PHOTOCOPIABLE © Cambridge University Press 2011

CLIL: Extreme environments

Level 3 Episode 5 17

Level 3Episode 5

Teaching notesThis programme is a short documentary about

Antarctica. Sophie, the presenter, tells us the

Antarctic as a ‘desert’ and gives us some

interesting facts about Antarctica. She also visits

the headquarters of the British Antarctic Survey,

where she interviews one of the scientists who

work there.

Background informationThe British Antarctic Survey is a research

centre based in Cambridge. For over 60 years it

has undertaken the majority of Britain’s scientifi c

research on and around the Antarctic continent. It

now shares that continent with scientists from over

30 countries.

BAS employs over 400 staff, and supports three

stations in the Antarctic, at Rothera, Halley and

Signy, and two stations on South Georgia, at

King Edward Point and Bird Island. The Antarctic

operations and science programmes are executed

and managed from Cambridge, and rely on a

wide-ranging team of professional staff.

Before you watch1a Warm up Ask the class to think of as many

weather words as they can in 2 minutes and

write them on the board. Add any from exercise

1a that the class hasn’t thought of and explain

their meaning. Explain that extreme can

describe very high or very low temperatures. Ask

students to give examples of animals that live in

hot, cold and wet climates. Ask students to do

exercise 1a.

1b Ask the class to answer the question in exercise

1b. They might suggest that both places have

extremes of temperature and both places are

windy. They may also say that both places are

cold (deserts get cold at night) and dry. Avoid

confi rming their answers at the moment, just

write down their ideas on the board.

While you watch2a Students watch the fi rst part of the video

(0:39:02-0:41:45) to check their answers to 1b.

2b Ask students to predict words which complete

the gaps in 2b. Play the fi rst part of the video

again, pausing for students to complete the gaps.

2c Play the second part of the video (0:39:59-

0:40:29) without sound and ask students to

guess the answers to exercise 2c. Then play the

clip with sound. Write The headquarters of the

British Antarctic Survey on the board.

3a Ask students to look at the pictures and read the

descriptions. Ask them to discuss questions 1–3

in exercise 3a.

3b Play the third part of the video (0:40:29-0:41:16)

and ask students to check their answers to

exercise 3a.

4 Ask students to read the two parts of the

sentences in exercise 4. Explain the meaning

of carbon dioxide, greenhouse gases and

atmosphere if necessary. Play the third part of

the video again, pausing after each sentence so

that students can match the sentence halves.

5 Play the third part of the video a fi nal time and

ask students to do exercise 5. Elicit the meaning

of melt after students have watched the video.

After you watch6a Revise what students know about global

warming before asking them to do exercise 6a.

You could do this by writing the three questions

in the exercise on the board and asking students

to discuss them in pairs. When you’re confi dent

they will be able to complete some of the

exercise, ask students to do exercise 6a.

Lo tech Ask students to make notes about the

information which they got from the video and

to plan a short presentation using their notes.

Select a few students to give a presentation to the

class using their notes. Ask students to write up

their presentation in a paragraph for homework.

Hi tech If you have access to a video camera,

fi lm the presentations. If students have access

to a camera phone or a digital camera they can

make their own short video to show in groups in

the next lesson.

6a Ask students to work in pairs interviewing

each other.

PHOTOCOPIABLE © Cambridge University Press 2011 Level 3 Episode 5 18

Level 3Episode 5

Video script1 Headquarters of the British Antartic Survey

0:39:02-0:39:15

Here’s a quick question. What’s the largest

desert in the world? The Sahara Desert? No. The

answer’s surprising. It’s at the South Pole. And it’s

Antarctica.

2 Antartic footage 0:39:15-0:39:59

Antarctica is a place of extremes. It’s the coldest,

driest and windiest place on Earth. But although

ice covers over ninety nine percent of the land,

there’s only one to two centimetres of snowfall

every month. And that makes it a desert. Because

you don’t need sand for a desert. A desert gets

very little rain. In spite of the extreme conditions,

some land animals have learned to survive, such

as the Antarctic penguins. You won’t fi nd many

humans though. But international scientists come

here to study the wildlife and the ice.

3 The store room tent 0:39:59-0:40:29

Brrrr … I’ve never been so cold in all my life...OK,

OK. I’m not really in the Antarctic. I’m actually in

Cambridge inside the headquarters of the British

Antarctic Survey. This is an environmental research

centre which has three bases in Antarctica. Tamzin

is one of the scientists working here.

