Clean Air Day: I Like Clean Air

This lesson plan is based on the excellent campaign ‘I Like Clean Air’ in which London parents and kids  fight pollution. Students discuss air pollution, listen to a fantastic song created for the campaign, read and analyse a letter by a child requesting a change to improve air quality and learn how to write a letter asking for something to be done about an issue important to them.

Language level: Pre-Intermediate (A2) upwards

Learner type: Primary and Secondary Young Learners

Time: 90 minutes

Outcomes:

• Language: Learners can differentiate between and use correctly complex and simple expressions for a transactional letter.
• Skills: Learners write a letter requesting action to improve their cities air quality
• Content: Learners explore the issue of air quality and become empowered to take action on it.

Materials:

• Presentation below
• 1 copy of the song lyrics I Like Clean Air for the teacher
• 1 copy of the I Like Clean Air worksheet per student. Air quality Lesson Plan

Procedure:

1. Ask students to discuss in groups what they love about their city and what they don’t love about it. Feedback to class and put ideas on the table/whiteboard/online board on Padlet, for example.
2. Tell learners that students in London produced a song about their city. Students Brainstorm 3 things they might love about London and 3 things they don’t love. Feedback to class and add ideas to the slide 2.
3. Listen to the song. http://www.ilikecleanair.org.uk/clean-air-song What is it about?
4. Give out the worksheet I Like Clean Air Students read it, predict what the missing words are. They listen to the song again to check. You can also complete this activity online, directly in the presentation.
5. Students read the letter on the next slide and answer the following: Who is it from? Who is it to? What is it about? What is the format?
6. Elicit from students what expressions the writer of the letter uses to ask someone to do something. Continue to the next slide where students match up the simple and complex phrases according to function. Elicit the pros of more complex language (more precise meaning) and the cons (can be less clear).
7. Ask what air quality issues there are in the students’ town or city. Who could they contact to do something about it? Match the left and the right side by activating a pencil and draw to connect the people issue with the right people who need to be contacted.
8. Students write a letter to a person of their choice on an air quality issue of their choice. This can be displayed on the classroom walls for the other students to read and then hand in.

More information on Clean Air Day here: cleanairday.org.uk

Thank you to Shazia from I Like Clean Air for permission to use the materials on ilikecleanair.org.uk