Lesson video

Hi there, and welcome to today's geography lesson.

I am Ms. Roberts.

And today, I'm taking you through a lesson about a small country called Tuvalu.

This lesson is part of our unit about coasts, and we are investigating what shapes life at the coast.

Today we'll find out about life in this island nation of Tuvalu.

By the end of the lesson today, you'll be able to describe some aspects of both the physical and human geography of Tuvalu.

So, let's begin by looking at some useful keywords that you will hear a lot in this lesson.

It would be really good if you could use these words yourself as well when you are talking about Tuvalu.

You've heard me say the first key phrase already, and that is island nation.

The U.

K.

is also an island nation.

It's a country that does not share any land borders with any other country.

It is surrounded entirely by water.

It is an island.

Next we have coral or coral reef.

Coral are tiny marine organisms that can accumulate over millions of years.

And when they accumulate into much larger structures, they form something called a coral reef.

We only find these in tropical waters around the world, and we're going to see how they form and why they're important to Tuvalu in this lesson.

The next keyword is an atoll.

And atoll is a type of coral reef, and it's an atoll because it's a coral reef that's shaped like a ring.

So, there is a water body in the middle, which takes us nicely to our next keyword, which is lagoon, because lagoon is the word for that water body in the middle of the atoll.

Finally, very important for the life of people in Tuvalu is subsistence farming.

A subsistence farmer is a farmer that farms purely to feed themselves and their family.

It's not someone that farms for profit.

So, subsistence farming is very small-scale, localised farming that people do for their own benefit.

There are two parts to the lesson today.

First of all, let's begin by finding out where Tuvalu is and what it's like there.

And then later, we're gonna think about how that situation creates challenges for the people of Tuvalu.

So, here we can see circled, the country of Tuvalu.

Those tiny little dots within that circle, they are the islands that make up the country of Tuvalu.

Tuvalu is in the Pacific Ocean, and it is part of the continent of Oceania.

Tuvalu is made of nine islands.

So, we've zoomed in a bit here and now.

So, you can see those tiny little dots, they're these islands that you can see more clearly now.

I'm not going to try to pronounce all of them, but we are going to look at a few of them in some more detail in the lesson.

Tuvalu is surrounded entirely by ocean waters, so it's surrounded entirely by seawater, salty seawater.

And together these nine islands make up the country of Tuvalu.

The area known as Fongafale, which is the red dot there, is the most highly populated residential area in Tuvalu.

The island of Funafuti serves as the nation's capital.

Tuvalu has a tropical climate because of its location.

It has two seasons, a dry season, which lasts from May to October, and a very, very wet, windy season from November to April.

So, this means that throughout a year, Tuvalu can experience tropical storms and cyclones, as well as periods of drought.

So, have you been listening so far? Let's check what we know about Tuvalu.

In which ocean is it? Are you ready? It's in the Pacific Ocean.

Well done if you remembered that fact.

Take a look at those islands.

What do you notice about their shape? How would you describe those islands? Perhaps you could pause the video now and talk to a partner about what you can see on the map.

Did you notice how the islands are made of very, very narrow strips of land and there's so much seawater, lots of them have these bodies of water or lagoons in the middle of them? Well, the reason for these islands looking the way they do and being the shape they are is because of their formation, which has taken place over millions and millions of years.

The islands of Tuvalu are made from coral.

Coral is a living organism.

You can see some coral here in the pictures.

And situated right on top of that coral reef is the land which is used by the people of Tuvalu.

Coral accumulates over millions of years to form these large reefs, islands, and atolls.

Let's look now at atolls in a little more detail.

This satellite image shows the island of Nukulaelae.

This is an example of a coral atoll.

And several of the islands of Tuvalu, including this one are atolls.

Atolls are these ring-shaped islands that are formed by coral reefs, with a large body of seawater in the middle called a lagoon.

I think this one actually looks a little bit shaped like a footprint.

You might be wondering, "Well, how does that happen? Why do they get this ring shape? Where does that ring come from? How does that water get there in the middle?" Coral atolls form when a coral reef grows around a small volcanic island.

Gradually, the island subsides over time and erodes away, and it leaves behind the ring shaped reef that was surrounding it.

The area in the middle where the island has subsided is called the lagoon.

