English/ELA Unit: Endangered Languages
Provided by: MIT Climate Action Through Education|Published on: January 9, 2025
Grades: 9, 10, 11, 12, AP
Type: Lesson Plans
Subjects: Geography, English Language Arts
Authors: Kathryn Teissier du Cross
Region: Global, Oceania, Hawai'i
Languages: English
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- In this lesson, students will explore how climate change, among other factors, threatens thousands of endangered languages with extinction and will learn about the gravity of the issue.
- Students will explore case studies of language revival efforts in Hawai'i and Northern Australia and also of the Hebrew language, understand the connection between language and climate change, and complete a video skit interviewing people about endangered languages.
Teaching Materials
Positives
- This lesson demonstrates the multi-faceted issue of dying languages and highlights its importance.
- The multi-media components of the lesson help students stay engaged and hear many perspectives on the topic.
Prerequisites
- Students should understand climate change and some of its impacts.
- Before teaching the lesson, teachers should read through the social and emotional learning considerations.
- The Washington Post article may be behind a paywall. Additionally, the Wikitoungues link for Daniel Bögre Udel may not work.
Differentiation & Implementation
- Though not in the actual lesson, students may want to listen to the TILclimate Podcast episodes linked in the resource to solidify their understanding of related climate change impacts.
- Teachers can encourage students to explore their ancestral languages and determine the status of those languages.
- Teachers can use strategic grouping in the final project, ensuring that each group has a student with technical video skills, a student with writing skills, and a student comfortable being on camera.
- To make history connections, students can research the assimilation schools that contributed to the endangerment of many languages in North America.
This resource from MIT's Climate Action through Education provides teachers with a lesson plan about the effects of climate change on language. The lesson plan provides teachers with links to many resources, materials, printouts, and websites to engage students in the issues associated with climate change. The references and sourced material utilized for this lesson plan are from reliable organizations and present up-to-date information. This activity would be a valuable resource for educators seeking to enhance climate-related learning experiences in the classroom.
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
Scientist Reviewed
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