我们的环境
Wǒmen de huánjìng — Our Environment
The first unit that asks students to argue for something. Recycling, air, water, waste — and then a proposal, written in Chinese, for one change they think their school should actually make.
Unit objectives
- Discuss four environmental problems and their causes
- Use 应该 and 必须 to argue what should be done
- Read an authentic infographic and extract data from it
- Write a short persuasive proposal
Key vocabulary
环境 污染 垃圾 回收 空气 节约 浪费 保护 问题 解决
The shape of an argument
Three moves, in order. Students who internalise this sequence are ready for the Grade 8 debates:
Problem — 我们学校浪费很多纸。
Reason — 因为没有回收箱。
Proposal — 所以我觉得学校应该买回收箱。
From complaint to proposal
Four problems
Air, water, waste, energy — vocabulary plus what actually causes each.
Sorting the rubbish
China’s mandatory four-way waste sorting, and a hands-on sorting activity with the categories in Chinese.
Reading the data
An authentic Chinese infographic. Numbers and units are readable even when the surrounding text isn’t.
What should we do?
应该 and 必须 for obligation at the level of a group rather than a person.
Write the proposal
Problem, reason, proposal — one page, in characters, about something real at their school.
Make the case
Presenting the proposal to the class, who vote on which one they’d actually back.
Sorting rubbish became the law
Shanghai introduced compulsory household waste sorting in 2019 — four categories, fixed collection windows, fines for getting it wrong — and the city spent months in a state of mild collective panic about which bin a used tea bag belonged in. Apps appeared just to answer that question. Other cities followed. It’s a useful case for students: a genuinely large behaviour change, imposed quickly, with real friction and real results, and a clear comparison to how recycling works where they live.
Unit 3 progress check
A light, no-pressure way to see what’s sticking:
- Can your child state a problem and its cause in Chinese?
- Do they propose something rather than only complaining?
- Could they pull one number off a Chinese infographic?
If a proposal is genuinely good, send it to whoever could act on it. Language used for a real purpose is worth a great deal more than language used for a grade.