Lesson video

Hello, my name is Miss Gilliat and I'm going to be your geography teacher for today.

Today, we are on the third lesson of the Hot Places unit and we are going to be learning about hot deserts.

We're gonna look about where the hot deserts can be located.

We're gonna be looking at their climate, what plants and animals you can find there, and how the people that live in the hot deserts are able to survive in such extreme environments.

We've got loads of interesting things to learn about and I can't wait to teach you.

Let's get going.

Our lesson outcome for today is that you can use atlases, globes and maps to locate and also describe what hot deserts are like.

We've got three key words for today's lesson.

First of all, I'm going to say the keyword, and I'd like you to repeat it back to me to make sure that we are pronouncing it correctly.

The first key word is hot desert.

Second, soil.

And third, climate change.

I'll go through what the keywords mean now.

So hot deserts are areas on Earth which are very hot and very dry, having less than 250 millimetres of rainfall for a whole year.

Soil is the loose upper layer of the Earth's surface where plants grow and is formed by tiny particles of rock, dead plants and animals, air and water.

Climate change is a large-scale and long-term change in the planet's climate, including weather patterns and average temperatures.

You might have heard about climate change on the news or social media.

We've got two learning cycles for the Hot Deserts lesson.

So first of all, we're going to look at what is the climate like in hot deserts, and second, we're going to look at what life is like for the people that live in the Sahara Desert.

So let's get going with the first learning cycle, learning what the climate is like in hot desert environments.

Now to start off with, we're gonna learn about where hot deserts are located.

Most hot deserts of the world are located near the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.

So if we have a look at the map that I've got on the slide here, we can see that the areas that have been shaded in yellow are where hot deserts are located.

Now we can see that the biggest area that's been shaded in yellow is in Northern Africa.

This is where the Sahara Desert is located, and it is the largest desert in the world.

The reason that why deserts are located by the tropics is because it is extremely hot there, as the sun's rays are really, really strong, but also, there is very little rainfall, usually less than 250 millilitres for a whole year.

That's not very much at all.

As I've just said, the Sahara Desert is the largest hot desert in the world, and it's located in Northern Africa.

What you could do is do a little bit of research and find out some of the other major deserts of the world and find out where they're located.

The picture I've got on the left is someone looking out across the Sahara Desert.

That kind of gives you the scale of how big it is.

If you have stood there, you can look for miles and miles on end and not be able to see any living things.

The area that's been highlighted there is where hot deserts are located, where the Sahara desert is located, sorry.

Let's check our understanding.

What is the name of the largest hot desert in the world? Is it A, the Gobi desert? B, the Mojave desert, or C, the Sahara desert? The answer's C, the Sahara desert, located in Northern Africa.

The Sahara desert gets less than 10 centimetres of rainfall every year, and the temperature is usually between 30 and 50 degrees Celsius during the day.

This is extremely hot.

This information on the slide here is giving the climate of the desert.

Now, if we remember, the climate of an area is what you can usually expect to see.

That's not to say that sometimes that the Sahara desert does get slightly cooler temperatures, or sometimes it might receive a little bit less rainfall or more rainfall, but this is the climate, okay? It's what it usually sees.

So very little rain and extremely hot temperatures.

Now, to put that in perspective, the average temperature in the UK is 11 degrees C.

That's nearly five times our temperature that we see in the UK.

It's really hot.

I've got a question for you.

What do plants need to grow? Either think to yourself or discuss with the person you're sat next to.

Plants need sunlight and they need water.

They use these two things to photosynthesize, which is when they make their own food so that they can grow.

Now, in the desert, we've just learned that there is a lot of sunlight, which is good for plants.

However, there is very little water because there's very little rain, and that makes it extremely difficult for plants to grow.

If we have a look on my slide, we can see on the picture, this is another photo from the Sahara desert, that there are very few plants in the photograph.

Now, there are a couple of bushes.

Now, the plants that do grow in the desert have special features which allow them to grow, but they are generally very few and far between, and often, they'll die because there's not enough water.

Cactus plants have adapted to live in hot deserts.

