Weather

Lead-in

  • What do people usually talk about in your country?
  • How much do you talk about the weather?

Presentation

Pre

  • How relevant is climate change where you live?

Top Down

  • What topics does the text cover? Read and find out!
  • Everyday Weather
  • Extreme Weather
  • Very Hot Weather
  • Very Cold Weather
  • Climate Change
  • Politics
  • Economics
  • Possible Solutions
  • Everyday Weather
  • Extreme Weather
  • Very Hot Weather
  • Very Cold Weather
  • Climate Change
  • Politics
  • Popular Opinion
  • Possible Solutions

Extreme weather or extreme climate events includes unexpected, unusual, severe, or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution. Often, extreme events are based on a location’s recorded weather history and defined as lying in the most unusual ten percent.

There is evidence to suggest that climate change is increasing the periodicity and intensity of some extreme weather events. Confidence in the attribution of extreme weather and other events to anthropogenic climate change is highest in changes in frequency or magnitude of extreme heat and cold events with some confidence in increases in heavy precipitation and increases in the intensity of droughts.

Extreme weather has significant impacts on human society as well as natural ecosystems. For example, a global insurer Munich Re estimates that natural disasters cause more than $90 billion global direct losses in 2015.

Heat waves are periods of abnormally high temperatures and heat index. Definitions of a heatwave vary because of the variation of temperatures in different geographic locations. Excessive heat is often accompanied by high levels of humidity, but can also be catastrophically dry.

A cold wave is a weather phenomenon that is distinguished by a cooling of the air. Specifically, as used by the U.S. National Weather Service, a cold wave is a rapid fall in temperature within a 24-hour period requiring substantially increased protection to agriculture, industry, commerce, and social activities.

Source

Bottom Up

  • True or False?

Example: Weather from a different season is not extreme weather. False

  1. They use a location’s previous weather to determine extreme events.
  2. Some extreme weather events are getting more intense because of climate change.
  3. Human society is not directly affected by extreme weather.
  4. Excessive heat is always very dry.
  5. A cold wave happens when the temperature goes down in one day.
  1. They use a location’s previous weather to determine extreme events. True
  2. Some extreme weather events are getting more intense because of climate change. True
  3. Human society is not directly affected by extreme weather. False
  4. Excessive heat is always very dry. False
  5. A cold wave happens when the temperature goes down in one day. True

Post

  • Do you have heat or cold waves where you live?
  • How serious do you think climate change is? Why?
  • What can we do to reduce it?

Target Language

Weather

  • Today is a really sunny day!
  • This week is going to be rainy.
  • It’s usually windy in the mountains.
  • After the rain, it sometimes gets foggy.
  • It’s cloudy today, we can’t go to the park.
  • It’s going to be a snowy day tomorrow. 

Temperature

Controlled Practice

  • Choose the right option. Then, practice the dialogue.

Example: What’s a / the weather like? > What’s the weather like?

  1. It’s hot and sun / sunny.
  2. It’s coldy / cold and cloudy.
  3. It’s wind / windy and cool.
  4. It’s boiling hot / hotty.
  1. It’s freezing / freeze cold.
  2. It’s snow / snowy.
  3. It’s very rain / rainy.
  4. It’s cool and fog / foggy.
  1. It’s hot and sunny.
  2. It’s cold and cloudy.
  3. It’s windy and cool.
  4. It’s boiling hot.
  1. It’s freezing cold.
  2. It’s snowy.
  3. It’s very rainy.
  4. It’s cool and foggy.

Freer Practice

  • What’s the weather like? Talk about the temperature too!

Production

  • What’s the weather like where you like?

Homework

Match the collocations with their respective definitions.

Example: Rainy > Good weather with refreshing breeze and rain showers

  1. Sunny

  2. Windy

  3. Snowy

  4. Cloudy

  5. Foggy

(   ) A cold day when a lot of flakes have fallen

(   ) Shining with bright sunlight

(   ) Confused because you cannot see clearly

(   ) Marked by strong wind or by more wind than usual

(   ) So full of clouds that you can’t see the sun

  1. Sunny

  2. Windy

  3. Snowy

  4. Cloudy

  5. Foggy

(3) a cold day when a lot of flakes have fallen

(1) shining with bright sunlight

(5) confused because you cannot see clearly

(2) marked by strong wind or by more wind than usual

(4) so full of clouds that you can’t see the sun

Put the temperatures in order from cold to hot.

  • Warm

  • Boiling hot

  • Cold

  • Chilly

  • Freezing

  • Hot

  • Cool

  • Scalding hot

  1. Freezing

  2. Cold

  3. Chilly

  4. Cool

  5. Warm

  6. Hot

  7. Boiling hot

  8. Scalding hot

Complete the dialogue with the correct word.

Example:

  • Hi, Marta! What’s like out there?

  • Hi, Bob! It’s around 40oC. It’s boiling hot! (chilly / boiling hot)

  • And what’s the weather forecast for the weekend?

  • I’m not sure, but I think it will be a ____ (cloudy / rainy) Saturday, because there are many heavy clouds. On Sunday it seems that the weather will be better, maybe ____ (freezing / cool).

  • Excellent! I plan to go to the cottage with my friends. A ____ (snowy / chilly) day is a great atmosphere to enjoy this type of program.

  • I must travel to London next week. I hate ____ (windy / cloudy) days. It’s so boring get out and can’t see the Sun!

  • London at that time? There are likely to be mornings of ____ (snowy / snow).

  • Oh no!

  • And what’s the weather forecast for the weekend?

  • I’m not sure, but I think it will be a rainy Saturday, because there are many heavy clouds. On Sunday it seems that the weather will be better, maybe cool.

  • Excellent! I plan to go to the cottage with my friends. A chilly day is a great atmosphere to enjoy this type of program.

  • I must travel to London next week. I hate cloudy days. It’s so boring get out and can’t see the Sun!

  • London at that time? There are likely to be mornings of snow.

  • Oh no!

Put the words in the correct order to make sentences.

Example: I / take / kids / beach / the / to / days / On / , / like / the / sunny / to > On sunny days, I like to take the kids to the beach.

  1. foggy / turn / headlights / when / areas / Be / your / through / sure / driving / to / on

  2. a / read / best / are / days / book / Rainy / time / stay / the / home / and / to

  3. walking / As / to / it / started / , / along / get / beach / the / were / windy / we

  4. should / rains / an / looks / you / , / cloudy / It / in / umbrella / bring / case / it

  5. the / stepped / castle / yard / into / They / snowy / outside / the

  1. Be sure to turn on your headlights when driving through foggy areas.

  2. Rainy days are the best time to stay home and read a book.

  3. As we were walking along the beach, it started to get windy.

  4. It looks cloudy, you should bring an umbrella in case it rains.

  5. They stepped into the snowy yard outside the castle.

Which sentences are wrong?

Example: I want some cold water for my tea. > I want some hot water for my tea.

  1. I saw on TV that it’s 40Cº on Canada! It must be so hot.

  2. It’s snow. It looks so warm outside.

  3. Do you see that volcano? The lava must be scalding hot.

  4. Mom, look! There is water falling from the sky. It’s a windy day.

  5. I’m sweating because it’s freezing cold here.

  1. I saw on TV that it’s 40Cº in Canadá! It must be so hot.

  2. It’s snowing. It looks so cold outside.

  3. Do you see that volcano? The lava must be scalding hot.

  4. Mom, look! There is water falling from the sky. It’s a rainy day.

  5. I’m sweating because it’s boiling hot here.

Writing

Write about the weather where you live.