Topic: Weather/Natural Disasters

English Club: #7

Topic: Weather/natural disasters. Large group: (25 min) Listening Exercise. “I can see clearly now” by Johnny Nash 1. Listen to the song and talk about its content/meaning. 2. Pass out the handout and listen again and fill in handout as song plays. Let them ask questions about confusing phrases. 3. Listen again and fill in remaining words Small groups: Divide into as many groups as there are facilitators. 1. (10 min) Vocabulary. Pass out the handout and explain the following words. Have your students give sentences using each word:  Climate  Ice/Icy  Dry  Weather forecast  Lightning  To freeze  Clouds/Cloudy  Thunder  To melt  Wind/Windy  Indian summer  To slip  Snow/Snowy  Thunderstorm  Blizzard  Rain/Rainy  Snowstorm  Mud/Muddy  Sun/Sunny  Hail  Slippery  Fog/Foggy  Humidity/Humid  Heat wave 2. (10 min) Discussion. Talk about the following questions as a group:  What do you like about Almaty’s climate?  Is Almaty’s weather better or worse than where you grew up? Explain.  Which would you rather have: very cold weather or very hot weather?  If you could create an ideal/perfect climate what would it be?  Does the weather affect your emotions/mood? How?  How does the weather forecast affect your plans for the day?  As a group, try and identify 10 ‘signs’ that tell us that spring has arrived or is approaching. Do the same for summer, fall, and winter.  Would you like to live in place where there are no changing seasons? Explain. 3. (10 min) Block story. Have a volunteer try to explain the entire story. After the first student is finished go through difficult verbs and phrases. Ask for a second volunteer to explain the story this time in the first person past tense ”I did…”. Finally, you share the story making sure to add enough connecting phrases to make it flow from box to box. 4. (5 min) Vocabulary. Explain the following “natural disaster” words:

 Flood  Tsunami  Famine  Earthquake  Plague  Volcanic eruption  Drought  Tornado  Hurricane  Forest fire 5. (15 min) Discussion. Talk about the following questions as a group:  Ask them to list the natural disasters from least to most frightening. Discuss.  What are some of the most famous natural disasters in history?  What kind of disasters have you personally experienced? Describe your experience.  Have there ever been any major natural disasters in KZ? Which one was the worst?  Have you seen any movies about natural disasters? Which is your favorite and why?  Why do you think that people continue to live in areas where natural disasters repeatedly happen? 6. (15 min) Idioms. Go over the idioms on the song sheet handout as a small group. As you teach each idiom, ask for volunteers to give example sentences using the idiom. I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW

By Johnny Nash 1. I can see clearly now the rain is gone. 2. I can see all obstacles in my way. 3. Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind. 4. It’s gonna be a bright, bright sun shiny day. 5. It’s gonna be a bright, bright sun shiny day.

6. Oh yes, I can make it now the pain is gone. 7. All of the bad feelings have disappeared 8. Here is that rainbow I’ve been praying for. 9. It’s gonna be a bright, bright sun shiny day.

10. Look all around there’s nothing but blue skies. 11. Look straight ahead there’s nothing but blue skies.

12. I can see clearly now, the rain is gone. 13. I can see all obstacles in my way. 14. Here is that rainbow I’ve been waiting for. 15. It’s gonna be a bright, bright sun shiny day. 16. It’s gonna be a bright, bright sun shiny day.

a. It’s raining cats and dogs. b. April showers bring May flowers. c. Every cloud has a silver lining. (Used to say that a difficult situation may have some good results) d. When it rains, it pours. e. To be under the weather (To not be feeling well) f. Take something by storm (to be extremely successful or popular in a place, group, or organization) g. To weather the storm (to experience a difficult situation without being too badly affected by it) h. To be on cloud nine (to be extremely happy) i. To be chasing rainbows (to be trying to get or achieve something difficult or impossible) I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW By Johnny Nash 1. I can see now the rain is gone. 2. I can see all obstacles in my . 3. Gone are the dark clouds that had me . 4. It’s gonna be a bright, bright shiny day. 5. It’s gonna be a bright, bright sun shiny day.

6. I can make it now the pain is gone. 7. All of the bad have disappeared 8. Here is that rainbow I’ve been for. 9. It’s gonna be a bright, bright sun shiny day.

10. Look all there’s nothing but blue skies. 11. Look ahead there’s nothing but blue skies.

12. I can see clearly , the rain is gone. 13. I can see all ______in my way. 14. Here is that rainbow been waiting for. 15. It’s gonna be a bright, bright sun shiny day. 16. It’s gonna be a bright, bright sun shiny day. a. It’s raining cats and dogs. b. April showers bring May flowers. c. Every cloud has a silver lining. d. When it rains, it pours. e. To be under the weather. f. Take something by storm. g. To weather the storm. h. To be on cloud nine. i. To be chasing rainbows. English Club

Weather words:

 Clouds/Cloudy  Thunderstorm  Wind/Windy  Snowstorm  Snow/Snowy  Hail  Rain/Rainy  Climate  Fog/Foggy  Weather forecast  Humidity/Humid  To freeze  Dry  To melt  Ice/Icy  To slip  Lightning  Slippery  Thunder  Blizzard  Sun/Sunny  Mud/Muddy  Indian summer  Heat wave

Natural disasters:

 Flood  Tsunami  Famine  Earthquake  Plague  Volcanic eruption  Drought  Tornado  Hurricane  Forest fire