8 CLIL
Chemistry Renewable energy
Objectives
• read about renewable sources of energy.
• make a poster to encourage people to recycle and save energy.
Preparation
• Ask students to bring in photographs and pictures to use to
make their posters.
Warm-up
• Books closed. Introduce the topic of energy by writing the names
of different objects on the board, e.g. watch, car, TV, and asking
students to note down what makes each object work:
watch – battery, car – petrol, TV – electricity.
• Check answers.
1 • Ask students to open their books at page 122.
• Put students into pairs and ask them to make a list of
different types of renewable energy.
2 2.50 Ask students to read the text to check their answers
to Exercise 1. Encourage weaker students to look up new
vocabulary online using their smartphones.
• Check answers.
Suggested answers
sun, wind, water, tides and waves, biofuel and nuclear power
3 • Focus on the phrases in the box describing different sources
of energy. Ask students to underline these phrases in the
text and try to work out their meaning from the context.
• Put students into pairs to match the phrases with the
definitions.
• Check answers.
Answers
1 alternative energy 2 renewable energy
3 sustainable energy 4 bio fuel 5 fossil fuels
4 • Tell students they are going to do a quiz about energy
sources.
• Put students into pairs to answer the questions.
5 2.51 Play the recording for students to check their
answers to the quiz questions in Exercise 4. Find out if any pairs
scored 4 out of 4.
Audioscript
Speaker: Ok, so let’s see what you know. First of all – and
I’m sure you know this already – you should unplug
your TV when you’re not watching it because it uses
power even when it’s not on. In fact, about 85% of
all the energy used by TVs is when they’re on standby.
And the same thing happens with other electrical
appliances. If you leave your battery charger plugged
in, it uses power even when it’s not charging a
battery. So, unplug the battery charger, the computer
and the DVD player, too.
So, what about those aluminium cans? Well, the
energy that’s used to produce a new aluminium can
could power a PlayStation for two hours! And did
you know that if we recycled all our used aluminium,
we would never need any new aluminium at all?
So get recycling.
Looking now at biodiesel, we can make it from
almost any animal or vegetable oil. Of course, not
all vegetables contain oil, like potatoes or carrots,
but many do. Biofuels are a sustainable energy
source, but they aren’t classed as an alternative
energy because burning them releases CO2. They are
better for the environment than fossil fuels, though.
They release much less CO2 and they’re cheaper and
renewable.
So finally, what about the Sun? If we could convert
just 15 minutes of the Sun’s energy into electricity,
we would have enough electricity for one whole year.
And with more people using solar panels, we are a bit
closer to doing that.
Answers
1 D 2 C 3 C 4 B
Your turn
6 • Read out the information. Check students understand what
they have to do.
• Put students into pairs to make their posters. This is a
challenging activity and students may require guidance.
Encourage students to use the text for information or to
look online for it.
8.4 Driving into the future
See page 137 for activities you can do with this video.
Ask students to play this renewable-energy game:
http://www.wonderville.ca/asset/save-the-world
CLIL 8 145