Here you can listen to several audio clips from Today (14/11/24), on BBC Radio-4, and discuss climate change and natural disasters. First, you can listen to an interview to Jacqui Ross (03:52), who has suffered the most recent floods in Malaga and another interview to climate scientist Simon Lewis (03:23), explaining why extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, and you can do two listening tasks and a discussion. The tasks are suitable for C1 students and above, who will come across words, in Jacqui Ross's, like: lash, awashed, disrupted, bracing [for], heavy [rain], to wash away, flooded [streets], [animal] rescue, to clear up, to step out, wellington boots, a tsunami, clearance, to burst its banks, sheer [quantity of rain], to fare, travails, to be prompted, drought. In Simon Lewis: fossil fuel [emissions], [extreme weather] events, moisture, downpours, the bigger picture, to withstand, a heat wave, a backlash, harsh, to get to grips [with].
Today also covered the floods in Valencia on 01/11/24: here you can find a short news bulletin (01:24), and then you can listen to a longer eyewitness report by Bethany Bell with an interview to a local volunteer Paco Pola (05:29), who describe the devastation, the helplessness and the first rescue efforts by volunteers right after the disaster (you can see some images of the devastation here). You can do a listening and speaking task for B2 students and above, who will come across interesting words like: surreal, flashed floods, swept away, eyewitness, to pile up, debris, a chest, a lightning flash, officials, utter [devastation], [action] to ensue, to set off.
For further information, you can read an article by environment correspondent Matt MacGrath, Scientists Say Climate Change Made Spanish Floods Worse, or read Aljazeera's report on the U.N. climate meeting in Azerbaijan, COP29 Azerbaijan: What's at stake at the 2024 climate summit?.
