Save water

• Demonstrate the card game with 3 strong learners. The other learners surround the desk so they can see how the game is played
• Give each player a game board
• Elicit what is happening in each picture card. Support as needed. Then place the cards face down on the table
• The first player picks up a card and keeps it secret.
• The other players have to find out if it´s one of their pictures by asking a question such as

´Is she watering the garden?´ Prompt the learners to make the correct question.

Note: You may need to write some question examples on the board

• Players take turns to ask until the person holding the picture says ´yes´
• When the player with the picture card answers yes, the player who asked the right question wins the card and puts it on their board.
• That person takes the next picture and the others ask them the questions
• Explain the winner is the first to match all 4 pictures on their board. They should shout ´BINGO!´.
• Once you’ve demonstrated the game put learners into groups of 3 or 4 to play the game.
• Monitor and check groups are on task. Praise use of English

• Put learners into pairs. Reallocate the picture cards so that each pair has a set of 8 cards
•  Ask learners to rank the 8 pictures according to which they think use the most water

• Point out the statements around the room. Tell learners there are 8 statements
• Ask one learner from each pair to be a reader, the other a writer
• The reader memorises each statement to tell the writer. The reader cannot write (except for differentiation reasons)
• After a few minutes ask the reader and writer to swop roles, if possible
• Once pairs have all of the statements ask them to check their ranking. If needed write the statements on the board.

Statements

• 1. Washing the car uses an average of 1,892 litres.
  2. Having a bath uses an average of 189 litres.
  3. Watering the garden uses an average of 76 litres.
  4. Eating a burger uses an average of 57 litres.
  5. Washing clothes uses an average of 38 litres.
  6. Flushing the toilet uses an average of 11 litres per person per day.
  7. Having a shower uses an average of 8 litres per minute.
  8. It takes 3 litres of water to make 1 litre of bottled water.
• Ask learners if any of the statements surprised them
• Ask ‘What should we do to save water?’ as a follow up. Prompt them to use full sentences with ‘should’ in their responses.

Note: If you have a large class, make a few copies of each statement  

Differentiation: If some learners find reading or writing difficult select the role that will be easier for them and pair them with a stronger learner. Or put them in a group of 3 so they have additional support.

• Tell learners that in the amount of clean water available for people to drink in many countries has reduced greatly. If possible, draw a graph on the board to demonstrate the point.
• Ask learners to guess why this has happened

• Possible ideas

1. Drought – not enough rainfall
2. Warmer climate
3. People wasting water
4. More washing machines/ dishwashers
5. Larger industries

• Explain to your students the importance of saving every drop of water. Some points to mention:

1. less than 1% of the Earth´s water supply can be used by humans,
2.  cleaning water for households uses up lots of energy
3. the more water there is being treated, the less effective the cleaning is (as water is wasted, the quality of water declines),
4. water shortages can have severe impact on wildlife and plants in and around rivers, lakes etc.

• Ask the learners what they can do to help save water – write the ideas on the board. Again prompt them to use should

• Put learners into groups and ask them to come up with 10 ways to save water at home or in school
• Monitor and write any useful vocabulary on the board
• After 10 minutes give each group some materials to make a poster
• Groups put their posters on the wall.

• Give out the worksheet as revision
• An optional game with questions on water and water saving tips can be found here: https://www3.epa.gov/watersense/kids/games.html