Listening - The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Listen to the audio and complete the activities below.

Welcome to 'Planet Facts'. Today, we are traveling to the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Imagine an island, but not an island made of sand and palm trees. This is an island made entirely of trash. Scientists call it the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

It is located between Hawaii and California, and it is huge. In fact, it is estimated to be three times the size of France! But how did it get there? Ocean currents act like a giant whirlpool, pulling in plastic bottles, fishing nets, and microplastics from all over the world.

The sad part is that you can't walk on it. It is mostly a toxic soup of tiny plastic pieces floating just below the surface of the water. This is incredibly dangerous for birds and fish, who mistake the plastic for food. Organizations are working hard with special ships to clean it up, but the most important solution happens on land: we must stop plastic from entering the ocean in the first place.

ACTIVITIES

Activity 1: Comprehension Multiple Choice

Choose the correct answer.

1. What is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch made of?

2. How large is the garbage patch estimated to be?

3. Why is the garbage patch dangerous for animals?

Activity 2: True or False

Decide if the statements are True or False.

1. The garbage patch is solid enough for a person to walk on.

2. The trash gets pulled into this area by ocean currents.

Activity 3: Fill in the Blanks

Drag and drop the words into the correct spaces.

microplastics

toxic

surface

currents

1. The plastic pieces float just below the

of the ocean water.

2. The water in that area is like a

soup because of all the garbage.

3. Ocean

pull the trash together like a whirlpool.

Activity 4: Vocabulary Hunt

Find a word in the podcast text that matches these definitions:

1. Very big / enormous:

2. A tool used by fishermen to catch fish: