Food for the Future

These target skills beyond what the book covers: interpreting visual data, evaluating evidence, and synthesising across sources.

Exercise 1.1 - Reading the Infographic

Look at the infographic "A Century Ago / 80 Years Later" on the opposite page. Answer these questions.

1. Which crop lost the greatest number of varieties between 1903 and 1983?
2. Which crop lost the greatest percentage of its varieties? (You may need to calculate.)
3. The infographic shows data from 1903 and 1983. The reading text says "over the past century, we have allowed more than half of the world's food varieties to disappear." Does the infographic support this claim? Explain your answer using specific numbers.

Exercise 1.2 - Evaluating the Writer's Evidence

The writer uses several examples to support the argument that food diversity is disappearing. Complete the table.

Example	Country	What happened?	How convincing is this evidence? (strong / moderate / weak) - give a reason
The Lumper potato
Rice varieties
Wheat varieties

Exercise 1.3 - Connecting the Two Texts

Sweet Love and Food for the Future are both about food, but they present very different problems. Complete this comparison.

	Sweet Love	Food for the Future
The problem	We eat too __________ of one thing (sugar)	We grow too __________ types of food
Who is responsible?
What is the solution?
The tone of the ending	Optimistic / Pessimistic / Neutral?	Optimistic / Pessimistic / Neutral?

Discussion: Which problem do you think is more serious? Why?

Three grammar points drawn directly from the reading text, all different from Unit 1A.

Grammar Point 1 — Past Simple for Narratives

Discovery

Paragraphs A, D, and E tell stories from the past. Look at the highlighted verbs.

1. "In 1845, a deadly disease struck the farms of Ireland."
2. "The death of one species caused a terrible famine."
3. "In the 1920s and 1930s, he collected around 400,000 seeds from five continents."
4. "Diane Ott Whealy and her husband founded Heritage Farm."

Answer these questions.

• a) What do all these sentences have in common? (Think about time.)
• b) How do we know these actions are finished? Look for time signals in each sentence.
• c) What is the pattern for regular past simple verbs? What about irregular ones?

Practice 1A - Regular and Irregular

Complete the table with the correct past simple form. Mark each verb as regular (R) or irregular (I).

Base form	Past simple	R / I
strike
kill
depend
cause
discover
become
collect
begin
found
bring

Practice 1B - Gap Fill in Context

Complete this summary of paragraph A using the correct past simple form of the verb in brackets.

"In 1845, a disease __________ (strike) Ireland's farms and __________ (kill) all the Lumper potato plants. Because the Irish people __________ (depend) on this single crop, the disaster __________ (cause) a terrible famine. Many people __________ (die) or __________ (leave) the country."

Now write 2 sentences of your own about a historical event, using the past simple.

Grammar Point 2 — Present Perfect

Discovery

Now look at these sentences. They are also about the past, but they use a different tense.

1. "Over the centuries, farmers have discovered thousands of different species."
2. "We have allowed more than half of the world's food varieties to disappear."
3. "Others have continued the work he began."
4. "Foods that haven't been grown for years."

Compare with the past simple sentences from Grammar Point 1. Answer:

• a) "He collected 400,000 seeds" vs. "Others have continued the work." Both are about the past. What is different?
• b) The past simple sentences all have a specific time (1845, the 1920s). Do the present perfect sentences have specific times?
• c) Complete the rule: We use the present perfect when the action started in the __________ but connects to the __________.

Practice 2A - Past Simple or Present Perfect?

Choose the correct form. Think about whether a specific time is mentioned.

1. Nikolay Vavilov __________ (collect) seeds in the 1920s.
2. Since then, others __________ (continue) his work.
3. In the Philippines, rice varieties __________ (disappear) over the past century.
4. Diane Ott Whealy __________ (found) Heritage Farm in Iowa.
5. The Svalbard Vault __________ (preserve) almost one million seed samples so far.
6. In China, 90 percent of wheat varieties __________ (disappear) just a century ago.

Practice 2B - Write Your Own

Complete these sentences with true information about your own life. Use the present perfect.

1. I have never __________________________________________.
2. I have __________________________________________ since I was young.
3. Over the past year, I have __________________________________________.
4. My family has always __________________________________________.

Grammar Point 3 — Infinitives of Purpose

Discovery

Look at these sentences. The underlined parts explain why someone does something.

