English ECLPE copy 1

 Key unit competence: To use language learnt in the context of national assets.

 INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITY 

       8.1 Talking about national assets

       

             Text 1: Environmental protection and socio-economic development 

All human activities that are designed and implemented for the economic 
growth of a country and the social needs may impact on the environment either 
directly or indirectly. However, in as much as human beings strive to achieve 
social development, environmental conservation should be observed. Economic 
development is associated with technological and industrial advancement. If 
people are not sensitive to the environment, so much can go wrong in matters 
of the environment while pursuing economic growth. 

Some economic activities can be destructive to the environment even though 
they are income generating. For example, in commercial agriculture, farmers 
may have to use fertilisers and pesticides in order to have higher produce that 
maximises profits. The practice can lead to economic growth but at the same 
time the chemicals are likely to destroy the natural resources such as the soil 
and water.

Other human activities that can have adverse effects on the environment 
include: diversion of water courses, the extraction of minerals, emission of heat 
and gases into the atmosphere due to industrial processes, deforestation as a 
result of people using trees as raw materials to make commercial products and 
genetic manipulation of natural plants to have more produce at lower costs. 

It is also important to note that environmental degradation can be quite costly 
to a country. The cost of land reclamation is high. These may involve restoration
of green cover, cleaning up of landfills and protection of endangered species.

The economic impact can also be in terms of loss of tourism industry. When 
the natural resources that serve as tourists’ attraction sites are polluted and 
diminished, this impacts negatively on the tourism sector. When there are 
fewer tourists visiting a country, the revenue also goes down and as a result the 
socio-economic development of that country is affected. 

Another way in which environmental protection is related to socio-economic 
development is that pollution can cause diseases on the population. Disease is 
an economic aspect in the society because it means incurring costs in medical 
procedures and incapacitating a part of the population since when people get 
sick, they are less productive.

Therefore, even as we strive for economic growth and social development, we 
should avoid over-analysis of natural resources to avoid depletion. We should 
pursue development that encourages environmental sustainability.

Adapted from General studies and communication skills, senior 4 (REB)

    Comprehension questions
1. Assess the link between environment protection and economic growth 
     based on paragraph one of the text.
2. Determine the extent to which economic activities can be destructive to 
     the environment.
3. Identify other economic activities that can have negative effects on the 
    environment.
4. Justify how environment degradation can be costly to the country.
5. Examine the negative impact of economic growth on the tourism industry.
6. Prove that environment protection is related to socio-economic 

     development as shown in the last but one paragraph

       8.1.2 APPLICATION ACTIVITY

         

            8.2 Talking about the role of national assets

           

            Text: Public places in Rwanda

Public places and assets are museums, national parks, forests, industries, 
genocide memorial sites, schools, public gardens, hospitals and police stations. 
Public places and assets are important. For Examples They provide us with 
different services, generate income to us, and help to preserve our culture and 
aid in recreation.

 It is through the natural resources like vegetation that we feed. The environment 
provides fresh air to humans, animals and plants. From our environment, we get 
rain water that flows into our rivers, lakes, wetlands and swamps. Buildings are 
constructed by funds obtained from the analysis of various national resources. 
From the forests, we get firewood, charcoal and building materials. We also get 
natural gas from our environment. 

Let us preserve public places and assets by cleaning, employing people to take 

care of environment and the natural resources at their disposal. 

A text adapted from geography for Rwandan schools senior 4 student’s book.

      Comprehension questions:
a) Which national assets are described in the above passage?

b) Explain why we should conserve our environment.

           8.2.2 APPLICATION ACTIVITY

        

       Case study: Factors influencing forest analysis

John Richards is a European who decided to spend his summer holidays in 
Rwanda. While in the country, he visited various areas. He was very pleased 
by what he saw. He wrote this down in his note book: Rwanda is a country that 
is so rich with flora and fauna. The country’s geography is well-balanced. Its 
climate is good. The drainage is good and the infrastructure is well developed. 
The Eastern Province is made up of savanna grasslands with the beautiful 
bushes and thickets in Akagera National Park. The northern region beautifully 
rolls with hills and mountains that are covered by evergreen trees. The forests 
offer a home to the endangered mountain gorillas. The Nyungwe Forest has tall 
trees that almost reach the heavens. The wonderful canopy walk was a great 
experience. Rwanda’s people are warm and very hardworking. There is a lot of 
potential for analysis in the forests of this green land of a thousand hills. I will 

definitely come back here.