So, we start with the volcanic island and the coral begins to form around that island.

But over time, natural processes like erosion happen, and the volcano eventually sinks.

It erodes away and sinks and becomes extinct.

The coral that's left behind is the atoll.

And that's what's happened here in many of the islands of Tuvalu, like Nukulaelae.

So, quick quiz before we do anything else.

Three questions here for you.

I would like you to answer them as quickly as you can.

Are you ready? Okay, let's go.

How many islands is Tuvalu made of? Nine.

Well done.

What are the islands of Tuvalu made of? Coral.

Excellent.

And what is a ring-shaped coral island called? An atoll.

Good job.

Well done.

Now, coral has a structure that we can describe as porous.

That means there are lots of teeny, tiny, little holes all over it.

And because of that structure, seawater can easily penetrate through coral.

The seawater bubbles up through the tiny holes towards the land above, and this keeps happening.

The seawater keeps bubbling and bubbling and bubbling up through the coral.

Now, think about it.

If that happens, and that seawater that's bubbling through the porous coral finds its way all the way to that surface, to that land that the people are using, it can spill out onto it.

Because what's gonna happen, it's gonna bubble all the way up through the top, then it gets to the land.

It's not gonna bubble all the way back down.

It's going to spill out onto the land around it.

And when that happens, local floods are caused.

Flooding can affect roads, homes, it can affect farming and businesses on the Tuvaluan islands like Funafuti, which you can see here.

This is where the international airport is located.

Floods can stop daily life from happening until flood water subsides.

So, quick question.

Why can seawater penetrate coral so easily? A, coral is many different shapes, B, coral is porous, or C, coral is a living organism.

Are you ready? It's B.

It's because of the porous structure of coral that it allows that seawater.

Did you notice how the islands are made of very, very narrow strips of land, and there's so much seawater, lots of them have these bodies of water or lagoons in the middle of them? Well, the reason for these islands looking the way they do and being the shape they are is because of their formation, which has taken place over millions and millions of years.

The islands of Tuvalu are made from coral.

Coral is a living organism.

You can see some coral here in the pictures.

And situated right on top of that coral reef is the land which is used by the people of Tuvalu.

Coral accumulates over millions of years to form these large reefs, islands, and atolls.

Let's look now at atolls in a little more detail.

This satellite image shows the island of Nukulaelae.

This is an example of a coral atoll.

And several of the islands of Tuvalu, including this one, are atolls.

Atolls are these ring-shaped islands that are formed by coral reefs with a large body of sea seawater in the middle called a lagoon.

I think this one actually looks a little bit shaped like a footprint.

You might be wondering, "Well, how does that happen? Why do they get this ring shape? Where does that ring come from? How does that water get there in the middle?" Coral atolls form when a coral reef grows around a smaller volcanic island.

Gradually, the island subsides over time and erodes away and it leaves behind the ring-shaped reef that was surrounding it.

The area in the middle where the island has subsided is called the lagoon.

So, we start with the volcanic island, and the coral begins to form around that island.

But over time, natural processes like erosion happen and the volcano eventually sinks.

It erodes away and sinks and becomes extinct.

The coral that's left behind is the atoll, and that's what's happened here in many of the islands of Tuvalu, like Nukulaelae.

So, quick quiz before we do anything else.

Three questions here for you.

I would like you to answer them as quickly as you can.

Are you ready? Okay, let's go.

How many islands is Tuvalu made of? Nine.

Well done.

What are the islands of Tuvalu made of? Coral.

Excellent.

And what is a ring-shaped coral island called? An atoll.

Good job.

Well done.

Now, coral has a structure that we can describe as porous.

That means there are lots of teeny, tiny, little holes all over it.

And because of that structure, seawater can easily penetrate through coral.

The seawater bubbles up through the tiny holes towards the land above, and this keeps happening.

The seawater keeps and bubbling and bubbling up through the coral.

Now, think about it.

If that happens and that seawater that's bubbling through the porous coral finds its way all the way to that surface, to that land that the people are using, it can spill out onto it.

Because what's gonna happen, it's gonna bubble all the way up through the top.

Then it gets to the land.

It's not gonna bubble all the way back down.

It's going to spill out onto the land around it.

