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B2 Vocabulary & Speaking ⏱️ 20 Minutes

Plastic Pollution and the Oceans

Learn 10 essential words to discuss how waste enters our oceans, what damage it creates, and how we can protect marine life.

📋 How to use this lesson

For teachers

Guide students through the word table in 5 minutes and run the practice tasks.

Check answers together using the short feedback notes before starting the speaking drill.

For learners

First, read the word table and say each example sentence out loud.

Next, complete the four exercise zones and record your voice in the shadowing section.

Word table

Study the 10 target words across three themes. Pay close attention to word forms and memory tips.

Group 1: Plastic and the sea

4 words

Word	Meaning	Common collocations	Word forms	Example sentence	Memory tip
debris (n)	Broken pieces of rubbish or scattered remains.	floating debris, marine debris	–	Strong currents carried plastic debris across the ocean.	Sound: say "day-bree" (the final "s" is silent).
tide (n)	The regular rise and fall of the sea level.	high tide, tidal wave	tidal (adj)	The morning tide left empty bottles along the sand.	Picture: the tide is the sea breathing in and out, twice a day.
shore (n)	The land right along the edge of the sea.	rocky shore, wash ashore	–	Volunteers gathered to clean the polluted shore.	Picture: The shore is the front door of the ocean.
durable (adj)	Able to last a long time without breaking down.	durable plastic, durable material	durability (n)	Plastic is so durable that fishing nets survive for years.	Word part: "Durable" items last for a long "duration".

Group 2: How it gets there

3 words

Word	Meaning	Common collocations	Word forms	Example sentence	Memory tip
drain (v / n)	A pipe or opening that carries water away.	storm drain, drain into the sea	–	Street litter washes down the drain after heavy rainfall.	Rhyme: Street "rain" carries rubbish into the "drain".
sewage (n)	Used water and human waste from houses and pipes.	raw sewage, sewage system	–	Untreated sewage brings microplastics straight to the bay.	Picture: Dirty pipes in the "sewer" carrying dirty sludge.
discard (v)	To throw away something you no longer want.	discard waste, discard plastic	–	Please do not discard empty bottles on the sidewalk.	Card games: You "discard" an unwanted playing card.

Group 3: What it does

3 words

Word	Meaning	Common collocations	Word forms	Example sentence	Memory tip
swallow (v)	To take food or drink down your throat.	swallow plastic, swallow whole	–	Sea birds often swallow floating bottle caps by mistake.	Picture: A bird called a swallow gulping down its meal.
toxic (adj)	Poisonous and dangerous to health or nature.	toxic chemicals, toxic waste	toxicity (n)	Old plastics leak toxic chemicals into sea water.	Visual: The letter "X" looks like a skull and crossbones.
decompose (v)	To decay and break down into tiny natural parts.	slowly decompose, decompose naturally	decomposition (n)	A plastic bottle takes over 400 years to decompose.	Prefix: "Compose" builds up; "De-compose" breaks down.

Practice

Work through these 16 questions step by step. They start easy and become more challenging.

Collocation matrix: Match verbs with their natural nouns

Choose the best noun partner for each verb based on the word table.

Verb

street drain

plastic waste

sandy shore

floating debris

1. discard

____street drain ____plastic waste ____sandy shore ____floating debris

2. swallow

____street drain ____plastic waste ____sandy shore ____floating debris

3. clog

____street drain ____plastic waste ____sandy shore ____floating debris

4. wash onto

____street drain ____plastic waste ____sandy shore ____floating debris

Fill in the blanks with the word bank

Word Bank: tide decompose durable sewage

5. Long-lasting bottles

Stainless steel containers are very ____, so you do not need to buy single-use plastic bottles.

6. Pipe overflow

Heavy rain caused untreated ____ to spill from city pipes into the bay.

7. Rising water

When the high ____ came in, strong waves carried plastic bags onto the beach.

8. Natural breakdown

Plastic cups take hundreds of years to ____ in sea water.

Choose the word: Match the exact meaning

All three choices fit the grammar, but only one matches the meaning of the sentence.

9. Dangerous chemicals

The chemical run-off from the seaside factory was extremely _____, poisoning several species of fish.

____ a. toxic ____ b. durable ____ c. tidal

10. Beach littering

Careless visitors often _____ empty food packaging on the sand instead of using recycling bins.

____ a. swallow ____ b. discard ____ c. decompose

11. Collecting ocean trash

Volunteers gathered ten bags of plastic _____ that had drifted across the open water.

____ a. debris ____ b. sewage ____ c. shore

12. Mistaken for food

Hungry seabirds frequently mistake tiny bottle caps for food and _____ them.

____ a. drain ____ b. discard ____ c. swallow

Word-formation: Build the correct form

Change the base word in brackets into the correct word form from the lesson table.

13. Strong ____ currents carried the floating waste far out into the ocean.

(Base word: tide)

14. Engineers tested the ____ of the ocean barrier to see if it could resist rough storms.

(Base word: durable)

15. Scientists measured the high ____ of the polluted water to evaluate danger to wildlife.

(Base word: toxic)

16. Cold deep-sea water significantly slows down the ____ of plastic materials.

(Base word: decompose)

Shadowing

Listen to each phrase or sentence, shadow the pronunciation clearly, and record your voice.

A Key collocations

Item 1 • Collocation 🔊 Listen

floating plastic debris

[Bài tập luyện nói]

____

Item 2 • Collocation 🔊 Listen

wash up on the shore

[Bài tập luyện nói]

____

Item 3 • Collocation 🔊 Listen

discard single-use cups

[Bài tập luyện nói]

____

Item 4 • Collocation 🔊 Listen

toxic ocean chemicals

[Bài tập luyện nói]

____

B Everyday sentences

Item 5 • Sentence 🔊 Listen

Plastic bags often block the street drain.

[Bài tập luyện nói]

____

Item 6 • Sentence 🔊 Listen

Tides wash sea trash onto the sand.

[Bài tập luyện nói]

____

Item 7 • Sentence 🔊 Listen

Turtles can swallow small bottle caps.

[Bài tập luyện nói]

____

Item 8 • Sentence 🔊 Listen

Food wrappers take years to decompose.

[Bài tập luyện nói]

____

C Extra sentences

Item 9 • Sentence 🔊 Listen

Durable bottles last for many years.

[Bài tập luyện nói]

____

Item 10 • Sentence 🔊 Listen

Raw sewage flows directly into the sea.

[Bài tập luyện nói]

____

D Pronunciation focus: Two tricky words

Tricky word 1 🔊 Listen

debris

Notice: the final letter s is silent. Say it like "day-bree".

[Bài tập luyện nói]

____

Tricky word 2 🔊 Listen

durable

Stress the first part clearly: DUR-a-ble.

[Bài tập luyện nói]

____

Vocabulary & Pronunciation: Plastic Pollution

Plastic Pollution and the Oceans

📋 How to use this lesson

Word table

Group 1: Plastic and the sea

Group 2: How it gets there

Group 3: What it does

Practice

Collocation matrix: Match verbs with their natural nouns

Fill in the blanks with the word bank

Choose the word: Match the exact meaning

Word-formation: Build the correct form

Shadowing

A Key collocations

B Everyday sentences

C Extra sentences

D Pronunciation focus: Two tricky words

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