Lesson video

Hello everyone.

And welcome to our geography lesson today.

My name is Ms. Harrison, and I'm going to be teaching you for this geography unit all about Brazil.

I'm so excited to be teaching you guys and to get to explore this amazing country.

Now, I wonder if you've noticed something strange behind me.

And I have been transported to the Amazon rainforest, which is a huge tropical rainforest.

It's the biggest one in the whole world.

And it's one of the features that we are going to be exploring in our geography unit together.

So let's get started.

Today, we're going to be thinking about where Brazil is in the world and we're going to be looking at some of the different geographical features we can find in Brazil.

So our lesson is going to look a bit like this.

First, we're going to have a look at the seven continents of the world and see if we can name them all.

Then we are going to locate Brazil.

We're going to find Brazil on our world map.

And we're going to be looking at the physical features and the human features we can find in the country of Brazil.

Then you're going to think about the physical and the human features that you might find in your local area.

So before we begin for our lesson today, you will need some paper to write on, you will need a pencil or a pen to write with and most importantly, you will need your big geography brain.

If you are missing any of those things, then you can pause the video now I'm going to get them.

Okay, we are ready to begin.

So my first challenge for you is to see if you can name all seven continents of the world.

You can see a map of the world with all of the continents in different colours.

And I wonder if you can remember the names of all seven continents.

I want you to have a think and write down any of those names of continents that you can think of.

So pause the video now, see if you could write some of those continents down.

Off you go.

Okay, let's see if you got any of those correct.

Let's see how many you could remember.

So first of all, we're going to start off with the big yellow continent on the left hand side.

And that is North America.

If you've written down North America, give yourself a big tick, well done.

If you haven't got it written down, just write it now so you remember it the next time.

Then we have Africa.

Next step we have Asia.

Again, give yourself a big tick if you've got those ones written down, if you haven't got them written down, that's okay, you can write them now.

Then we have Australia.

Next we have Antarctica, right in the very south of our planet.

And then we have Europe, which is the continent where we live here in the UK.

And then we've got South America.

For all of those ones that you had written down, you can give yourself a big tick.

If there are any you forgot this time round, that's okay, you can write them down now and come back to them later.

I'm going to see if you remember these in our next lesson of the unit.

Now, today, we are going to focus in on the continent of South America because South America is where we can find Brazil, which is the country with focusing on in this topic.

Now, South America is a huge continent and it is made up of 12 different countries.

There are 12 different countries in South America.

I wonder, have you heard of South America before? And how have you heard of any countries in South America? So we already know that Brazil is going to be in South America, but I want you to have a think to see if you can remember any other countries in South America, you can pause the video, have a think.

If you want to write them down, then you can, if not just see if you can think of them in your head.

Okay, let's see how many of those countries you could remember.

Now there are 12 different countries within South America and there's one country or there's one area that's not a country in itself, it's owned by France, it's a territory of France and we're going to come to that in a moment.

So our countries of South America, we're going to start off with countries in the south, which is Argentina.

Then we have the country of Chile.

North of Argentina, we have Uruguay.

Then we have Paraguay.

Over to the west we have Bolivia.

The North of Bolivia, we have Peru.

Over on the east, we have Brazil, which is what we're going to focus on in this unit.

Then above Peru, we've got Ecuador.

Followed by Columbia.

And then over here, we have French Guyana.

And that's the place that's not a country by itself, but it's a territory of France.

That means it's a part of France, even though France is all the way in Europe.

So it's not a country by itself, it's part of France.

Then above French Guyana, we have Suriname.

Then we have Venezuela and then right in the very North of the continent, we have Guyana.

So those are all of the countries within South America.

And we're going to focus on just one of those countries in our unit.

And that is Brazil.

Now, Brazil as a country is really huge.

It's the fifth largest country in the whole world.

And it's a very diverse country.

That means that there are lots of different places with different landscapes and different places where people live.

