English Across the Curriculum. Geography: What is Climate?

Geography: What Is Climate?

• Picture-based discussion

Look at the two photos.

Compare and contrast them. Include the following points:

• time of the day
• nature
• season
• weather
• climate

• Reading

Read the text. Try to guess the meaning of the highlighted words.

1 __________ beginning and showing signs of promise in a particular  

                      sphere

2 __________ be greater in number or size than (a quantity, number, or

                        other measurable thing)

3 __________ atmospheric moisture; dampness

4 __________ containing a layer of soft material used for protection or to

                      give shape

5 __________ the typical or normal amount, quality, degree, etc

What Is Climate?

Climate affects everything we do in life, from the clothes we wear to the diseases we catch. This is because as humans we only feel comfortable within a very narrow range of temperature and humidity. This comfort zone ranges from about 20°C to 26°C and from 20 to 75 percent relative humidity. However, we live almost everywhere in the world, meaning that conditions are frequently outside this comfort zone, and we have learnt to adapt our clothing and dwellings to maintain our comfort. So while you may think the clothes you have hanging in your wardrobe simply reflect your fashion taste or lack of, in reality they reflect the climate in which you live and how it changes throughout the year. So you have a thick padded coat for a Canadian winter and a short-sleeved shirt for a business meeting in Rio. Our wardrobes also give hints about where we like to take our holidays. If you are a budding Polar explorer then there will very warm Arctic clothes hanging up – if you love sunning yourself on the beach, then there will be shorts or a bikini instead.

Our houses are also built with a clear understanding of local climate. In England almost all houses have central heating as the outside temperature is usually below 20°C, but few have air conditioning as temperatures rarely exceed 26°C. On the other hand, in Australia most houses have air conditioning but rarely central heating. Climate also affects the structure of our cities and how transport systems around the world operate. In Houston, Texas, there is a network of 7 miles of underground tunnels connecting all the major downtown buildings; this is fully climate controlled and links 95 heavily populated city blocks. People use the tunnel when it is raining or hot outside, because for at least 5 months of the year the average temperature in Houston is above 30°C. Similarly there are underground malls in Canada to avoid the problems of heavy snow and extreme cold.

• Word Search

Find nine words about the weather and climate from the text ‘What Is Climate?’ in the square. The words go forwards (), backwards (), up (), or down ().