Learning English

Dead frog mystery in Peru

10,000 frogs have been found dead. Is pollution to blame?

Language challenge

In this News Review, Sian and Neil discuss a type of animal that may soon be ‘extinct’. If an animal is ‘extinct’…

a) not many exist
b) none exist
c) many exist

You'll find out the answer in the programme.

Watch the video and complete the activity

The story

The Peruvian environmental agency is investigating the deaths of about 10,000 frogs, whose bodies have been found in the river in the south of the country.

A local campaign group says pollution in the River Coata is to blame for the deaths.

Leonardo Rocher - BBC News

The Titicaca water frogs are an endangered species that lives exclusively in the huge freshwater lake shared by Peru and Bolivia and its tributaries.

The number of residents around South America's largest lake has increased sharply in the past two decades, while the number of frogs there is estimated to have declined by 80%.

Residents say the government has done too little to deal with the impact of humans in the area. They are calling for a sewage treatment plant to be built near the regional capital, Puno.

Key words and phrases

endangered species
a type of animal or plant that might stop existing because there are only a few of that type alive 

get to the bottom of
to discover the truth about something or find the cause of something

a turn of events
a change in a situation

pleas
serious and emotional requests for something 

To do

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Downloads

You can download the audio and PDF document for this episode here.

Language challenge - answer

The correct answer is b). If an animal is extinct, none exist. 

End of Session 2

Join us in Session 3 for Lingohack - our video which teaches you words from the news using the latest BBC World News bulletins.