This is the second part (Text 2) of the TEFL academy Assignment A which I passed in November 2022 with a Merit. It is the reading comprehension section for Upper Intermediate (B2) students
Text 2 – Upper intermediate
✔ This part of the assignment focuses on stages 3 and 4 of an upper-intermediate reading lesson.
✔ You should show what tasks you would set for the first and second reading.
✔ Read 'Advice on Approaching Assignment A' before you begin working on this template.
✔ Class: A strong upper intermediate (B2) class of 16 young adults, age range 18-23.
These students are highly motivated, well-educated and quick to learn. They are all learning English either to improve their job prospects or
because they are hoping to study at university in an English-speaking country.
The European Honeybee
You probably know there has been a fall in the world's bee population and that this is not good news. But, unless you are an entomologist
(/ˌentəˈmɒlədʒɪst/ ‒ an insect expert), you probably don't know that much about bees or why they matter so much to our lives. Most of us
are familiar with social bees, such as the honeybee or the bumblebee, which live in large groups, called colonies.
Worldwide, there are approximately 20,000 species of bee. Surprisingly, most of these are solitary, i.e., they live alone or in smaller groups.
In this article we will focus on the European honeybee (Apis mellifera). The behaviour exhibited by the honeybee is called eusociality
/jʊˌsoʊ.ʃi.'æl.ə.t̬i/. This has three key characteristics:
● generational overlap - mother and adult offspring live side by side
● cooperative care of offspring
● reproductive division of labour - only certain individuals can reproduce.
Within a colony there are different classes of bee, known as 'castes.' Each caste plays distinct roles in the group. The European honeybee has
threecastes within a colony. The diet which female larvae1 are fed determines which caste they will belong to.
Queen
Larvae which are fed only royal jelly become potential queen bees. Queens are the reproductive caste. There is usually only one queen in a
colony. The queen is the only female bee in a hive that is able to reproduce. She lays around 2,000 eggs a day, each in an individual
honeycomb cell. Queens normally live for three to five years. However, not all queens survive, as newly emerged queens often kill each other
in the nest. Queens only leave the nest in order to mate or establish a new colony. When one leaves, she takes a large group of workers with
her.
, Worker
Worker bees develop from larvae that are fed royal jelly only for the first few days. They are then given nectar and pollen. Worker bees are
female bees, but they do not mate and do not generally lay eggs. Workers perform all the other duties needed to keep their colony
functioning. This includes a bee’s best-known behaviour; collecting nectar from flowers to turn into honey. Honey is the food that the bees
live on in the winter. When they are collecting nectar, bees pollinate the plants they visit. Worker bees can have other roles, such as making
honeycomb. Young ‘nurse bees’ feed the larvae and keep the nest clean. Worker bees live for between 6 weeks and five months.
Drone
Drones are male bees. Male bees are produced from unfertilised2 eggs and, as larvae, receive the same diet as workers. Drones' only function
is to mate with the queen, after which they die. A typical honeybee colony will usually contain between 20,000-50,000 bees. Only about 15%
of these are drones. Come winter, remaining drones are thrown out of the colony in order to save resources. Otherwise, the only reason
drones leave the colony is to mate with a new queen.
In recent years there has been a worrying decrease in the populations of many bee species. Honeybees are suffering from colony collapse,
where large numbers of workers leave the nest and do not return. Major causes of this decline are the use of pesticides3, climate change, loss
of habitat and loss of plant biodiversity4.
100 crops produce up to 90% of our human diets. 70 of those crops rely on bees for pollination. This means that a disaster for bees is a
disaster for humans too. Many of the plants that animals rely on are also pollinated by bees. Plants not only provide food, but they also
perform many other essential functions, including producing the oxygen we breathe. The death of bee populations could lead to widespread
ecological collapse.
1 larva (noun – singular) /ˈlɑrvə/, larvae (noun - plural) /ˈlɑrvi/ = an insect at the stage when it has just come out of an egg and looks like a
short fat worm - Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
2 fertilise (Am. Eng. fertilize) [to fertilise an egg or seed] Verb – transitive = To cause an egg or seed to start to develop into a new young
animal or plant by joining it with a male cell. unfertilised (adjective) /ʌn ˈfɜː.tɪ. laɪzd/ - not fertilised - Cambridge Dictionary
3 pesticide (noun – countable and uncountable) /ˈpestɪsaɪd/ = A chemical used to kill insects which damage plants - Cambridge Dictionary
4 biodiversity (noun– uncountable) /ˌbaɪəʊdaɪˈvɜːsəti/ = the existence of a large number of different kinds of animals and plants which make
a balanced environment. - Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
Lesson Aims:
✔ To further develop reading skills with particular focus on gaining an in-depth understanding of a text through intensive reading.
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