Svalbard

Find a picture of each of the animals on the list below, before you read the story. Charlie winced in pain trying to find a comfortable position polar bear between the pillows the nurse had tucked behind him. His seal broken ribs cut into him like knives and his tightly bandaged thigh throbbed with each beat of his heart. His left eye was ptarmigan heavily bruised and swollen shut. Two parallel cuts extended reindeer from his left ear to his mouth, like red war paint. He would beluga whale carry the scars for the rest of his life. The officer seated next to his bed, cleared her throat and said, “I understand how difficult this must be for you. If you’d rather, we could wait until tomorrow.” “I’ll be alright,” he replied, his voice lifeless. The good side of his face was ashen gray, his right eye red-rimmed and bloodshot. “Could you please state your full name and date of birth?” “Charles Finley Wilson, 24 July 1996.” The battery of questions continued. “Home address and telephone number? Occupation? When did you arrive on Svalbard?” Was it really only the day before yesterday that he had left London on the morning flight to Tromsø in northern Norway, before catching the flight further north to the Svalbard archipelago? It felt like an eternity had passed since then. Elise had rushed into his outstretched arms as soon as he walked out of customs. Closing his eyes, he had breathed in the fresh scent of her soft brown curls deeply, before tilting her head up for a lingering kiss. This girl pulled at his heartstrings in a way that he had never experienced before.

It had been three long months since they had last seen each other. She had spent the Christmas holidays with Charlie’s family in London. His parents and three younger sisters had all adored Charlie’s new girlfriend, a Norwegian graduate student who studied polar bears in the Arctic. Polar bears! The Arctic! Such a genuinely friendly and down-to-earth girl, so unlike the posh London types he had brought home before. Leaving the airport, they headed straight for the Arctic

Vurderingseksemplarwinced krympet tucked plassert thigh lår throbbed banket extended forlenget bloodshot blodsprengt occupation yrke eternity evighet customs tollen lingering dvelende heartstrings hjertestrenger polar bear isbjørn down-to-earth jordnær posh snobbete

outskirts utkanten snowmobile snøscooter gear utstyr cargo last matter-of-factly saklig reindeer reinsdyr precaution forholdsregel unarmed ubevæpnet Institute’s garages on the outskirts of Longyearbyen, where Elise had a snowmobile packed and ready. She wanted to take him to the research station tonight, so they could have some time to themselves before her colleagues arrived the next morning. Vurderingseksemplar “Your gear is in that yellow duffel bag,” she told him. Charlie unzipped the large bag placed on the cargo sled that they would pull behind the snowmobile. His eyes widened. “What is that?” he asked, looking into the bag. “It’s a rifle,” she answered matter-of-factly. “Standard procedure anytime we leave Longyearbyen.” “Are you planning on shooting a reindeer for dinner?” he asked. “No, it is a precaution, in case of polar bears. Have you ever used a firearm before?” “Of course not,” he replied. “We don’t have guns in

London. Even the police are unarmed.”

She lifted the rifle from the bag carefully, and showed him the locking mechanism. “As long as the lock is on, it can’t fire,” she assured him. “The bears can be aggressive and unpredictable this time of year.” “Why is that?” Charlie asked. She looked up at him seriously. “Because they are hungry. Each year the sea ice breaks up and melts earlier and earlier because of global warming. Polar bears hunt seals from the sea ice. With the sea ice gone, the bears can’t reach their hunting grounds. We’ve seen more and more bears starve to death during the spring and summer months in recent years. It’s heart-breaking.” “You are so passionate about this.” Charlie smiled at her admiringly. “It’s a matter of life or death,” she replied. Elise paused thoughtfully before turning to more practical matters. “Put these on,” she instructed, handing him a red snowsuit, black boot covers to pull over his hiking boots, ski goggles, a fur-lined hat with flaps, and lastly, a huge pair of leather mittens. She teased him when he had finished putting on the gear, telling him he looked ready for pre-school. He looked puzzled. “I wore a blazer with knee socks and shorts to preschool.” She laughed, and told him that her preschool uniform had been a snowsuit. “Climb on behind me,” she told him brightly. And they were off. He wrapped his arms around her, never wanting to let her go. In just a few minutes, the scattered buildings of the settlement were far behind, and they were alone in the majestic arctic wilderness, a dark speck moving through a vast valley carved by glaciers during the last ice age. Suddenly, a flash of fluttering white filled the air in front of the snowmobile. “Ptarmigan!” shouted Elise above the engine. The flock of birds disappeared back into the white void as quickly as they had appeared. Half an hour later, Elise stopped the snowmobile, and pointed toward a ridge of mountains rising up ahead. Charlie could see darker shades of white and specks of brown and beige moving in the shadows of one of the slopes. He took off his snow goggles and squinted in the bright sunlight. “Polar bears?” he asked.

