The Reading / Listening - Africa - Level 0

A big part of East Africa is breaking away from the African continent. There is a long, deep crack in Zambia. The crack is called a rift. Scientists said there was evidence that the rift is active and that other rifts are too. This may be a sign of the break-up of sub-Saharan Africa.

Land on Earth is always moving. Three hundred million years ago, there was one supercontinent. Over millions of years, it broke up to become today's continents. Rifts are one reason why continents split apart. The rift in Zambia is moving very slowly. It will take millions of years for Africa to split in two.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Africa - Level 1 Africa - Level 2   or  Africa - Level 3

Sources
  • https://www.newscientist.com/article/2526136-a-new-tectonic-plate-boundary-could-be-forming-in-southern-africa/
  • https://www.sciencealert.com/first-signatures-of-a-future-tectonic-split-are-bubbling-up-in-zambia
  • https://www.theweathernetwork.com/en/news/science/earth-science/a-new-ocean-could-be-forming-as-africa-splits-apart


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. A big part
  2. breaking away from the
  3. a long, deep
  4. The crack
  5. scientists said there was
  6. the rift
  7. this may
  8. the break-up of
  1. is active
  2. crack
  3. evidence
  4. of East Africa
  5. be a sign
  6. African continent
  7. sub-Saharan Africa
  8. is called a rift

Paragraph 2

  1. land on Earth is always
  2. three hundred million
  3. there was one
  4. over millions
  5. it broke up to become
  6. rifts are one reason
  7. The rift in Zambia is moving
  8. Africa to split in
  1. of years
  2. very slowly
  3. today's continents
  4. supercontinent
  5. moving
  6. two
  7. why
  8. years ago

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

A (1) _________________________________________________ East Africa is breaking               (2) _________________________________________________ African continent. There is a long, (3) _________________________________________________ Zambia. The crack is                    (4) _________________________________________________. Scientists said there was evidence that the rift (5) _________________________________________________ that other rifts are too. This may be a sign of the                                       (6) _________________________________________________ sub-Saharan Africa.

Land on Earth (7) _________________________________________________. Three hundred      (8) _________________________________________________, there was one supercontinent. Over millions of years, (9) _________________________________________________ to become today's continents. Rifts are (10) _________________________________________________ continents split apart. The rift in Zambia is                                 (11) _________________________________________________. It will take millions of years for Africa to (12) _________________________________________________.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

AbigpartofEastAfricaisbreakingawayfromtheAfricancontinent.There
isalong,deepcrackinZambia.Thecrackiscalledarift.Scientistssaidthe
rewasevidencethattheriftisactiveandthatotherriftsaretoo.Thismayb
easignofthebreak-upofsub-SaharanAfrica.LandonEarthisalwaysmo
ving.Threehundredmillionyearsago,therewasonesupercontinent.Ov
ermillionsofyears,itbrokeuptobecometoday'scontinents.Riftsareon
ereasonwhycontinentssplitapart.TheriftinZambiaismovingveryslow
ly.ItwilltakemillionsofyearsforAfricatosplitintwo.

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion — Write your own questions

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

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Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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