1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Reasons for the study
It can be seen that the natural environment is the place in which all
organisms live, and the human race is only one small species. However, human
beings have great influence on the rest of the world. They are changing the
natural environment by many ways, such as building cities and villages where
forests once stood, or cutting down trees in the forests, or adding pollutants to
the air, etc. It can be said that humans are changing the environment in all
aspects through their actions and by their habits. This has resulted in many
serious consequences. Many kinds of animals and plants are killed, and even
many of which are in danger of becoming extinct. The natural habitat is badly
destroyed and seriously contaminated. Thus, it is vital to protect the Earth, the
home of all organisms, from human beings’ harmful activities. It is time humans
did something on the problem of environmental pollution, which will help
maintain the ecosystem.
Despite the fact that humans get lots of benefits from the nature, they still
devastate it day by day and step by step. They are throwing rubbish wherever
they are. They are cutting down many kinds of trees for wood and timber. They
are illegally hunting animals for fur, hide, meat and other products. Many
factories are discharging toxic smoke and waste into the environment, etc. All
these actions are seriously polluting the environment, including the air, water
and soil. As a result, the problem of environmental pollution are getting worse
and worse. However, there have still been many people, especilly the young,
who are not aware of the importance of the natural environment to humans’ life
and to other living things’ survival. They are also not aware of the situation of
the environmental contamination, which is becoming an alarming problem all
over the world. Moreover, they do not realise that it is time for humans to stop
making the problem worse and worse so that they will have good natural
conditions to live and to flourish.
All reasons mentioned above led me to the following study “Raising the
awareness of protecting the natural environment when teaching English for

and in their neighbourhood as possible. Furthermore, some of my students may
love the topic of the nature. They will try to become activists, or volunteers who
voluntarily do very useful things for the nature, to protect it from the harmful
activities of the humans and to make the nature environment a ideal place to
live.
1. 3. The scope of the study
In this study, only some aspects related to the main theme can be
mentioned, such as the definition and types of natural environment, benefits
from the nature, the definition of environmental pollution, causes and effects of
pollution, and some solutions to the problem. Hoping that readers will have a
general view on the problem mentioned, then get themselves involved in many
useful to protect the nature.
1. 4. The methods of the study
To fulfil this study, I apply many methods at the same time to make full
use of each. First, I used 3 textbooks of English 10, 11, 12 as my first idea. I
used some Units and some parts of one unit mentioning about the natural
environment to plan for my study. For example, unit 10 (Conservation) in
English 10; unit 10 (Nature in danger) in English 11 or unit 10 (Endangered
species), in English 12. Second, I searched many information and images,
pictures related to the scop of the study on the internet. After that, I had to read
carefully then choose which was the best for my study. Third, I asked my
colleages who teach English for some advices of good writing as well as those
who teach geography and biology for some knowledge related. And last, I use
my lesson of language as a lesson of protecting the environment to raise my
students’ awareness of the problem.
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2. MAIN CONTENT
2.1. THE FOUNDATION OF THE STUDY

Natural environment is often used as a synonym for habitat. For instance, when
we say that the natural environment of giraffes is the savanna.
The environment is something you are very familiar with. It is everything
that makes up our surroundings and affects our ability to live on the earth - the
air we breathe, the water that covers most of the earth's surface, the plants and
animals around us, and much more.
The sum total of all surroundings of a living organism, including natural
forces and other living things, which provide conditions for development and
growth as well as of danger and damage.
It is clearly that the natural environment is the place where all organisms
should co-exist for their development and grow.
b. Types of the environment
The five main types of environments, or biomes, in the world are the
aquatic, forest, desert, grassland and tundra biomes. Each of these can be found
in many areas around the world and contribute to the world's ecosystem.
Aquatic environments are found all over the world. Roughly 75 percent of
the Earth is covered by water, and all of this water is part of an aquatic
environment. The aquatic biome is further divided into saltwater oceans and
freshwater environments, such as rivers and lakes.
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Forest biomes are characterized by large trees and vegetation. They can be
found in cold and warm temperatures around the world. These environments are
important to the Earth because they release oxygen into the atmosphere and
capture excess carbon dioxide.

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not produced by nature, and the destroying process can vary from a few days to
thousands of years (that is, for instance, the case for radioactive pollutants). In
other words, pollution takes place when nature does not know how to
decompose an element that has been brought to it in an unnatural way.
Pollution must be taken seriously, as it has a negative effect on natural
elements that are an absolute need for life to exist on earth, such as water and
air. Indeed, without it, or if they were present on different quantities, animals –
including humans – and plants could not survive. Environmental pollution is an
incurable disease. It can only be prevented.
Environmental pollution consists of five basic types of pollution, namely,
air, water, soil, noise and light.
Air pollution is by far the most harmful form of pollution in our
environment. Air pollution is caused by the injurious smoke emitted by cars,
buses, trucks, trains, and factories, namely sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide
and nitrogen oxides. Even smoke from burning leaves and cigarettes are harmful
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to the environment causing a lot of damage to man and the atmosphere.
Evidence of increasing air pollution is seen in lung cancer, asthma, allergies, and
various breathing problems along with severe and irreparable damage to flora
and fauna. Even the most natural phenomenon of migratory birds has been
hampered, with severe air pollution preventing them from reaching their
seasonal metropolitan destinations of centuries.
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), released from refrigerators, air-conditioners,
deodorants and insect repellents cause severe damage to the Earth’s
environment. This gas has slowly damaged the atmosphere and depleted the
ozone layer leading to global warming.

