Greener cities: London, a park city

Objective & content

This Look Closer episode (Greener cities mini-series, episode 36) is a short documentary about London, the capital of the United Kingdom, where almost nine million people live. Almost half of the city is green or blue, it has more than eight million trees, and wild animals such as foxes and deer live there. In July 2019 London became the world's first National Park City: not a real national park, but a promise to make the city greener, healthier and wilder. The narration uses the present simple, with comparatives such as greener and healthier; no grammar point is taught. It is a listening comprehension episode: learners listen, then answer the 10 questions in the app: 8 on facts and 2 on vocabulary (forest and canal). The study topic is how cities change to be greener and better to live in.

Materials & prerequisites

The folder holds the audio, the slideshow and the script; there is no lesson plan. The pupil pack and the teacher pack (answers highlighted) are one A4 page each, with the text, three photos (Hampstead Heath with the London skyline, a red deer, a green roof), the key words and the 10 questions; a pupil sheet and a teacher sheet with the answer key come with them. The text ends with an open question (Think about it: What could you do to make your town greener?). Learners should know the present simple and comparatives such as greener, and be able to read large numbers such as eight million. The pack's key words explain the new words (national park, forest, capital, canal, deer, law, promise).

Curriculum alignment

Tagged c4-encountering-others ("Rencontre avec l'autre"), Cycle 4 (4e). The episode targets CEFR level A2+.