Reading: Animal Extinction Why It Matters
Animal extinction why it matters is a B1 reading text in the biodiversity-awareness genre. The text covers the current extinction rate, key endangered species (Bengal tigers, mountain gorillas, polar bears, vaquitas), the causes (habitat loss, climate change, poaching, pollution), and why extinction matters ecologically and ethically. Learners read for cause-and-effect, species identification, and value judgment.
This worksheet builds B1 reading comprehension through a biodiversity-issues text.
Worksheet preview
What’s inside:
- A B1 reading text (~450 words) on animal extinction
- Pre-reading vocabulary box with biodiversity and endangerment terms
- Comprehension items: cause-finding, species identification, inference
- Vocabulary-in-context: extinction and conservation lexis
- Writing follow-up: argue for or against zoo conservation programmes
- Full Answer Key plus Teacher Notes
Common challenges: Conservation vocabulary at B1 is dense — endangered, threatened, vulnerable, critically endangered, extinct in the wild, conservation, protected species. The cause-and-effect logic is multi-step: humans destroy habitat → animals lose food and shelter → populations decline → species becomes endangered → may eventually go extinct. Argument vs description: the text combines factual claims with value-based reasoning.
For: Adult and teenage learners (14+) at CEFR B1, in intermediate classes, 1:1 lessons, or self-study. Maps onto Cambridge B1 Preliminary (PET) Reading. Part of the Environment & Climate Readings collection — the natural next step is Renewable Energy: The Future, which extends environmental reading into the solutions-and-technology domain.