It borders with 10 other countries in South America, because it's so huge, it takes up and lots of the continent.

And there are many different landscapes and many different types of human settlement within Brazil.

And we're going to look at some of those in our geography unit.

So when we think about the geography of a country, we can divide it into physical features and human features.

And we're going to have a little look at what we mean by those two terms. So if you look at the green box, our physical geographical features are things that occur naturally on the landscape of the earth.

So things that aren't made by humans, they're just there because they're a natural part of the earth.

Examples of physical features are things like mountains and lakes and beaches and rainforest.

They're things that aren't made by humans, they're things that are natural on the earth, so they are physical features.

Then if you look at the pink box, our human geographical features are things related to the behaviour of humans.

So they might be built or created by humans or used by humans.

For example, cities and villages, shops, factories, and schools are all examples of human geographical features.

And we're going to look at some of the physical features and some of the human features we can find in the country of Brazil.

So let's start off by looking at the different physical features we can find in Brazil.

Now, Brazil is a huge country with lots of different features and we're just going to look at some of them today.

First off, we have the Amazon rainforest, which I mentioned to you at the start of our lesson.

The Amazon rainforest is the largest tropical rainforest in the world.

And rainforests have a very warm and a very wet climate.

And that means that lots of different plants and animals can grow and survive there.

And actually 1 in 10 animal species on the whole planet lives in the Amazon rainforest.

There are loads of different animals that live there.

And the majority of the rainforest is located within Brazil, but it's so big that it stretches even into other countries in South America.

And throughout the rainforest, as you can see in the picture, the Amazon river runs through it.

And it's a really long river, it's the second longest river in the whole world.

And it's 6,840 kilometres long.

Whew, that's a really long river.

Now the Amazon rainforest is really important, not only in South America, but for the whole world, because it's often referred to as the lungs of the earth.

Now we know that lungs help us to breathe in our body.

And the Amazon rainforest actually helps all humans to breathe on earth because the trees trap the carbon and they release oxygen, which helps keep the whole planet healthy.

So it's a really, really important part of not only South America, but all life on our planet.

So that's one physical feature we can find in Brazil.

The next one is a mountain and it's called Pico de Neblina and it's the highest peak in Brazil.

And it's 2,994 metres tall, that's really tall.

It's higher than any mountain here in the UK.

And you can see that it's in the Northwest of Brazil, on the border with Venezuela.

And its name, Pico de Neblina means the foggy mountain or the mountain in the clouds.

And that's because it's so high that often the top of the mountain is within the clouds in the sky.

So we've looked at the rainforest, we've looked at a mountain.

Another physical feature we can find in Brazil is the Iguacu falls.

Now the Iguacu falls are lots of waterfalls that are really, really huge.

And they're in the south of Brazil on the border with Argentina.

So there are lots of rivers that run through Brazil and the Iguacu river is the one that creates these waterfalls.

So part of the river, as it flows over the rocks crashes down as a waterfall.

And these are the largest system of waterfalls in the whole world, and they're really amazing place to visit.

So we've looked at waterfalls, we've looked at a rainforest and we've looked at a mountain.

Another really important physical feature of Brazil is the coastal Plains.

So Brazil has one of the longest coastlines in the world and it's on the east of the country and on the east of the continent of South America and the coastline of Brazil runs for 7,400 kilometres.

So it's a really, really long coastline.

Now it's very, very well known, and Brazil is very well known for its white sandy beaches and it's warm climate.

So it's a great place to go and swim in the sea or to relax on the beach.

And it's very popular with tourists and people visiting Brazil.

So now we thought about some different physical features we can find in Brazil like the beaches, like waterfalls, like mountains and rainforest.

I want you to think about the place where you live, and I want you to think about different physical features that you can find in your local area.

They might be similar to the ones in Brazil, or they might be different.

So I want you to write me a sentence that looks like this.

I live in.

Some physical features in my area are.