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binoculars kikkert loners ensomme pawing skrape, stampe lichen lav icebergs isfjell vista utsikt glittering glitrende trip wires snubletråder flares bluss perimeter ytrekant lingered somlet hues fargetoner pouches poser freeze-dried frysetørket monitor observere

“A herd of reindeer,” she answered, handing him the binoculars. “Polar bears are loners, unless it’s a mother with cubs.” Through the binoculars, Charlie watched the reindeer pawing at the snow, fascinated. “What are they doing?” he asked. “They’re digging for lichen,” she explained, “their favorite food.” “Hold on!” she cried, revving the engine. Then they sped on across the wasteland of snow and ice. Half an hour later, they arrived at the research station, a wooden hut weathered gray. It was situated above a pebbled beach on a fjord dotted with small icebergs molded by weather and wind, nature’s sculptures. An imposing wall of glacier cut across the opposite side of the fjord. Stretching his arms toward the vista of sea and ice glittering in the sunlight, Charlie exclaimed, “I feel like I am at the end of the world!” “You are at the end of the world, city boy!” she called down to him, and continued setting up a system of trip wires and flares around the perimeter of the camp. If a bear were to wander too close while they slept, the flares would scare it away. Charlie lingered by the sea, captivated by the shifting dark blue and turquoise hues of the crystal clear water. Moments later, he called to her, pointing toward the sea. Two pale masses moved in tandem through the water. “Polar bears?” he whispered in awe. “Polar bears spend a lot of time in the water, but they don’t weave up and down like that. Those are beluga whales. It’s mating season. That’s why they are in pairs. Come on, I’m hungry.” Vurderingseksemplar Elise pulled a primus stove from the bag. Lighting it with a match, she instructed Charlie to pour water into the pot she had placed on top. “What’s for dinner?” Charlie asked. “Pulled pork with rice or pasta bolognese?” she asked, holding up two bright orange pouches. “What?” he asked. “Dinner,” she replied. “It’s freeze-dried. All you have to do is add boiling water.” Eating straight from the pouches, Elise told him about the field station. “We monitor the polar bears from this old hunting cabin. We are expecting a mother bear and her two

cubs to emerge from their den not too far from here soon. I’m anxious to see if the cubs have survived the winter. Three years ago, her den collapsed in an early thaw. She managed to dig her way out, but both cubs perished.” Charlie added more firewood to the wood stove before they went to bed. It was soon midnight and the sun still shone brightly on the western horizon. “That’s why we call it the midnight sun,” explained Elise. “This time of year, it doesn’t set this far north.” As they settled into their sleeping bags, a thunderous crack interrupted the profound silence, followed by a roar and crashing. “What the hell was that?” cried Charlie, sitting up. “The glacier is calving,” said Elise. “That’s when pieces break off and fall into the sea. It happens every spring, but more often now. The Arctic is heating up twice as fast as the rest of the planet. Here on Svalbard, the glaciers are shrinking at an alarming rate.” They listened to the waves created by the falling ice wash up on the beach below. Then all fell silent again. Charlie woke a while later, sweating lightly in his sleeping bag. Gauging by the light, he thought it must be the middle of the day. He checked his watch. Three a.m. He turned and watched Elise sleeping quietly beside him. Pushing away a curl that had fallen across her face, he kissed her lightly on the forehead. How precious she was to him. This brilliant, beautiful girl. She stirred, but did not wake. They had met the summer before in Provence. She was interrailing with a group of university friends. He was staying at his parents’ summerhouse. He fell for the animated way she told stories about ancient bear cults in Europe. She fell for the way he played “Für Elise” for her on the piano. She waved good-bye to her friends, and stayed on for the rest of that blissful summer, leaving to resume her fieldwork on Svalbard at the end of August. The air in the hut was warm and close. Charlie crawled out of his sleeping bag, and opened the window opposite. Breathing in the cold air, he took in the alien world of water and ice before returning to the warm cocoon of his sleeping bag. The staccato mating calls of a ptarmigan pierced the early morning like bullets. The next thing he knew, Charlie was awakened by a crashing and grunting outside the window. At first, he

