How many oceans are there in the world?

There are several views on how to answer this question. For example, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric administration of the US Department of Commerce, while there is only one global ocean, and it is geographically divided into seas which are traditionally called the Atlantic, the Pacific, the Indian, the Arctic, and the Southern or the Antarctic Oceans. 

These five oceans are not separate bodies of water; they form one continuous oceanic mass. The boundaries between these five oceans arose over time for a variety of historical, cultural, geographical, and scientific reasons. The Southern or the Antarctic Ocean is the 'newest' of all the oceans. Its boundaries were set in 2000 by the International Hydrographic Organization.

The _________ Ocean is the largest of all the oceans. It reaches northward from the Southern Ocean to the Arctic Ocean. It spans the gap between Australia, Asia, the Americas and Oceania. It meets the Atlantic south of South America at Cape Horn.

The _________ Ocean, the second largest, extends from the Southern Ocean between South America, Africa, North America and Europe, to the Arctic Ocean. It meets the Indian Ocean south of Africa at Cape Agulhas.

The _________ Ocean extends northward from the Southern Ocean to India, between Africa and Australia. It joins the Pacific Ocean to the east, near Australia.

The _________ Ocean is the smallest of the five. It joins the Atlantic Ocean near Greenland and Iceland  and joins the Pacific at the Bering Strait. It overlies the North Pole, touching North America in the Western hemisphere and Scandinavia and Asia in the Eastern hemisphere. This ocean is partially covered in sea ice, the extent of which varies according to the season.

The _________ Ocean is a proposed ocean surrounding Antarctica, dominated by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, generally the ocean south of sixty degrees south latitude. This ocean is partially covered in sea ice, the extent of which varies according to the season. It is the second smallest of the five named oceans.

TASK 8. Translate the geography terms given below into English.

	Russian	Ukrainian	English
1	болото, топь, трясина	болото, драговина, трясовина
2	водораздел	вододіл
3	бассейн реки	басейн ріки
4	узкий пролив	вузька протока
5	бухта, узкий морской залив; устье реки	бухта, вузька морська затока; устя ріки
6	устье реки	устя ріки
7	водоворот	вир
8	приток реки	приплив ріки
9	течение в реке, поток	плин у ріці, потік
10	прилив	приплив
11	отлив	відлив
12	устье реки	устя ріки
13	исток; верховье реки	джерело; верхів'я ріки
14	водопад	водоспад
15	приливная вода; водное пространство, подверженное действию приливов и отливов	приливна вода; водний простір, підданий дії припливів і відливів
16	русло реки	русло ріки
17	заболоченная местность	заболочена місцевість
18	береговая линия	берегова лінія

TASK 9. Listen to and watch the video clip on the site http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urr53arh--E. Then answer the questions below. Be ready to speak about each continent in class.

1. What makes Asia the largest and the most populous continent in the world?

2. What divides Europe from Asia?

3. How large is the continent of Africa according to the clip?

4. What water bodies wash the coasts of Africa according to the clip?

5. Which of the seven continents is thought to be the birthplace of humankind?

6. What four water bodies surround North America according to the clip?

7. Which ocean washes South America from the west?

8. What geographical wonders are there in South America according to the clip?

9. How thick can the ice in Antarctica be according to the clip?

10. Why does the clip call Antarctica a desert?

11. What can the maximum temperature be in Antarctica according to the clip?

12. How many people live in Europe according to the clip?

13. According to the clip, Europe is the smallest of all the seven continents, isn’t it?

14. What water bodies wash the coasts of Australia, according to the clip?

TASK 10. Below are the real answers of some American schoolchildren to geography questions in a social studies exam. Read them through and see how many of them you can correct? Mind that the grammar of the original is preserved.

1. The inhabitants of ancient Egypt were called Mummies.

2. Germany is an industrial country because the poor have nothing else to do, so they make lots and lots of factories.

3. Where is Alaska? - Alaska is not in Canada.

4. When we cross the Hudson River, we come to the United States.

5. Where is the greater part of Europe? - In New York.

6. In what general direction to the rivers of France flow? - From the source to the mouth.

7. The United States are mostly populated by people.

8. Where is Cincinnati? - First place in the National League (of Professional Baseball Clubs).

9. The benefit of latitude and longitude is that when a man is drowning he can call out what latitude and longitude he is, and we can find him.

10. The chief products of the Hawaiian Islands is rainfall.

11. The climate is hottest next to the Creator.

12. Latitude tells how hot you are and longitude tells how cold you are.

13. The sun never sets on the British Empire because the British Empire is in the east and the sun sets in the west.

14. The sun sets in the west and hurries around to the east to be in time to rise the next morning.

15. Name three animals peculiar to frigid regions. - The lion and the giraffe and the elephant are peculiar to frigid regions, but the polar bear and the seal and the walrus live there.

16. What are the inhabitants of Moscow called? - The inhabitants of Moscow are Mosquitoes.

17. What are the Pyramids? - The Pyramids are a range of mountains between France and Spain.

18. What are the Mediterranean and the Red Seas connected by? - They are connected by the Sewage Canal.

19. New York is behind Greenwich time because America was not discovered until very much later.

20. A watershed is a shed in the middle of the ocean where ships shelter during a storm.

TASK 11. Match the ‘geographical relief’ words with their definitions.

Part 1

1	a prairie	a	a small part of the sea that is partly enclosed by a curve in the land; = a cove
2	agorge	b	a large area of sea partly enclosed by land
3	a ravine	c	a piece of land completely surrounded by water
4	a canyon	d	a piece of land almost completely surrounded by water but joined to a large area of land
5	a plain	e	a deep, narrow valley, especially in the mountains of Scotland or Ireland
6	agulf	f	adeep narrow passage with steep rocky sides, esp one through which a river runs
7	an island	g	a deep narrow valley or gorge in the earth's surface worn by running water
8	a peninsula	h	a deep valley with very steep sides of rock that usually has a river running through it
9	a bay	i	a wide open area of fairly flat land in North America which is covered in grass or wheat
10	a glen	j	a large area of flat dry

Part 2

11	a beach	k	a grassy space without trees in a wood or forest;
12	a bank	l	an area of lower land between two lines of hills or mountains, usually with a river flowing through it
13	a coastline	m	a large piece of land surrounded on three sides by water
14	a canal	n	the area where the land meets the sea
15	a cape	o	the land on the edge of the coast, especially the shape of this land as seen from the air
16	a channel	p	the land along the edge of a large area of water such as an ocean or lake
17	a valley	q	the land along the side of a river or lake
18	a glade	r	an area of sand or small stones at the edge of the sea or a lake
19	a shore	s	abroad strait, especially one that connects two seas.
20	a coast	t	an artificial waterway or artificially improved river used for travel, shipping, or irrigation

TASK 12. Translate the geography terms given below into English.

	Russian	Ukrainian	English
1	небольшая бухта, залив	невелика бухта, затока
2	узкая горная долина в Шотландии или Ирландии	вузька полонина в Шотландії або Ірландії
3	равнина	рівнина
4	долина	долина
5	искусственный канал	штучний канал
6	берег реки	беріг ріки
7	естественный канал, пролив	природний канал, пролив
8	мыс	мис
9	поляна, опушка; прогалина; просека; вырубка	галявина, опушка; просіка; вирубка
10	узкое ущелье; узкий проход; теснина	вузька ущелина; вузький прохід; тіснина
11	ущелье; лощина, овраг, ложбина	ущелина; лощина, яр, балка
12	полуостров	півострів
13	берег моря или озера	берегла моря або озера
14	морское побережье	морське узбережжя
15	большой морской залив; бухта	велика морська затока; бухта
16	береговая линия	берегова лінія

TASK 13. Fill in the gaps in the passages below with the words from the box. Translate the passages into your mother tongue. In case of difficulty, consult a geographic map.

recorded	state	desert	Channel	northern	cliffs
southern	widest	man-made	driest	wonders	la Manche
peninsula	cattle	route	scattered	shallow	Mexico
west	south-eastern	north	south-east	locks	connecting
land	plains

1. Death Valley is a _______ (1) valley located in Eastern California. It is the lowest and _______ (2) area in North America. Death Valley holds the record for the highest _______ (3) temperature on Earth.

