Listening

Warm Up

Helpful Words and Phrases

Listen and repeat.

  1. invasive
    • ex. The invasive plants grow so fast that native flowers cannot survive.
  2. thrive
    • ex. Some plants need a lot of sunlight to thrive, while others grow well in the shade.
  3. shellfish
    • ex. Some people cannot eat shellfish because they are allergic to it.
  4. a catch
    • ex. After spending five hours on the lake, his total catch was only two small fish.
  5. minimal
    • ex. The storm caused only minimal damage to the fishing boats near the shore.

Article

Read the article below and answer your tutor's questions.

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European green crabs are invasive and thrive in New England’s warmer waters, causing major environmental problems. The crabs eat almost anything, including shellfish like oysters and clams. They also take food away from young lobsters and other crabs. For example, Maine’s soft-shell clam catch fell from more than 7.8 million pounds in 1978 to 1.3 million pounds in 2025.

To fight this problem, some fishermen and businesses are turning the crabs into a business opportunity by promoting them as seafood. Mike Masi of shell+claw catches green crabs when they are about to lose their hard shells. He can sell these soft-shell crabs for about $3 (about ¥470) each, compared with as little as 8 cents (about ¥12) for hard-shell crabs. Green crabs can also be used in pet treats, fish sauce, and other products.

However, efforts to control the crabs have had minimal results. There are few fishermen and little equipment to process them. Still, more restaurants are offering green crab. The region’s shellfish industry hopes that growing demand for the crabs can help reduce their numbers and support local fishermen.

This material was based on an article by The Associated Press.

Discussion

Choose a topic and discuss the questions with your tutor.

Seafood

  • Do you like seafood? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • The article mentions that invasive green crabs can be used as food, pet treats, and fish sauce. Do you think turning invasive animals into food is a good way to protect the environment? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • If a new or rare type of seafood became popular in your country, would you try it? Why or why not? Discuss.

Turning Problems into Business Opportunities

  • Fishermen and businesses turned the green crab problem into a business opportunity. Do you admire their creative way of solving their problem? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • What problem in your community do you think needs to be solved (ex. plastic waste)? Discuss.
  • If you could turn any of your problems into a business opportunity, would you do it? Why or why not? Discuss.