1. Lesson 5: Rivers of life
Photo: Morguefile/taliesin

2. Watch the opening credits to EastEnders: www. safeshare
Watch the opening credits to EastEnders:
Do you recognise this image? It’s an aerial view of London. What can you see?

3. Where is your nearest river? Use a map to help you find it.
What is it like? Have you seen it? Does it look like this?

4. River Teifi We’re going to look at the River Teifi from
above using Google Maps (
Now we’re going to zoom in and look at what we can see on the river banks.
What can we see?
Use satellite view on Google Maps to find River Teifi. Then find Wales on a map. The River Teifi starts in the Cambrian Hills and runs to Cardigan, on Wales’ west coast. The mown areas in the image are the town’s playing fields – the only flat pieces of ground for some distance around. You can see the town of Llandysul (‘Clan – di – sill’) in the west of the image and a dense forest region on the east rising up to farmland. The river here is popular with tourists and canoeists. Draw pupils’ attention to the marked path and ask them what you think might be happening down there.

5. On the banks of the River Teifi a young boy is playing with his dad.
Risk: falling into fast-moving water
Action: stay clear of edge; walk rather than run
Risk: wet slippery path
Action: wear sensible shoes; walk carefully

6. The River Amazon is one of the world’s longest rivers
The River Amazon is one of the world’s longest rivers. Watch this short clip from the BBC’s Mighty Amazon:
All rivers start at the highest point in an area.
A river is freshwater flowing across the land, usually to the sea.
As the river flows downstream, it gains more water from other streams, rivers, springs, added rainfall and other water sources.

7. Can you find Africa using an atlas?
Now we’re going to zoom into the continent of Africa to locate another river and find one of the wonders of the world...
Before the lesson enter ‘Livingstone Island, Zimbabwe’ into Google Maps on satellite view or use this link: Zoom out until you can see the whole of Africa. Gradually zoom in while the pupils watch, building up suspense about what they will discover until you reach Victoria Falls.

8. We’ve made it! We’re looking down on the widest waterfall in the world: ‘Mosi-oa-Tunya’ (‘the smoke that thunders’) or Victoria Falls on the River Zambezi.
'Mosi-oa-Tunya' (‘the smoke that thunders’) is the Zambian name; Zimbabweans call it Victoria Falls. Discovered first by David Livingstone in 1855 and named after Queen Victoria, in the wet season, more than 3,000 cubic metres of water flow over the falls each minute. The resulting spray, or ‘smoke’, can sometimes be seen from up to 25 miles away.
Photo: Obliot/Flickr under a Creative Commons licence:

9. Iguazu Falls, Argentina and Brazil
Photo: Martin St-Amant under a Creative Commons licence:

10. Amazing waterfalls
‘The smoke that thunders’ – BBC video of the widest waterfall in the world:
Amazon River – BBC video clip:
Victoria Falls at night – BBC video:
Iguazu Falls – BBC video:
Angel Falls – BBC video of world’s highest waterfall:
Ten most incredible waterfalls in the world – Environmental Graffiti images:

11. Useful websites
EastEnders opening credits – video on YouTube:
Google Maps – free mapping tool:
Making a mini river – project on GA website:   
Clouds moving around Earth – NASA video on Flickr:
River sounds – downloadable audio clips:
Bruce Parry explores the Amazon – BBC video clip:
Voice of the Nile – site aiming to raise awareness about river issues:
Interactive map showing British rivers – Brittania maps:

12. List of UK rivers – on Wikipedia: http://en. wikipedia
River contamination – BBC news article about contamination of River Tisza, Central Europe:
Waterfall animation – animation showing how waterfalls are made:
Information and facts about rivers for pupils – pages on Woodlands Junior School website:
Visual geography – pages on the GA website: