This worksheet aims to engage students in discussing seasons and extreme weather. It includes tasks that have students describe pictures of different seasons, match weather forecasts to seasons, describe pictures of extreme weather situations, read a story about surviving a hurricane, and answer comprehension questions. Students are also asked to write advice for dealing with different weather situations and compose their own weather-related story.

1. p. 1 © Miriam Peters, 2014
Seasons
This worksheet aims to engage students into talking about seasons and the problems
extreme weather can cause. Since there is no specific focus on grammar (except a small task
on modals), it can be perfectly used as a gap filler anywhere. It includes describing pictures,
understanding weather forecasts, reading and free writing.
Step 1
Show your students the very first picture. Ask them to
describe what they see. Take some time for this; don’t be
satisfied with “there are four women”. They can describe
how the women look, where they are, what they do and
so on.
Show them the second picture. Ask them to describe it
again. They should describe that they see two people
riding a bike on an avenue. Some students might already
realize that, in contrast to the first picture, in this picture
leaves are on the ground and that it is fall.
Third picture. After having heard another description
from a student, show them all three of the pictures and
ask them about the difference between them. They should
say that the situations take place in different seasons
(depending on the level, they might not know the word
“seasons” yet; however, the words “summer” and
“winter” should at least be known). Talk a little more
about seasons with them. What does the world look like in winter? What happens in
summer? Introduce useful vocabulary to talk about the topic.

2. p. 2 © Miriam Peters, 2014
Step 2
Coming up is a little task. The students should read different weather forecasts and match
them with the correct season. The vocabulary in the forecasts is on a very high level.
However, it is not about the students understanding every word of the forecasts, but finding
the important information to successfully complete the task. Solutions are the following:

3. p. 3 © Miriam Peters, 2014
Step 3
The next four pictures can be shown to the students all at once. Ask them to describe what
they see now. They should get to the fact that sometimes, weather can cause extreme
situations, like forest fires, floods, tons of snow or dangerous storms. Talk a little more about
extreme weather.
Step 4
The reading part can be designed freely. Either the students read the text on their own or
some of them read it out loud. The task referring to it should be completed quickly.
The task about giving advices should be done by the students on their own. Before, you
could quickly revise modals.
The weather story task can be used as homework.

4. p. 1 © Miriam Peters, 2014

5. p. 2 © Miriam Peters, 2014

6. p. 3 © Miriam Peters, 2014

7. p. 4 © Miriam Peters, 2014
Task
Match the weather forecasts with the correct season!
(Texts taken and adapted from www.worldweatheronline.com )

8. p. 5 © Miriam Peters, 2014
What is happening in these pictures?

9. p. 6 © Miriam Peters, 2014
Task Surviving Hurricane Carla (by Carol Park)
I was 10 years old in September of 1961 when a storm began to form out in
the Gulf of Mexico. The storm grew into a Category 5 hurricane. They
named it Carla.
We lived in a Houston neighborhood with small homes and ditches running
alongside the streets. In those days, people did not evacuate to flee storms;
they stayed at home. My parents decided to throw a hurricane party for the
adults and while they were inside playing cards, the kids were outside
running wild.
It was scary playing outdoors while the clouds grew dark and swirly. I
remember it looked like night, in the middle of the afternoon. It began to
rain. The wind began to howl and something in the air made us feel wild
and free. We waded in the ditches trying to catch crawfish but when the
lightning began to strike dangerously close to the crackle of thunder, my
mother called us in. We were completely wet. Despite the edge of fear in the
air, it was exciting and we all were happy. I was hypnotized by what the
storm was doing outside.
I remember watching out of our window. The wind caused the trees and
bushes to bend over in funny ways I’d never seen before. The power lines
were swinging around. The ditches flooded, then the roads, and then the
yards.
After some time, everything became still and silent. Even the birds were
quiet. The winds calmed, the clouds parted and the sun appeared. The eye
of the hurricane was over Houston! We ran outside and I looked up to see
blue sky. After about an hour, the clouds darkened and the wind and rain
returned. We went back inside and watched the second half of the storm.
We went to bed with the rain beating on the roof and the wind howling. The
next morning we awoke to a different world. The sun was shining and the
birds were chirping. Tree limbs were down everywhere and the roads and
gardens had become a giant lake. Hurricane Carla had left her mark on the
landscape and our lives. The best part was that everyone was safe and the
kids got a bonus 3 days off from school!
(found on and adapted from
http://eo.ucar.edu/webweather/story_hurricane.html, August 2014)

10. p. 7 © Miriam Peters, 2014
Task Is the sentence correct or false?
correct false
Carol lived on a farm.
When the storm came up, everybody had to leave
their houses.
Before the storm, the children played outside.
The storm came in three parts.
The storm changed the city a lot.
The children had to go to school the next day.
Task Write advices for very bad weather. Use the modals could, might and should.
What to do when there is too much rain?
1
2
3
What to do if the sun is too hot?
1
2
3

11. p. 8 © Miriam Peters, 2014
What to do if it is too cold outside?
1
2
3
What to do if a storm comes up?
1
2
3
Task
Write your own weather story. Have you ever been in a big storm? Or did
you ever experience a big heat? If not, invent a story.

12. p. 9 © Miriam Peters, 2014