General

Environment snippets

This collection of 17 brief, illustrated articles, called here a Minipedia, covers a wide range of interesting curiosities about the natural world. It is ideal for extra reading and vocabulary, or your teacher may devise a range of other activities with it.

What do we need to know about the environment?

This site is a very good place to start on learning the fundamentals about ecology and environmental issues. There are 26 headings (the link is the number) and each article is clearly written using appropriate vocabulary and is accessible. The articles are obviously written by a knowledgeable and committed ecologist and lover of nature. Each item from the list is suitable for a 15 minute read/summarize activity.

www.andinia.com/a20272.shtml

Key vocabulary and terms on the environment

This is a pdf document listing key words and phrases related to the environment. The entire document is in Spanish so students may need the help of a teacher or a dictionary to help them understand the document. There are some great reading articles towards the end of the document, which could be adapted for a reading comprehension. The definitions of the words and phrases are in Spanish so this could be adapted to create a matching exercise. This is a very useful resource that could be used in a variety of ways.

http://webs.ono.com/hpasget/geogra/18MedioAm.pdf

Song about the environment – Pedro Suárez Vértiz

This is a great and very catchy song on the environment written by Peruvian Singer song writer Pedro Suárez Vértiz. This isn't the official video, but it does have some great visuals as well as the lyrics. This is a great song to introduce the topic, and some very useful vocabulary. What topics are mentioned in the song?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmBPw1iTpg0&feature=related

Song about the environment – Alejandro Lerner

This is a song that has been linked to UN's World Environment Day, which is celebrated every year on 5 th June. It is written by Argentine songwriter Alejandro Lerner. This song, entitled “You can change the world” has a great tune, and can be used to launch a class debate on the topic. This isn't the official video, but it does have some great visuals as well as the lyrics. How can you help you, your school, your community, and or your region help the environment?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZzS87wNL4c

Burning forests in Argentina

This site talks about how the burning forests near the Argentinean province of Cordoba has resulted in the death of one individual and caused hundreds to evacuate the province. The first section talks about the impact of the burning forests, and the section after the heading ‘focos activos' talks more about the individuals who were blamed for starting these fires. (August 2009)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/america_latina/2009/08/090831_cordoba

Spanish wildlife protection – FAPA

Website of this organisation for the protection of Spanish wildlife. The page relates their current initiatives and campaigns.

http://www.fapas.es/

Greenpeace

Campaigns section of the website of the Spanish branch of Greenpeace. To find the multimedia resources, follow the link Imágenes y Vídeos on the left hand side of the page.

http://www.greenpeace.org/espana/campaigns

European Environmental Agency

This is the official site (Spanish version) of the European Environmental Agency. There is a wide range of topic headings for you to choose from. Click on any of the headings to find out more about the topic. There is a short introduction to each topic, additional articles, links and further resources. This is great resource to help you learn more about the key environmental issues.

http://www.eea.europa.eu/es/themes

Weather forecast

Watch the weather forecast as many times as necessary then answer the 8 questions. You can see all the questions at once by clicking on Todas las preguntas.

http://www.asisehace.net/parte_meteorologico.htm

A new species of fish discovered in Brazil

Short report (1 minute long) about a new species of fish which does not have any scales that has been discovered off the coast of Brazil . (September 2009)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/ciencia_tecnologia/200

The moon on holiday

This children's story gives far-fetched reasons why the moon behaves as it does and is an enjoyable way to gather useful vocabulary on aspects of the environment. Once the site comes up, follow the link La luna que se apagaba on the left hand side of the page.

http://www.salonhogar.com/espanol/cuentos/index2.htm

The future of the Earth

With a song by Maná and a variety of interactive self-check exercises, these pages give you the chance to hear and read a lot of natural expressions in Spanish on a range of environmental problems. There are also clear examples, in context, of a range of tenses. Particularly useful is the interactive exercise found by clicking on Actividades, then El tiempo futuro. You can also visit the grammar section of the site for a Repaso del tiempo futuro before you attempt the gap-fill exercise, which is a series of optimistic and pesimistic preditions about the future of the world.

http://www.colby.edu/~bknelson/SLC/mana/mana_splash.html

Environment – fable

The famous Luís Sepúlveda wrote a fable, apparently a children's story, which actually considers the terrible way people treat the natural environment. This site investigates and comments on the story. It is ideal extra reading on the Environment topic, especially the high-profile issue of oil spills. The page has sections on the values found in the story and information on how the animated film version was made. Handy background information is also available on the author, the topic and the story via various links.

Take the link Historia de una Gaviota y el Gato que le enseñó a volar. It's under the central table, in the section Lecturas Online. You may be inspired to buy the book!

http://aprimaria.iespana.es/actlengua.htm

Environmental news from around the world

This is a very useful resource for improving your reading comprehension. There are articles and news items on the latest research and developments on a wide range of environmental issues. You may need a dictionary to help you navigate through the articles. Alternatively a teacher could use this resource as part of a reading comprehension.

http://www.portaldelmedioambiente.com/

Scientists for the Environment (CIMA)

This is the official website for CIMA, a Spanish organisation that brings together scientists who are working on environmental issues. This resource contains a wealth of information in the form of articles, which could be used to introduce a topic or as part of a reading comprehension. The articles are organised under different headings, accessible by clicking on the appropriate topic heading on the left of the first page.

http://www.cima.org.es/index.html

Cinema and the Environment

This is simply a fantastic resource for teachers and students alike. It lists a comprehensive collection of films that deal with the topic of the environment. There are pictures (stills and posters) from each film, and also a brief description of the film. You can learn about films from all around the world and how different cultures and societies have tried to address some of the key environmental issues. After reading through the films (scroll down the page) why not watch one of the recommended films and do a presentation on it for your class?

http://www.uhu.es/cine.educacion/cineyeducacion/granmedioambiente.htm

European Commission and the Environment

This is an excellent resource created by the European Commission. It is a site for young people in Europe to help them learn more about the environment. The site has a lot of information, which is organised under for main topics: Agua (water), Aire (air), Residuos (waste) and Naturaleza (nature). Click on each heading to find out more about each topic, the related environmental problems, what the European Commission is doing about this, and how you can help. This resource could be used as introduction to the broader topic of the environment, and as useful reading practice.

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/youth/index_es.html