Turkey-Syria earthquake

If you are looking for a lesson plan about the earthquake that struck Morocco, click here.

This breaking news ESL lesson plan is about the devastating earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria on 6th February. Students will learn vocabulary to talk about earthquakes and their consequences, read about the Turkey-Syria earthquake and watch a news report from Turkey. This lesson plan could be combined with the lesson “Tackling rising sea levels“, where the topic of natural disasters is discussed, as well as “Phrasal verbs: natural disasters” and “Phrasal verbs: the environment”.
The lesson starts with 2 speaking activities: The first one doubles down as a vocabulary activity: students are given 5 questions about earthquakes. First they match the words and expressions in bold to their definitions (e.g. to be prone to, impending earthquake, warning signs, safety measures). After that they discuss the questions. The next activity is focused more on students’ personal experiences. First they match the 2 halves of the questions given and then they discuss the questions.
Vocabulary: the aftermath of an earthquake: students look at different consequences and discuss how each of them is related to the topic of earthquakes. Then they match the details given to the correct consequence. This activity introduces key vocabulary such as (aid and relief efforts, shelter, displacement, collapse).
Reading: Students read a short text about the earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria and complete it with the words given.
Listening: Students watch a news report “Turkey-Syria earthquake: Death toll rises, rescues dwindle in earthquake aftermath” and take notes about
points given. After that they discuss a few questions.
Speaking: the last activity is focused on speaking: students discuss what they should do in the event of an earthquake.
The conversation cards provide additional questions on the topic of earthquakes.