1. "One solution is to collect and preserve seeds to save them before they disappear."
2. "Ott Whealy wanted to preserve historic plant varieties."
3. "Heritage Farm - a place where people can store and trade seeds."
4. "They are reintroducing foods to offer farmers food solutions for the future."

Answer:

• a) In sentences 1, 2, and 4, what word comes before the verb?
• b) What question do these phrases answer - What, When, or Why?
• c) Could you replace "to preserve" with "because she wanted to preserve"? What does this tell you about the meaning of "to + verb" in these sentences?

Practice 3A - Match Purpose to Action

Match each action (1-5) with its purpose (a-e).

#	Action	Purpose
1	Vavilov travelled to five continents	a) to protect seeds from natural disasters
2	The Svalbard Vault was built underground	b) to collect different plant seeds
3	Heritage Farm plants the seeds	c) to reintroduce old food varieties
4	Farmers grow only a few species	d) to produce food in large quantities
5	Schools replace sugary food with fruit	e) to encourage healthier eating

Now combine each pair into one sentence using to.

Example: Vavilov travelled to five continents to collect different plant seeds.

Practice 3B - Why Do You Do It?

Answer these questions using an infinitive of purpose. Write full sentences.

1. Why do you study English?
2. Why do people go to university?
3. Why did Nikolay Vavilov collect seeds from around the world?
4. Why do some schools build walking tracks?

Designed for use with a TTS audio version of the reading passage.

Exercise 3.1 - Listen for Names and Places

Listen to the full passage once. Write down every proper noun (name of a person, place, or organisation) you hear.

Person	Place	Organisation

Check: You should have found at least 7 proper nouns.

Exercise 3.2 - Timeline

Listen again. Put these events in chronological order (1-6).

Order	Event
	Diane Ott Whealy founded Heritage Farm.
	A deadly disease killed Ireland's potato plants.
	Vavilov collected seeds from five continents.
	90% of China's wheat varieties disappeared.
	Heritage Farm began reintroducing old food varieties.
	The Svalbard Global Seed Vault opened.

Exercise 3.3 - Dictation Gap Fill

Listen to paragraph B carefully. Fill in the missing words.

"Over the __________, farmers have discovered thousands of __________ species of food crops. Each species has special __________. Some can be grown in very hot or __________ climates. Others are not __________ by certain diseases. However, you won't find many of these species in your local __________. To feed the seven billion people on Earth, most farmers today are growing only species of plants that are easy to __________ in large numbers. Meanwhile, thousands of other species are becoming __________."

Exercise 4.1 - Seed Vault Debate

Imagine your school has a small garden. The head teacher wants to grow food there. Your class must decide what to grow.

Stage 1 (Think - 3 minutes): Read the two options:

Write 2-3 reasons for the option you prefer.

Stage 2 (Pair - 5 minutes): One student argues for Option A, the other for Option B. Use these structures:

• I think we should... because...
• One advantage of... is that...
• However, the problem with... is...
• If we choose..., then...

Stage 3 (Vote): The class votes. The teacher tallies the results.

Exercise 4.2 - Information Gap: Disappearing Crops

Student A receives a card with the 1903 data for 5 crops (from the infographic).
Student B receives a card with the 1983 data for the same 5 crops.

Task: Without showing your card, ask your partner questions to find out their numbers. Then calculate the loss together.

• How many varieties of __________ were there?
• That means we lost __________ varieties, which is about __________ percent.

Follow-up: Which crop lost the most? Why do you think that happened?

Exercise 5.1 - Guided Summary Writing (Scaffolded)

Write a summary of Food for the Future in 60-80 words. Use the structure below.

Sentence 1 (Problem): The text explains that many food species are...
Sentence 2 (Example): For example, in...
Sentence 3 (Cause): This is happening because farmers...
Sentence 4 (Solution): To solve this problem, some people have...
Sentence 5 (Personal): Heritage Farm is one example of...

Exercise 5.2 - Opinion Paragraph

Write a paragraph (80-100 words) answering this question:

"Do you think it is important to preserve old varieties of food, or should we focus on growing the most efficient crops? Why?"

Use at least THREE of these language items from today's lesson:

• One sentence in the past simple (to give a historical example)
• One sentence in the present perfect (to describe a current situation)
• One infinitive of purpose

Model opening (if needed):
"I believe it is important to preserve old food varieties because..."