1. Natural Disasters
Context:
The following activities will be carried out by teenage students with an intermediate level
in a bilingual school.
The students will work in groups of four. Students will work with this project work for
three consecutive classes.
Objectives:
• To learn about natural disasters (what they are, how they happen, what to do in a
natural disaster situation, cases in our country)
• To research on each phenomenon and foster critical selection of relevant material
with the help of guidelines provided by the teacher
• To teach specific vocabulary in context
• To integrate the use of technology into the language classroom
Materials:
• Worksheets
• WebQuest Tasks:
1. http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/
2. http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/
3. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4588149.stm
4. http://en.rian.ru/natural/20090727/155640735.html
5. http://en.rian.ru/natural/20091115/156840617.html
6. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN28550619

2. • Flashcards
Procedures:
Lesson 1:
Warmer:
The teacher will show flashcards illustrating natural disasters and flashcards with their
names to the students. They will be stuck on the board. The students will have to tell her
how to match the pictures to the names (see Worksheet 1).
The teacher will lead the students into a discussion about what they know and think about
natural disasters and what to do in a natural disaster situation.
Web:
The students will consult http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-
disasters/ and http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/ and fill in the chart with basic information
about natural disasters (webquest: http://zunal.com/publish.php?w=72509). This activity
will be carried out in pairs.
What Next:
The collecting of information will be checked with the class as a whole and the teacher will
invite the students to say whether their previous knowledge and conceptions about natural
disasters were accurate or not. The teacher will focus mainly on the courses of action to
take in case of a natural disaster and finally, the students will work with Worksheet 3. This
activity will be carried out individually.
Lesson 2
Warmer:
The teacher will ask the students to tell her about what they learnt on the previous lesson.
She will give the students a list of natural disasters from which they will have to choose one
they are particularly interested in and say why. From that list, the students will have to
choose to work with hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanoes or tsunamis. This will
be done in pairs.
Web:

3. The students will go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4588149.stm and watch
the animated guides that explain how natural disasters are produced. Each pair is going to
prepare an activity for another group. The teacher will give each pair a card with the rubrics
‘True or False?’, ‘Answer the following questions’ or ‘Correct the incorrect information’
and each pair is going to prepare an activity with the instructions assigned for another pair
of students to solve.
What Next:
The pairs will exchange worksheets and watch the animated guides to solve the other
team’s activities. Then, they are going to give the worksheet back to their creators, who will
make the necessary corrections. Finally, the class as a whole will carry out a discussion on
how natural disasters are produced, what things they found surprising about the animated
guides, etc.
Lesson 3:
Warmer:
The teacher is going to ask the students about what they know about natural disasters in
Argentina. The students are going to be asked when the events they mention happened,
where and why they think they happened. The teacher is also going to ask the students
about the natural disasters that they know Argentina has never had to go through and where
it is common to see them instead. The students having learnt how they happen, the teacher
will ask them to say why they do not happen in our country but do happen in other
countries.
Web:
The students will work in pairs again. Each pair will have to read an article in one of the
following sites (the teacher is going to decide who is going to read what):
• http://en.rian.ru/natural/20090727/155640735.html
• http://en.rian.ru/natural/20091115/156840617.html
• http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN28550619
The teacher is going to give each pair a copy of Worksheet 4 and the students will answer
the questions on it.
What Next:

4. The pairs will be sorted out into three larger groups, according to the articles they have
read, and each group is going to tell the others about the disaster they had to read about.
The teacher will ask the students if they remember having heard about these disasters and
how they felt in that moment. The students are going to be invited to reflect on what can be
done (if there is anything that can be done) to prevent natural disasters from happening and
how to be prepared to take care of oneself and others in situations like these.
Worksheets:
Worksheet 1: Match the pictures to the words
a. Avalanche
b. Hail storm
c. Volcano
d. Earthquake

5. e. Wildfire
f. Lightning
g. Drought
h. Hurricane
I. Tsunami
j. Tornado

6. Worksheet 3:
What to do in case of NATURAL DISASTERS!
EXAMPLE:
In case of a ____Tornado________.
__You should move to a basement_______________.
__You shouldn`t go outside_____________________.
In case of a ____________________.
____________________________________________.

7. ____________________________________________.
In case of an ___________________.
____________________________________________.
____________________________________________.
In case of a ____________________.
____________________________________________.
____________________________________________.
In case of a ____________________.
____________________________________________.
____________________________________________.

8. In case of a ____________________.
____________________________________________.
____________________________________________.
Worksheet 4:
Natural Disasters in Argentina
1. What type of natural disaster was it? Was it one of the types studied in class?
2. Where did it happen?
3. When did it happen?
4. (Can you say) why?
5. What were the consequences?
6. Is it common to go through situations like this in out country? How can we be
prepared?
7. Is there anything that has caught your attention about this article?
Created by Eliane Custode and Cecilia Casadio