1. Reading Project Rainforests

2. Task 1 Look at the pictures. You are going to read a text about rainforests.

3. Rainforests Trees do not live alone. They naturally form forests. The plants and animals that live in forests need each other to survive. There are rainforests around the equator in South America, Africa and Asia. Thousands and thousands of animals live in rainforests, including many birds, insects and reptiles. There are also thousands of different plants and a lot of tall trees. Rainforests are dark and hot and the ground is always wet. Seventy-five percent of the world’s species of living things are found there.

4. Rainforests are very important for us. The trees and the plants that live there have to purify the air that we breathe. They also have to control the weather. They give us wood, rubber, fruits and many of our medicines. The plants and trees of the rainforests grow in layers. Each layer has its own level of light and humidity, and its own kinds of animals and plants which cannot live anywhere else.

5. TASK 3 F ILL IN THE BLANKS WITH TRUE OR FALSE AS REQUIRED. Few plants, animals and insects live in the rainforests. _______ The ground is always wet in the rainforest. _______ About 50% of all species live in the rainforest. _______ Plants and animals of the rainforest grow in layers. _______ Many medicines come from the rainforest. _______

6. Emergent layer: Some trees grow higher than the canopy and reach heights up to 60 meters. Understorey layer: This is a layer of small trees under the canopy. Some of them are young trees and some are already fully grown. Canopy layer: It forms a thick covering of leaves over the rainforest and the most of the sun is absorbed by it. Shrub layer: where very small bushes grow. Herb layer: plants living here must be able to grow in deep shade.

7. TASK 4 Complete the information with the corresponding layer. Here plants grow in deep shade. __________________ Trees that break through the canopy. __________________ Small bushes grow here. __________________ Small trees under the canopy grow here. ____________ Here a thick covering of leaves absorbs the sunlight. _______

8. Credits Source: English Through Our World Level Four