about what you read. Follow the format of an informal letter. 48 PROJECT WORKS PROJECT WORK 1 Objective: To develop researching skills about environmental problems related to water pollution in their neighborhoods so as to increase the students' environmental awareness about the topic. Skills: Speaking, reading, listening and writing Level: Elementary Organization: Teamwork Procedures: The teacher will motivate the students by asking about environmental problems and about the subjects that refer to them. The students should refer to the importance of the topic and to any TV program devoted to environmental education in Cuba. The teacher should guide the students in the formation of teams to do research about the topic and he/she should point out that the leaders of the teams should love nature. After they select the leaders they should be ready to decide what to do and what the final product will be like. To help the students the teacher can suggest some ideas that might help the students, since them can be useful ways to integrate what the students have learned through the previous lessons. Some of these ideas are:  Write a newspaper article about any problem related to water that is taking place in Santa Clara city and include what the population does about it.  Create a radio program about the importance of water and how to protect water in the country, in our province and city.  Interview any person whose hobby is to take care of water bodies in the city.  Create a poster showing any water pollution and be ready to have on oral presentation about it.  Write a poem about the topic.  Develop a round table about water pollution in the world and include the situation in Cuba. (Adapted from Morales, Rumbaut. D.R. 2005) 49 PROJECT WORK 2 Problem solving number 1 Title: OPERATION WATER POLLUTION: CLEAN – UP Objective: The students should be able to solve some environmental problems which will increase their environmental awareness and their capacity building actions by researching about water pollution issues Skills: Speaking, reading, listening and writing Organization: Teamwork Time allotted: 15 days for researching about the problems given and for making the poster Procedures: 1. The teacher will motivate the students by saying that there are some about environmental problems related to water pollution that should be investigated and their job in solving them is of paramount importance 2. The teacher informs the class about the problems and what they have to do: Problem Nº1: You are a researcher for Environment Cuba, specifically Caibarien’s coastlines. Recently, there was an oil tanker spill on the coastline. This oil spill has been devastating for the local economy and the ecosystem as a whole. The citizens on the coast are furious and they demand compensation and answers for the whole situation. Your first job is to find out all that could have been affected by this spill. What sort of animals could have been affected? How many people live on the coast? Problem Nº2: Now that you have gathered all of the preliminary information that you need, it is time to schedule a clean-up. From the information you have gathered and the information sheet, it is now your job to figure out the best possible solution for this clean up job. You know that this has affected many people and animals and will have a long-lasting effect on the area. 50 You need to find a clean-up solution that is quick and can effectively clean up the area completely. Problem Nº3: Now that a solution for the cleanup has been found, it is time to inform the people of the surrounding area regarding what has happened and your government’s plans for clean-up. To do this, you will be creating a poster board with all the essential information that the people need to know. This poster board will be copied and the copies will be posted on and near the coastline. The information that you post on this poster board must be accurate and informative, but short enough to keep someone’s attention. Operation Water Pollution: Clean Up Information: The specifics of the oil spill are as follows:  It covers more the 40 km of land and ocean, with over 70% of it being ocean.  It has affected the wildlife in the area, such as pelicans, seagulls, and the fish populations, so the cleanup must involve them as well.  400 000 barrels of oil were spilled into the ocean and on the land.  The oil was in the crude phase.  Cleaning will involve cleaning the oil spill and getting the tanker out of the water safely.  The financial and environmental hit is quite extensive so clean up needs to be as efficient and cheap as possible. 51 Rubrics to evaluate the posters: Problem solving number 2 Time: 6-10 hours Problem Nº1: As an activist for clean drinking water, it is your mission to make sure that everyone is aware of all of the drinking water problems in Cuba. Lately, there have been recent findings with 52 the Caibarién Oil Sands developments and contaminated water. A tailings pond for an oil sands development has contaminated a river and the polluted water is now flowing downstream. You need to find out which communities lie along the river and what implications the pollution could have on those communities. There are many communities that could be affected by this contamination. This contamination could cause a number of illnesses and could potentially be fatal. Since it is an oil sands tailings pond causing the contamination, there are a number of different chemicals that could be in the water supply. What kind of chemicals in the water supply could be causing this contamination? Problem N2: After learning more about the spill and who it has affected, you feel more comfortable dealing with the situation. However, you feel the situation needs to be brought to the attention of the public and the government. You feel it is necessary