WEATHER AND ENVIRONMENT

Preparation 7 minutes

1. Conversation. Below there are some questions about the topic. Choose two
or three you would like to talk about. The pictures are here to help you.
(approx. 4 minutes)

1. Do you like cool, rainy days or do you prefer hot, sunny ones?
2. How often do you check the weather forecast and how do you check it?
(internet, TV, radio ...)
3. What are the dangers of a heatwave for public health?
4. Have you ever experienced extreme weather conditions? What happened?
5. In what ways does the weather influence our daily lives?

2. Partner A. Talk about at least two of the questions below. The examiner may
ask you more questions when you have finished. (approx. 3 minutes)

a. Have you ever experienced extreme weather conditions while flying on a

plane? Has that experience given you a fear of flying?
b. Would you like to own a hybrid or electric car? Why (not)?
c. Is recycling necessary? If so, what do you recycle and what could you
additionally recycle?
 WEATHER AND ENVIRONMENT
Preparation 7 minutes

1. Conversation. Below there are some questions about the topic. Choose two
or three you would like to talk about. The pictures are here to help you.
(approx. 4 minutes)

1. Do you like cool, rainy days or do you prefer hot, sunny ones?
2. How often do you check the weather forecast and how do you check it?
(internet, TV, radio ...)
3. What are the dangers of a heatwave for public health?
4. Have you ever experienced extreme weather conditions? What happened?
5. In what ways does the weather influence our daily lives?

2. Partner B. Talk about at least two of the questions below. The examiner may
ask you more questions when you have finished. (approx. 3 minutes)

a. Have you (or someone you know) ever had your holidays ruined because of
bad weather?
b. Are you concerned about the environment? If so, what do you think is the
biggest issue and why?
c. What little things do you think you could do to help protect the environment?
CONVERSTION QUESTIONS TO “WEATHER AND
ENVIRONMENT”
Extracted from:
https://teflpedia.com/Weather_conversation_questions#Experiences

Background
The weather is a constant source of surprise for many people - basically because it changes
like, well, the weather.

Weather
 Foreigners often say that the only topic of conversation for people in Great Britain is
the weather. Why do you think this is so?
 In what ways does the weather influence our daily lives?
 Are people who live in the country more interested in, or knowledgeable about,
weather conditions than people who live in cities? Why/why not?

Forecasts

 How often do you check the weather forecast? Every morning/evening?

 How do you check the forecast? (internet, TV, radio ...)
 Do you check the forecast when you're planning a holiday/trip?
 Do you understand all the terminology used when they give the weather forecast?
What technical vocabulary can you remember?
 Can you read and understand weather maps along with all the signs and symbols?
 How much do you "trust" the weather forecast? How often is it wrong?
 Imagine that you made the following prediction every evening: "The weather
tomorrow will be the same as the weather today". Do you think your prediction would
be more accurate or less accurate than the weather forecast on the TV?

Experiences

 Have you ever been caught in an extreme rain/snow/sandstorm?

 Do you carry snow chains in your car in winter? Do you know how to fit them?
 Have you ever had to drive through a flooded road/street or across a flooded
stream/river?
 Have you ever had your holidays ruined because of bad weather?
 Have you ever been through a storm on a plane? Has that experience given you a fear
of flying?
 Have you ever been through a storm at sea? Do you know anyone who's had their
boat capsized in a storm?
 Have you ever been caught out in bad weather when hiking? What did you do?

Feelings

 Do you like cool, rainy days or do you prefer hot, sunny ones?
  Do you ever feel "under the weather"? (under the weather = depressed, downhearted)
 Do you get headaches when it's muggy?
 Which is your favourite season?
 Some people get depressed in the winter, especially in northern latitudes. Do your
emotions change with the seasons? In what way?
 Some people love the sensation of rain falling on them and others hate it. How do you
feel about being rained on?
 Which do you think is worst: being out in uncomfortably hot weather or
uncomfortably cold weather?

https://teflpedia.com/Environment_conversation_questions

Environment
 Are you concerned about the environment? If so, what do you think is the biggest
issue?
 What do you know about these issues - and what solutions are there?
o Global warming - the greenhouse effect.
o Damage to the ozone layer.
o Pollution. (How many types can you think of?)
o Acid rain.
o Deforestation.
o Desertification.