4 Scientist at the British Antartic Survey 0:40:29-0:41:16

Tamzin To fi nd out what happened in the past you

can drill down through the ice. I call the drill a time

machine because you are collecting snow that fell

millions of years ago. And when that snow falls,

it traps bubbles of gas. So, you can see in this

thousands-of-years-old snow, like, tiny bubbles.

And those bubbles are capturing the atmosphere:

the air as it was when the snow fell. So we can

fi nd out things like how much carbon dioxide and

other greenhouse gases there used to be in the

atmosphere and compare that to how much we’ve

got now. Some people think life in Antarctica could

be a bit boring because you can’t, you know…

Go out to the cinema, or anything like that. But

you can go skiing, you can go climbing, and … I

like snowboarding, personally. That’s my favourite.

There’s really plenty to do.

5 In the cold room 0:41:16-0:41:45

I’m now in the cold room – and it really is cold

in here. The ice in these tubes was taken from

Antarctica. And some of it is thousands of years

old. This ice can show scientists how the climate

has changed. If global warming causes this ice

to melt, it will affect all of our lives. So let’s hope

Antarctica stays as cold and as beautiful forever.

KeyBefore you watch1a Picture a (Sahara desert): 3, 5, 6, 10

Picture b (Antarctica): 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9

1b Student’s own answers.

While you watch2a Both places are deserts because both get very

little rain.

2b 1 desert 2 coldest 3 99 4 year

5 sand 6 rain 7 penguins 8 ice

2c 1 Sophie’s at the headquarters of the British

Antarctic Survey, in Cambridge.

2 Tamsin is a scientist who works at the British

Antarctic Survey.

3a 1 ice 2 ice

3 It can tell them how many greenhouse

gases there used to be in the atmosphere

compared to the amount today.

4 1 d 2 a 3 c 4 b

5 1 causes 2 melt

After you watch6a 2 atmosphere 3 create 4 atmosphere

5 melts 6 rise 7 get 9 animals

6b Student’s own answers.

PHOTOCOPIABLE © Cambridge University Press 2011

CLIL: Extreme environments

Level 3 Episode 5 19

Level 3Episode 5

Before you watch 1a Match the words to the pictures.

1 hot 2 cold 3 windy 4 snowfall 5 dry

6 sand 7 ice 8 penguins 9 seals 10 camels

1b How are the two places similar?

While you watch2a Watch the fi rst part of the video and check your answer to exercise 1b.

2b Watch the fi rst part of the video again and complete Sophie’s notes.

ANTARCTICA is the biggest 1 in the world 2 , driest and windiest place on earth

Icecovers 3 % of the land

Snow1–2cms every 4

DesertDon’t need 5 for a desert. A desert is a place that gets little 6 .

AnimalsSome land animals, for example Antarctic 7

People - not many!Scientists go there to study the wildlife and the 8 .

2c Watch the second part of the video and answer the questions.

1 Where is Sophie in the fi rst scene?

2 Who is Tamsin?

a b

PHOTOCOPIABLE © Cambridge University Press 2011 Level 3 Episode 5 20

Level 3Episode 5

3a Look at the pictures and answer the

questions.

1 Picture a is of a drill. It makes holes in hard

materials. What material is it drilling?

2 Picture b is of tubes. What do scientists keep

in the tubes?

3 Picture c is of a block of ice. What does

Tamsin say it can tell scientists about the

environment?

3b Watch the third part of the video and check

your answers to exercise 3a.

a

b

c

4 Watch the third part of the video again and

match the beginnings of the sentences

(1–4) to the endings (a–d).

1 Scientists drill down through the ice

2 When snow falls

3 Scientists can fi nd out how much

carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases

4 Life in Antartica isn’t boring because

a it traps bubbles of gas.

b you can go skiing, climbing and

snowboarding.

c were in the atmosphere.

d to fi nd out what happened in the past.

5 Watch the third part of the video again and

complete Sophie’s warning.

Sophie If global warming 1 this

ice to 2 , it will affect all

of our lives.

After you watch6a Complete the answers to these questions

with these words.

animals atmosphere x2 get create

earth increase melts rise

What is global warming?

It is an 1 in the Earth’s temperature.

What is the greenhouse gas?

Gases like CO2 are released into the

2 (by cars, factories, animals, plants).

These gases 3 heat, making the

4 warmer.

What happens next?

Global warming 5 snow and ice

and this causes sea levels to 6 .

Countries 7 too hot; for people,

plants and 8 .

6b Work with a partner. Take turns to interview

each other using the questions and answers

in exercise 6a.

increase