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Grade 8 (A2) · News report · 209 words

Students Clean Beach — and Learn a Lesson

A news report about eighth graders from Nahariya who cleaned a beach, recorded every item they collected and found out what really pollutes the shore.

Tap any word to hear it · dotted words have a definition in the glossary

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1Nahariya, Thursday — Forty eighth-grade students from a school in Nahariya spent yesterday morning cleaning a beach north of the city. In three hours, they filled more than sixty large bags with .

2The students worked in pairs. Each pair received , a bag and a list. On the list, they marked every they picked up, so that they could later count what they had found.

3The results surprised them. They had expected to find mostly bottles and cans, but the most items were small pieces of plastic, bottle caps and cigarette ends. "Some pieces were as small as rice," said Anna Ben-David, 13. "You don't notice them until you get down on your knees."

4The biggest find was an old fishing net, half in the sand. Inside it, the students found a small that was still alive. They carefully cut the net and returned the to the water.

5Their science teacher, Dr. Rami Khoury, said that the list will be sent to an environmental organization that collects information about on Israeli beaches. "This was not just a cleaning day," he said. "It was real research." The students plan to return to the same beach in the spring to see whether things have changed.

📘 Glossary
  • rubbish - things that people throw away
  • gloves - coverings for the hands
  • item - one single thing
  • common - found often
  • buried - covered by earth or sand
  • crab - a sea animal with a hard shell and claws
  • pollution - dirt that harms nature

Questions

  1. Finding details

    1. How long did the students work on the beach?

  2. Purpose and structure

    2. Why did the students mark every item on a list?

  3. Finding details

    3. What were the most common items on the beach?

  4. Making inferences

    4. Why were the students surprised by the results?

  5. Reference words

    5. In paragraph 3, "them" in "You don't notice them" refers to…

  6. Reference words

    6. In paragraph 4, what does "it" refer to in "Inside it"?

  7. Finding details

    7. What did the students do with the crab?

  8. Making inferences

    8. Why does Dr. Khoury say "It was real research"?

  9. Finding details

    9. Why do the students plan to return to the beach in the spring?

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