SB Page 21, Part 3. Get Ss to do this exercise individually, so that every S has to make an effort to re-read the text and extract the relevant information. If it is done in class, get Ss to check their notes afterwards in pairs. Alternatively, if you wish, you can set this exercise for homework. In that case, get Ss to check their notes in pairs at the beginning of the next lesson.

Notes:

FACTS

1 First record of agriculture (date/place): 10,000 years ago, in Egypt, the Middle East and India.

2 Present world population: almost 6 billion

3 Farming population: 1 billion

4 66% of the world’s surface is sea.

5 11 % of the land surface can be used for

growing crops. REASONS FOR LOSS OF FARMLAND

1 It is being built on;

2 It is being lost by the actions of the wind and the rain;

3 Land is becoming too salty.

WAYS OF INCREASING FOOD PRODUCTION

1 You can increase the area by irrigation; you can build dams and water your fields; you can pump water from low-lying areas;

2 You can develop new plants which produce heavier crops;

3 You can develop new plants which grow in poor soil;

4 You can develop new plants that are less likely to be attacked by pests and diseases.

Step 6 Reference

SB Page 21, Part 4. Read the instruction and check that the Ss know what to do. Do the first two items orally with the whole class. Then let the Ss work through this exercise in pairs. Check the answers at the end. Answers:

1 about 10,000 years ago

2 1 billion people

3 how to feed a growing world population

4 the sea

5 11 % of the earth‘s land surface

6 farmland

7 desert land can now be used for growing crops

8 new types of plants

Step 7 Workbook

Wb Lesson 14, Exx. 1 and 2.

Ex. 1 should be done in class. The Ss have to make an effort to revise the text and complete the passage individually or in groups. Then check the answers with the whole class.

Ex. 2 can be done orally in class. You may change it to a Chinese-English translation exercise and get the Ss to give you the English without looking at the book.

Step 8 Consolidation

Ask Ss to say what is happening about farmland and food production in China. Get them to give specific examples, for example the Three Gorges project and other changes in their area. Are there other reasons why food production is increasing or decreasing? Get them to tell each other in pairs first, and then get pairs to tell the rest of the class.

Homework

Read the passage again and complete the notes in Part 3.

Finish off the Workbook exercises.