Topic: Africa – soil and vegetation zones

Addressee

Elementary school student VIII

Program basis

XV Selected problems and geographical regions of Africa: the location of Africa and its impact on air circulation and distribution of atmospheric precipitation; climatic‑vegetal‑soil zone;

2) explains on the basis of the thematic maps the existence of climatic‑vegetal‑soil zonatism in Africa;

General aim of education

The student acquires knowledge and skills about the topics discussed in the classes

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• give the reasons for the symmetrical arrangement of climatic, plant and soil zones in Africa;

• provide an example of the relationship between climate, vegetation and soils in each of the African landscape zones;

• you will tell the characteristic plants and animals of the African landscape zones;

• You can read the dominant soils of individual landscape zones from the map.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• activating

  • discussion.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

• Students get acquainted with the content of the abstract. They prepare to work on the lesson in such a way to be able to summarize the material read in their own words and solve the tasks themselves.

Introduction

• The teacher explains the aim of the lesson and together with students determines the success criteria to be achieved.

• The teacher plays the recording of the abstract. Every now and then he stops it, asking the students to tell in their own words what they have just heard.This way, students practice listening comprehension.

Realization

• The teacher refers to the previous discussion of the map. He asks what affects the distribution of plant zones in Africa. Students analyze and indicate the dependence of zones on the climate. They are discussing this topic.

• The teacher emphasizes that in Africa, the climatic, plant and soil zones are symmetrical with respect to the equator, and the size and distribution of precipitation depends on the diversity of vegetation and soils..

• Work in pairs. Students, using geographical atlases, search for maps of climate, vegetation and soils in Africa and analyze the relationships between these zones.

• The teacher divides the students into 4 groups. Each group works with source materials (geography textbook, geography textbook, internet resources, geographical atlas). The teacher is giving away gray paper and markers. The task of the teams is to develop a poster in accordance with the drawn topic:
  - Mediterranean zone - vegetation, animals and soil
  - Desert and semi‑desert zone - vegetation, animals and soil
  - Savannah zone - vegetation, animals and soil
  - Equatorial forest zone - vegetation, animals and soil

• Each group presents a poster on the class forum. He uses the resources of the Internet to indicate characteristic plant and animal organisms. Indicates zones on the African wall map.

Summary

• At the summary of the lesson, students perform interactive exercises on the interactive whiteboard..

• The teacher evaluates students within one selected group. It takes into account the contribution and their possibilities. It also evaluates the work of other students..

Homework

• Listen to the abstract recording at home. Pay attention to pronunciation, accent and intonation. Learn to pronounce the words learned during the lesson.

• Make at home a note from the lesson using the sketchnoting method.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Africa – soil and vegetation zones

Africa is the second biggest continent in the world after Asia. It has an area of 30.3 million km Indeks górny 2². The solid landmass is crossed by the Equator, and the land is positioned towards it almost symmetrically. The prime meridian also goes through Africa.

Analyse and describe each of the African zones in terms of vegetation, soil and animals that can be found there. Use various sources of information (geography textbook, geography e‑textbook, Internet resources, geographical atlas). Compare your descriptions with the answers provided by other students.

Using the knowledge acquired in class, do the exercises below.

Africa has a diverse soil cover, which depends on the climate zone, vegetation cover and terrain. The soil cover is symmetrical with respect to the equator, excluding mountainous areas in the east and north of the continent and a large area of the Sahara. Equatorial Africa is dominated by the laterite soils of wet forests as well as red and reddish‑brown soils. Red soils predominate in the savanna zone. Between the savannah zone and the Sahara, there are lixisols, sporadically also black soil occurs. In the Sahara Desert and in South Africa, sandy and gravel soils are the initial soil. Salty soils, solonchak and  solonetz, are often found due to salinity. There are characteristic gray desert soils in the Sahara's interior. In the valleys of large rivers there are riverine, alluvial soils. In the Mediterranean zone there are terra rosa, brown soils, brown mountain soils and dry forest soils - these soils are characteristic soils of the Mediterranean coast. In the Great Rift Valley there are  podzoluvisols, mountain‑meadow soils and volcanic soils. The reason for the formation of red‑colored soils are iron oxides, which penetrate deep into the soil profile. The soils in the humid zone have a clay‑like consistency, while in the dry zone the soils are made up of loose particles.

African vegetation is diverse. It shows a significant relationship with climatic zones, especially with rainfall. Only in Madagascar, vegetation belts have a shape similar to the meridian, however, this is largely associated with unusual climatic conditions on the island. Regardless of the flora, vegetation of Africa exhibits a certain symmetry with respect to the equator. On the northern and southern extremities, there is a strip of damp vegetation, then stripes or patches of desert, semi‑desert, savanna and equatorial vegetation are located towards the equator.