A Year of Ecoliteracy Opportunities: 12 Classroom Activities for Multilingual Learners (Part 2)

Welcome to Part 2 of A Year of Ecoliteracy Opportunities: 12 Classroom Activities for Multilingual Learners! In Part 1, I shared monthly activities for January through June to help your students develop both language skills and environmental awareness. Let’s continue our journey through the year with even more creative and impactful ways to celebrate environmental days with our multilingual learners of English (MLEs) from July to December.

July: International Plastic Bag Free Day (3 Jul)

We can all celebrate plastic free July beginning with reducing our own plastic footprint, where ideally we could each eventually bring that to footprint to zero. It’s good to begin with a doable goal—in this case, vowing to no longer use or accept plastic bags.

Focus on Language > Watch and discuss this inspiring video of young sisters who carried out a multiyear campaign to end plastic bag usage in Bali. Discuss the video with students, which you can scaffold by either stopping at intervals to discuss or creating a video listening guide, or both. As a culminating activity, teacher and students can each make a plan to meet their plastic bag free goal by writing out and completing the following: My plan to end/reduce my use of plastic bags is ____________. Have students discuss in pairs, then each pair partner share the other’s plan with the class.

August: World Elephant Day (12 Aug)

There are many laws in place to protect elephant populations and the treatment of elephants by humans, but elephants are still greatly endangered. For this elephant lesson, put students in groups, have them research elephants, and then share out. Very quickly, the class will come to understand that there are different species of elephants on different continents and that elephant populations have declined dramatically over the past several decades due to loss of their habitat, hunting, and poaching. Additionally, students can study these 20 interesting facts to learn more about these amazing, intelligent animals, including that they are “ecosystem engineers.” In pairs, (learning from fact 10), ask students to explain to their partner how it is that elephants are ecosystem engineers.

I encourage you to show this video about the rescue and progress of Suswa, whom I “adopted” ten years ago, and learn why she was given her specific name. A class or school may consider doing a fundraiser or pooling their resources to adopt an elephant (which in reality is just a donation to help support the elephant), whose progress you can follow by reading the elephant keepers’ online diaries.

Focus on Language > When groups share out about what they learned, have them highlight one new vocabulary word they learned and one fact. Teach the terms rescue and rehabilitate. Students can learn about efforts to rescue and rehabilitate orphaned and injured elephants and return them to the wild, which is the work of the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (where the meaning of the word trust in this context should be explicitly taught).

September: World Wildlife Day (4 Sep)

World Wildlife Day celebrates the biodiversity of the planet while raising awareness of the alarming rate of species extinction and related preservation and conservation efforts. The main objective is for students to understand the critically important role of animals and plants in maintaining ecological balance and the threats they face from habitat loss, climate change, and other human activities.

Focus on Language > Suggestions for learning about and celebrating wildlife can be found here; practice concise and persuasive writing by having students create social media “posts splashed with stunning wildlife photos, sprinkle in some informative captions about conservation, and tag them with peppy hashtags like #ProtectWildlife or #WildlifeConservation.” Have students first present their posts to the class for review and feedback.  

For further study, see my September blog where I discuss how our English language teaching classrooms can be hotspots for language and content learning related to biodiversity, conservation, and regeneration efforts globally, including the 30 x 30 land and water initiative, seed saving, nature-based solutions, wildlife corridors, and more.

October: World Planting Day (22 Oct)

Plant a garden, a tree, or other species—even a potted plant to help clean indoor air at home or in a classroom. You can choose plants that attract pollinators while beautifying school grounds, or plant a tree from a seed or sapling. Study what it takes to start a school garden or just plant one thing that can be eaten at the school.

Students can learn about tree planting and reforestation through the Canopy Project and their Frequently Asked Questions. When I did a planting activity with my MLEs, I contacted my city’s Parks Department, who supplied the trees and the equipment necessary to ensure that the right species of trees were planted for our region and location. This is also a good opportunity for language study and to learn about the term “invasive species,” which are not indigenous to a location and can often take over, such as in the case of kudzu, known as the “vine that ate the South” in the southern United States.

Focus on Language > Use a planting activity to teach about sequencing and descriptive writing. Have students plant seeds in small pots. As they work, guide them to write step-by-step instructions, emphasizing transitional phrases (e.g., first, next, then). Pair students to compare their instructions to note any unclear steps. As an extension, students can keep a plant growth journal to observe and record the growth of their plants. They can practice descriptive writing as they describe the seedling at each interval.

This month also presents a fun opportunity to teach plant-related idioms and expressions, such as

• • • • put down roots
      • bloom where you’re planted
      • nip it in the bud
      • turn over a new leaf

November: National Hiking Day (17 Nov)

Take a hike! Any location can serve; don’t let your local geography stop you. A hike can take place anywhere, including in a bustling city. If you’re in a highly urban or industrialized area, use your hike to look for signs of life everywhere and have students document what they find…a bird nest on the top of a road sign, a plant pushing through a crack in the cement sidewalk, a plant in a window box. For less urban settings, have students put away their cell phones and pay attention to their senses, mentally recording what they see, hear, smell, feel, and possibly taste along the way (e.g., sour grass, which my grandson loves to find and taste).

Focus on Language > Scaffold the recording and reporting of information by supplying a handout with symbols for the various senses (e.g., an ear for what is heard). Students can share out reflections as a whole class or discuss in smaller groups. You can also create a descriptive-language-based hiking scavenger hunt. Before the hike, give students a list of clues to find, like “find something that’s green, has many points, and grows in the shade,” or “find something that is rough and gray, and small enough to hold in your hand.” As an extension, have students write their own clues after your first hike, and then exchange with a partner for the next hike!

December: Winter Holidays and New Year Celebrations

Celebrate winter and the new year holidays (and all celebrations) eco-consciously! More than 40% more waste is created in November and December than during the rest of the year; it is also when many people travel, adding more carbon emissions to the atmosphere. Brainstorm with students ways they can reduce their carbon footprint during the holiday season. Here are some examples:

• • Avoid plastic decorations and waste of all kinds, such as disposable plates, cups, and utensils.
  • Use solar or LED lights.
  • Avoid food waste.
  • Give thoughtful gifts that will not end up in a landfill or can be returned using a gift receipt.
  • Do not use expedited shipping, and shop locally when possible.
  • Wrap your own gifts using recycled paper, and decorate using art supplies you have at home or with dried flowers, vines, and leaves you have collected.

Focus on Language > Follow up the brainstorm by having students compare traditional holiday habits to eco-conscious ones using comparative and superlative forms (e.g., “LED lights are more efficient than incandescent lights”). As an extension, have students role-play a gift exchange where they describe thoughtful, eco-friendly gifts. Encourage them to explain how their gift avoids waste and benefits the planet (e.g., “I chose this because it’s locally made and reusable”).

As a class, have students further brainstorm as many eco-friendly words or phrases as they can (e.g., recycle, sustainable, carbon footprint). Then, have them use the words to create an eco-friendly holiday slogan in pairs or small groups.

As I conclude my ecoliteracy blog for 2024, I wish each of you and all of your students a peaceful and eco-conscious 2025! And remember that spending time in nature makes us happier and healthier!