Sequoia & Yosemite: Giant Trees and Great Rocks
Episode of the series Natural Wonders of America
- Illustrated slideshow (55 images)
- Glossary (15 words)
- Comprehension quiz (18 questions)
- Cultural notes
Extract · 30 sThe episode
The biggest tree on Earth. In the mountains of California, some sequoias are more than two thousand years old. Climbers sleep on a wall of grey rock. Long ago, rivers of ice cut a deep valley like a big letter U.
Episode worksheets (2)
- Student sheet In your teacher account
- Teacher sheet In your teacher account
Teaching guide
Objective & content
This documentary visits two national parks in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. It describes the General Sherman Tree, El Capitan, Yosemite Falls and Half Dome, then explains how ice and granite shaped the valley and why fire helps the sequoias. The script also names President Abraham Lincoln, who protected the valley in 1864, and the writer John Muir. The main language focus is present simple description of places, with past simple for dated facts, plus vocabulary of trees, rock, ice and animals. The skill practised is listening comprehension, and a typical sentence is "A river of ice is called a glacier."
Materials & prerequisites
- Student sheet and teacher sheet (PDF and HTML versions).
- Prerequisites: present simple, there is and there are, comparatives and superlatives, and a first contact with regular past simple forms.
Curriculum alignment
Tagged to the cycle 3 axis "child and living world" (c3-child-and-living-world), for 6e classes. The episode targets CEFR level A2+.
Possible adaptations
- Lower levels: Offer segmented listening and additional visual aids.
- Advanced levels: Encourage an oral summary and a debate in English on the theme.
- Large groups: Organise group work with differentiated roles.
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