Topic: Taiga – vast coniferous forests

Supplementary material for use in lessons in the group of natural sciences (nature, biology, chemistry, geography, physics), additional classes, science clubs. It can serve as a resource for expanding knowledge, preparing students for science competitions.

Target group

5th‑grade students of elementary school (geography).

Core curriculum

Grade V – Geography
IV. Landscapes of the world: humid equatorial forest and temperate forest, savannah and steppe, hot and ice desert, taiga and tundra, Mediterranean, high altitude Himalayas; zonation and climatological vegetation in the world. Pupil:
3) presents the main features and compares the known landscapes of the world and recognizes them in descriptions, films and illustrations;

General aim of education

Students are characterized by the conditions prevailing in the taiga.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• indicate places where taiga occurs on the map;

• exchange the components of the taiga landscape;

• describe the climatic conditions prevailing in the taiga area;

• explain why people are settling in the taiga.

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;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers;

• large sheets of paper with a continental outline, glue, scissors, crayons.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

• Before the lesson, the teacher asks students to look for small photos of taiga landscapes in colorful magazines.

Introduction

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

Realization

• The teacher asks students to read the abstract, paying special attention to information about the taiga landscape.

• Teams receive their own work - a map of the world. Using the map Placing the taiga on the globe, the students mark the place where the taiga appears on posters. Posters give to the teacher.

• Using the knowledge of the lesson about the Earth's Climate Zones and the abstract, the students describe the climatic conditions in the area in the notebook, and then compare the records in the group, correcting possible errors.

• The teacher asks students to carry out the recommended interactive exercise themselves.

• Participants familiarize themselves with the content presented in the interactive illustration. Then the teacher discusses the issues with the students.

Summary

• At the end of the lesson the teacher asks: If there was going to be a test on the material we have covered today, what questions do you think would you have to answer? If the students do not manage to name all the most important questions, the teacher may complement their suggestions.

Homework

• Develop a lap book containing issues learned during the lesson and bring your work to the next class.

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

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Taiga – vast coniferous forests

Taiga occupies vast areas of the northern hemisphere and stretch from the northern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula, through northern territories of the European part of the Russian Federation, Siberia, certain islands and peninsulas of the Far East and the greater part of Alaska and Canada.

The cool temperate climate zone on the northern hemisphere is characterised by severe climatic conditions. Winter lasts even up to 7 months there. In certain places, air temperature drops below –50°C. Spring and autumn are short, cold, cloudy and windy. Summer is short, sunny and warm, with an average air temperature of approximately 20°C, albeit quite dry. Rainfall per annum doesn’t exceed 600 mm, usually less. Such climate is called the dry continental climate.

The harsh climate means that only plants that are adapted to a very long and cold winter as well as animals with thick and warm fur can survive there. Taiga is the largest coniferous forest area in the world. Trees have a widespread and shallow root system, as at the depth of approx. 1–3 metres there is a layer of frozen rock called permafrost. It exists on extremely vast areas of our planet and its thickness is highly diverse, varying from 1 to 1600 m. In the summer, only the surface layer of soil thaws, its thickness varied. As water cannot be absorbed into the substrate due to it being frozen, a boggy marsh is formed on the surface. Widespread roots of the trees help them survive in soggy soil.

Taiga is an area that is very unfriendly to humans. For many months in the year it’s extremely cold. In the summer, there are millions of mosquitoes and small but blood‑sucking flies. The surface is covered in mud due to the shallow permafrost layer. There aren’t many areas suitable to build houses.

Despite the adverse conditions, humans have continued to settle in the taiga for a long time. At the beginning, these were primarily hunters hunting for various animals due to the high price of their furs and pelts. Fishermen also arrived, as in the summer period it’s possible to catch fish in big rivers. The next to arrive we lumberjacks that felled large tracts of forests.

The territories covered by the taiga are rich in metal ore, coal, oil and natural gas deposits as well as other resources, such as precious stones. However, it was only in the 20th century when technological progress made it possible to build mines, smelting plants, power plants and manufacturing plants as well as houses for workers in the taiga that the mining of its natural resources began on a mass scale.

• The coniferous forest known as taiga grows in the cold part of the temperate continental climate zone and covers the largest area.

• Winter in the taiga is long and cold, whereas summer is short and warm.

• Taiga can be found only in the northern hemisphere.

• People living in the taiga live off of hunting, felling trees, mining and other industrial operations.