Water pollution caused industrial waste products released into lakes,

Let us first take a look at the causes of environmental pollution:
- Industries: Industries have been polluting our environment especially since
the beginning of the industrial revolution, as mentioned above, notably due to
the increasing use of fossil fuels. In the 19th century and for a significant part of
the 20th century, coal has been used to make machines work faster, replacing
human force. Though pollution by industries mainly causes air pollution, soil
and water contamination can also occur. This is particularly the case for powergenerating industries, such as plants producing electricity (May they be a dam, a
nuclear reactor or some other type of plant).
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Also, the transportation of this energy can be harmful to the environment.
We can take an example of the transportation of petrol through pipelines; if there
is a leak in the pipeline, soil will automatically be polluted. At the same time, if
the tanker transporting the petrol from its production plant to the place where it
will be consumed leaks or sinks, the water will get contaminated.
- Transportation: Ever since men abandoned animal power to travel, pollution
of the environment has become worse and worse. Its levels have only been
increasing until now. Similarly to industries, pollution caused by transport can
mainly be attributed to fossil fuels. Indeed, humans went from horse carriages to
cars, trains (which, before electricity, used to be propelled by coal), and
airplanes. As the traffic is increasing every day, pollution follows that evolution.
- Agricultural Activities: Agriculture is mainly responsible for the
contamination of water and soil. This is caused by the increase in the use of
pesticides, as well as by the intensive character of its production. Almost all
pesticides are made from chemical substances and are meant to keep diseases
and threatening animals away from the crops. However, by keeping these forms
of life away, harm is almost always made to the surrounding environment as
well. Furthermore, as agriculture gets more and more intensive to feed
the increasing world population, more environments and ecosystems are

in. Acid rains can change the composition of rivers and seas, making them toxic
for fishes, an important quantity of ozone in the lower parts of the atmosphere
can cause lung problems to all animals. Nitrogen and phosphates in water will
cause overgrowth of toxic algae, preventing other forms of life to follow their
normal course. Eventually, soil pollution will cause harm and sometimes even
the destruction of microorganisms, which can have the dramatic effect of killing
the first layers of the primary food chain.
- Effects on Plants: As for animals, plants, and especially trees, can be
destroyed by acid rains (and this will also have a negative effect on animals as
well, as their natural environment will be modified), ozone in the lower
atmosphere block the plant respiration, and harmful pollutants can be absorbed
from the water or soil.
- Effects on the Ecosystem: In short, environmental pollution, almost
exclusively created by human activities, has a negative effect on the ecosystem,
destroying crucial layers of it and causing an even more negative effect on the
upper layers.
c. Pollution in Vietnam
As mentioned above, pollution is not the problem within the boundaries of
a certain country. It is an international problem which requires all nations to join
hands to solve. Many “symptoms” of the desease called “pollution” have
seriously affected humans’ life, such as ice-melting, global warming, greenhouse
effect, which result in many natural disasters like floods, drough, stunami,
earthquakes, hurricane, etc,.
There have been all types of pollution in Vietnam. The air is being
destroyed by smokes emitted from factories, exshaust from vehicles like cars,
trains, buses including the dust from the roads which are downgraded by many
reasons. The water is polluted by industrial waste which can kill many kinds of
aquatic animals. Take the incident of Formosa as an example. This company
illegally poured their factories waste into the sea in Vung Ang Habour, in Ha
Tinh province, which caused the death of million tons of sea animals along the 4

tons of rubbish or toxic chemicals thrown away by humans’ activities. Thus,
before teaching unit 9: The Undersea World in English 10, I will ask my
students to fulfil a “project” related to the seas or oceans as below
First, I divide the whole class into 4 groups, then choose one group leader
for each. All group memmbers have to work together (that means I have to
explain to my students how to work in groups and what they need while working
in team and how to ues the technique of brainstorming. The skill of working in
groups and the technique of brainstorming were mentioned in my own studies
which were rated level C some years ago). They also have to use the help of the
internet to search what they want.
Then I ask each group to find out as much information related to the
following aspects as possible.
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- The benefits that humans get from the seas, oceans
- How pulluted they are now
- Causes of the state of pollution and effects
- Some suggested solutions to protect the oceans and seas,
Students have to try their best to read, to search the information related to their
question
After limited time of some days working in groups, students hand in their
group work and I have to evaluate, remark and correct if necessary. I may use
this useful information in the warm-up stage in my lessons within the unit to
activate my students.
To complete the task, my students have to read a lot, search many things
and choose the best information for their answer. This process helps them
understand the state of pollution, see the need of saving the oceans and seas.
This may also help them know how to respect the oceans and leads them to good
actions when spending their holiday in the beach, for instance they may not

harbour the thoughts that they must take responsibility for the protection.
2.4. The effects of my study
As mentioned in the part 2.3, the process of searching information on
the Internet, reading and watching images provides my students with plenty of
useful information. They know more about the state of pollution and the reasons
for this state, then they try to find out how to solve the probem. And the most
important thing is that they change their attitude and action to the environment.
They learn how to respect the nature and know how to act with the nature so that
they will have an ideal place to live. This change results in daily activities. They
will not do anything harmful to their neighbourhoods and their surroundings.
They will voluntarily make their classrooms, school, houses and
neighbourhoods cleaner and fresher.
For the school, if each student has good action to the environment, the
whole school will become cleaner and cleaner.
3. Conclusion and suggestions
Conclusion
In general, environmental pollution is a complicated problem which
requires all nations to join hands to deal with. Because many things benefiting
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humans may become a factor that pollutes or damages the environment. Once
the nature is damaged, humans may be afftected.
The young is the future generations of each country. They have to
become good people having much scientific knowledge and having good
actions. When they are at school, it is important to help them attain knowledge,
build skills and to raise their awareness of some crucial problems including the
need of protecting the environment.
It is time humans stopped destroying the earth, the natural environment
by their daily activities. Raising humans’ awareness of protecting the

www.uccee.org/environmental_pollution
www.ask.com
www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-effects-solutions

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