This toolkit is designed to serve multiple audiences and multiple purposes. Whether you are a primary teacher looking for a ready-to-use 45-minute lesson, a teacher trainer seeking to illustrate the integration of CLIL and environmental education, or a curriculum coordinator building a thematic unit, you will find materials here that can be adapted to your needs.

Four Ways to Use This Toolkit

Recommended Thematic Sequences

The eleven activities below were contributed by five partner institutions. Each activity is approximately 40–50 minutes in length. The table offers a rapid comparative overview to assist in selection and sequencing.

All activities are grounded in a coherent, research-informed methodological framework. A common assumption in language teaching is that environmental topics are too conceptually complex for beginners. The activities in this toolkit demonstrate otherwise: at A1 level, environmental content does not require sophisticated language — it requires carefully selected vocabulary embedded in authentic, meaningful contexts.

Environmental topics belong naturally to the experiential world of young learners. Water, animals, food, weather, and everyday objects are all familiar regardless of cultural background. This familiarity means that content knowledge does not need to be constructed from scratch; it only needs to be activated and then labelled in English.

Theoretical Foundations

The Role of Multimodal Input

Across all eleven activities, multimodal input is a consistent feature: flashcards, realia, videos, songs, gestures, drawings, and games are deployed alongside spoken and written text. This reflects Paivio's (1991) Dual Coding Theory, which holds that information processed through both verbal and non-verbal channels is more deeply encoded in memory. For A1 learners with limited English literacy, visual and kinaesthetic channels are often the primary routes to comprehension, making multimodal design not merely enriching but pedagogically necessary.

Ecological Competence as a Learning Outcome

Beyond language skills, the EcoLingua framework recognises ecological competence — awareness, critical thinking, and action-readiness regarding environmental issues — as a legitimate learning outcome. This aligns with the UNESCO (2017) framework for Education for Sustainable Development and the European GreenComp sustainability competence framework (Joint Research Centre, 2022). Teachers are encouraged to treat the environmental dimension of each lesson not as supplementary enrichment but as a co-equal objective alongside language learning goals.

The generic sequence below is derived from the common structural logic shared by all eleven activities. Each activity follows this five- to six-stage progression. Teachers may use this template as a planning scaffold, substituting specific content and vocabulary as appropriate. Total lesson duration: approximately 40–45 minutes.

All eleven activities are summarised below, organised by environmental theme. Click any activity title to expand its full summary. Each entry provides key vocabulary, sentence frames, environmental message, methodological notes, and implementation guidance. Full activity plans are available as separate documents from each partner institution.

Effective differentiation is not a supplementary layer added to a lesson plan — it is an integral part of the design. Across all eleven activities, differentiation is achieved through four overlapping mechanisms: input scaffolding (adjusting support provided), output scaffolding (adjusting expected response), task structure (collaborative vs. individual formats), and time management (flexible pacing).

Universal Design Principles

Assessment in EcoLingua activities is primarily formative: its purpose is to inform teaching decisions and provide learners with timely feedback, not to rank or grade. The instruments below have been designed to be low-burden for the teacher and informative for planning. Use them selectively — not every instrument needs to be used in every lesson.

Peer Evaluation Prompt

After a pair or group speaking task, ask students to respond to the following about their partner. At A1 level, conduct this orally or with visual yes/no cues (thumbs up/down). Written peer evaluation is suitable only for older A1+ learners (Lithuania activities).

Assessment Note — Spain Activity

The vocabulary below is consolidated from all eleven activities, organised by theme. Use this bank to prepare flashcards, word walls, vocabulary games (bingo grids), or pre-teaching exercises. Do not introduce all vocabulary from a single column in one lesson — select five to eight items appropriate to learner age and lesson focus.

High-Frequency Eco-Action Verbs

These verbs recur across multiple activities and constitute the productive core of the EcoLingua A1 lexicon. Prioritise these in vocabulary instruction.

Thematic Vocabulary Bank

Key Sentence Structures at A1 Level

Games are not peripheral to language learning — at A1 level, they are often the primary site of productive language use. All games below fulfil three criteria: they require language production (not merely recognition); they can be prepared and run without specialist equipment; and they involve all learners, including those with limited proficiency. Any game may be used with any activity where vocabulary and structural demands are compatible.

Reading the eleven activities as a coherent corpus reveals consistent pedagogical patterns that cut across national and institutional contexts. These observations, distilled below, represent the collective professional wisdom of the EcoLingua partnership and offer guidance for teachers implementing activities outside their original design context.

Seven Key Observations

Summary Checklist — Best Practices

The references below are listed in alphabetical order by first author. All sources are cited in the toolkit in the context of specific partner activities or theoretical sections.