Don't choose extinction!

Before watching

1. In pairs, discuss these questions.

a. Which words and images do you associate with extinction?

b. Do you know any species which are in danger of extinction?

c. What's the difference between extinct, endangered and vulnerable

species? Use the internet if necessary.

2. Share your ideas with the class.

3. You will watch a video made by the United Nations (UN) called
Don't choose extinction. Complete these sentences with your
own ideas or use the internet if necessary.

What is the UN? UN missions

What does the UN How many countries are

logo represent? there in the UN?
While watching

4. Watch the video until 00:17" and answer these questions.

a. Where is the General Assembly taking place?

b. Why do the Assembly members look at the entrance?
c. What do you think will happen next?

5. Continue watching until 00:38" and choose the right option.

What will the dinosaur do next?

a. It will eat the speaker.
b. It will give a speech.
c. It will leave the place.
d. It will __________________________________________________.

6. Complete these sentences using the words and phrases from

the box. Then finish watching the video and check your answers.
You will use one word twice!

subsidies - demise - asteroid - funds - poverty - extinct

a. Going _________________ is a bad thing.

b. And driving yourselves ______________?

c. At least we had an ________________, what's your excuse?

d. And yet every year governments spend hundreds of billions of

public ____________ on fossil fuel ____________________.

e. Around the world people are living in _________________.

f. Don't you think that helping them would make more sense than... I
don't know...paying for the _____________ of your entire species?
After watching

7. Discuss these questions.

a. What is the real meaning and purpose of the video?

b. What elements help achieve its purpose(s)?
c. What is the tone of the speaker?
d. How did the video make you feel?

Identifying persuasive techniques

8. Identify the persuasive devices from the box in each excerpt
below:

rhetorical question analogy imperative emotive words

a. Listen up, people...

b. I know a thing or two about extinction (..) going extinct is a bad

thing.

c. At least we had an asteroid...what's your excuse?

d. You're headed for a climate disaster...

e. Think of all the other things you could do with that money...

f. Around the world people are living in poverty...

g. Don't you think that helping them would make more sense than... I
don't know...paying for the demise of your entire species?

h. Don't choose extinction. Save your species before it's too late...

Adapted from Critical Thinking in ELT, Dummett P. and Hughes J. (2019), Nat. Geo.
Focus on lexis

A collocation is the combination of words formed when two or more

words are often used together in a way that sounds correct.
(Cambridge Dictionary)
For example: "To have a problem", "to make a decision", "to do yor best", "to
take a chance"...

9. Match these verbs from the video with nouns they collocate
with. You can use the nouns more than once.

VERBS NOUNS

MAKE MONEY

ECONOMY

SPEND

SPECIES

HAVE EXCUSES

CHANGES
SAVE AN OPPORTUNITY

SENSE
REBUILD

10. Watch the video again and check your answers. Then, think of
two more collocations for each verb and provide examples.
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Follow-up tasks: Optional

11. Choose one of the following options:

Speaking: Imagine you are a member of the General Assembly.

Role-play a conversation with another member before and after
the T-rex speech.

Writing: Write an opinion essay on the video and the topics it

presents.

Reading and speaking: Watch this short video on the UN's SDGs
(Sustainable Development Goals). In pairs or small groups, choose
one SDG and make a presentation for the class. You can explain
the goal and suggest different ways of taking action in your local
community. Source: https://sdgs.un.org/goals

Listening: Choose one of the videos on SDGs from the Renewable

English YouTube channel. Take some notes on the most important
information you listen and then share it in class. (Individual, pair or
group work)

Your own idea: _____________________________________________________________

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