Unit 9. Deserts

Unit 9: DESERTS
READING
* Work in pairs. Ask and answer the following questions.
1. What do you know about deserts?
2. What kinds of plants and animals live in a desert?
3. Name some of the countries which have deserts?
They are the large area of sand without tree and water, but with severe climates, very hot during the day and very cold at night. There is very little rainfall there; very few people and animals except for in oases.
Plants: cacti, date palm, grass, etc.
Animals: Camels, snake, lizard, etc.
Australia, Mongolia, the USA and North Africa
Before you read
New words and phrases
Aerial survey ( n) [`eəriəl `sə:vei]
Royal Geographical Society of Australia ( n) [`rɔiəl dʒiə`græfikəl sə`saiəti əv ɔs`treiljə]
Australian Aborigine ( n) [ɔs`treiljən ,æbə`ridʒini:z]
Dune ( n) [dju:n]
Spinifex ( n) [`spainəfeks]

Trắc lượng trên không
Hội Địa lý Hoàng gia úc

3. Thổ dân úc

4. Cồn cát
5. Cỏ lá nhọn
TASK 1
1. d 2. c 3. a 4. b 5. f 6. e
Match the words in A with their Vietnamese equivalents in B.
Aerial survey
Australian aborigines
dunes
Spinifex
TASK 2
Decide whether the statements are True ( T), False ( F) or No Information ( N.I)

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Paragraph 1
Three great stretches of sandy desert almost circle the centre of Australia. To the north of Nullabor Plain stretches the Great Victoria Desert. In the west, the Gibbon, Great Sandy, and Tanami Deserts comprise an enormous sandy area. North of Lake Eyre lies the Simpson Desert, the last part of Australia to be explored
Paragraph 2
The Simpson desert lies between Lake Eyre in the south, the Macdonnel Ranges in the north, the Mulligan and the Diamantina Rivers in the east, and the Macumba and Finke Rivers in the west. The first European entered the Simpson Desert in 1845. But the desert remained a mystery until Madigan made an aerial survey in 1929. He named the desert after Simpson, President of the South Australian Branch of the Royal Geographical Society of Australia.
Paragraph 3
In 1936, Colson and an Australian Aborigine took camels across the desert. They travelled along the border of South Australia and the Northern Territory. Three years later Madigan led a scientific expedition across the sand dunes on a mote northerly route. Colson and Madigan both travelled eastward across the Simpson Desert.
Paragraph 4
In the Simpson Desert there are different types of dunes. In the western part of the desert, there is a network of short dunes, mostly less than 10 metres high. Hummock grasses grow in loose sand on the crest and spinifex grows in the corridors between dunes and on the more stable slopes.
Paragraph 5
In the northern part of the desert, the dunes are parallel and separated by corridors of low, open shrubland. Spinifex grows on the slopes of the dunes. These dunes are deep red – brown, but the sand is pale in the area where Queensland, South Australia and Northern Territory meet. Dry salt lakes up to 70kilometres long and 15 kilometres wide lie between long dunes with crests 20 metres high.
TASK 3
Answer the following questions
1. What are the names of the three great stretches of sandy deserts which circle the centre of Australia?
2. Where is the Simpson Desert?
3. When did the first European enter the desert?
4. Who was Simpson?
5. How did E.A Colson and an Australian aborigine travel across the desert?
6. What are the dunes like in the western and northern parts of the desert?
7. How many kinds of grass grow in the Simpson Desert? What are they?
Game
Each group takes turns to choose a question.
For each question you will have three choices A, B or C for the answer.
Whistle to have the right to answer in 12 seconds.
Raise the card to get the 2 points.
The turn is passed to the other group if the first one has a wrong answer. They will get 1 point if the answer is correct.
2
1
3
4
5
6
7
The Great Victoria Desert, Tanami Deserts and the Simpson Desert.
the Simpson Desert,The Great Victoria Desert, the Gibbon, Great Sandy and Tanami Deserts
The Great Victoria Desert, the Gibbon, and Tanami Deserts and the Simpson Desert.

1. What are the names of the three great stretches of sandy deserts which circle the centre of Australia?

In the north of Lake Eyre
In the west of the centre
To the north of Nullabor Plain
2. Where is the Simpson Desert?
3. When did the first European
enter the desert?
In 1945
In 1854
In 1845
He was the president of the Royal Geographical Society of Australia.
He was the president of the South Australia Branch of the Royal Geographical Society of Australia.
He was the president of the North Australia Branch of the Royal Geographical Society of Australia.
4. Who was Simpson?
5
How did E.A Colson and an Australian aborigine travel across the desert?

They traveled across the desert by camels.
They drove across the desert.
They flown across the desert.

In the western part, they are ---------, mostly less than 10 metres high, and in the northern part, they are -------- and are up to 20 metres high.
parallel/ short
short/ parallel
parallel/ long
6. What are the dunes like in the western and northern parts of the desert?

7. How many kinds of grass grow in the Simpson Desert? What are they?

Two kinds of grass grow in the Simpson Desert. They are ________________.
hummock grass and spinifex
hummock grass and cacti
cacti and spinifex
Homework
Learn the new words and phrase
Read the funny story in textbook page 99
Prepare for the next lesson : Unit 9 Deserts - Speaking
Thank you