Trash to Art

WORKSHEET

1. Suggested Use

Environmental awareness focus, followed by B2-level vocabulary and grammar activities.

2. Suggested Activities 

A. Project-based learning 
Students design a community art project that uses recycled materials to raise awareness about an environmental issue. Students work in small groups to plan what materials they’ll use, e.g., plastic bottles, cans, textiles, the environmental message they want to communicate, where and how the artwork could be displayed and how it could encourage people to change their habits. Each group writes a short proposal explaining their project’s aim and impact.

B. Mediation task: Facilitating collaborative interaction with peers 
Students work together to discuss their environmental habits and what they could do to improve their environmental awareness, using the ideas from the video to prompt them. 

C. Pronunciation task - Connected speech
Have students identify words that end in consonants or consonant sounds that are followed by a word beginning with a vowel, e.g. throw away, washed ashore, think carefully about, picked up. Drill and model the sounds and have students practise them. Have them write example sentences with the sounds to practise connected speech. 

3. Vocabulary 

Environment 

• rubbish

• trash

• litter

• waste

• single-use plastics

• collect

• beach

• washed ashore

• wires

• damage

• Planet

Adjectives 

• ugly

• striking

• creative

• local

• voluntary

• Aware

Collocations 

• pick up litter

• turn (trash) into (art)

• raise awareness

• protect the planet

• inspire others

• creative talents 

• take notice

• take time 

• community service
  

4. Grammar

Passive voice:
Rubbish that has washed ashore is collected; The sculptures are made from materials once thrown away.

Dependant prepositions:
contribute to, take time to, react in a way, put to work, read about, inspire (others) to.

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TRANSCRIPT
Trash to Art 

NARRATOR:
We can all contribute to society in different ways. For artist Marina DeBris, that means heading to her local beach almost every morning, taking time to collect rubbish that has washed ashore overnight. 

Born in the United States, Marina now lives in Sydney, Australia. She has been picking up litter voluntarily for more than 20 years. She puts her creative talents to work by turning the trash she collects into striking sculptures. By doing this, Marina hopes to make people stop and assess the damage caused by single-use plastics.

SOUNDBITE - Marina DeBris:
"Certainly, it's ugly.  It's an ugly subject and I just want people to react in a way where they kind of gasp and take notice of how much waste we're putting out in the ocean.

NARRATOR:
Almost everything Marina works with was once rubbish; this even includes the wires that connect pieces and the tools she uses to build the sculptures. Local residents say the sculptures get them thinking more carefully about what they throw away.

SOUNDBITE:
“The sad thing is that all those pieces of rubbish are in our oceans. So that’s the sad thing. The good thing is that it’s being picked up and used. And maybe people, when they read about it, they’ll be more aware of what they’re doing with their rubbish.”

NARRATOR:
By collecting trash and turning it into art, Marina is doing community service in her own creative way, showing how one person can make time to protect the planet and inspire others to do the same.