Earth Day/Día de la Tierra y El Medio Ambiente - Authentic Reading Activity

Earth Day is celebrated not just in the United States, but all around the world!

Target Audience – Spanish I or II high school, 9th-12th grades

Students Language Level – Students should be at a Novice Low/Mid level

Materials – The authentic text about the origins of Earth Day is from a website from the Spanish government. A copy of the text is included, and no changes were made; students will see the text in its authentic form. I recommend printing a class set of the authentic text in color (to show the photos) and keeping them in sheet protectors. Students will answer questions on their own worksheet.

Teachers with class sets of iPads or laptops can send students to the original link:
http://www.ite.educacion.es/es/inicio/noticias-de-interes/786-22-de-abril-dia-internacional-de-la-tierra

Students will answer 8 comprehension questions about the text, as well as look at where the information is coming from by identifying links and other things on the website.

After the reading comprehension questions, students will read the article a second time and answer 8 true/false questions.

Note: The assignment is in English to prove comprehension. Upper-level classes often do comprehension checks in the target language, but as Spanish I students, English responses are the only way to guarantee that the student understands what he or she read.