Reading eLesson

Week starting 3 June 2013

A new wake-up fuel

Language
Vocabulary connected with biodiesel fuels, the environment and coffee

Level
Upper intermediate (equivalent to CEF level C1)

Comment
This eLesson is about the use of used, or spent, coffee grounds to produce a green biofuel for the future.

How to use the lesson

1 Ask students if they drive and what fuel their vehicle uses. You could ask them roughly how much it costs to fill the tank of their vehicle and find out how many of them use diesel. You could ask them to name alternative fuels to fossil fuels. Then ask what biofuels can be made from (sugar cane, corn, soybeans, palm oil, algae, switch grass, jatropha nut oil, etc.) before asking what fuel they think motor vehicles of the future might use. These questions could be discussed in pairs or small groups. Before reading the text, ask students to think about what the possible advantages and disadvantages of biofuels could be. Students then quickly read the text to see how many of their own ideas were mentioned in the text. Give a brief time limit, eg 12 minutes depending on students level, to encourage fast reading. When the time limit is up, students can discuss their answers in pairs if appropriate. Take feedback. Exercise 1 gives students practice in reading for gist. If you feel your students might have problems with any of the words, you can refer them to the Glossary or a dictionary. Students could compare their answers in pairs. Take class feedback. Exercise 2 gives students practice in reading for more detailed comprehension. Students could compare their answers in pairs. In class feedback, ask students to justify their answers with reference to the text. You might want to point out the pun on the word ground (ie coffee grounds) in relation to ground-breaking at the end of paragraph 3. Exercise 3 focuses on word building. You could do the first example with students and they then complete the missing forms. Alternatively, students could work in pairs or groups to pool their knowledge and complete the table or use dictionaries if useful. Take feedback. If appropriate, highlight the change in the consonant sound in opt /pt/ and option /pn/ and the vowel changes in combine /kmban/ versus combination /kmbnen/, produce /prdju:s/ versus production /prdkn/, derive /drav/ versus derivation /derven/ and consume /knsju:m/ versus consumption /knsmpn/. You might also wish to point out that words ending in -ion have the stress on the syllable before and compare this to the stress on the related noun: combine / combination, produce / production, limit / limitation, derive / derivation, cultivate / cultivation, consume / consumption, extract / extraction. Exercise 4 focuses on the meaning of verbs. Students can look back at the text if necessary to see the verbs (or their related nouns) in context or use a dictionary. If appropriate, students could pair check answers. Take feedback. Exercise 5 provides practice of the nouns and verbs from exercise 3. Students could do this in pairs if appropriate. Take feedback. You could extend this by asking them to write example sentences for the verbs and nouns from exercise 3 not used in exercise 5. Exercise 6 gives students personalised speaking practice about the text. Set the discussion task for pairs or small groups as appropriate. Take class feedback.

This page has been downloaded from www.macmillanglobal.com It is photocopiable, but all copies must be complete pages. Copyright Macmillan Publishers Limited 2013.

Reading eLesson
Answer key
1 1 2 3 4 5 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 paragraph 3 paragraph 6 paragraph 4 paragraph 2 paragraph 5

Week starting 3 June 2013

T F (the technology needed to manufacture some biofuels can be incredibly expensive) F (Brazil has been using coffee beans, not coffee grounds, for a number of years) T T F (scientists predict that biodiesel from spent coffee grounds will add around 340 million gallons of fuel to the worlds supply; it will never take over the fuel market)

3 Verb combination opt produce limit source 4 1 2 3 4 5 5 1 2 3 4 5 Noun combine option production limitation source Verb derive cultivate appear consume extract Noun derivation cultivation appearance consumption extraction

consume opt produce appear combine

6 7 8 9 10

source derive extract cultivate limit

source option limited derived / extracted consumed / produced

6 7 8 9 10

combination production appears extracted / derived cultivates / produces

6 Students own ideas.

Related websites
The following websites might be useful for either you or your students. http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2011/April/01041102.asp (Article on coffee grounds as biodiesel source) http://biodieselmagazine.com/articles/3238/wake-up-and-smell-the-coffee-biodiesel/ (Article on new research into coffee biodiesel) http://www.actionaid.org.uk/campaign/campaign-blog/2013/02/18/biofuels-fuel-for-the-future-orfuelling-hunger (Action Aid article on how biofuels can fuel hunger) http://law.psu.edu/_file/aglaw/Biofuel_Debate.pdf (Article on types and history of biofuels, and legal implications) http://www.economist.com/node/11565647?subjectid=8780295&story_id=11565647 (Article on growing your own energy)

This page has been downloaded from www.macmillanglobal.com It is photocopiable, but all copies must be complete pages. Copyright Macmillan Publishers Limited 2013.