APIE
C1CEFRSpeaking25 min

Class activity: 💧 Water Crisis Dilemmas

Water scarcity and global resources

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C1 Advanced Class Game

💧 Water Crisis Dilemmas

The Dryfield Valley Water Crisis

A cinematic, high-resolution photo of a cracked, arid riverbed during a severe drought, realistic landscape photography,
Group size 4 Students / Team
Time needed 25 Minutes
Target vocabulary: scarcity drought depletion arid irrigation reservoir consumption allocate contaminate replenish
A modern agricultural irrigation system with water pipes watering green crops, sustainable farming, wide angle, realisti
📜

How to play the game

How to run the game

👩‍🏫

Your steps as the teacher

  1. 1 Hand out the materials: Give each team of 4 students the 6 dilemma cards and an answer sheet.
  2. 2 Assign roles: Make sure each group chooses one person to keep score and one person to watch the time.
  3. 3 Watch the time: Tell the class when to move to the next step so they stay on track.
  4. 4 Check their grammar: Walk around and make sure they are using whereby, a comma + which, and the extent to which correctly.
  5. 5 Run the class vote: Ask the class to vote for the best answer and give 3 bonus points to the winning team.
🧑‍🎓

What your students will do

  1. 1 Read the 6 cards together.
  2. 2 Choose A or B and agree as a team.
  3. 3 Write one reason that uses a target structure.
  4. 4 Your scorekeeper adds up points.
  5. 5 Present your hardest decision to the class to earn bonus votes.
⏱️

How to run the activity (25 minutes)

Five quick steps to keep the energy high

3m

Step 1: Get ready

Put students in groups of 4, give them their roles, and hand out the cards.

Put students in teams
8m

Step 2: Do Cards 1 to 3

Students read the first three cards and debate what to do.

Students discuss quickly
7m

Step 3: Do Cards 4 to 6

Students read the last three cards and make their choices.

Students explain their choices
4m

Step 4: Class vote

One student from each team presents their hardest choice. The class votes for the best one.

Teams defend their answers
3m

Step 5: Finish up

Add up the scores, correct any grammar mistakes, and ask the final questions.

Add up the scores
💧

Print these cards for your students

Students will read these cards and choose what to do in each water crisis.

Card 01 💧 The River Crisis
🌾🏭

Low river water: Farms or factories?

The main river is down to 20% of its normal level. You must limit who can take water right now so the river doesn't dry up completely.

Option A: Prioritize Farmland Give 75% of the remaining water to farms. This will force the electronics factories to close and send 800 workers home.
Option B: Prioritize Industry Give the water to the factories to protect the town's money. This means family farms will dry up and food will become scarce.
Which is fairer, and why?
Card 02 🚰 The Village Water
🧪⚠️

Poison in the village well

Tests show that toxic minerals have leaked into the village's deep water supply. The water is now 35% above the safe limit.

Option A: Total Well Lockdown Close all the town wells for 30 days to clean the water. Families will have to buy very expensive water from trucks.
Option B: Warning Sign and Bottled Water Keep the wells open but put up a warning sign. Give free bottled water to children and older people, but leave everyone else exposed to the poison.
Which is fairer, and why?
Card 03 🐄 The Empty Dam
🐄🏘️

The empty reservoir

The Highland Dam is almost empty. There is only enough water left to save one group before the water stops flowing completely.

Option A: Preserve Livestock Sector Give the emergency water to the 12,000 cows in the valley. This will stop the farms from going bankrupt.
Option B: Prioritize Town Domestic Lines Send all the remaining water to the town's homes. This will force the farmers to kill their cows early.
Which is fairer, and why?
Card 04 🌧️ The Rainwater Problem
🌧️📉

Not enough rainwater

The weather forecast shows a heatwave with no rain for the next 60 days. The emergency underground water tank only has enough water for 15 days of normal use.

Option A: Release Reserves Immediately Use the emergency water now to stop businesses from closing. This leaves no backup water if the drought continues into the autumn.
Option B: Impose Severe 50% Rationing Cut everyone's water use by half. This makes the 15 days of water last longer, but it will make people angry and force businesses to close.
Which is fairer, and why?
Card 05 🌾 The Open Canals
🚜💧

Water lost from open canals

The open water channels for farming lose 45% of their water because it evaporates in the hot desert sun.

Option A: Municipal Debt for Drip Tech Borrow a lot of money to install underground drip pipes. This will raise property taxes by 25% for the next 10 years.
Option B: Fallow Half the Acreage Stop farming on half of the land. This means less food, but it saves water naturally without borrowing money.
Which is fairer, and why?
Card 06 🏭 The Factory Waste
🏗️🛑

Factory waste and recycling

Factories are dumping dirty water into nearby lakes. The towns downstream are worried about their environment.

