Gateway to the World Level B1 - Unit 6 - Changing Climates

Sep 28, 2026

Unit 6, Changing Climates, presents core vocabulary for geographical features and environment-related verbs (consume, recycle, reduce, reuse, save, throw away, waste) to support speaking and reading tasks. Learners practice discussing geographical features in their area, completing an advice text about protecting the environment, and listening to verify answers. The unit then focuses on sea level rise through comprehension questions, vocabulary meaning checks, and grammar for future forms (will, be going to, present continuous) with short critical-thinking prompts.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

Vocabulary in context

Geographical features

Verbs connected with the environment

Reading: Understanding climate change

Sea Level Rise: you ask, the experts answer

Practice tasks

Matching questions to answers

Choosing alternatives and finding paragraphs

Meaning of underlined words

6 CHANGING CLIMATES Vocabulary in context Reading Geographical features The environment 1 speaking Discuss which of these geographical features you have in your country or region. Use a dictionary if necessary. 42 Geographical features beach • cave • cliff • coast • desert • forest • glacier • hill • island • jungle/rainforest • lake • mountain • mountain range • ocean/sea • river • stream • valley • waterfall 2 speaking Draw a word from 1 on the board. Can the class guess the word? 3a Read this text with advice about protecting the environment. Use the correct form of these verbs to complete the text. 43 Verbs connected with the environment consume • recycle • reduce • reuse • save • throw away • waste SOME SIMPLE TIPS FOR PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT Because of global warming, the temperature of the planet is rising at the moment. To help with this problem, we need to (a) greenhouse gases – the UK government promised to do this by 80% by 2050. To reach this goal, we need to use less energy. You can (b) energy by doing simple things like switching off the lights when you leave the room. And don’t forget that we (c) energy when we leave computers or TVs on all night. When we (d) plastic, glass or paper to make new products, we are also helping to protect the environment. But it’s also good to (e) things instead of using them just once. In general, it’s sensible to (f) less – we buy lots of things that we don’t really need and then quickly (g) all these useless items. 3b 44 Listen and check your answers. 70 Unit 6 1 speaking Look at the photos above. Talk about what you can see. What do you think is the connection between them? 2 speaking Look at questions 1 to 5. What answers could you give to the questions? 1 Are sea levels getting higher or is it just fake news? 2 What can we do to prepare ourselves and our cities for rising sea levels? 3 What’s causing sea levels to rise? 4 Can we still stop sea level rise by reducing carbon emissions? 5 What are the consequences of sea level rise for us? 3 Read the text. Match each question (1–5) in 2 to its answer (A–E). Were any of your answers in 2 similar to the answers in the text? 4 46 Choose the correct alternative. Write the letter of the paragraph where you found the answer. 1 Melting ice caps are now more/less responsible for rising sea levels than in the past. Paragraph: 2 There is evidence of the sea level rising because there have been a lot more/ one or two big floods in recent years. Paragraph: 3 It seems obvious that by reducing carbon emissions we can/can’t completely stop the problem of rising sea levels. Paragraph: 4 About 275 million people live in coastal areas/the ten biggest cities in the world. Paragraph: 5 There are just one or two important/ a variety of different ways we can beat the problem of rising sea levels. 6 Paragraph: 5 What do the underlined words and phrases in the text mean? Guess and then check in your dictionary. Reach higher page 138 UNDERSTANDING CLIMATE CHANGE Sea Level Rise: you ask, the experts answer A According to the US-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the global sea level in 2016 was 82 mm higher than the 1983 annual average. The NOAA believes that the global sea level will probably rise between 0.2 metres and 2 metres by 2100. Their statistics also show that in many places along the US coast, flooding is much more frequent than it was 50 years ago. Sea levels are rising for two main reasons. Firstly, glaciers B and ice caps are melting and adding water to the ocean. And this is going to happen faster as global temperatures get higher. Over the last ten years, NOAA statistics show that the amount of sea level rise caused by melting has increased dramatically and is now the main factor in rising sea levels. Secondly, the water in the oceans is getting warmer and that means that it expands and takes

FAQs

What is covered in the unit vocabulary section?

The unit introduces geographical features vocabulary and verbs connected with the environment, including consume, recycle, reduce, reuse, save, throw away, and waste.

What are the two main reasons sea levels are rising, according to the text?

Glaciers and ice caps are melting and adding water to the ocean, and ocean water is warming and expanding, which increases the volume of sea water.

How does the text describe the impact of sea level rise on people and cities?

At least 275 million people live in at-risk coastal areas, and many of the world’s largest cities are near coasts, so millions may need to move in the future.

Sep 28, 2026

Uploaded by Sophia Brooks