Why Leaves Change Colour in Autumn

Homework · Level A2+ · Reading and vocabulary. Do all the exercises on your own and submit when you finish.

Reading: The Secret Colours of Leaves

Read the text carefully. You will need it for the exercises below.

All summer, the leaves on the trees are green. They are green because they contain a pigment called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is very important: it uses sunlight to make food for the tree. The tree needs a lot of light and warm weather to make it.

In autumn, the season changes. The days become shorter, and the nights become cool. There is less sunlight, so the tree stops making chlorophyll. Slowly, the green colour disappears from the leaves.

But here is a surprise: the yellow and orange pigments were in the leaves all summer! We could not see them because the green chlorophyll was stronger. When the green goes away, the bright yellow and orange colours finally show. Later, the leaves fall, and the forest floor turns into an orange carpet.

Vocabulary Match

Match each word with its definition.

• leaf
• branch
• pigment
• sunlight
• season
• fall
• bright
• cool
• shorter
• forest

• the flat green part that grows on a tree
• the arm of a tree that leaves grow on
• a natural substance that gives colour
• the light that comes from the sun
• one of the four parts of the year
• the American English word for autumn
• full of strong light or colour
• a little cold, not warm
• not as long as before
• a large area with many trees

Mixed-up Autumn Words

The letters of three autumn words got mixed up in the wind. Use the hints to help you.

Unscramble word 1:

A U T U M N

Unscramble word 2:

F O R E S T

Unscramble word 3:

B R I G H T

Check Your Understanding

Read the text again and choose the correct answer.

1. Why are leaves green in summer?

• They contain a green pigment called chlorophyll.
• The rain makes them green.
• They contain a lot of orange pigment.

2. What does chlorophyll use to make food for the tree?

• Sunlight
• Cool nights
• Falling leaves

3. What happens to the days in autumn?

• They become shorter.
• They become longer.
• They stay the same.

4. True or false: The tree makes new yellow pigment in autumn.

• True
• False

5. When can we see the yellow and orange colours?

• When the tree stops making chlorophyll.
• At the start of summer.
• When the nights get warmer.

6. What happens to the leaves in the end?

• They fall to the ground.
• They turn green again.
• They grow bigger.

Complete the Sentences

Type one word from the box in each gap.

seasonsunlightleavespigmentcoolforestbranchbright

1. Autumn is the ______ between summer and winter.

2. Trees need ______ to make chlorophyll.

3. In October the ______ change colour and fall from the trees.

4. Chlorophyll is a green ______ .

5. In autumn the nights become ______ .

6. We walked in the ______ and looked at the orange trees.

7. A small bird sat on a ______ of the old tree.

8. The autumn colours this year are very ______ .

Opposites

Choose the opposite of each word.

1. bright –

• dark
• colourful
• sunny

2. warm –

• hot
• cool
• soft

3. long –

• tall
• late
• short

4. day –

• night
• morning
• afternoon

5. summer –

• spring
• winter
• holiday

6. wet –

• rainy
• cold
• dry

Your Autumn

Write 50-70 words: What does autumn look like where you live? Describe the trees, the colours and the weather.

This lesson is interactive: open this page in a browser to fill in the answers and get them checked automatically. Teachers can copy the lesson and edit every part of it.