B2.

1 WRITING ASSESSMENT 4 Quit meat,

Go green!
Communicative goals:
 Explain a term in a text using synonyms, definitions or examples.
 Signal that two ideas are similar when writing a simple text by using discourse
markers.
 Signal additional information in a formal structured text with a range of language.

1. Think about…
 Have you heard about vegetarianism? What do
you know about it?
 Do you think a vegetarian diet delivers
complete nutrition and provides health
benefits? Explain your answer.
 Do you agree or disagree with the following
statement? “Modern slaughter techniques
minimize the suffering of animals.” Explain
your answer.
 Would you say that becoming vegetarian lowers
our environmental footprint?

Slaughter: Killing of animals for food.

Footprint: Mark, impression, trace.

2. Words matter!

To do well in this lesson you need to become familiar with a number of words.
Complete the following exercise to learn more vocabulary.

2.1. Underline the expression that best matches the idea of the boldfaced word or
phrase. Have a dictionary at hand.

1. Eating meat provides healthy saturated fats, which enhance the function of the
immune system.
- Improve the quality of something - Decrease the quality of something
2. Some experts say overgrazing livestock hurts the environment.
- Graze land to excess - Feed animals in excess

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 3. According to the Journal of Human Nutrition, vegans and vegetarians have a higher
risk of developing vitamin B12 deficiency.
-Sufficiency or abundance -Insufficiency or absence
4. Some religions as Hinduism, Buddhism promote plant based diets for ethical reasons,
as one of the cornerstone beliefs “non-violence to living forms.”
- Essential, foundation - Disapproval, invalidation
2.2. Match the word on the left with the meaning on the right. Write in the parenthesis
the corresponding letter.

EXPRESSION MEANING
1 Livestock ( ) A An extreme scarcity of food
2 Eat up ( ) B Unprocessed vegan foods that have not been
processed or altered from its natural state.
3 Famine ( ) C Farm animals
4 Raw food diet ( ) D Diet that avoids all animal-based foods,
including honey
5 Lacto-ovo-vegetarian ( ) E Diet that avoids the flesh of all animals, both
meat and fish
6 Vegan ( ) F Consume food completely

3. Read a bit!

Read the following text “Quit meat, go green!” a piece of writing that describes
general aspects about vegetarianism.

QUIT MEAT, GO GREEN!

More people around the world are
becoming vegetarian for different
reasons including health, livestock
exploitation, and environmental
impact. Some well-known figures
around the world are recognized
for being vegetarian activist as
Gandhi, Paul McCartney, Natalie
Portman or the singer Morrissey.
Whatever the reason is, here you
will find some general aspects
about this well-liked life style that
is changing the way nutrition is
perceived.

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To begin with, there is not a specific way of being vegetarian; there are a wide variety of
vegetarian types. The first one is Flexiterians or semi-vegetarians, terms used to describe
those who have a plant-based diet but occasionally eat meat. Also, there are Pescatarians
who are the ones that abstain from eating all meat with the exception of fish. Another one
is the Lacto-ovo vegetarian who is the person who doesn’t eat any type of meat but he/she
consumes dairy products (milk and eggs). This is the most common type of vegetarian.
Finally, there are vegans who do not consume any animal products or by-products. They do
not eat meat, eggs or dairy. Vegans do not use honey or beeswax, gelatin and any other
animal by-product ingredients or products.

Regarding the ideas around vegetarianism, there are sundry reasons why people adopt this
lifestyle. First of all, vegetarians claim it is cruel and unethical to kill animals for food when
vegetarian options are available. If it is done correctly, a vegetarian diet delivers complete
nutrition. Furthermore, there are some health benefits that this type of diet offers. It lowers
the risk of heart disease and promotes healthy weight. Lastly, there are some positive aspects
regarding the environment as raising animals for food contributes to air and water
pollution. To exemplify, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization argues raising
animals for food creates 18% of global greenhouse gases.

To sum up, there are many details people disregard about vegetarianism, not only in terms
of the diet but the reasons that lead people to adopt this diet and lifestyle.

4. Tips for composition:

In this session, you will find grammar elements and composition strategies that will
help you improve your writing skills. Read the explanation, this is important for the
next step!

CONTEXT CLUES

Have you read a text without understanding some of the words written in the text? If so,
you can try using context clues. Context clues are hints that the author provides to help
define a difficult or unusual word. Those hints are found in the sentence, paragraph, or
passage the person is reading.

Context clues are important during the reading exercise as you build vocabulary you can
use in your writing production.

IMPORTANT: You must be aware that many words have several possible meanings. Context
suggest several possible definitions, so in these cases, a dictionary should be consulted.

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4.1 Use context clues to define the following words:

 Well-liked (paragraph 1):

________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________.
 By-products (paragraph 2):
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________.
 Sundry (paragraph 3):
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________.
 Deliver (paragraph 3):
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________.
 Disregard (paragraph 4):
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________.

COMPARE ESSAY
Comparison in writing discusses elements that are similar. A compare essay, then,
analyzes two subjects by comparing them.
This type of essay starts with a thesis that states the subjects that are going to be
compared and the reason for doing so.
EX:
Thesis statement: More people around the world are becoming vegetarian for different
reasons including health, livestock exploitation, and environmental impact.
Here the thesis sets up the subjects to be compared (Vegetarianism and reasons for
becoming vegetarian).

Once you have decided what topic you want to describe, you will need to gather
details of whatever you are comparing, in terms of similarities.

IF YOU ARE COMPARING, EXPLAIN WHAT TWO THINGS HAVE IN COMMON

COMPARATIVE KEY WORDS:

Both- Likewise- Similarly- In common- As Well-

Furthermore- In addition- As well as

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4.2 According to the following topics, write some similar ideas that could be used in
an essay.

Vegans and lacto-ovo-vegetarian

 Both are against animal exploitation.
 Similarly to vegans, lacto-ovo-vegetarians do not eat any type of meat.

Healthy and unhealthy food

 _
 _
 _

Obesity and eating disorders

 _
 _
 _

Real food and process food

 _
 _
 _

ORGANIZE YOUR COMPARISON

When writing a comparative essay, you have a choice of two basic methods for organizing
your ideas: the point-by-point method or the block method.

The point-by-point method examines one aspect of comparison in each paragraph

between the ideas that are being compared. This method is easier for the writer and reader
to follow because similarities are more obvious when placed next to each other.

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 VEGANS AND LACTO-OVO-VEGETARIAN

PARAGRAPH 1: Diet benefits:

 Vegans
 Lacto-ovo-vegetarian

PARAGRAPH 2: Diet supplements and

restrictions:

 Vegans
 Lacto-ovo-vegetarian

In the block method, you say everything you need to say about one thing. The Block
Method presents all arguments related to A, and then compares all arguments related.

VEGANS AND LACTO-OVO-VEGETARIAN

PARAGRAPH 1: Vegans

 Diet benefits
 Diet supplements and
restrictions.

PARAGRAPH 2: Lacto-ovo-vegetarians

 Diet benefits
 Diet supplements and
restrictions.

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