emerge komme frem anxious spent thaw tine cubs bjørnunger perished omkom profound dyp calving kalving shrinking krymper gauging måler stirred rørte seg blissful lykkelig resume gjenoppta cocoon kokong Vurderingseksemplar

pungent skarp seaweed tang snout snute excruciating uutholdelig dazed omtumlet gash kutt malfunctioned feilet blaming skylder på

thought it was the glacier calving again, but then a pungent smell of rotted meat and wet seaweed hit him like a locomotive. He watched in horror as the black snout and then massive head of a polar bear appeared at the window, two meters from their bed. Charlie shouted, waking Elise, but before they had time to react, the bear had scrambled through the window, and was upon them. Everything that happened next was a blur of desperate screams, fistfuls of fur, the metallic taste of blood, and excruciating pain. They fought for their lives, and for each other. At one point, Charlie was thrown from the bed, crashed into the nearest wall and fell to the floor. Dazed, he looked up and caught sight of the rifle next to Elise’s side of the bed. Bleeding heavily from a gash on his thigh, he pulled himself over to the gun and unlocked it. Standing up, he saw that the beast had Elise’s head between her jaws and was shaking her, trying to break her neck. Shaking uncontrollably, Charlie held up the rifle and pulled the trigger, once, twice, three times. And then, all was quiet. “There was no warning. The flares must have malfunctioned,” said Charlie quietly. “That happens sometimes,” said the officer. “I should never have opened that window.” “A closed window wouldn’t have stopped a hungry bear.” Charlie struggled to go on. “When I pushed the bear off her, I … I saw what I had done.” … Vurderingseksemplar “It was an accident, Charlie. No one is blaming you.” Charlie closed his good eye and breathed heavily. Just then, there was a short knock, and the nurse who had been there earlier opened the door. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but Charlie, there’s something you need to know.” Charlie looked up. “It’s Elise. She just woke up. She’s asking for you. And she wants to know if the cubs are alright.”

UNDERSTANDING

1 Answer the questions. a Where is Charlie at the beginning of the story? b What does Elise do on Svalbard? c Why has Elise packed a rifle? d What means of transportation do they use? e Why are the polar bears hungry? f Why are the reindeer pawing at the snow? g Where is the glacier? h Why does Elise set up a system of trip wires and flares? i What does Charlie see in the water? j Where and when did Charlie and Elise meet?

VIEWPOINTS

2 Discuss the questions. a Charlie says “When I pushed the bear off her … I saw what

I had done.” What do you think has happened? b How did you think the story would end? Did the ending surprise you? Why or why not? c Why do you think Elise asks about the cubs? d How is this story about climate change?

means of transportation transportmiddel VurderingseksemplarA polar bear on Svalbard trying to hunt from melting sea ice.

TEXT ANALYSIS

3 Answer the questions for analysis.

Narrator: Who tells the story? Setting: Where and when does the story take place? Characters: Who is the story about? Plot: What happens in the story? Conflict: What is the problem? Theme: What is the story really about?

WRITING WORKSHOP 4 Write a 1–2 sentence summary of the story. 5 Write a dialogue between Charlie and Elise when he visits her hospital room. EXPLORE MORE 6 Look at the map of the Arctic. a Find Svalbard. b Make a list of the countries located there.Vurderingseksemplar

The Arctic

DIGITAL DIVE

7 Go to the World Wildlife Fund’s website at worldwildlife.org and search for information about polar bears. Make 5–8 questions and answers about polar bears based on the information you find, then quiz each other in small groups.

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LANGUAGE LAB

8 The genitive Add the missing apostrophe in each sentence from the story. a She had spent the Christmas holidays with Charlies family in London. Charlie’s b They had all adored Charlies new girlfriend. c They headed for the Arctic Institutes garages. d It was situated on a fjord dotted with small icebergs, natures sculptures. e He was staying at his parents summerhouse. f He caught sight of the rifle next to Elises side of the bed. g The beast had Elises head between her jaws. 9 Translate these of-genitives from the story to Norwegian. a this time of year c the end of the world d the opposite side of the fjord e the perimeter of the camp f the blue hues of the water g the mating calls of a ptarmigan h the massive head of a polar bear

CREATIVE CORNER

10 Draw an illustration for the story.

Vurderingseksemplar A wooden cabin on Spitsbergen, Svalbard. Can you see the polar bear footprints?

