STAGE
2
Rainforests
Rowena Akinyemi
Introduction
This ungraded summary is for the teacher’s use only
and should not be given to students.
Chapter summary
Chapter 1 (Rainforests) explains where the main
rainforests are in the world, and how half of these
forests have been destroyed in the last fifty years.
The biggest rainforest is the Amazon in Latin America,
which has more species of animals and plants than
any other place on earth.
Chapter 8 (Protectors of the rainforest) is about
Chapter 2 (Why rainforests are important) outlines
some of the people who want to protect the rainforests.
why people need the rainforests. Many medicines
These include Dian Fossey who worked with gorillas
come from the rainforests, as well as everyday things
in Rwanda and was murdered in 1985, and Wangari
such as rubber, bananas, coffee, tea, rice and maize.
Maathai who began planting trees in Kenya in 1977.
Chapter 3 (People of the rainforests) is about the
Chapter 9 (Tourists in the rainforest) gives a
fifty million people who live in rainforests around the
summary of how tourists can now do something
world. As the rainforests are cut down, the lives of
positive to help save some of the rainforests. One
these people are being destroyed. One example is
example is a rainforest tree business in Costa Rica,
when gold was found in the forest in Brazil, many
which has planted nearly two million rainforest trees
Yanomami people died because they lost land and
so that tourists can buy their own tree and visit it.
food. Now the government has made a national park
Chapter 10 (How you can help the rainforests)
as a safe place for these people.
gives a list of things we can all do to help save the
Chapter 4 (Rainforest animals) is about some of
rainforests. These include buying Brazil nuts, eating
the animals that live in rainforests around the world.
less meat, and not buying rainforest animals as pets.
Many animals are now in danger because their homes
are being destroyed. As the rainforests get smaller,
Background
the number of animals gets smaller too. The biggest
Rainforests are forests which have a minimum annual
danger to most of these animals is people.
rainfall of between 1750 mm and 2000 mm. Tropical
Chapter 5 (Rainforest plants) talks about why the
rainforests are home to two-thirds of all the living
plants in the rainforest are important. Trees make up
animal and plant species in the world, and scientists
70 per cent of the plants in the rainforest, and most
believe that there are probably still millions of new
of them grow very slowly. Many plants are in danger
species to be discovered.
because people take the flowers or the plant to sell.
Rainforests used to cover about 14% of the Earth’s
Chapter 6 (Money) outlines how most of the
surface, but large areas of tropical and temperate
rainforests are being destroyed to make money. In
forests disappeared during the 20th century. The
Latin America the rainforest is cut down so that the
remaining forests now only cover 6%, and some
wood can be sold and the land used for cows. The
environmental groups estimate that all the natural
meat from the cows goes to North America.
rainforests could disappear within 40 years. Biologists
Chapter 7 (Disappearing forests) explains why, and
have estimated that about 10,000 to 50,000 species
how fast, the rainforests are disappearing. Photographs
per year become extinct due to the destruction of the
show that large parts of the rainforest in Brazil
forests for agriculture.
have already disappeared. Roads are made to build
plantations, and then houses and farms. But when
people cut down the trees the heavy rain washes the
soil away and nothing can grow.
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STAGE
2
Rainforests
Pre-reading activity
Is it true?
1 Read these sentences about rainforests. Do you think they are true or not?
YES/NO
a The biggest rainforest in the world is in Australia.
b You can find 75,000 kinds of tree in one square kilometre of rainforest.
c Bananas and oranges are two of the most popular rainforest fruits.
d Fifty per cent of the rainforest in the world disappears every year.
e The weather in the rainforest is always hot and wet.
f About 90 million people live in the rainforests of the world.
