1 step

Student sheet

Ist task

match the words to the correct definition

1. to throw away

2. wastepaperbasket

3. disposable

4. reusable

5. rubbish

6. bin

a) (noun) things you do not want anymore

b) (noun) a container used indoors (at home or school) toput unwanted paper in

c) (adjective) describes an object you can useagain

d) (adjective) describes an object you use (oftenonly once) and then put in the bin

e) (verb) to put something you do not want in the bin

f) (noun) a container for things you do not want

check the pronunciation of these words. http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/dictionaryhome.aspx

find synonyms listed and add these to the wordlist

2nd task

put the following items under the correct column:

a tissue – a burned match - acarrier (bag) – tights – shampoo- a refill – a folder – a napkin - a cork – an envelope

disposable	re-usable	hazardous	don’t know

3rd task

visitthe following sites and add 5 items of your choice from each site to the list

http://www.bhs.co.uk/

http://www.elc.co.uk

http://www.whsmith.co.u

Homework

bring in two products from home for the nextlesson (one re-usable and one disposable one).

Step 2: How much waste do you create?

Step 2: How much waste do you create?

Preparation
Teachers from both partner schools should contact each other to organize the exchange of information for this activity. Teachers should think about timing, number of groups and which system to use to send student contributions. This can be done using the workspace offered on the portal, the TwinSpace or by integrating this project with other projects (e.g. blog/wiki*).

Preparing questionnaires
Then, students prepare a questionaire about what they know and what they would like to know about partner country’s bins.



Students work in pairs and produce a questionnaire to send to partner country.

Teacher may want to elicit or provide some prompts:
For example:
Last week did you throw away….?
Have you ever thrown away….?
Do you use plastic cups?
How often do you ….
Where do you put ….
How much…?
How many…?

Answering questionnaire
c) Students reply to questions/questionnaires and they answer by using flashmeeting and then publishing their answer on the magazine of the project.


Compare
d) When they receive the information from their partner class they can also collate the information and illustrate with a chart.
Students can do this by hand or using PCs (e.g. Office Excel ). First students work out percentages and write them in, then they create a bar chart or pie chart

Online questionnaire
Teacher can ask students what the 3Rs are.
R- for reduce
R- for re-use
R- for recycle
Students can do an online rubbish questionnaire to check how much they know about waste and how good they are at looking after the earth’s resources
.
About general facts: http://www.recyclezone.org.uk/fz_brainfull.aspx
About their lifestyles: http://www.recyclezone.org.uk/fz_waster.aspx

ASOPOS (ANOTHER GROUP)

Pollution Flows in Asopos

Mythologically speaking, the Asopos River is said to
have been born a son of Oceanus and Tethys--or
Poseidon and Pero --or Zeus and Eurynome. There are,
in fact, five rivers of that name, four in Greece and
one in Turkey. All of these rivers have been
historically significant to the populations residing
on their banks; but the one I'm talking about is
possibly the most historically relevant, and currently
the most endangered.

Because death flows in the Asopos River, straight to
the town of Oinofyta.

Death by specific toxins. The river's fish are dead,
and those villages who get their water from the river
will soon be dead or dying. The river runs red-not
just a symbol of death, but literally from the heavy
hexavalent chromium content. The 30,000 residents of
the town of Oinofyta who depend on the river for
drinking water and everything else are trapped by
circumstance; they are suffering, and although the
mayor of that town has declared the water unsafe, they
have no other sources.

Statistics show cancer rates in Oinofyta have risen
from 6% in 1989 to 32% (most current available). The
water's chromium content has tested to be 400,000
times above the permissible maximum.

A number of heavy industry, paint manufacturers and
food manufacturers- at least 85 separate
industries -use the river to dispose of waste. And
even though this past year, six manufacturers were
found guilty of pollution and fined, the rivers still
run with poison.

This is not something we can ignore. The Greek people
should know their own government is turning a blind
eye to this disaster. The whole world should know.

A threefold effort must be put into place:

First, alternative potable water sources must be
secured for those residents who depend on the Asopos.

.



Second, the pollution must stop.

Third, the polluters must clean up the mess they have
made of the river, AND the poisoned fields whose
cultivation has for centuries depended on that
now-lethal water. For justice to be served, they must
clean up the injuries they caused in people's lives.

In the Oinofyta town, the Asopos river turned purple and the river water is to be blamed for local cancer deaths.

Within 60 kilometers north of Athens lies an industrial area. The factories around here keep dumping their industrial waste into the Asopos river polluting the river water. As of now there are no warning signs anywhere. It took several years to figure out that the drinking water of the area had dangerous levels of carcinogen chromium 6.

This particular metal is an anti-corrosive and it is listed under the European Union’s (EU) list of dangerous substances. Consequences can be bad if it comes in contact with the skin or if it’s inhaled or even ingested. The people who died in the region probably died off the river water. An interesting fact is that despite of the potential risks, the govt. officials never bothered to warn people of this chemical since the factories were set up.

A biochemical engineer joined the long battle against the authorities. Initially authorities refused to listen to the allegations related to the water. But, they later changed their mind. Thanasis Panteloglou along with Father Yannis pursued their crusade against the factories. Finally authorities managed to imposed restrictions on these factories.

However, many of them still run illegal underground pipelines to the river in order to dump the industrial waste. I think this is almost as good as mass murder. Environmentalists and authorities need to work together with the factories to stop this kind of river pollution.