1) How many continents are there in the world?

AT THE MAP OF THE WORLD

L Answer the questions:

1) How many continents are there in the world?

2) Can you name all the oceans in English?

3) What continents are washed by what oceans?

4) What are the five countries with the highest population?

5) What are the five most widely spoken languages?

II. A region or a continent? Identify the geographical names:

region	continent

North America,

the Caribbean,

Latin America,

The Atlantic,

The Arctic,

Scandinavia,

North Africa,

The Middle East,

Asia

The Far East,

The Pacific,

Oceania,

Australia,

The Indian Ocean,

The Antarctic,

East Asia,

Central America.

III. Guess the meaning of the following international words:

Hypothesis (n), material (n), manner (n), iceberg (n). position (n), geographer (n), fix (v), separate (a), sceptical (a), fundamental (a), demarcation (n), subdivision(n), logical (a), traditionally (adv).

IV. Guess the meanings of the words by their definitions:

1) Peninsula - an area of land almost surrounded by water.

2) Crust - crust on a leaf of bread is the hard, crisp outside part of it; also the hard

upper layer of something.

3) Crusted, crusty, crustal - an adjective formed from the former word.

4) Rock - a piece of stone sticking out of the ground, or the sea, or that has broken away from a mountain.

5) As a consequence - as a result.

6) Flooded - covered with water.

7) To refer to something - to talk about it or mention it.

8) Odd-shaped - something of unusual or strange shape.

9) To jut - to stick out above or beyond a surface.

10) Westward - to the west.

V. Read the text and answer the questions that follow it.

The Continents.

A continent is defined as a large unbroken land mass completely surrounded by water, although in some cases continents are (or were in part) connected by land bridges.

The hypothesis first suggested late in the 19^th century was that the continents consist of higher rocks that rest on heavier crustal material in about the same manner that icebergs float on water. Therocks forming the continents are lighter than the material below them. As a consequence of these facts Alfred Wegener suggested (in 1912) that the continents are slowly moving, at a rate of about one yard per century, so that their relative positions are not rigidly fixed. Many geologists that were originally sceptical have come to accept this theory Continental Drift.

When describing a continent it is important to remember that there is a fundamental difference between a deep ocean like the Atlantic, and shallow seas like the Baltic and most of the North Sea, which are merely flooded portions of a continent.

Geographically speaking, Europe (including the British Isles) is a large western peninsula of the continent of Asia; and many geographers, when referring to Europe and Asia, speak of the European Continent with the Ural and the Caucasus Mountains forming the line of demarcation between Europe and Asia.

To the south of Europe, Asia has an odd-shaped peninsula jutting westward, which has a large number of political subdivisions. The northern part is taken up by Turkey; to the south of Turkey there are Syria, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and a number of smaller Arab countries. All this is part of Asia.

In the case of the Americas, the problem arises as to whether they should be considered one or two continents. There are good arguments on both sides, but since there is now a land bridge between North and South America (in the past it was often flooded) it is more logical to consider the Americas as one continent.

Politically, based mainly on history, the Americas are divided into North America, (from the Arctic to the Mexican border), Central America (from Mexico to Panama, with the Caribbean islands) and South America, Greenland is considered a section of North America, while Iceland is traditionally counted as a European island because of its political ties with the Scandinavian countries.

The island groups in the Pacific are often called "Oceania", but this name does not imply that scientists consider them the remains of a continent.

Questions:

1. How can a continent be defined?

2. What is the theory of Continental Drift?

3. In terms of geography, is Europe a separate continent?

4. Where does the line of demarcation between Europe and Asia run?

5. What is the name of the region made op by the Arab countries mentioned in the text?

6. Why is it more logical to consider the Americas as one continent?

7. What other factors (except geographical) can be taken into consideration when naming continents? Can you give an example to illustrate it?

8. Oceania, is it a continent or a region?

VI. Study the following examples of the uses of NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, WEST and their adjective forms: northern, southern, eastern, western. Try to explain the use of the definite and zero article:

The South of France southern France

South Africa (a country) southern Africa (a region)

The North Pole the southern hemisphere

West Berlin western Europe

East Germany eastern culture

South-East Asia southern Europe

South America the southern states of America

South/North Korea Northern Ireland

the south bank of the river Eastern bloc countries

VII. Show on the map the following countries. Make sure you pronounce them correctly and know their capitals.

EUROPE:

Country capital Country capital

Portugal -			Spain
France -			Switzerland
Luxembourg -			Belgium
Great Britain -			Ireland
The Netherlands -			Denmark
Norway -			Sweden
Finland -			Germany
Czech Republic -			Slovakia
Austria -			Hungary
Slovenia -			Croatia
Bosnia -			Herzegovina
Albania -			Macedonia
Greece -			Serbia
Bulgaria -			Romania
Turkey -			Poland
Moldova -			(the) Ukraine
Belarus -			Lithuania
Latvia -			Estonia

Central and Latin America

Central America is the term used to describe the counties north of South America and south of Mexico. These countries include Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. "Latin America" is the term that refers to countries in the southern half of the Western Hemisphere where the people speak Spanish, Portuguese, and French - languages that stem from Latin. However, not all of Latin America is truly "Latin". For instance, Belize, a former British colony, uses English as its official language, and Dutch is spoken in Suriname.

SOUTH AMERICA;

Country capital Country capital

Peru Ecuador

Chile Argentina

Colombia Venezuela

Guyana Suriname

French Guyana Bolivia

Brazil Paraguay

Uruguay

The CARIBBEAN

It consists of a group of island nations - including the Dominican Republic, Grenada, and Jamaica - that stretch from near the coast of Florida to the northern tip of South America. The Caribbean population is composed of many different cultures and ethnic groups.

VIII. Which parts of the world, in your opinion: a) are more populated b) tend to grow more rapidly? Compare your answers with those of your classmates:

North America, Western Europe, Africa, India, Asia, eastern Europe, Latin America.

IX. Read the text to check your answers from exercise 8:

Our Divided World

Demographically, our world is divided into two: the slowly growing portion and the rapidly growing part. The slow-growth portion includes North America, Western and eastern Europe, including the USSR, and East Asia, including china. This part of the world contains 2,3 billion people. Just under half of the world total and has an annual growth rate of 0,8 per cent.

The rapid-growing segment includes Africa, the Middle East, the India continent, Southeast Asia and Latin America. It contains 2,6 billion people and has an annual growth of 2,5 per cent, and adds 64 million people annually compared with 19 million in the slow growth portion.

X. Identify the figures from the text.

2,3 bln 0,3% 2,6 bln 64 mln 19 mln

XI. Say how these figures are correlated:

0,8 ____________19mln; 2,5_____________ 64mln.

XII. Which part of the world do they describe?

A.___________,______________ B._____________________

- Slowly growing portion - rapidly growing part

- 2,3 bln - 2,6 bln

- 0,8 % - 2,5 %

- 19 mln - 64 mln

XIII. Using Exercises 9-12, give a brief demographical picture of the modern world.

XIV. Think of a European or an American country without giving its name. Describe its geographical position for your groupmates to guess it.

Model: This country s located in Europe. In the north it boards on …, in the south it neighbours on …, and in the east it is washed by the … Sea. The country is relatively small/large. It belongs to the world region known as Scandinavia. Its capital is …

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