Task
     a. Account for the variation of the plant cover of Rwanda witnessed by John.
     b. Identify the forested areas that are mentioned in the story. 
     c. Name the forest resources that are available for analysis.
    d. Explain the factors that influence the analysis of forests that have been 
        mentioned by Mr. Richards.
    e. Evaluate the importance of forest resources to the country of Rwanda.
    f. Present your findings in a class discussion.
4. Write a 150 composition about what to be done to preserve public places and 
     assets?

   8.3 Talking about problems related to the national assets

    

      Text: Volcanoes National Park

     Read the text below and carry out the tasks that follow:

     

      The Volcanoes National Park is located in the northwest region of Rwanda. 
The park is also known as the Volcanoes National Park. It is connected to the 
Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gahinga Gorilla 
National Park in Uganda. The establishment of Birunga National Park dates 
back to 1925 under King Albert I of Belgium.

This was part of the first African national parks known as the Volcanoes 
National Park. The Volcanoes National Park is known for its mountain gorillas 
which are an endangered species. The Rwandan government has conserved 
and protected this habitat to ensure that the population of these endangered 
animals increases. This has been achieved through intervention measures such 
as the mountain gorilla naming locally known as “Kwita-Izina”

The Volcanoes National Park sits on five of the eight volcanoes. They are the 
Karisimbi, Bisoke, Muhabura, Gahinga and Sabyinyo Mountains. The mountains 
have rain and bamboo forests. The Volcanoes National Park is naturally endowed 
with tourist attractions that have placed it on the world map as the most well 
conserved and protected environment and homeland to the mountain gorillas. 
The park also has the forest giraffe, African elephants and buffaloes.

The park is threatened by poaching and encroachment from neighboring 
communities. Poachers from neighboring countries especially the Democratic 
Republic of Congo kill elephants for their ivory and kidnap the young mountain 
gorillas for trafficking. 

The government together with other international partners has created a team 
of professional game rangers to ensure that poaching and other human related 
threats are minimized in the park. This park is the major source of foreign 
exchange in the country. It contributes the greatest percentage of the tourism 

earnings in Rwanda.

   Text adapted from geography for Rwandan schools senior 4 student’s book p376

    Comprehension questions: 
1. Where is Volcanoes National Park located?
1. With the above text, give the reasons why Volcanoes National Park is the 
     national asset
2. Mention some animals which are found in the Volcanoes National Park

3. Discuss some threats that Volcanoes national park experience

     8.3.2 APPLICATION ACTIVITY
    Vocabulary, sentence and essay writing 
1. Use a dictionary and thesaurus to look up the missing meanings of 
           the words below
         a) endangered 
         b) species
         c) endowed
         d) threatened
         e) encroachment
2. Use each of the above words or phrases in your own sentence.
3. Write a 300 words essay discussing some measures to be taken so 

     that Birunga national park is well protected

       8.4 Describing a visit to a national park
       
            Text: A visit to Nyungwe national park
Last week, I had a chance to visit Nyungwe rainforest, popularly known as 
Nyungwe National Park, which lies in the south west corner of Rwanda. What 
an evergreen and thick forest! It covers a vast area. I traversed the forest from 
one entry point to exit point. The journey takes approximately an hour. The 
forest covers an area of over 1000sq kilometres and it extends into Burundi 
in Kibira national park. It has believed to be one of Africa’s most evergreen 
forests, which illustrates its rich biodiversity.

The forest weather is quite chilly but friendly. It is truly an awesome experience 
for nature lovers. It has a well tarmac road traversing the forest intended for 
long-term use. History reveals that Nyungwe forest has been in existence for 
thousands of years. For the purposes of ecotourism, trees are determinants of a 
forest ecosystem as they considerably influence forest micro-climate-available 
light, wetness, and temperatures. Therefore, the diversity and vastness of a 
forest strongly depend on the richness of tree species. In fact, Nyungwe forest 
hosts multi-tree-species rather than one-tree-species. No matter what your 
interests are, you will never run out of ways to enjoy the beautiful forest. Some 
of these species can only be found in Nyungwe forest and nowhere else. It is 
truly an awesome experience for nature lovers. What a memorable adventure! 

More interestingly, Nyungwe forest hosts canopy, a loveliest man-made touristic 
feature. As likely as not visitors can’t afford to leave the forest without enjoying 
a canopy walk. Canopy walk is a window of opportunity to view the panoramic
forest view. Visitors can be able to correlate and learn about the role of forests in 
maintaining air quality, regulating precipitation and mitigating climate change.