Cars and the environment

 Should cars be banned from city centresBrE/downtownsAmE? What do you think the
effects of such a ban would be?
 How much more would you be prepared to pay for an environmentally-friendly car?
 Would you like to own a hybrid or electric car?

Conservation

 What should we "conserve" when we consider conservation issues? Only plants and
animals, or should we seek to conserve human activities and traditions as well?
 If these things are in conflict - for example re-introduced wolves causing problems for
traditional farmers - what/who should get priority?
 In some parts of the world farmers are giving up a farming lifestyle and moving to the
cities. This leaves the land to eventually revert to forest, or to be bought up by land
speculators. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? What might be lost or gained in the
process?

Animals

 In some parts of the world endangered animal species are hunted because they are
believed to have medicinal properties. In such cases, should local culture and
 traditions be respected or should it be made illegal worldwide to hunt and consume
exotic animals?
 Where whaling has been carried out for centuries by local indigenous peoples should
it be allowed to continue?
 There is a lower limit to the size of many fish which may be legally caught and sold in
many parts of the world including the European Union. Have you ever been served a
fish which you thought was suspiciously small? What did you do?
 What difference - if any - would it make to the world if polar bears became extinct?

Recycling

 Do you think that it is necessary to recycle things?

 What things (if any) do you recycle?
 What things could you additionally recycle?
 What facilities does your government provide to help you to recycle?
 Packaging uses a lot of energy. What ways can you think of to reduce the amount of
packaging used?
 Are you recycling?

Renewable energy

 How many types of renewable energy can you think of?

 Consider the following ways of generating energy. What are the advantages and
disadvantages of each one:
o Wind power.
o Dams.
o Wave power.
o Tidal power.
o Geothermal power.
o Solar power.
o Biomass.
 How would you define renewable energy? Over what time-scale should it be
"renewable"?
 Consider your definition again and decide if the following are examples of renewable
energy: Dams, solar power, geothermal power, coal, nuclear energy, biomass, tidal
power. Why does each one fit, or not fit, your definition?

Every little bit helps

 What little things do you think you could do to help protect the environment?
 Do you go to school/work on foot / by bike / motorbike / bus / car / other?
 What means of transport do you use most regularly?
 Look at the following list of things which could help the environment. Work with the
class or a partner to establish which are very important, which are good ideas and
which are irrelevant. Then say which ones you do or don't do and explain why.
o Turn off the tap when you brush your teeth.
o Turn off your computer when you are not using it.
o Turn down the thermostat or air conditioning at home.
o Don't buy bottled water.
o Use public transport whenever you can.
 o Recycle everything you can.
o Don't buy products with excess packaging.
o Turn off the lights when you leave a room.
o Obey the speed limits when driving.

Eating the world

 What impact do you think that eating frozen food has on the environment?
 It is claimed that eating animal products has a negative effect on the environment.
What do you think of this idea?
 What impact - if any - do you think that eating organic food has on the environment?
 How would eating locally-produced fruit/vegetables as opposed to imported
fruit/vegetables help the environment?
 What difference do you think that eating free-range or battery eggs would make?
 What restrictions, if any, do you think there should be on deep-sea fishing?
 If you wanted to only eat fish from "sustainable" stocks how would you go about it?

Energy

 How much difference do you think energy-efficient home appliances and light bulbs
make? What energy efficient appliances do you have installed?
 How do you think we could encourage people to turn off lights and other appliances,
such as the television, the radio, etc., when they are not being used?
 Can you get a grant in your country to improve your home insulation? What would
the process be?
 Would you install a solar heating system just to help the environment or would you
only do it if you got a lot of financial help from the government?
Global warming
 Considering that the Earth has always warmed and cooled naturally, do you believe
that human actions are mainly responsible for present-day accelerated global
warming? Why/why not?
 What is the "greenhouse effect"? Can you explain how it operates?
 Are there any long-term climate changes apparent in your country?
 What are the potential consequences of global warming?
 Which is more dangerous to human life - spent nuclear fuel or carbon dioxide/global
warming?