And when that happens, local floods are caused.

Flooding can affect roads, homes, it can affect farming and businesses on the Tuvaluan islands like Funafuti, which you can see here.

This is where the international airport is located.

Floods can stop daily life from happening until flood water subsides.

So, quick question.

Why can seawater penetrate coral so easily? A, coral is many different shapes, B, coral is porous, or C, coral is a living organism.

Are you ready? It's B.

It's because of the porous structure of coral that it allows that seawater to bubble through.

Let's stop now and use everything we know so far about Tuvalu to complete some activities together.

You will see a map.

The title is missing, as are three labels.

They are provided for you.

I would like you to put the right labels in the right place.

And finally, I would like you to do a little bit of writing.

Just a short paragraph to explain why flooding is increased in Tuvalu because coral is porous.

Pause the video now, and when you come back, I will share some example answers with you.

All done? Great stuff.

Okay, let's start by having a look at the map.

The title should be Tuvalu.

The labels that are missing are the Pacific Ocean there on the left-hand side.

Then we have a label pointing to an atoll.

And then we have a label pointing to a lagoon.

Did you get all of those in the right place? Good job.

And finally, a little paragraph about why flooding happens in Tuvalu.

Porous means that seawater can travel freely through coral because it has many tiny holes in its structure.

So, the seawater bubbles up through the coral towards the surface.

And if it reaches the land, then it can spill out and cause local floods.

Did you have similar ideas? Good job.

We're moving into the second half of our lesson now, and we're gonna think more about the Tuvaluan people.

We are gonna think about what challenges they face in life on the Tuvaluan islands.

Tuvalu, as you know, is a very, very small country.

In fact, it's around the third smallest country in the world.

There it is there, those nine tiny little dots there.

Just to give you some idea of how small that is by comparison, that huge landmass there is Australia, and that has an area of 7,688,287 kilometres square.

And slightly smaller, but still massively bigger than Tuvalu is New Zealand, which has an area of 286,680 kilometres.

So, you can really get an idea there of just how small Tuvalu is.

Now, just because it's a small nation doesn't mean that it doesn't face big challenges.

Many families in Tuvalu tend to use the small plots of available land that they do have for subsistence farming.

There are a lot of very popular crops that grow well in Tuvalu.

Coconuts are one of the biggest crops in Tuvalu.

And that's not just because they're a very tasty fruit, which they are, but also when that fruit is harvested and you take the pulp and you process it down, you can create coconut milk, and that's the primary use of coconuts in Tuvalu, because that coconut milk can be transformed into other things as an ingredient as well as as a milk itself.

They also grow a lot of breadfruits, which is used a lot in desserts.

And a taro, which is a very hardy crop.

It's very similar to potato, so it can be used as a potato substitute in a lot of dishes.

Now, when those localised floods happen that we were talking about just before, those small plots of lands that are used by those Tuvaluan families for their subsistence farming, those plots of land becomes saturated with the seawater.

All that seawater's bubbled up through the coral, spilled out onto the land, and that's the farming land that's used by the Tuvaluan people, and it's now covered, as you can see in this photo, by seawater.

Ultimately, the result of this is that any soil that was there is now poisoned because of all of the salt in the seawater.

Crops can't grow in those contaminated soils anymore.

They can't tolerate the salt.

So, as a result of that, food supply can be reduced for the people of Tuvalu.

Let's have a quick multiple choice question before we move on.

Why can't crops grow after floods in Tuvalu? Pause the video now, read the sentences, and decide which you think is the best reason.

Have you chosen? Okay.

The reason is because the soil is contaminated with salt.

Crops like coconut, breadfruits, and taro can't grow in salty soils.

So, the opposite of saltwater from the oceans is freshwater from the rain, from rivers, and from streams. But the problem is that there are no rivers in Tuvalu.

There's no rivers, there's no lakes, there aren't even any small streams. The only type of accumulated ground water comes from rainfall, and that's found in very limited amounts on just two of the nine islands.

There are lots and lots of reasons why this lack of access to freshwater is a huge challenge for the people of Tuvalu.

Let's begin with probably the most obvious thing, humans and animals can't drink seawater.

It's not part of our diet.