Finally, visitors’ security in the forest is effectively guaranteed by park rangers 
in collaboration with the security organs. Equally, the park rangers protect the 
forest from any encroachment or menace of every kind. There are hundreds of 
species of animals throughout the world which are fast disappearing because 
of human interference in their natural habitat. The more flora and fauna we 
lose, the fewer there are to contribute to individual ecosystems. Responsible 
travel to natural areas may conserve the environment brings huge benefits to 
humans.

Thanks, relevant authorities, for putting in place policy and legal frameworks 
for the conservation of forests.

Adapted from https://www.newtimes.co.rw/opinions/nyungwe-forest-magnificent ;

place-ecotourism

     Comprehension Questions
1. Describe the physical feature of Nyungwe national park.
2. Appreciate the contribution of the multi-tree-species to the beauty of 
      Nyungwe national park.
3. Assess the role of the Nyungwe canopy as a touristic feature.
4. Determine the role played by rangers in Nyungwe national park.

        8.4.2 APPLICATION ACTIVITY
 Vocabulary, sentence and summary writing
1. Use a dictionary or a thesaurus to find the meanings of the words and 
      phrase used in the passage
     a) …traverse… (paragraph 1)
     b) …biodiversity… (paragraph 1)
     c) …tarmac… (paragraph 2)
     d) …panoramic… (paragraph 3)
     e) …canopy walk… (paragraph 3)
     f) …correlate… (paragraph 3)
     g) …encroachment… (paragraph 4)
2. Construct grammatically meaningful sentences using each of the 
      above terms.
3. Make a research on the contribution of Rwanda national parks to the 

     country’s economic growth. Then present your findings to the class.

8.5 Language structure: Adverbs of frequency and use of 
      determiners
I. The use of adverbs of frequency
    Examples
1. I have often visited the Huye national museum.
2. Rwandans seldom visit their national forests.
3. Foreign tourists are always present in Nyungwe national forest.
4. Poachers should never be covered up because they destroy the national 
     assets.
5. Rwanda natural resources are taken care of daily.

Note: 
Adverbs of frequency are used to describe how often something is done, occurs 
or happens, either in definite or indefinite terms. An adverb that describes 
definite frequency is one such as weekly, daily, or yearly. An adverb describing 
indefinite frequency doesn’t specify an exact time frame. We generally place 
the adverb of frequency between the subject and the verb but it usually comes 
after the verb “be”. If the sentence has more than one verb in it (e.g. an auxiliary 
or a modal verb), we usually put the adverb after the first part of the verb. 
Examples of adverbs of frequency are sometimes, often, rarely, etc.

Below is a table of those adverbs and their frequency.

       Exercises

Use the adverb and the correct form of the verbs in brackets to complete the 
sentences.
Top of Form
1. Our teacher, Mrs Jones, …………. (never / be) late for lessons.
2. I …………. (often / clean) my bedroom at the weekend.
3. My brother …………. (hardly ever / help) me with my homework.
4. I …………… (sometimes / be) bored in the maths lessons.
5. We ……………. (rarely / watch) football on TV.
6. You and Tony …………. (never / play) computer games with me.
7. You …………. (usually / be) at the sports centre on Sunday.
8. The school bus …………. (always / arrive) at half past eight.
9. Poachers …………….. (always/be) punished by the law.
10. He …………… (seldom/remember) that natural resources
are part of national assets.

II. The use of determiners
Examples
1. The Rwandan government cares for the national assets.
2. A national park is part of the national assets.
3. TheHuye national museum is Rwanda’s historical richness.
4. James has never been at the national stadium.
5. An Asian tourist has praised Rwanda officials for natural resources 
conservation
6. Nyungwe national forest is a valuable touristic site.

Note: 
Determiners are important to proper sentence structure and comprehension. 
They are important because they work to clarify nouns and make a sentence 
as precise and focused as possible. Determiners are words that come before a 
noun and serve to modify the noun. They modify nouns by providing context 
and specificity to the noun. 

Articles are the most popular types of determiners. The main articles are ‘the,’ 
‘a,’ and ‘an.’ ‘The’ is a definite article, which means it refers to a specific person, 
place, or thing. When we use the word ‘the’ as a determiner, it increases the 
exactness of the subject in a sentence. On the other hand, the indefinite articles 
‘a’ and ‘an’ are indefinite articles, which means that the noun they precede isn’t 
an exact person, place or thing; rather, the article creates a more generalized 
noun. ‘A’ is used in front of nouns starting with a consonant sound while ‘an’ is 

used before a noun starting with a vowel sound.

