Tag Archives: ecology

A Call To Action: Kick Ass Ecology

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Note: The following article was written by our dear colleague & friend, Steve Vassilakopoulos.

A Call to Action: Kick Ass Ecology (It’s more than just a classroom task!)

As teachers of English, the de facto international language, what we should be doing is teaching our students the English they will need to help save the environment and the future of mankind. Now that’s a pretty noble mission, wouldn’t you say? A pretty important reason for our students to communicate with others in other countries, eh? After being in the business of teaching English for almost 25 years, I would have to say that we teachers in this country are still mostly required to prepare students for exams and activities that have to do with the environment are mostly considered useful because there might be a reading passage in one of the exams or perhaps it might be one theme for the speaking part of any given exam.

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Time For Some Green Thinking

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When was the last time you hugged a tree? Like me, your answer is probably “never”. When was the last time you breathed? Dumb question, huh? Well, at least you know a little bit more about me now. I am not a tree-hugger, but I do recognize that trees give off the oxygen we need to sustain ourselves and our environment … which it seems may be turning against us.

Over the past few years, awareness of environmental issues has been heightened. From the shrinking polar ice caps and extreme weather phenomena to Al Gore and his team’s winning of the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts “to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change”, and for laying the “foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change”. With the media banging the gong of environmental awareness, perhaps this trend is the harbinger of “green” change in our classrooms. Perhaps, but then there has always been resistance to change in education.

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