As ecological issues become more pressing, incorporating environmental themes into curricula provides language schools with an opportunity to engage students in two key ways – raising awareness of meaningful real-world topics and improving their language skills. Let’s look at some ideas for bringing environmental education into classes.

Include ecological issues in coursework 

When mapping out the language school curriculum, place more of an emphasis on environmental themes. Directors and teachers should work together to create units that cover environmental topics, such as climate change, recycling, and pollution, to incorporate these into lesson plans. This will allow students to put their language skills into practice in classroom discussions that are extremely topical and relevant to today’s world. 

Facilitate hands-on environmental projects

Move learning beyond the classroom walls by having students conduct field research on local environmental issues. For instance, teachers could set their students the task of analysing pollution levels in different neighbourhoods and presenting findings to the class, or making recommendations for expanding local green spaces. Providing authentic contexts for students to apply their language skills will boost their proficiency, as well as get them thinking about important environmental issues.

Encourage student-led sustainability initiatives

Schools should support students in leading sustainability efforts, such as school recycling systems, on-site composting programmes, and eco-friendly events to educate the local community. Teachers can provide the linguistic scaffolding to help students organise, promote and run these initiatives, leading students to not only enhance their language abilities but build leadership, teamwork and project planning skills.

Incorporating environmental education can lead to an enriched learning experience. With some creative planning, language schools can play a central role in moulding their students into more responsible world citizens. For more inspiration on how to implement sustainable practices in your school’s operations, make sure to follow our weekly Sustainable Wednesday posts.

Written by Stephanie Clark