Option A: Subsidize Closed-Loop Systems Pay for half of the cost for factories to build their own water recycling plants. This takes money away from public health.
Option B: Punitive Fines & Shutdowns Fine the factories and close the ones that don't follow the rules. This keeps the water clean but causes a lot of people to lose their jobs.
Which is fairer, and why?
📋

Answer sheet for the teams

Students write their final choices here. They must use the target grammar and vocabulary for each reason.

Card 01 Low river water: Farms or factories?
Select Option: ____ Option A ____ Option B
Team reason (Use a target grammar structure and a unit word): ____ (Write justification here...)
Card 02 Poison in the village well
Select Option: ____ Option A ____ Option B
Team reason: ____ (Write justification here...)
Card 03 The empty reservoir
Select Option: ____ Option A ____ Option B
Team reason: ____ (Write justification here...)
Card 04 Not enough rainwater
Select Option: ____ Option A ____ Option B
Team reason: ____ (Write justification here...)
Card 05 Water lost from open canals
Select Option: ____ Option A ____ Option B
Team reason: ____ (Write justification here...)
Card 06 Factory waste and recycling
Select Option: ____ Option A ____ Option B
Team reason: ____ (Write justification here...)
🏆

How to score the game

How teams can earn up to 15 points

Grammar points +1 Pt / Card

Using relative clauses

Give one point for each card where the team correctly uses one of these grammar patterns:

  • whereby (to explain how a system works)
  • , which (to add a comment about the whole sentence)
  • the extent to which (to talk about how much something happens)
Vocabulary points +1 Pt / Card

Using the unit words

Give one point for using at least one of these unit words correctly on each card:

scarcity, drought, depletion, arid, irrigation, reservoir, consumption, allocate, contaminate, replenish

Class vote points +3 Pts Bonus

The final class vote

During Step 4, the whole class votes on the best and fairest reason.

⚠️ Strict rule: Teams cannot vote for themselves!

💬

Example sentences to help your students

Example sentences to help teams get full points

How to answer Card 1

"We chose Option __ because ..., which ..."

How to answer Card 2

"A system whereby ... would solve the problem of scarcity."

How to answer Card 3

"It depends on the extent to which ... can replenish ..."

How to answer Card 4

"Option __ is fairer, which means ... (use allocate)"

How to answer Card 5

"We could set up a system whereby ... (use irrigation)"

How to answer Card 6

"The extent to which ... depends on ... (use contaminate)"

🔑

Example answers and mistakes to listen for

Example answers for Cards 1–3 and mistakes to listen for

Show example answers
Good answer for Card 1 Example for Option A

"We decided to allocate 75% of the remaining water to the farms, which will stop the crops from dying in this arid valley."

✓ Uses sentential , which with preceding comma.
✓ Uses unit vocabulary: allocate, arid.
Good answer for Card 2 Example for Option A

"The town needs a system whereby engineers can clean the well before the arsenic contaminates our drinking water."

✓ Uses whereby (by which / mechanism).
✓ Uses unit vocabulary: contaminate.
Good answer for Card 3 Example for Option B

"Option B is fairer, because the extent to which ranchers can handle losing cattle is greater than the extent to which a town can live without water. If we let the reservoir depletion continue, everyone will suffer."

✓ Uses the extent to which.
✓ Uses unit vocabulary: reservoir, depletion.

⚠️ Mistakes to listen for

1. Missing comma before "which"

"The well closed which caused panic."

✓ Correct: "The well closed, which caused panic." (Non-defining sentential modifier requires a comma).

2. Using extra prepositions with "whereby"

"We created a system whereby in which farmers save water."

✓ Correct: "...a system whereby farmers save water." (Whereby already incorporates 'by which').

3. Forgetting "to" in "the extent to which"

"It depends the extent which drought affects crops."

✓ Correct: "...the extent to which drought affects crops." (Preposition 'to' is grammatically mandatory).

🔀

How to change the game for different levels

How to change the game for different levels

If they need help

Give them the sentence starters

Give teams the example sentences sheet. They can copy the sentence structures exactly.

For students who need more support
The normal way

Follow the standard rules

Follow the standard rules: each answer must use at least 1 unit word and 1 advanced relative clause.

For most C1 students
For a bigger challenge

Don't let them repeat grammar

Rule: a team cannot use the same grammar structure (like whereby) on two cards in a row.

For very strong students
If they finish early

Have them write a Plan C

If a team finishes all six cards early, ask them to write a third option (Plan C) for one of the cards.

For groups that finish quickly
❓

Questions to ask at the end of the lesson

Questions to ask the class when the game is over

01 Talk about fairness

Which choice was the hardest?

Which problem had no fair solution, and why? How much did your choice hurt other people or the environment?

Focus: Making hard moral choices
02 Talk about the environment

How did you balance the needs?

How did you balance the need for money right now with the need to protect the environment for the future?

Focus: Balancing money and nature
03 Talk about the real world

How do real cities solve this?

In the real world, how do dry cities share water fairly without fighting?

Focus: Real-world water laws
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