How does it rain?
Student Copy
Name of School:
________________________________________________________________
Name of Pupil:
___________________________________
Sex: M/F
Assessment Task:
Class: ____________________
Date: ____________________
How does it rain?
Level: Key Stage 3
Condensation
occurs
Precipitation
happens
Water
evaporates
1
Heat
How does it rain?
Student Copy
Part 1 Reading: How does it rain?
Read the story. There are 14 questions in this part. Answer the questions by completing the Answer
Sheet on the next page.
How does it rain?
Water is an essential part of life. Without it, all living beings and
plants would die. Most of the earth’s water comes from the rain
that falls on it. But how does the rain come to fall?
Most rain starts from the earth’s vast oceans which cover
approximately 70% of its surface. As they lie there, these oceans
are constantly warmed by the rays of the sun. This causes the
water to rise or evaporate into the air. At this stage, the water is
known as water vapour. It is like steam rising into the air but it is
invisible to the human eye.
As the water vapour rises into the air, it eventually reaches cooler
air. The cooler air puts pressure on the water vapour and this
causes condensation to occur. This is when water vapour turns into
water droplets and this is visible to the human eye.
The water droplets then join together to form clouds. They are
pushed together by wind and other atmospheric pressures.
Rain then falls. This is called precipitation. Precipitation is the
water droplets falling from the clouds. Some clouds are light and
puffy, some are dark and heavy. The dark or black clouds contain
many more water droplets than the white clouds and they are
generally the cause of heavy rainfalls.
The rain that falls eventually flows into the oceans again from
mountains and rivers and the rain cycle continues.
This is how rain comes to fall enabling life to carry on. Imagine
what the world would be like if suddenly there was no rain.
2
How does it rain?
Student Copy
Name of School:
________________________________________________________________
Name of Pupil:
___________________________________
Sex: M/F
Date: ___________________
Class: ____________________
Marks:
/ 15
Marker’s
Part 1 Reading:
How does it rain?
Use only
Read the story. Tick the correct answers  for Questions 1-7.
1. What is the passage about?
A.  How things grow
B.  How the rain falls
C.  What the world would be like without rain
D.  How water is an essential part of life
2. What stage of the rain cycle is covered in paragraph 2?
A.  Forming clouds
B.  Evaporation
C.  Precipitation
D.  Condensation
3. What stage of the rain cycle is covered in paragraph 4?
A.  Forming clouds
B.  Evaporation
C.  Precipitation
D.  Condensation
4. What is the water known as when it rises into the air?
A.  Steam
B.  Water droplets
C.  Clouds
D.  Water vapour
5. According to the passage, why is water an essential part of life?
It is because ___________________.
A.  we need to drink it
B.  things would die without it
C.  we need to swim in it
D.  the oceans need it
6. Why does water vapour turn into water droplets? It is because of __________.
A.  strong pressure from cooler air
B.  the sun’s rays hitting the water
C.  the force of atmospheric pressures
D.  the force of black clouds
3
How does it rain?
Student Copy
Marker’s
7. What covers 30% of the earth’s surface?
A.  Oceans
B.  Rivers
C.  Mountains
D.  Land
use only
8. Show the correct order in the water cycle by putting 1, 2, 3 or 4 in the boxes
provided. The first one has been done for you.
Forming clouds
1 Evaporation
Precipitation
Condensation
Answer Questions 9-14 in the space provided.
9a. Can people see water rising or evaporating into the air?
___________________________________________________________
b. Write down the sentence that gives you this information.
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
10. In paragraph 1, find one word that means ‘very important’.
__________________________________________________________
11. In paragraph 2, find one word that means ‘very big’.
__________________________________________________________
12. In paragraph 2, find one word that means ‘all the time’.
__________________________________________________________
13. In paragraph 3, find one word that means ‘can be seen’.
_________________________________________________________
14. In paragraph 6, find one word that means ‘moves smoothly’.
_________________________________________________________
End of Part 1
4
How does it rain?
Student Copy
Part 2 Speaking :
Answering questions about the text and sharing personal
experiences
Instructions
1. You now have 5 minutes’ preparation time.
2. During the preparation time, read carefully the rain cycle diagram and the questions on
page 6 of this Student Copy.
3. Then you will have 10 minutes to answer the 4 given questions. Your teacher will also ask
you extra questions related to the topic.
4. Do not write anything in this Student Copy.
5. We would like to see if you can do the following:
a.
Include key points.
b.
Give sensible answers.
c.
Use grammatically correct sentences.
d.
Give as many ideas as possible to your answers.
e.
Join ideas with some cohesive devices such as “then”, “and”, “but”, “because” and
so on.
f.
Use relevant words.
g.
Give correct pronunciation.
h.
Speak with right pausing, intonation and stress, volume, tone of voice and speed.
5
How does it rain?
Student Copy
Rain Cycle Diagram
Condensation
occurs
Precipitation
happens
Water
evaporates
Heat
Questions
1. How does the water get from the earth to the clouds?
2. What happens to water vapour when it hits cooler air?
3. The place you live has no rain for a long time. How will your life be different?
4. Which do you like more: rainy days or sunny days? Why?
End of Part 2
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