On the slide, we've got a picture of a cactus.

Have you got any cactuses at home? I've got a couple in my bathroom.

So cactus plants have spines instead of leaves, which help them save water.

Now, the reason that they do this, because a spine is smaller and thinner, it means that it's got less space for water to come out of the leaf.

So in doing so, it helps keep the water in the plant.

It conserves it or it saves it within its body.

They also have big, thick fleshy stems that the spines grow off, and within those big fleshy stems, they can keep the water safe and keep it within them, again, meaning that less escapes and all the water that they do absorb, they keep for themselves.

Some animals manage to live in the desert as well, so animals that do live in the desert also have special features, which allow them to be able to survive there.

On the slide here, we've got pictured two camels.

Now, camels have humps on their back, which store fat.

Now, within that fat there is water, which also they can save and conserve, so to help them survive.

So sometimes they might go for days without drinking any water, but they can use the the water in the fat to live off.

They also have really wide, flat feet, that helps them walk along the sand easier, okay, because they've got a larger surface area, so they're less likely when they put their their foot onto the sand, it's less likely to sink in.

It spreads out nice and wide.

Let's check our understanding.

The Sahara desert has A, less than 10 centimetres of rain each year? B, many leafy plants and trees, or C temperatures of 30 to 50 degrees Celsius during the day? The answer is A, less than 10 centimetres of rainfall each year, and also C, temperatures are 30 to 50 degrees Celsius during the day.

It doesn't have many plants and trees.

You may have heard of something called climate change on the news or on social media.

Over time, our Earth has been getting warmer, and that is what climate change is.

The climate change that we are seeing at the moment is because of burning fossil fuels, which is releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Now, that is meaning that some places on Earth are also seeing changes in their climate.

Now, overall, globally, planets, the planet is getting warmer, but some places are actually getting wetter, so they are receiving more rainfall, and some places are be getting even drier, so they are receiving less rainfall.

Now, every year, the Sahara desert has been growing.

The reason for that is, is that the area surrounding the Sahara desert is becoming drier.

Now, this area surrounding the Sahara used to be really good farmland called the Sahel, so lots of people lived there and they were able to grow crops, to be able to eat themselves and sell.

However, because this area is becoming too hot and too dry, unfortunately, it's becoming very difficult for farmers to grow crops there, and because the soil is becoming of too poor quality.

That is meaning that people that live around the Sahara desert in these regions called the Sahel are having to leave their homes because it's becoming too hot to live, and they can't grow crops on the poor quality soil anymore.

Let's check our understanding.

True or false, the Sahara desert is growing in size every year? That's true.

Can you justify your answer? A, the Sahara desert is growing in size every year because of climate change, or B, the Sahara Desert is growing in size every year because of the wind? The answer's A, it's growing every year because of climate change, unfortunately.

Let's move on to a task.

On the slide, we've got some pictures or a picture of the Sahara desert.

What I would like you to do is label the photograph with different facts that you've learned about the Sahara desert.

So examples, you could put about the temperature, the amount of rainfall it receives, where it's located, how the plants are able to survive within the desert.

I've done one label for you to get you going.

Pause the video and have a go at the task.

Check your labels compared to mine.

Let's see what we've got.

The Sahara desert is located in North Africa.

Not much can grow, there are very few plants here.

There is very little rainfall, less than 10 centimetres every year, and temperatures are usually between 30 and 50 degrees Celsius.

Can you add any extra detail to your picture? Have I missed anything out from mine? We're now moving on to the second learning cycle, which is looking at what life is like for the people that live within the Sahara desert.

Not many people live in hot deserts because of the lack of water.

The reason there isn't much water there is because there is very little rainfall.

What do we use water for? Discuss with your partner or make a note by yourself.

We use water for lots of things, drinking, cooking, washing, watering plants, but that by all means, is not all of them.

We use water for so many different things.

Now, that means if we don't have water, it is very hard to live because we use it and we need it.

It's a necessity for everyday life.

Now, because there is very little rainfall in the deserts, it means that the soil is very poor quality, which means it is not good, it is not good soil, and therefore, plants find it very difficult to grow.