What do you know about freshwater? Take the freshwater quiz. Get a handout from your teacher.

Life-giving Water

Life-giving water, H2O, is the most important natural resource on earth. It is essential for good health and food production. In Norway, we take water for granted; it flows effortlessly from the taps in our homes, and falls plentifully on our fields of fruits and grains. We use it in abundance. However, in many parts of the world, clean water for drinking, cooking, washing and farming is scarce. Women and children carrying containers with water is a common sight across Africa and Asia. Some spend hours each day collecting water for their families. At present more than a billion people lack access to clean water, and more than twice that number lack basic sanitation, such as toilets. Almost a billion people in the world, mostly women and children, suffer from hunger or malnourishment, often as a consequence of poverty and poor harvests. Population growth, poor management of water and land resources, contamination of the water supplies and farmland, erosion, drought, desertification, war and the melting of polar and glacial ice are all forces that contribute to food and water scarcity. According to the World Health Organization, WHO, a minimum requirement of 20 liters of safe water is needed per person each day to stay healthy. In many parts of the world, people do not have access to this much water. For example, people in Rwanda average 5 liters per day. In contrast, Norwegians average 200 liters per day. In the future, water shortages are expected to be a major source of conflict in the world. To avoid this, it is imperative that Vurderingseksemplar we learn to use the earth’s water resources wisely and fairly.

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Girl in Mali drinking from a public tap.

Girl carrying water from a well in the Thar desert in Rajasthan, India.Vurderingseksemplar

UNDERSTANDING

1 Answer the questions. a What natural resource is essential for good health and food production? b How many people lack access to clean water? c How many people suffer from hunger or malnourishment? d What forces contribute to food and water scarcity? e How many liters of water are needed per person each day to stay healthy? f Who uses more water, Rwandans or Norwegians? g What is expected to be a major source of conflict in the world?

VIEWPOINTS

2 Discuss the questions. a How do you think that water shortages can create conflict? b Turkey is building a series of dams on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Why do you think this has upset Syria and Iraq? Find Turkey, Syria and Iraq on a map.

SPEAKING SPOT

3 Compare and contrast water use in the two images here. Language of comparison • Just as • Both • Not only … but also • Similarly • In the same way Language of contrast • However • In contrast • On the one hand … • On the other hand … • Even though …

A dad and his kids having fun in a swimming pool.Vurderingseksemplar

EXPLORE MORE

4 Find out more about your water consumption. a Look at the table below and estimate how much water you use per day. Water use flush toilet 12 liters

Family filling containers with water from a well in Uganda.Vurderingseksemplar

wash hands 3 liters

brush teeth 2 liters

5 min shower 70 liters

1 glass of water 3 deciliters washing machine 40 liters dishwasher 80 liters

water consumption vannforbruk household husholdning water meter vannmåler

b How much water does your household use each year?

If you have a water meter, check it. c How much does your household’s water consumption cost each year? d Where does the water in your home come from?

How can social media impact us? Write two lists; one with negative impacts and one with positive impacts.

Connor’s Conscience

Connor’s Conscience

conscience samvittighet trainers joggesko affect påvirke environment miljø average gjennomsnittlig Brit person fra Storbritannia cotton growers bomullsdyrkere pesticides sprøytemidler chemicals kjemikalier pollute forurense bugs insekter resistant resistent footprint fotavtrykk Liked by elreino and 133 others 4 DAYS AGO Vurderingseksemplar Just like every morning, I thought about what I was going to wear today. I ended up with: jeans, white trainers, and my favourite T-shirt! My everyday wear. But this morning, I started thinking about how my clothes affect the environment. Let’s start with jeans. I have read somewhere that it takes 8,000 litres of water just to make a pair of jeans. The average Brit has five pairs of jeans – while the average American has eight. That’s a lot of water! In addition to the water used, cotton growers use a lot of pesticides to kill insects. These chemicals pollute the air and the water. When pesticides are overused, the bugs become resistant – that means they have to use even more chemicals to keep the pests under control. There must be something I can do to make wearing jeans a little better for the environment and reduce my “footprint”.

