ESL WORKSHEET - Food Waste

LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS

FOOD WASTE

LinguaHouse
Feb. 7, 2022

Level: Upper-Intermediate (B2-C1)
Type of English: General English
Tags: Food and Drink; Ethics and Conduct; Society and Change; Retail; Behavior, Feelings and Emotions; Challenges; Companies and Jobs; Article Based
Publication date: 02/07/2022

This lesson focuses on the problem of food waste and can be used as a business or a general English lesson. Listening focuses on two people discussing the statistics of global food waste, and Reading exercises are connected to an article about Marie Rose Belding and her innovative attempts to improve the situation. Exercises give students practice with reading skills, listening skills, and related vocabulary. Students will also have the opportunity to discuss issues related to the topic (by Joe Wilson).

• CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in American English.
• CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in British English.
• CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in American English.
• CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in British English.
• CLICK HERE to download/listen to the audio in American English.
• CLICK HERE to download/listen to the audio in British English.

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

Businessperson 1: Mmmm! That burger looks delicious! I might order some takeout too. I’m exhausted.
Businessperson 2: Yeah, it’s really tasty and massive. And the fries are THE best.
Businessperson 1: What are you watching there?
Businessperson 2: This amazing documentary on food waste. Have you seen it?
Businessperson 1: No, is it any good?
Businessperson 2: Scary! I’m blown away by the statistics. Did you know that, out of all the food that is produced to eat, the world throws away about one-third of it? Every single year.
Businessperson 1: Seriously?
Businessperson 2: Yeah! We could feed three billion people with that food. And it’s worth one trillion US dollars.
Businessperson 1: I can’t even wrap my head around how much food that is.
Businessperson 2: Maybe this will help. You’ve been to China, right?
Businessperson 1: Yes. I did that trip from Shanghai to Beijing with my friends. Amazing.
Businessperson 2: So, imagine that all of China was just fields that grow crops.
Businessperson 1: That’s a lot of crops.
Businessperson 2: It is. It’s 2.5 billion acres. Now imagine we just throw away all the food that we make with them.
Businessperson 1: That’s crazy!
Businessperson 2: But it’s not just that. It’s the whole food process. The water that is used to grow the wasted food is the equivalent of 200 liters, per person, per day for 9 billion people.
Businessperson 1: 9 billion? But there are only about 7 billion people on the Earth now, aren’t there?
Businessperson 2: Exactly! There won’t be 9 billion people on the planet until the middle of this century, and by then, we will need to be producing 70% more food than we do now to feed everyone.
Businessperson 1: It doesn’t make sense at all. Especially when you consider all of the people who are hungry in the world. I read that about 700 million people don’t have enough food right now.

Adapted from: https://www.linguahouse.com/esl-lesson-plans/general-english/food-waste. Accessed on March 26, 2022. LinguaHouse.com © 2008 - 2022. All rights reserved.