Hey there guys, gals, and non-binary pals! It’s time for another GCSE German post – and I hope some of you are finding these useful. You don’t have to be a GCSE student to use these posts by the way; they’re aimed for anyone at an A1/A2 level in German, so they might be helpful even if you’re not doing the exam.
Our topic today is the environment which, though it can be boring, does happen to come up a lot. So let’s see if I can help you get through it!
Much like the last topic, Home, Environment is supposed to cover a fair bit of ground, which we probably won’t get through here. Still, these resources should expose you to some of the vocabulary and grammar you’ll need.
Listening
BBC Bitesize – Being environmentally friendly: There’s only a higher version for this, but even if you’ll be sitting the foundation level exam, it might be worth having a look at. Even if you get everything wrong, you have the transcript and answers to check against what you’ve got and you can at least work out why it’s not right. And you’ll probably surprise yourself and get more right than you think!
Deutsche Welle – Audio Trainer Lesson 26 – In nature / In der Natur: There doesn’t look to be much to this, but there are some phrases related to nature that might be useful for talking about the environment too. Plus, I cannot stress the helpfulness of this resource enough – or this site. There are 100 lessons in the Audio Trainer, so if listening is a skill you have trouble with, try it out here!
Reading
Deutsch Perfekt – Schweiz: Sorge um die Umwelt: This is a very, very short article about the environment – and I’m not giving away anything more than that! It’s really super short and it’s considered leicht on the website, so I’m sure you can read it. Don’t be afraid to look up words if you have to, though!
Deutsch Perfekt – Die Deutschen machen immer mehr Müll: This article is a bit longer and a bit more difficult, but after you’ve tried the one above, why not attempt to tackle this too?
Writing
nthuleen.com – Arbeitsblatt: Wiederholung: Passiv, Indirekte Rede, Umweltprobleme: Don’t worry about the grammar on this worksheet as it isn’t something you need to know at this stage. If you scroll down to activities G and H, they deal with vocabulary related to the environment. To make this into a writing exercise, try making sentences with the vocabulary – and remember to get them checked!
Write an answer to this question (100-150 words): Was machst du für die Umwelt?
Speaking
Answer the following questions (source):
- Denkst du, dass Leute Zeitschriften recyclen sollten? Warum (nicht)?
- Was bedeutet Erderwärmung?
- Hast du Angst vor Erderwärmung? Warum (nicht)?
- Wie kann man Umweltverschmutzung reduzieren?
- Sollte Benzin teuerer sein? Warum (nicht)?
That’s it for today! I’ll be back next week with another topic – though we’re getting through them pretty quickly now. Enjoy your week! 🙂