WALT: identify the author’s purpose
LOSS OF BIODIVERSITY�What’s at risk?
Closely notice what these videos show and tell.
Be ready to share the main ideas conveyed, and your response and reaction to these videos.
Watch
SOURCE: World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
What is biodiversity?
NZ’s Biodiversity Strategy
SOURCE: Department of Conservation (DOC)
Read
Read these articles out loud to yourself to check you can read it fluently.
Check you understand the text.
A good way to do this is to retell the information in each text to someone else.
(Department of Conservation - DOC)
Biodiversity Loss�Causes and effects
1 - Focus: low frequency/high content words
INSTRUCTIONS:�Read this adaptation of transcript of the WWF video on Slide 2
�1. Break the text into word groups using the forward slash symbol /
2. Record yourself reading this passage fluently and with expression - link to the text box below
Biodiversity is a term that represents the total variety of all life on earth. That’s a big thing to sum up. Thousands of different world habitats, millions of different species, billions of different individuals and the trillions of different characteristics they all have.
�Our planet’s biodiversity provides all we need without monetary cost.. but it will only do so if there’s lots of it and at the moment it’s under attack. In the last 50 years, our activities have dramatically reduced biodiversity across the globe. We’ve ‘snuffed out’ habitats, reduced populations of wild animals by 60% and even driven whole species extinct. The number of lions in Africa has dropped by 65%. The number of individual flying insects in Europe has dropped by 75%. The number of bluefin tuna in the Pacific has dropped by 95%.
Biodiversity is decreasing everywhere and fast. This is catastrophic for nature and therefore for us. Climate change is a current hot topic but the rapid pace of biodiversity loss is pressing and urgent.
Link to YOUR RECORDING
2 - Explain
INSTRUCTIONS �Read each ‘explain’ in the table below�For each ‘explain’, go back to the text of SLIDE 4 to locate the bolded, low frequency word/words in the text you think it explains.�Record the bolded word/words in the chart next to each explain.�Re-read the whole sentence where the word/words occur, and check that you now understand their meaning.
| EXPLAIN | Low frequency - high content carrying word /s in text |
e.g. | the number and variety of plants and animals and other living organisms that exist in the world | biodiversity |
1 | an event causing great harm or destruction | |
2 | a group of living organisms which have similar characteristics to each other and can breed with each other | |
3 | to suddenly drop in number | |
3 - Explain
INSTRUCTIONS �Read each ‘explain’ in the table below�For each ‘explain’, go back to the text of SLIDE 4 to locate the bolded, low frequency word/words in the text you think it explains.�Record the bolded word/words in the chart next to each explain.�Re-read the whole sentence where the word/words occur, and check that you now understand their meaning.
| EXPLAIN | Low frequency - high content carrying word /s in text |
4 | no longer exists | |
5 | the loss of species in a given habitat in a local area or across the globe; cause of loss may be natural or manmade | |
6 | the natural environment or places in which an animal or plant usually lives: | |
CREATE - Your Turn!
INSTRUCTIONS: �Re-watch the video on Slide 2.�Re-read the texts on Slide 3 and 4.�Choose ONE of the CREATE tasks below to share your learning this week.
Design a poster that describes the main causes OR effects of biodiversity loss. Use captions and images to engage your audience; Include a definition of biodiversity loss.
Record (audio and/or video) yourself using clear language and expressive voice to describe the main causes OR effects of biodiversity loss.Include a definition of biodiversity loss.
Share your completed work on your blog. �Remember to add a catchy TITLE, a clear TASK DESCRIPTION and relevant LABELS.
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OR