We can't drink it because of the high salt content, which would make humans and animals very sick.

So, what's the alternative then? Bottled water, like you can see here, water supplies of bottled water can be shipped in, but this is very expensive.

And other freshwater supplies that are available, the groundwater, for example, from accumulated rainfall, that just runs out very quickly.

So, shipping in water's too expensive, the groundwater is running out, and that means that people and animals can suffer from dehydration.

Subsistence farming, which is carried out by many people in Tuvalu.

Farmers can't use this salty seawater to irrigate the crops.

We've seen that in times of flood, the saltwater poisons the soil and the crops can't grow.

So, when there is dry weather during the dry season in Tuvalu, they can't water their crops, so crops can just wither and die.

So, as we can see, despite being surrounded by water, by salty seawater, Tuvaluan people have a major challenge actually having enough water to survive.

Have a go at this short activity now.

There's some sentences.

I want you to read them, and tick whether they apply to seawater or freshwater.

Pause the video now, read through, quick tick, and then I'll show you the answers.

Ready? Okay.

So, between seawater and freshwater, which one has the lowest salt content? That's freshwater.

Which surrounds the islands of Tuvalu? That's the seawater because we find Tuvalu in the Pacific Ocean.

Which of these is home to coral reefs and atolls? Again, that's the seawater.

And which of these is suitable for human consumption? As we've said, that's freshwater.

The main source of freshwater in Tuvalu can only come from rainwater during the wet season.

They do have a stormy, wet, windy season of the year.

So, it's essential, really, for the people of Tuvalu to know when that rain is coming.

And then when they know the rain is coming, they need to be able to harvest the rain.

That means to collect it and be able to store it so that they can use it in future when supplies of water are less.

A special organisation called the Tuvalu meteorological service monitors the weather conditions in Tuvalu and helps to let people know the weather in the coming days.

The people of Tuvalu experience extreme levels of water scarcity and drought, despite being surrounded entirely by water.

For example, a major drought happened across the islands of Tuvalu in 2011.

And at that time, single collection points had to be set up on some of the islands for the residents to go with a bucket and collect just a small supply of freshwater to use.

I think we can all agree that life is very challenging because of all these physical conditions that are experienced on the islands of Tuvalu.

Here are three sentences about life for the people of Tuvalu, but the beginnings and ends have been mixed up.

So, I would like you to match each beginning to the correct ending.

Pause the video now, and when you are ready, I'll let you know the answers.

Ready? Let's take a look.

As there are no rivers in Tuvalu, rainwater is an important source of freshwater.

Without rainwater harvesting, water scarcity and drought are more likely to occur.

In emergencies, people have to take water in buckets from collection points.

Did you match them up correctly? Well done.

Now, for our second activity today, I want you to do some writing for me.

I want you to write about Tuvalu.

I want you to explain the challenges that are faced by farmers in Tuvalu.

Remember, most Tuvaluan people rely on subsistence farming to survive.

I would like you to use the terms freshwater, saltwater, drought, and floods in your response please.

Pause the video now, and when you have completed the task, come back, and I will be sharing an example answer with you.

Ready? Okay, let's take a look.

Your answer might have had some of these ideas.

Tuvalu is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean.

The islands are made of coral and surrounded by seawater.

The seawater can bubble up through the coral and spill onto the land, which causes local floods.

Floods are a challenge for subsistence farmers because the seawater poisons the soil with salt, so the crops can't grow.

Another challenge is lack of freshwater sources other than rainfall.

Water scarcity means there is very little water to drink or use for farming, which can lead to drought.

Did your answer include some of those ideas as well? Well done.

You've heard a lot today about this island nation of Tuvalu.

So, let's review what we now know before we finish.

Tuvalu is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean and there are nine main islands, some of which are atolls.

Some of the Tuvaluan islands are made from coral, seawater bubbles up through the coral causing flooding.

Many Tuvaluan people rely on subsistence farming, but the saltwater is poisoning the soil.

Tuvalu experiences drought and water scarcity due to lack of natural freshwater sources.

I hope you have enjoyed this lesson today, finding out about life on the island nation of Tuvalu.

Life is certainly different there than in the U.

K.

Join me next time to find out more in this unit about what shapes life at the coast.

Bye for now.