Effects of global warming

Global warming may have a number of effects. Read the effects and grade them as:
Exceptionally serious, serious, or unimportant:

 More active weather systems. More energy in the atmosphere will lead to more
active weather systems, with more frequent and more violent storms. More severe
weather events such as storms, floods, heatwaves and hurricanes will be the result.

 Disturbed rainfall patterns. Rainfall patterns will be significantly disrupted with

floods in some places and droughts in others.

 Acidification of the oceans. The ocean has a limited capacity to dissolve carbon
dioxide before it ceases to absorb any more thus leading to further warming. This
would also cause great damage to fish stocks.

 Tipping points/feedback loops. There are many possible tipping points and feedback
loops. For instance, if global warming causes the northern permafrost to melt, this will
release vast amounts of methane which will make the problem much worse.

 A rise in sea level. The most modest prediction of sea level rise presently predicted is
9-88 cm (3.5–34.6 inches). This small rise would cause significant disruption to
coastal communities. There is a possibility, however, that the whole Greenland ice
sheet would melt leading to a global rise of 7 m [23 ft]. There is even a possibility that
the West Antarctic ice sheet could melt, raising sea levels by a further six metres (20
feet). Although the rest of the Antarctic ice sheet is considered to be stable, if the
entire Antarctic were to melt, this would raise sea levels by 62 metres (203 feet).

 Spread of tropical diseases. As northern latitudes become warmer, previously rare

tropical diseases will gain a foothold in more northern latitudes.

 Disruption of ocean currents. The disruption of ocean currents could shut down the
Gulf Stream with unpredictable consequences.

 Habitat loss or change faster than animals can adapt. Temperature zones will
move north and south too quickly for animals to follow or adapt to new habitats. The
most extreme case is that of Arctic habitats which will leave animals such as polar
bears with no place to go.
  Loss of mountain glaciers exacerbating summer droughts. Mountain glaciers act
as natural reservoirs, releasing winter snow as meltwater during the summer. Global
warming will disrupt this system in two ways: (1) More rain will fall instead of snow
which will prevent the reformation of the glaciers. (2) The result of this will be more
floods when it rains and droughts when it does not.

Actions
 There are three gasses mainly responsible for global warming. Carbon dioxide, water
vapour and methane. Methane is a far more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon
dioxide. A lot of methane is generated by rearing animals for meat. Should we all eat
less meat?
 Producing energy through nuclear power produces much less carbon dioxide than
burning coal. Is increasing nuclear power a good way to fix global warming? Why/
why not?
 Cars and industry produce the greatest amount of carbon dioxide - so is it good news
for the environment when the price of oil goes up?
 What do you think of the suggestion that governments should put a heavy tax on oil
and petrol so as to reduce demand for these products?
 What actions is your government taking to address the problem of global warming?
 What actions could we personally take as individuals to improve the situation?
 Are you personally taking any actions to reduce the problem?

These are some things we could do as individuals to help reduce global warming. Order them
from most to least important.


o Recycle everything you can.
o Use less heating and air conditioning
o Use energy efficient light bulbs.
o Drive less and use more public transport.
o Plant a tree.
o Use less hot water.
o Switch off lights/appliances when they are not in use.

Other issues
 Most of the extra CO2 present in the atmosphere was put there when the present
industrialised countries were developing. Now these same countries want to ensure
that developing countries do not put a lot more CO2 in the atmosphere while they
develop their industries. What do you think about the fairness of this?
 What is the difference between the "greenhouse effect" and the "hole in the ozone
layer"?
 Nuclear power stations produce nuclear waste which has to be stored for many
generations and which may cause future problems. There are plans under way to
collect carbon dioxide from fossil fuel power plants and store it - also, presumably,
for many generations. Which is more dangerous - stored nuclear waste or stored
carbon dioxide?
 The full report of the Intergovernmental Report on climate Change (IPCC) has many
megabytes of data in its three thousand pages and an almost uncountable number of
facts. In early 2010 one of these facts was found to be incorrect. The IPPC
acknowledged the error and corrected it, but later other errors as well as input from
non-scientific groups were discovered. What difference, if any, should that make to
our acceptance of the report?