Secondary 1 Geography
S1 Geography in three steps: learn to read maps (direction, grid references, scale), unpack how weather and climate work, then dive underground to see how plate tectonics builds mountains, trenches and earthquake belts. Geography is full of new terms — every lesson comes with bilingual vocabulary cards.
The order below is the recommended shallow-to-deep path.
Units 單元
Tap a unit name to jump to its topics.
地圖與技能 Map skills3/3 live
- 1First steps in reading mapsFoundation✓
- 2Grid references: pinpointing locationsFoundation✓
- 3Scale and measuring distanceFoundation✓
⚡ Unit quiz 快測5 Qs
Answer on your own first, then reveal — wrong answers go to your wrong-answer book.
Q1What are the basic elements of a map?
Q2In what order do you read a grid reference?
Q3On a 1:5000 map, what does 1 cm represent?
Q4What does the legend do?
Q5What does the 4-figure reference 3522 mean?
天氣與氣候 Weather & climate4/4 live
- 4Weather vs climateFoundation✓
- 5Factors affecting temperatureAdvanced✓
- 6Three types of rainAdvanced✓
- 7Hong Kong's climateAdvanced✓
⚡ Unit quiz 快測5 Qs
Answer on your own first, then reveal — wrong answers go to your wrong-answer book.
Q1What is the main difference between weather and climate?
Q2How does temperature change per 1000 m of ascent?
Q3A sudden afternoon thunderstorm in summer is which type?
Q4What climate type does Hong Kong have?
Q5Which instrument measures rainfall?
板塊與地形 Plate tectonics & landforms3/3 live
- 8The structure of the EarthFoundation✓
- 9Plate movements and boundariesAdvanced✓
- 10Earthquakes and volcanoesAdvanced✓
⚡ Unit quiz 快測5 Qs
Answer on your own first, then reveal — wrong answers go to your wrong-answer book.
Q1What is the Earth's outermost layer called?
Q2Name the three types of plate boundary.
Q3What is the difference between focus and epicentre?
Q4Which two metals make up the core?
Q5Which boundary type made the East African Rift?
Vocabulary book 生字簿
All terms, bilingual (printable).
Tells you what place and what theme the map shows.
The map's dictionary: explains what each symbol means.
Shows the ratio between map distance and real-world distance.
Which way is north; most maps have north at the top.
Crossing lines that help you pin down exact locations.
Lines joining places of equal height, showing the shape of the land.
A symbol on the map pointing to north; follow it to fix directions.
A picture standing for a real feature; its meaning is defined by the legend.
Numbers that state the position of a point or square on the map.
The vertical grid lines; values increase from west to east.
The horizontal grid lines; values increase from south to north.
Identifies a whole 1 km × 1 km grid square.
Two extra digits locate a spot inside the square, accurate to 100 m.
The square enclosed by two eastings and two northings.
The unified grid system used on all official Hong Kong maps.
Digits 5 and 6 of a 6-figure reference, dividing the square into tenths.
The ratio between map distance and real-world distance.
Written in words, e.g. '1 cm to 1 km'.
Written as a ratio, e.g. 1:10000.
A ruled bar on the map you can read directly.
A winding road or river, measured with string or a paper strip.
A map with a smaller denominator, covering less area in more detail, e.g. 1:10000.
A map with a larger denominator, covering more area in less detail, e.g. 1:1000000.
The shortest length between two points, measured with a ruler.
The atmosphere over a short period, hours to days.
The average weather over a long period, usually 30 years.
How hot or cold it is, in °C, measured with a thermometer.
How much rain falls, in millimetres, measured with a rain gauge.
The percentage of water vapour in the air, measured with a hygrometer.
The weight of air pressing on the ground, measured with a barometer.
The fraction of sky covered by cloud, usually estimated by eye.
Horizontal movement of air, described by direction (where from) and speed.
How far from the equator; low latitude near the equator, high latitude near the poles.
Vertical height above sea level; the higher, the colder.
Temperature falls about 6°C for every 1000 m of height gained.
Large flows of seawater; warm currents raise temperature, cold currents lower it.
The sea moderates temperature, narrowing the yearly range.
The 0° latitude line where the sun shines directly all year — the hottest zone.
Energy from the sun reaching the ground; direct rays concentrate heat, slanted rays spread it.
The gap between the hottest and coldest monthly means; small near the sea, large inland.
Heated ground makes air rise and rain form; common on summer afternoons.
Moist air is forced up a mountain and cools into rain.
Warm air rises along a front where warm and cold air masses meet.
The slope facing the moist wind — wet side.
The leeward slope stays dry because the air has lost its moisture crossing the mountain.
The slope sheltered from the moist wind; dry air sinks here and rain is scarce.
Water vapour cooling into droplets — the first step towards cloud and rain.
The boundary where warm and cold air masses meet, often bringing long rain.
Hong Kong's climate type: hot humid summers, cool dry winters.
Winds that reverse with the seasons: sea to land in summer, land to sea in winter.
A strong tropical cyclone that may hit Hong Kong in summer and autumn.
The Observatory's typhoon warning signals: 1, 3, 8, 9 and 10.
About 2400 mm in Hong Kong; around 80% falls from May to September.
A line graph joining each month's mean temperature.
A bar chart showing each month's rainfall by bar height.
The 30-year average of weather records used to describe a place's climate.
The thin, solid outer layer of rock — like an eggshell.
The thick middle layer; its rock can flow very slowly.
The innermost layer, mostly iron and nickel; liquid outer core, solid inner core.
Crust plus uppermost mantle; broken into plates.
The softer, slowly flowing layer beneath; plates move over it.
The crust beneath continents, thick at about 30–70 km.
The crust beneath the oceans, thin at about 5–10 km.
Waves released by earthquakes; scientists use them to probe the Earth's interior.
A large slab of the lithosphere, moving a few centimetres a year.
Two plates pull apart.
Two plates push into each other.
A boundary where two plates grind past each other, often making faults and quakes.
The denser oceanic plate dives beneath another plate.
Mountains buckled up by compression, e.g. the Himalayas.
The circulation of hot mantle material rising and cooler material sinking, dragging the plates.
A vast undersea mountain chain built where plates pull apart and magma rises.
The underground point where the break starts and energy is released.
The point on the surface directly above the focus, usually worst hit.
The size of energy released, often on the Richter scale.
The zone with most of the world's quakes and volcanoes — the Ring of Fire.
Molten rock underground; once it erupts it is called lava.
A mountain formed when magma pushes through weak lines in the crust, erupting lava and ash.
Giant waves raised by undersea earthquakes that can flood coastal areas.
How strongly a place shakes and suffers; it varies from place to place in the same quake.