Read the following passage and do the tasks below. Look around your classroom. Do you see students sitting at desks? Are teachers writing on a board and giving lectures? At Southern Cross School, near the famous Kruger National Park in South Mrica, things are different. Here, nature is the classroom. Both the park and the school are home to wild animals such as giraffes, impalas, and warthogs. Students at the school study the same subjects as other students in South Mrica. But at Southern Cross, ...

Read the following passage and do the tasks below.

Look around your classroom. Do you see students sitting at desks? Are teachers writing on a board and giving lectures? At Southern Cross School, near the famous Kruger National Park in South Mrica, things are different. Here, nature is the classroom.

Both the park and the school are home to wild animals such as giraffes, impalas, and warthogs. Students at the school study the same subjects as other students in South Mrica. But at Southern Cross, the staff and students go out into the wild to learn.

In one lesson, students apply the principles of mathematics to the study of local wildlife. Younger students count how many kinds of animals drank at the nearby water troughs during the night. Older students measure the amount of water the animals drank, and calculate how much water the animals will need over weeks or months.

In language classes, a common topic is conservation. In one recent debate, students discussed an important question: should people give water to wild animals during a drought? Another project might consist of finding out how an animal died.

The director of the school is Ant de Boer. His aim is for students to learn the importance of caring for the environment. De Boer says, “When they leave school, we want them to be champions of the natural environment.” As the school motto says, Southern Cross aims to be a “School for the Planet.”

(Reading Explorer 0 - student book)

1. Southern Cross is a special kind of school because its students_________.