Connor’s Conscience

Liked by v_sheila1 and 102 others 3 DAYS AGO Hiya! Been thinking about jeans all day and all night. Checked out my wardrobe. Actually found six pairs of jeans! So I figure I need to take action. I did some more research and found there are actually some things I can do to become more environmentally friendly. And some of these things are really easy! Here’s my own personal list:

Vurderingseksemplarresearch forskning, undersøkelser charity shop bruktbutikk worn out utslitt recycle resirkulere upcycle redesigne og gjenbruke

1 Buy less. This might be hard, but buying fewer pairs of jeans will help at least some. 2 If I need jeans, check the charity shop first. 3 Check online to see which jeans are good for the environment and for the people who make them. 4 Wear my jeans until they are TOTALLY worn out. 5 Recycle or upcycle. When they are too short – they will make great cut-offs (shorts).

If they are too small, give them away or donate them to the charity shop. 6 A really simple thing – don’t just wash clothes because that’s the easy way to clean my room … Hmmm, my mum will like this one.

Connor’s Conscience

fit passe walk the walk gjøre ord til handling British Heart Shop bruktbutikk quid British pound (slang) uncommon uvanlig drawer skuff laundry basket skittentøyskurv

Tried on all my pairs of jeans. Three pairs were too short and one pair was just too small. Gave one pair to my younger neighbour, one pair to my sister who wants to make something out of them and saved the last pair for next summer – cut-offs. Only two pairs fit, so I actually needed another pair! But today was my “walk the walk” day. You can’t just talk about what you can do, you have to do something too, right? So I went to the British Heart Shop here in Kent. Did not find any jeans that fit right, but did find a cool “new” shirt! And it was only 2 quid! Decided I have to buy jeans. Went online first and found out which brands have a conscience and which shops are good places to go. Went and bought ONE pair, a little long. Cleaned my room, just to make mum happy. Found out that the clothes under my bed were not even dirty. Did the uncommon thing – put them in the drawer and not the laundry basket!

Liked by ladybird08 and 87 others 2 DAYS AGO Vurderingseksemplar

Connor’s Conscience

Today was non-uniform day. We can wear anything we like to school and we do fundraising for a good cause. At my school we are supporting a secondary school for girls in Bangladesh. Liked by tobybrady22 and 64 others 20 HOURS AGO Vurderingseksemplar I wore my “new” shirt and got lots of compliments! And I gave the money I would have normally spent on a shirt – minus what I did spend – to the fundraising project! Feeling awesome!

fundraising samle inn penger cause sak secondary school ungdomsskole

UNDERSTANDING

1 Answer the questions. a What type of text is this? b What does Connor think about when he gets up in the morning? c How many pairs of jeans does the average American have? d What does a pesticide do? e What does Connor buy at the charity shop? f What will make his mum happy? g What does Connor do to become more environmentally friendly? Write a list.

VIEWPOINTS

2 Who do you think is responsible for making clothes environmentally friendly: the clothes manufacturers or the people who buy them? Why? CREATIVE CORNER 3 What do classmates do with their old clothes? Do a survey and make a graph with the results. • give clothes to younger family members • make cutoffs • redesign clothes into new items (clothes, bags/purses, pillows etc.) • give to second hand store • other 4 Write a social media post about something that bothers your conscience. 5 Have a green day or a green week in class. Everyone has to do something for Vurderingseksemplar the environment through the clothes they wear. Wear something that is secondhand, spend consciously or do not spend at all. Take pictures of each other and write short texts about what each student did. Then put these together to make a large wall poster, a collage, or a class newspaper.

SPEAKING SPOT

6 Use these keywords to sum up the main message in Connor’s Instagram posts. Talk to a partner or record a sound file.

environment conscience pesticide resistant dye pollute footprint environmentally friendly recycle charity shop Keywords help you remember the contents of a text.

VOCABULARY

7 Words that are easily confused. Find the correct word: affect (verb) – effect (noun) – infect (verb) aloud – allowed new – knew dye – die a We should not be ___ to pollute. b Recycling has a good ___ on the environment. c If I get a cold I might ___ you with my sneeze. d I ___ those jeans were too small. e I need some ___ shoes. f Using a ___ to colour material can ___ the environment. g Lots of fish ___ from pollution. h When you recycle you might ___ the environment. i When our planet is in danger, we should not keep silent, but speak ___. Vurderingseksemplar

DIGITAL DIVE

8 Use a website and check your jeans brand – How environmentally friendly are they? Find out which jeans are worst or best for the environment and the people who make them.