The Three Rs

Purpose: To help learners understand what recycling is and why it’s important, as well as to provide listening practice.

Preparation Time: Time needed to view the video and think about how you’ll explain vocabulary.

Materials: Index cards, copies of worksheet, equipment needed to show video, realia needed to clarify examples of reducing, reusing and recycling.

Prep: Gather realia, locate index cards, make copies of worksheet.

Procedure:

1) Setting the Context and Introducing New Vocabulary:

Start by giving students some examples of reducing, reusing and recycling and ask students if they have done any of these things or anything similar and why. It is not necessary at this point to use the terms reduce, reuse, or recycle. See below for some possible examples you could tell students.

• Examples of reducing: Using cloth grocery bags, using plastic containers to store food, use your own water bottle, write on both sides of a piece of paper, turn lights off when no one is in the room.
• Examples of reusing: Giving clothing to a younger brother or sister, buying something that is used (a car, books, appliances), new uses for boxes or jars.
• Examples of recycling: Using paper, plastic, glass, cans to make more of the same thing.

Teach students the terms reduce, reuse, and recycle, referring to the examples that you discussed. Then elicit/discuss reasons why doing these actions are important.

Please note: If students aren’t familiar with recycling, avoid turning the lesson into the topic of how to recycle; this would make a good follow up lesson. Instead, focus on what it is and why it is important.

2) Practicing the New Language

For this portion of the lesson you will need access to the Three Rs video.

You’ll also need copies of the fill-in-the-blanks worksheet.

Introduce the Three Rs video by telling students that they will be doing a listening activity called the Three Rs. Ask students to guess what the Three Rs are.

Play the video once and ask students what they remember.

Pass out the fill-in-the-blanks worksheet and, if necessary, watch the first part of the video and do a couple examples as a class. Then play the whole video a couple times while students fill in the rest of the blanks.

Check the answers for a couple of students and then refer other students to the ones who have the correct answers until every student has the answers. If there is interest, play the video again while students compare their answers to what they hear in the video.

3) Follow-Up Discussion

Students can work with partners or in small groups to come up with some more ideas about ways that people can reduce, reuse and recycle and then report their ideas to the rest of the class.

4) Wrap Up

Pass out an index card to each student. Write the following questions on the board for students to answer on their index cards.

1. Write your name.
2. What are three things that you learned today?
3. What questions do you have about the Three Rs?

Read the cards and choose some questions from the cards to discuss/answer as a class.