Exercise
Complete the following sentences using a, an or the. In some cases, no articles 
are needed.
1. If you are really hungry, you can eat ……………… apple.
2. She went on to become ………………….. successful playback singer.
3. ………………… library on the corner has an amazing collection of story 
books.
4. I don’t speak ………………… French very well, but I can make myself 
understood.
5. She is ………………… prettiest girl I have ever seen.
6. ‘Where is ………………… cheese?’ ‘I ate it.’
7. Move ………………… books off that chair and sit down.
8. . ………………… . Spanish have their own language.
9. ………………. life is complicated.
10. I am writing ………………… book on Indian mythology.
3. The use of quantifiers
Examples 
1. We see many tourists in our home town.
2. Some people destroy national assets like animal killings
3. Much work should be done for environment conservation.
4. Few Rwandans are not aware that natural resources are part of the 
    national assets.
5. Governments employ a lot of income from national assets to create new 
    infrastructures.

Note: 
A quantifier is a word or phrase which is used before a noun to indicate the 
amount or quantity. Some, many, a lot of and a few, are examples of quantifiers.
Some quantifiers, like a few, few, many are used only before plural countable 
nouns. Others, like a little, little, much are used only before uncountable nouns. 
And a few quantifiers can be used with both countable and uncountable nouns. 
Some, most, plenty of, all and any are examples of quantifiers that can go with 
both countable and uncountable nouns.

Exercise
Choose among much, some, many, any, few, little or most to complete the 
sentences below.
1. How …………… time do you need to finish the work?
2. There are too ……………. students in the library.
3. Have you visited ……………….. foreign countries?
4. Although he’s very ill, he didn’t take …………….. medicine.
5. …………… people know as much about linguistics as John does.
6. They say ……………. knowledge is a dangerous thing.
7. He’s having ……………. of trouble passing his driving test.
8. I spend …………….. of my time reading novels.
9. We spent …………… money on our last vacation.

10. Did you have ………….. friend coming to your party ?

        8.6 Spelling and pronunciation 
Use dictionaries and thesaurus to find the missing pronunciation and meanings 

of the given words to complete the following table.

             

         

   8.7 END UNIT ASSESSMENT 

1. Choose the correct option to complete the sentences below.
      a) We haven’t got ……………… petrol. We need to stop and get some.
       a. much                             b. many                           c. little
      b) We had ……………. rain last autumn.
      a. lot of                                 b. much                              c. many
      c) There was ……………… food in the fridge. It was nearly empty.
       a. little                                  b. a little                               c. few
       d) You travel a lot. Have you been to ……………. countries?
       a. much                             b. many                                  c. few
       e) It costs ………….. money to give your children a good education.
      a. much                              b. many                           c. a lot of
      f) There was ………….. space for all the people who came.
     a. very little                            b. very few                          c. many
     g) “Have you got any coins for the vending machine?” “Yes, I have 
                 …………...”
          a. a little                                     b. a few                       c. few
           h) There’s …………….. of sun cream in the bottle.
           a. a bit                       b. a little                         c. a few
           i) We need to go to the greengrocer’s. There are …………… potatoes left.
          a. few b.             a few               c. a little
           j) There was ………….. traffic so we arrived very early.
           a. a little           b. a few                     c. little
2. Complete the following sentences using appropriate articles. In some 
     cases, no articles are needed.
      a) ………………….. man is mortal.
      b) I am …………………. university student.
      c) She goes to the temple in ……………….. mornings.
      d) Jessica is …………………. best student in the class.
      e) ………………….. camel is the ship of the desert.
       f) This book has won ………………….. Booker prize.
       g) Sandra was …………………. honest king.
        h) I am fond of ………………. classical music.
        i) I met ..................... boy in the store.
         j) Gold is …………… precious metal.
3. Rewrite the following sentences by inserting the adverbs of frequency that 
     are in brackets
     a) They go swimming in the lake. (sometimes)
     b) The weather is bad in November. (always)
     c) Peggy and Frank are late. (usually)
     d) I have met him before. (never)
     e) John watches TV. (seldom)
      f) I was in contact with my sister. (often)
      g) She will love him. (always)
4. Write an essay describing the role of natural assets to the socio-economic 
    development of Rwanda.
5. Debate the following topic, ‘protecting natural assets is only the 

     responsibilities of the government.’