Cross-curricular extension unit 7

1 PHOTOCOPIABLE © OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

Geography: Temperate forests 1 Read the text. Then label the pictures with the

words in the box.

There are two kinds of temperate forest:

deciduous and coniferous. Deciduous forests

have trees which lose their leaves in the autumn,

while coniferous forests have trees which don’t

change during the year.

Coniferous

Deciduous

2 Match the animals in the box with the

descriptions.

1 This small animal lives in trees and eats nuts.

The grey variety is more common in Britain

these days. _______________

2 A human can ride this animal. Its small size

makes it popular with children. _______________

3 This animal is fat and round with a small tail and

a big nose. _______________

4 This large farm animal is female and provides

humans with milk and meat. _______________

5 This beautiful animal eats plants and leaves and

can run fast. Most males have antlers, like

branches, on their heads. _______________

6 This animal is a wild pig. It became extinct in

Britain in the 17th century but has begun to live

freely again since the 1980s. _______________

7 This small animal looks like a dog but is wild. It

causes a lot of damage to farms and people

often hunt it. _______________

8 This long thin animal has no legs, but slides

along the ground. _______________

3 Match the deciduous trees in the box with their leaves. Use the internet to help you.

1 ___________________ 2 ___________________

3 ___________________ 4 ___________________

berries branch habitat leaf moss needles shrub timber trunk wild flower

cow deer fox pig pony snake squirrel wild boar

ash beech hawthorne oak

1 ____________

2 ____________

3 ____________

4 ____________

5 ____________

6 ____________

7 ____________

8 ____________

9 ____________ 10 ____________

2 PHOTOCOPIABLE © OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

4 Read the text. Match the forests 1–2 with their original use a–b.

1 New Forest a It provided wood for industry.

2 Kielder Forest b It provided a habitat for wild animals.

A tale of two forests New Forest in Hampshire is England’s oldest forest. William the Conqueror created it in 1079 to protect an area of woodland for hunting animals. It is typical of deciduous forests, with several layers of vegetation. The first layer of tall trees, such as oak, beech and ash, forms a roof over the forest with their broad green leaves. Below are younger trees and small trees, for example, hawthorne. In the next layer are shrubs and below that berries and wild flowers. The bottom layer includes moss, which grows on tree trunks. These layers provide food and habitats for wild animals. In William’s day you could find wild boar and deer. No surprise that he wanted the land for hunting. However, the local people weren’t happy, because they couldn’t use the land or wood, so William allowed their pigs, cows and ponies to live and find food there. You can still find these animals there, in addition to birds, foxes, squirrels, snakes and deer. Wild boar, extinct in Britain since the 17th century, are returning to the forest, too. In Northumberland, Kielder Forest is England’s largest coniferous forest. There you can find spruce, pine and fir trees, typical of cold northern climates. The trees have dark green needles, which absorb weak sunlight. They are tall and narrow, so that snow falls off their branches easily. The trees grow close together for protection from wind. They also make good timber because they have thick tall trunks and grow quickly. The first trees at Kielder Forest grew in the 1920s and soon became an important source of timber for industries. Today the forest provides wood for building, paper and fuel. Kielder Forest is a good example of a sustainable forest because millions of new trees are planted each year. They are a mixture of coniferous and deciduous trees, to encourage animal life in the forest. Kielder Forest is now very popular for walks and picnics.

5 Read the text again. Then answer the questions.

1 What do the layers of deciduous forests provide?

__________________________________________

2 Why weren’t the local people allowed to use

William’s forest at first?

__________________________________________

3 What did William do for the local people?

__________________________________________

__________________________________________

4 Which animals can you find in New Forest

today?

__________________________________________

__________________________________________

5 Where do you normally find coniferous trees?

__________________________________________

6 Why does snow fall off coniferous trees?

__________________________________________

7 How do we use coniferous trees in industry?

__________________________________________

8 How do workers at Kielder Forest sustain it?

__________________________________________

__________________________________________

6 Use the library or the internet to research a forest near you. Find out the following information and write about 100 words.

Is the forest deciduous or coniferous?

How old is it?

Do workers cut down the wood for industry?

Is it a sustainable forest? What kind of trees do

they plant?

Is there a lot of animal life there? How do the

foresters protect animal life?

Kielder Forest

New Forest