“Winter” or “The Snowfall”

Lesson Plans

“Winter” or “The Snowfall”

Invierno o La Nevada

Warming Up

Imagine being in the middle of a snow storm, kilometres away from any warm place and with no chance to take cover.

If you were in this situation, what would you do?

Would you be worried?

Would you be afraid of dying?

Please explain:

Vocabulary

Cultural Heritage Background

Extreme changes in weather conditions directly affect the activity of viruses and diseases that affect people’s health. This was the case with the European population in the 18th century, when a series of events hit Europe and its population, causing thousands of deaths.

For many years, scientists thought that the 8-month eruption of the Lakagígar volcano in Iceland (summer 1783) was the cause of the unusual winter in the northern half of the planet. However, it has been recently proven that this theory is false. What historians usually call the “Little Ice Age” was caused by a mixture of two climate events, the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

Nonetheless, these were not the only events that affected Europe. Between the months of December 1783 and April 1784, the temperatures dropped and then it got warm in a very short period of time. These weather events, combined with rain, resulted in a series of floods that killed a lot of people. The awful consequences of the storm and floods were enormous at both local and regional level. Even after the events, the losses of material, animal and human life were great. The storm was responsible for the lack of food that, again, caused many more deaths.

Interestingly enough, scientists found that the NAO and ENSO conditions in the winter of 1783-1784 were similar to those of the winter of 2009-2010. In fact, they found that the winter of 2009 to 2010 was harder than the winter of 1783-1784. However, much fewer people died [Brázdil (et al.), R. 2009];[Choi, Q.R., 2011].

Listening

Listen to a sentence from the Cultural Heritage text and react to statements by writing a T if the sentence is TRUE or an F if the sentence is FALSE.

Between the months of December 1783 and April 1784, the temperatures dropped and then it got warm in a very short period of time. These weather events, combined with rain, resulted in a series of floods that killed a lot of people. The awful consequences of the storm and floods were enormous at both local and regional level.

Listening Comprehension

The ancient Greeks believed that air or wind was the breath that gave life to all things. Air had the power to create life, but also to destroy it. Air was believed to be the result of the mood of a god. In particular, the mood of Boreas, the Greek god of the (cold) north wind. Boreas was often described as extremely strong and cruel.

Mythology aside, fast and extreme weather changes could destroy crops, killing animals and people. This was the case in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, when millions of people died due to the weather.

According to the Spanish Meteorological Agency, the winter of 1783-1784 was extremely hard. For this reason, the painter Goya created “Winter” (1786), a representation of a heavy snowstorm. “Winter” is particularly grey and “sombre”. It reminds us how dangerous the powers of the natural elements are.

Read the story

Read the story and then anwer the questions in section “Reading Comprehension”.

The ancient Greeks believed that air or wind was the breath that gave life to all things. Air had the power to create life, but also to destroy it. Air was believed to be the result of the mood of a god. In particular, the mood of Boreas, the Greek god of the (cold) north wind, was often described as extremely strong and cruel.

The ancient Greeks were not the only ones who believed in gods with bad moods. In Celtic tradition, the Cailleach (goddess of winter) could break mountains and cause thunderstorms.