Unit 5: A Disappearing World
Before you watch
1. Work in pairs. Look at the title of this video and the photo and discuss the questions.
1- What do you think this video is about? The nature and creatures of the rainforests.
2- Which parts of the world have areas of rainforests? Central and South America, western and central
Africa, western India, Southeast Asia, the island of New Guinea, and Australia.
3-What do you know about the rainforest and its problems? The rainforest is an environment characterized
by biological diversity, but at the same time, it is threatened by many problems such as the growth of
populations in countries with rainforests, Palm oil plantations, and moreover.
2. Write down four animals and birds you think you will see in the video.
Gorillas, Anaconda, Toucans, Macaw.
While you watch
3. Watch the video and check your answers from Exercises 1 and 2.
4. Put the events in the order you see them in the video.
a. looking over treetops (5)
b. writing a journal (3)
c. filming an elephant (1)
d. reaching the sea (7)
e. climbing a hill (4)
f. crossing rapids (6)
g. travelling in a canoe (2)
5. Watch the video again. What does this information refer to?
1. September: the team starts on the expedition.
2. 2,000: the team will travel for 2000 km.
3. 150,000: the rainforest covers 150000 square km.
4. one quarter: one-quarter of the world’s rainforests are in the Congo Basin.
5. half: half of the wild plants and animals in Africa are in the Congo Basin.
6. Eight: the team has been travelling for eight months.
7. 70 or 80: the team can see 70 or 80 km in every direction.
8. 360: the team can see 360 degrees around.
9. a few hundred: the river is a few hundred m wide.
10. Fifteen: the team had been in the woods for 15 months.
6. Complete the extracts with words from the glossary.
1. Their aim is to make a scientific record of a world which could be disappearing from Earth.
2. What I’m trying to do, in a desperate way, is to show the world that we’re just about to lose the last
little gem in the African continent.
3. Fay’s plan is to collect and record data on almost every part of the rainforest.
4. Their next challenge is to reach a group of strange hills that are made of stone, and which rise far
above the forest floor.
5. This land of fast water and old forests is in danger because of logging.
After you watch
7. Roleplay an interview with an expedition member. Work in pairs.
Student A: You are a writer for National Geographic. You are going to interview a member of Michael Fay’s
team. Use the ideas below to prepare questions.
Student B: You have just completed the Congo Basin ‘Megatransect’ with Michael Fay. Use the below to
prepare what you are going to say to the interviewer.
• Purpose of the expedition
• how you travelled
• what you saw
• the most difficult parts
• the best parts
• dangerous experiences
Act out the interview. Then change roles and repeat the interview.
8. During the video, Dr. Fay says: ‘If we don’t do something now, if we don’t do it today, we can forget about
it.’ What does he mean? That if they don’t document the wildlife in the rainforest, they may never be a
second chance for that. And he is trying to show the world that it is just about to lose the last little gem in the
African can, so if the world didn’t take an action now, we can forget about it.
9. Work in pairs. Discuss these questions.
1. What do you think Dr. Fay did with the information he collected during his expedition?
He wrote a journal to share that information with the world and document it in case something
happened to the rainforests and it lost their features.
2. Apart from logging, what other dangers do places like the Congo Basin face?
Mining, Plantations and industrial agriculture, Urbanisation, road building, and infrastructure, and
much more.
3. Are you optimistic or pessimistic about whether we will be able to preserve wild places on our planet?
In fact, I am a little pessimistic about wild places, because regardless of what countries are doing to
preserve them and what different groups and organizations carry out campaigns to raise awareness
about wild places, there are still many illegal activities carried out by individuals or some
companies threatening these areas.