2 Match these chapter titles with the sentences.
1 Rainforests
2 Why rainforests are important
3 People of the rainforests
4 Rainforest animals
5 Rainforest plants
6 Money
7 Disappearing forests
8 Protectors of the rainforest
9 Tourists in the rainforests
10 How you can help the rainforests
a ‘The rainforest is home to the largest flower in the
world.’
b ‘Jaguars are the largest and strongest cats of the Latin
American rainforest.’
c ‘When roads are made through the rainforest, people
start to destroy the forests very quickly.’
d ‘Learn about the rainforests and tell other people about
them.’
e ‘Many of the medicines that doctors use for cancer come
from the rainforests.’
f ‘In 1990, Ian and Karen McAllister began fighting for
the Great Bear Rainforest in Canada.’
g ‘Rainforests are perhaps the most important places on
earth.’
h ‘International businesses buy rainforests in Latin
America where land is very cheap.’
i ‘Chico Mendes was born in the rainforest.’
j ‘You can visit the Madidi National Park in Bolivia, or
the Pico da Neblina Park in Brazil.’
To the teacher
Aim: To familiarize students with some of the facts
them to look at the six statements at the top of the
and information about rainforests
page and decide whether they think that these things
Time: 10–15 minutes
are true. Next ask the students to match the chapter
Organization: This activity can be done as one activity
titles with some of the information from that chapter.
or as two separate pre-reading activities. First ask the
Key: 1: a No, b Yes, c Yes, d No, e Yes, f No
students what they know about rainforests. Then, ask
2: 1 g, 2 e, 3 i, 4 b, 5 a, 6 h, 7 c, 8 f, 9 j, 10 d
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STAGE
2
Rainforests
While reading activity
Where are they?
1 Do you know where these places are? Write the number next to the right place.
Amazon rainforest , Brazil , West Africa , Central Africa
Malaysia , Indonesia , Australia , Madagascar .
, Burma
, Philippines
,
6
8
3
4
7
1
9
2
5
10
2 What do you know about these animals? Match the phrases with the animal.
Giant otter
Golden lion tamarin
Quetzal
Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing
Jaguar
Howler monkey
1 it is a very rare monkey
2 its name means ‘someone who kills
with one jump’
3 they howl in the morning and at night
4 it is the biggest butterfly in the world
5 they sleep in deep holes
6 it eats only fruit
7 it lives in Papua New Guinea
8 people killed them for their soft golden fur
9
10
11
12
rainforest people do not kill these cats
if you take it out of the rainforest it will die
you can hear their cries 5 kilometres away
there are only about 100 of them left
To the teacher
Where: After students have finished reading chapter
Key: 1: Refer students to the map on page 2 of the
four
book so they can check, or make a copy on an OHT
Aim: 1: To check that students have understood
and show them.
where the different rainforests around the world are
2: Giant otter – 5, 12 Golden lion tamarin – 1, 8
2: To find out what students remember about the
Quetzal – 6, 10 Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing – 4, 7
different types of animals that live in the rainforests
Jaguar – 2, 9 Howler monkey – 3, 11
Time: 10–15 minutes
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Rainforests
STAGE
2
After reading activity
Hidden words
Read the clues and fill in the words. Find the name of the place.
CLUES
1This country and Indonesia make most of the world’s palm oil.
2People make floors, tables, chairs, and paper from this plant.
3People kill this animal for its beautiful black and gold fur.
4This is a large green and red bird that only eats fruit.
5This tree goes on growing until it is 150 years old.
6A new species of this animal was discovered in Australia in 1988.
7She wrote a famous book about gorillas.
8When people take this metal from the ground they also destroy the forests.
9It does this 243 days each year in a rainforest.
10Scientists make this from rainforest plants to help people with cancer.
11When people burn trees in the rainforest it makes lots of this.
1270 per cent of all the plants in the rainforest are these.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
To the teacher
Aim: To revise some of the vocabulary and the facts
them to give as much detail as they can about each
about rainforests
answer.
Time: 15–20 minutes
Key: 1 Malaysia, 2 bamboo, 3 jaguar, 4 quetzal,
Organization: Give each student, or pair of students,
5 mahogany, 6 kangaroo, 7 Dian Fossey, 8 gold,
a copy of the worksheet. Ask them to read the clues
9 rains, 10 medicine, 11 smoke, 12 trees, The hidden
and fill in the words. They will then find the hidden
place is AMAZON FOREST
place. When checking the answers with the class, ask
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