Modals- Green Initiatives Debate

Green initiatives modals of obligation, prohibition and permission speaking

Work together to write 16 statements about green (= environmentally friendly) policies/ regulations/ rules to protect the planet from climate change, pollution, etc, including four obligations, four prohibitions, and eight things which are okay but not obligations, using these modals:

• You need to = have to
• You can’t = mustn’t = aren’t allowed to
• You can = are allowed to
• You don’t have to = don’t need to = there is no need to = it isn’t necessary to

Possible topics:

• Air-conditioning/ Heating
• Architecture/ Buildings
• Businesses (= companies)
• Carbon consumption (= CO2 consumption)
• Climate change (= manmade global warming)
• Clothing
• Consumption (shopping, using things, etc)
• Education
• Electricity
• Energy efficiency (= using less electricity etc)
• Food (animal products, farming, organic food, etc)
• Fossil fuels (gasoline, natural gas and coal)
• Government
• Government funding (prizes, subsidies, etc)
• Green spaces (parks etc)/ Plants
• Individuals (= ordinary people)
• Packaging (wrapping, plastic carrier bags, etc)
• Paper use
• Pets
• Pollution
• Population
• Recycling
• Renewable power sources (solar power, wind power, dams, alternative fuels, etc)
• Disposal of rubbish (= trash = garbage) such as disposable goods
• Secondhand goods
• Sharing
• Taxes
• Transportation (importing food, etc)
• Travel (cars, air travel, public transport, business travel, commuting, etc)
• Water use (gardening, washing cars, swimming pools, etc)
• Sewage (such as dirty water from your toilet)

Share one idea with each modal verb above and see if other groups agree.

Ask about anything above you can’t understand, working together as a class to make suitable example sentences each time.

Use each of the modal verbs above with at least one of each of the ideas below to make at least four new sentences, then share them with another group.

1. Pay a special tax for having a swimming pool at home, having a car which only uses petrol (= gasoline), buying bottled water, using disposable products (disposable razors, disposable pens, disposable chopsticks, plastic carrier bags, etc), buying imported food, having a pet, or having more than two children.
2. Pay more tax on petrol, cars, big cars, or new houses.
3. Ask if you want a plastic carrier bag or receipt in a shop
4. Be inspected by the government if you want to call your products “green”.
5. Carry all your rubbish home (because all public bins = trash cans) have been taken away.
6. Collect rainwater or used bathwater if you want to water your garden
7. Cover your roof with grass.
8. Get a large prize for original/ unusual, effective, affordable/ good value for money, convenient, useful and/ or popular green initiatives.
9. Get money from the government for making your home more energy efficient (adding solar panels, double-glazed windows, insulation to stop heat going through walls, etc)
10. Get money from the government for buying an electric car.
11. Give all new office buildings windows that can be opened
12. Install automatic lights that turn themselves off when nobody is in the room
13. Install solar panels on all new buildings
14. Install water-free urinals (= men’s toilets) in office buildings and shopping centres
15. Keep all air conditioning above 28 degrees in the summer.
16. Learn about environmental issues at school.
17. Park for free at stations.
18. Pay a fine for dropping rubbish on the street.
19. Pay a lot of money to be able to drive and/ or park in the city centre.
20. Pay to have large rubbish taken away.
21. Provide a public green space when you build a new (office or apartment) building.
22. Put used batteries in a special bin.
23. Recycle all uneaten food (to be eaten by animals, turned into fuel, etc)
24. Send your electronics back to their manufacturers to be recycled.
25. Set a target for your and/ or your company’s reduction in carbon emissions.
26. Share cars to be able to use one of the lanes on the motorway (= expressway).
27. Stop using toilet paper and wash yourself instead.
28. Stop watering your garden when the weather is really hot.
29. Take labels off bottles, jars, cans etc before you recycle them.
30. Take part in a carpool (= sharing cars with your colleagues to commute to work)
31. Take your cans etc to a recycling area.
32. Throw toilet paper in the bin instead of down the toilet.
33. Travel for free on public transport.
34. Turn all heating down to 18 degrees in winter.
35. Use low energy light bulbs.
36. Use organic food in schools.
37. Wear a sweater in the office in the winter.
38. Wear Hawaiian shirts/ shorts/ flip flops at work in the summer.

Check you understand all the vocabulary in this lesson, especially the words in bold.