How To Embed Climate Education in English - Part 2!
Use our Young Climate Activists
Use the following first as models, to identify and unpick key skills,
then as inspiration to apply the skills to the pupils own work.
1. Model writing – identify key skills
2. Explore impact on reader
3. Apply skills to own writing
Persuasive Super Power: Greta
Thunberg
No one can deny how passionate and persuasive Greta Thunberg is. A
Swedish environmental activist who is known for challenging world leaders to
take immediate action for climate change mitigation, she was just 15 when she
first began to skip school to protest outside parliament for more action
against climate change – the same age as the pupils in front of you. This is very powerful, and very irresistible.
What’s more, she speaks regularly, each time crafting her argument with such
precision that whatever grid or resource you use for teaching persuasive
skills, she will always provide a perfect example:
1.
Model – identify key skills
Our house is on fire. I am here
to say, our house is on fire. (Extended metaphor; repetition; emotive language.)
According to the IPCC, we are
less than 12 years away from not being able to undo our mistakes. (Jargon; technical terminology;
facts and figures.) In that time, unprecedented
changes in all aspects of society need to have taken place, including a
reduction of our CO2 emissions by at least 50% (forceful phrases; statistics).
At places like Davos, people
like to tell success stories. But their financial success has come with an
unthinkable price tag (Emotive language; criticising the opposition; metaphor and
imagery). And on climate change, we
have to acknowledge we have failed (Emotive language). All political movements in their present form have done so, and
the media has failed to create broad public awareness.
But Homo sapiens have not yet
failed (Emotive language; offering hope and solutions).
(Extract from Greta Thunberg's ‘House on Fire’ speech, Davos, 2019, with techniques identified by me in brackets).
“This
is all we hear from our ‘so-called’ leaders. (Emotive language; criticising
the opposition; sarcasm) Words. Words that sound
great, but so far have led to no action.
(Repetition; criticising the opposition; sarcasm). Our hopes and dreams drown in their empty words and promises (Imagery; metaphor;
alliteration). Of course we need constructive dialogue, but
they’ve now had 30 years of blah blah blah and where has that led us? (Rhetorical question; personal
pronouns; statistics and figures)”
(Extract from Greta Thunberg's 'blah blah blah' speech, Milan,
2021, with techniques identified by me in brackets).
A quick type in any search engine will bring up transcripts of her
speeches which you can use alongside videos, keeping your learning stimulating.
2: Explore impact on reader:
When the class’s modelled answer comes from someone the same age –
someone famous, no less – this is very inspiring for pupils; in an age where
it’s easy for teenagers’ voices to be drowned out by endless reels and
meaningless memes, it can be very powerful to see how a well-crafted persuasive
speech has the potential to make headlines and be heard by people in power all
over the world. It makes the learning
relevant and – at a time when the professed ‘modern texts’ pupils are required
to study actually mean decades-old novels and plays - current and contemporary. Her use of powerful rhetoric is deeply
moving: even Michael Gove, then environment secretary, said her words made him
feel “great admiration, but also responsibility and guilt.”
Relatable
Dara McAnaulty
A huge bonus for using current,
young activists and writers in the classroom is the accessibility to up-to-date
interviews, tweets and news items, giving you a much better chance of
engagement in the classroom.
Dara McAnulty @NaturalistDara Replying to @GretaThunberg: This is
such a great interview, Greta. As an autistic environmental campaigner, I share
your passion and focus. People should know that we don’t give up, ever! (4:13 PM · Oct 2, 2018 ·Twitter)
Teenager
Dara McAnulty’s Diary of a Young
Naturalist, a critically acclaimed debut work of non-fiction poetic prose,
is another such gift for climate concerned English teachers. Not only can pupils engage with a nature
journal from someone of a similar age to themselves, they also get the chance
to read beautifully crafted passages: it was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week,
longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, and won the
Wainwright Prize for UK Nature Writing 2020.
Using extracts from McAnulty is perfect for teaching the skills needed for both original, creative writing, and also non-fiction. He writes about his campaign work (so a natural follow-on from Greta Thunberg), and interleaves poetic techniques with passionate persuasion, often explicitly addressing the annoyances and difficulties many pupils feel when asked to write for extended periods of time, when “wonder grapples with frustration on the page.
3 - apply skills to own writing!
Pupils can replicate this style
of writing to fit their own, personal
natural surroundings – be it their own garden, a local park, or areas of the
school. The Council for Learning Outside
the Classroom highlights how getting pupils outside and acquiring knowledge and
skills through real-life, practical or hands-on activities can improve
standards back inside the classroom,
raising attainment, improving behaviour, and building on personal, social and
emotional development.
Try taking the pupils outside
of the classroom on a ‘scrawl crawl’, leading them on a tour of the ‘greener’
areas of school, prompting notes on what they can see, hear, smell, etc. Encourage pupils to pause to note their
emotions and thoughts; insist on occasional pockets of silence, so sounds can
be appreciated and noted. Spelling,
complete sentences, and scruffy handwriting don’t matter at this stage – when
you are back in the classroom, you have a bank of notes that can be turned into
poetry or prose, with that all too important editing and redrafting intrinsic
in the ‘writing-up’ process. Start small
– share favourite words and phrases, note what sounds good when read aloud,
highlight literary devices, recognise and celebrate the different responses to
the natural surroundings.
Pupils
of The Chase School on a guided nature walk run by Beck Baker, Community and
Conservation Officer at The Malvern Hills Trust. Pupils are not only being shown the local
plants, trees and grasses specific to their local area, but are also told about
local mythology and folklore to further engage and stimulate!
Why
not contact local organisations such as the Wild Life Trusts, Scouts, Friends
of the Earth or RSPB to see if they have a willing education expert to
help?
1.
Model – identify key skills
We’ve lived in many places
during my short life, in a kind of nomadic existence. But wherever we settle,
our home is crammed with books, skulls, feathers, politics, unbridled debates,
tears, laughter and joy. (Lists; concrete and abstract nouns). Some people believe that
roots grow from bricks and mortar, but ours spread like mycelium networks,
connected to a well of life lived together, so that wherever we go we stay
rooted. (Extended metaphor)”
This style of journal note-taking not only helps improve their
writing, but also acts as a useful tool for managing emotions, wellbeing, and mental
health. It’s also inclusive: McAnulty, like Thunberg, is
autistic, and shares the everyday challenges and joys
this brings for the reader:
Before I sat down to write this
diary, I had also been writing an online blog. A good few people enjoyed it and
said more than once I should write a book. Which is quite amazing really, as a
teacher once told my parents ‘Your son will never be able to complete a
comprehension, never mind string a paragraph together.’ Yet here we are. My
voice is bubbling up, volcano-like, and all my frustrations and passions may
just explode into the world as I write.
(Extracts from Dara
McAnulty’s Diary of a Young Naturalist).
This again is very powerful – pupils (particularly those who think
they’re not good at writing) can feel inspired to write their own ‘frustrations
and passions’ in a well-crafted, beautifully written style.
Demanding Action and Inspiring Hope
The overarching aim for English is successful communication: we teach speaking and writing, for communication of ideas and emotions; we teach reading and listening, to access the thoughts and feelings of others.
When pupils read beautifully crafted writing, and then draft their own, they can see that whatever the form (persuasive speech, informative text, or creative writing), and whomever the audience (teacher, examiner, or MP), their words matter – and their words have power.
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