Mrs Dukes: Green LENS

Same skills: Climate Content


English is a gift: it is easy to adapt our existing lessons to suit the green agenda. Key skills can be taught using the climate crisis and nature as the subject matter – plus, English has the additional benefit of reaching all students.

L=Literacy
E=Environment
N=Nature
S=Sustainability

Each lesson includes:
  • A writing prompt using a photo or painting
  • Key writing skill
  • Ambitious vocabulary
  • Sophisticated punctuation
  • Sentence starters
  • Oracy task
  • Cross-curricular links
  • Climate & Nature facts relating to the image 

See accompanying videos on Mrs Dukes: Green Lens (YouTube)

We are in the middle of the biggest existential threat our species has ever faced: the climate and nature crisis. 

Climate change is driving nature’s decline, and the loss of wildlife and wild places makes it even harder to reduce carbon emissions and adapt to change.

Sir David Attenborough: "Right now, we are facing a man-made disaster of global scale. Our greatest threat in thousands of years. Climate change. If we don't take action, the collapse of our civilisations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon."


In schools, it isn’t yet a priority to prepare our students to face the effects of climate breakdown and biodiversity loss.

Boosting literacy is, rightly, always a school priority, crucial for academic success across all subjects. Improved literacy leads to better health and better employment, meaning everyone has a better chance to thrive by having access to opportunities and resources regardless of their background. Improved literacy is also intrinsically linked to a better understanding of the climate crisis. Lower literacy levels makes it harder for people to understand and adapt to the detrimental effects of climate change, plus, scarily, makes it easier to be sceptical of climate change and show less trust in climate science. 

We can use our focus on literacy in schools to also raise awareness of the climate crisis. We can celebrate our natural world whilst empowering students, giving them the tools to speak about, to, and for nature.

See accompanying videos on Mrs Dukes: Green Lens (YouTube)


I would love to see your writing! 

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