That means for the people, we also find it hard to live there.

People need plants.

We need them to eat, and we also grow animals or keep animals to eat.

They need to eat the plants too, so without water, we have poor soil.

Without soil or good soil, we won't be able to grow plants and without the plants, we can't live there.

If you have a look on the picture that I've got there, we can see it's really, really sandy, and that means that there's not very good soil in that area.

Let's check our understanding.

Why don't many people live in hot deserts? Is it because it's A, unsafe? B, there is a lot of crime, or C, there is not enough water? The answer's C, there's not enough water.

As I said, not many people live in the desert because it's really, really difficult.

However, there are a group of people that are able to live in the desert, called the Tuareg people, and they have been living in the Sahara for hundreds and hundreds of years.

Here's a photograph of some of the Tuareg people.

They're very impressive that they're able to live in such extreme conditions.

Having a look at the slide here, what can you see that they are doing, which is helping them survive there? I can see that they're all covered up, which protects them from the sun.

The Tuareg people have to survive in very extreme conditions.

Now, they have a nomadic lifestyle.

This means that they don't just live in one place.

Instead, they keep moving around, so they're moving from place to place within the Sahara desert.

The reason that they move is that they're in search for water, so they can grow and use for drinking and cooking, but also so their animals can graze.

So there are some parts of the Sahara desert, where some plants are able to grow, so the Tuareg people will bring their animals over to that area, which then their animals can feed off, and then once they've used all that resource up, they will then move on to another area of the desert.

That's called a nomadic lifestyle.

So you're not staying in one place, you're moving around.

The Tuareg people live in tents.

This gives them shade from the hot sun, but it also protects them from the wind and the sand.

Even though it is very hot in the desert, it is also extremely windy and sometimes, you get things called sandstorms, where the wind is so strong that it moves vast amounts of sand in one big go.

Now, that can be really quite dangerous and scary 'cause it can be really, really hard to see.

The tents protect the Tuareg people from those sandstorms. Now you might be thinking, well, what do the people eat if there's not many plants for them to grow? So they eat a lot of milk and cheese, which they're able to get from their animals.

Let's check our understanding.

True or false, the Tuareg people living in the Sahara desert move around from place to place? That is true.

Can you justify your answer? Is it because A, the Tuareg people move around to find water and land to put their animals on? Or B, because the Tuareg people move around to search for precious metals? The answer is A, they move around to find water and for land to put their animals on.

We're now onto task B.

So what I would like you to do is imagine that you are on holiday in the Sahara desert.

You're going to write a postcard to a friend or a family member, telling them about your trip.

You could include what the desert is like, what the climate is like.

Now remember, climate is the average weather for the area.

The activities that you have done whilst you're in the Sahara desert.

Pause the video and have a go at writing a postcard to a family member or a friend.

Here's my example postcard on the slide.

Dear Laura, who's one of my good friends, I'm having a great holiday in the Sahara desert.

I have met some people called the Tuareg.

They travel on their camels.

It is very hot and I have to wear a lot of sun cream.

There is no rain and it is very dry and dusty here.

The plants are all prickly cacti.

Have you included any similar facts? Maybe you could add a bit more detail to your answer.

I think I could have put a little bit more detail in mine.

On the slide, we've got a summary of today's lesson.

Hot deserts are located along the Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn, which are special lines of latitude.

They have extremely high temperatures during the day and very little rainfall.

The largest hot desert in the world is called the Sahara desert in Northern Africa.

Climate change is making conditions there hotter and drier, so the desert is growing and that's meaning that some people are having to leave their homes.

There is not enough water to grow crops, and the soils are very poor.

People who live in the Sahara are from a nomadic group of people called the Tuareg, so they move around in different areas of the desert to live.

Now, that's it for the rest of this lesson.

You've done a brilliant job.

There's been loads of interesting facts that we've learned there.

I've really enjoyed teaching you.

I hope that you've enjoyed the lesson and let's do a little bit more research on the Sahara.

Hope you have a lovely rest of your day, bye.