Green English

Welcome to our green English page.

On this page you will find a growing list of resources regarding green English.

If you would like to contribute with a link or links, please contact us, or leave a comment.

Green English – our blog posts

BE, you were red hot … but it’s time for green
So goodbye corporate world, hello the green hills of regeneration: this month we’re heading into the polluted-but-we’re-working-on-it world of Green English. We’ll  be looking at just how language has changed and grown to incorporate our eco-friendly focus.

It will all come out in the greenwash
For most of human history, we weren’t sufficiently numerous or powerful to do enough damage to warrant an environmental movement. Then a series of developments … began to demonstrate dramatically how fragile is our stewardship of ‘Spaceship Earth’.

Top 20 green buzzwords in English
Green English month brings you some frequent buzzwords relating to the environment. Feel free to add other words in a comment below.

Have I seen you be -vore?
The -vore suffix has been especially productive in scientific terminology, where it’s a standard way of describing a life form’s dietary preferences.

Crafting green, linguistically speaking
This year, my sewing club, sew make believe’s theme is “green”. It’s about using up what we have already, making rather than buying, mending rather than replacing.

Out of the red with the green stuff
Now the “green economy” is spreading to unexpected quarters: a recent article in Time magazine reports that Sicily’s mafia want in on the act.

Cut me some slacktivism
We all want to make a meaningful difference, and to have our voices heard, but our days are busy and there are times when all we can do is click a button. Sometimes, therefore, modern activism gets no further than clicktivism.

You say ‘global warming’, I say ‘climate change’
Not surprisingly, then, the environmentalist lobby prefers the term climate change, whereas their conservative opponents tend to use global warming. The latter expression has in fact been in decline in recent years.

Teaching tips for green English – microblogs

Introduction
The series will include worksheets & teacher’s notes, animations, and information about subject-specific vocabulary relating to science in general and the environment in particular.

Worksheet: renewable energy
The first in a series of teaching tips for green English brings you a lesson plan, suitable for intermediate and upper intermediate levels, which provides vocabulary practice and discussion for the topic of renewable energy.

Animation: the greenhouse effect
This presentation of six slides developed in partnership with the Science Museum includes a colourful Flash animation showing how the greenhouse effect occurs.

The language of science
In this useful article, author Keith Kelly provides a list of typical language used in the area of science.

Dictation activity: greenwashing
This dictation activity, called ‘Nature’, focuses on the practice of greenwashing.

Vocabulary exercises: geography
The worksheet includes key vocabulary used in geography and exercises to help consolidate students’ knowledge of the terms.

Green English lesson plan
This lesson focuses on the factors which motivate us to take action to protect the environment. The language point which it incorporates is the use of conditionals and the second conditional in particular.

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