And then have a think about what they are.

So for example, I live in London and some physical features in my area are some parks with lots of trees in them and the River Thames runs through the city of London.

So those are two things that are natural features of the landscape and not created by humans.

So they are physical features where I live in London.

I want you to think about the place where you live, and I'd like you to write a sentence about the physical features you can find in your area, pause the video now and have a go.

Okay, fantastic work, everyone.

You should now have loads of physical features in your head that you can find in your local area.

Now we're going to move on to the other type of geographical feature which are different, human features.

So we're going to look for different human features in Brazil.

Now Brazil is a really big country and it has a really big population.

That means lots of people live there.

And actually the population of Brazil is over 212 million people, which is really, really high.

The main language spoken across Brazil is Portuguese and people in Brazil live in lots of different types of settlements.

They range from huge urban cities to smaller rural towns or villages.

So just like here in the UK, people live in lots of different places.

Now, one place where lots of people live in Brazil is the capital city and the capital city is called Brasilia and it's in central Brazil.

And it has a population of 2.

48 million people.

So lots of people live in the city.

And there are lots of human features within the city like houses like roads and factories and offices and shops, and also modern buildings like the one you can see on the right hand side, which is the Catedral Metropolitana, which is the cathedral, the main cathedral in the city of Brasilia.

So that's one example of some human features we can find in Brazil.

Let's have a look at another big city.

Another big and famous city in Brazil is Rio de Janeiro.

And it's the second largest city in Brazil with over 13 million people that live there.

So that's a lot of people, even more than the capital city.

And there were, again, lots of different human features, like different types of houses, hotels, offices, and restaurants.

And it also has physical features within the city, like the Sugarloaf Mountain which is a tall mountain, you can see in the picture and Copacabana Beach.

We're going to look at those features in depth in another one of our Brazil lessons.

Now there are also some smaller cities and towns within Brazil for example, Salvador.

Salvador is a smaller city in Brazil.

So there are less tall, high rise, skyscraper buildings like there are in Rio de Janeiro or in Brasilia.

And Salvador is on the coast.

So it's really important for its port and for trades like fishing.

So there are lots of different types of houses and you can see from the pictures that they look slightly different to the other cities as well.

And then some people in Brazil live in even smaller places.

So they might live in rural villages, which means villages that are in the countryside.

For example, in the Amazon rainforest, there are lots of villages where different people live.

Like you can see in the picture on your screen or villages within the hills and countrysides, like you can see on the right hand side of your screen.

So there are lots of really different places within the country of Brazil, where people live.

And lots of different human features and within those cities and towns and villages.

So now you're going to go back to where you live.

So thinking again about the area where you live, within the UK.

Which different human features can you find in your area.

So again, you're going to make me some sentences, but now thinking about the human features you can find.

So things that are made or used by humans.

For example, I live in the city of London and some human features in my area are things like shops and restaurants and schools and train stations.

There are lots of train stations in London as well.

So those are different human features that I can find.

So, oh, I can see on the slide, it says physical features, but now remember team that we're looking for human geographical features or things that are made by humans.

Pause the video now and write some sentences about the human features in your area.

Have a go.

Well done everybody.

So now we have thought about the physical features and the human features that can be found in both Brazil and in our local area, in the UK.

That's the end of our lesson for today and well done for all of your hard work.

I hope that you have enjoyed learning a little bit about Brazil.

We're going to carry on learning more about this amazingly interesting country in our next geography lessons.

Now, if you have enjoyed our lesson today, and you've been really proud of the work that you've done, you might want to share that work with the Oak National Team.

If you would like to do that, then you can ask a parent or carer to take a photo of the work that you've done and to share that photo on social media, tagging @OakNational, with the hashtag #LearnwithOak.

That way, some of your teachers might be able to see the amazing work that you are doing at home.

So I hope you enjoyed our lesson today, I really did.

And I will see you next time for more of the geography of Brazil.