2. One of the world's natural _______ (4), the famous Grand Canyon, carved by the Colorado River in the  _______ (5) of Arizona, draws ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ from visitors perched at the edge of its towering _______ (6) .

3. During the great Ice Ages, all of Great Britain was a ______ (7), extending north-west from the mainland of Europe. The English ______ (8) did not exist at that time.

4. The English Channel, which is also called _______ (9), is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates _______ (10) England from _______(11) France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about 560 km long and varies in width from 240 km at its _______ (12) part to 34 km in its narrowest part, which is called the Strait of Dover. The Channel is the smallest of the _______ (13) seas around the continental shelf of Europe.

5. The ______ (14) Panama Canal changed the course of shipping and travel by _______ (15) the Atlantic and Pacific oceans across a narrow strip of land in Panama. The canal enables ships to pass through a series of ______ (16) to get from one side to the other and eliminates the need for ships to take the much longer and dangerous _______ (17) around South America.

6. In the middle of North America is a huge area of _____ (18) which was once covered with grasses and colorful wild flowers. The French called the rolling ____ (19) of grass "prairie", from the word for a meadow grazed by ____ (20). Very few trees grow on the prairies, and they are usually widely ____ (21).

7. The Gulf of _____ (22) is located at the _______ (23) corner of North America. The Gulf is bordered by the United States to the _______ (24), washing the states of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, several Mexican states to the _______ (25), and the island of Cuba to the _______ (26).

TASK 14. Match the ‘mountain’ words with their definitions.

Part 1

1	a cliff	a	a natural elevation of the earth's surface having considerable mass, generally steep sides, and a height greater than that of a hill
2	a mountain massif	b	a series of mountains alike in form, direction, and origin; a mountain chain
3	a mountain range	c	a large mountain mass or compact group of connected mountains forming an independent portion of a range
4	a peak	d	an area of land that is higher than the land around it, but smaller than a mountain
5	a glacier	e	a small hill
6	the foot of the mountain	f	a long area of high land, especially at the top of a mountain
7	a hill	g	the sharply pointed top of a mountain; = a summit = a top
8	a ridge	h	the lowest or bottom part of the mountain (hill/rock etc)
9	a mountain	i	a large area of rock or a mountain with a very steep side, often at the edge of the sea or a river
10	a hillock	j	a large mass of ice which moves slowly down a mountain valley

Part 2

11	a plateau	k	a very steep surface of rock on the side of a mountain
12	(the) highlands	l	a surface of which one end or side is at a higher level than another; a rising or falling surface
13	a mountain pass	m	the hard substance that forms the main surface of the Earth
14	a mesa	n	a mountain with a large hole at the top, through which lava (= very hot liquid rock) is sometimes forced out
15	a rock face = a steep face	o	a large area of flat land that is higher than the land around it
16	a sierra	p	an area of land that is lower than the land around it
17	aslope	r	an area of a country where there are a lot of mountains
18	(the) lowlands	s	a row or area of sharply pointed mountains
19	a volcano	t	(Am.E) a hill with a flat top and steep sides in the southwestern US
20	a rock = a stone	u	the location in a range of mountains of a geological formation that is lower than the surrounding peaks

TASK 15. Read the text about mountain in Britain and decide whether the statements after it are true or false. Be sure to know the pronunciation of all the geographical name in the text.