Lesson 34. Great Britain. Country Study.
Country Study
Great Britain
The UK is an island state. The two main islands are Great Britain (where England, Scotland and Wales are situated) and Ireland (where Northern Ireland and the independent Irish Republic are situated). The two islands are separated by the Irish Sea. The UK is washed by the Atlantic Ocean in the north and the North Sea in the east.
The UK is separated from the continent by the English Channel and the Strait of Dover. The Strait of Dover is the narrowest part of English Channel. The nearest point to Europe is Dover which is only thirty-two miles from France. Dover is one of the most ancient ports. If you cross the English Channel by ferry you can see the white chalk cliffs of Dover and Dover Castle.
Everyone who was born in Britain is British. People from England are English. People from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are not English. They are Scottish or the Scotts, Welsh and Irish.
Everyone in Britain speaks English. But in some parts of Scotland and Wales people speak different languages as well. The Welsh are especially proud of their language. They like to speak Welsh, to sing songs in Welsh and when you travel you can see road signs in Welsh all over Wales. Everyone in the UK speaks English but they all speak it differently. A Scottish person has to listen carefully if he wants to understand a Londoner or a Welsh person.
More than 56 million people live in Britain. Many of them live in big industrial cities like London. The biggest cities of England are Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool (England); Edinburg, Glasgow, (Scotland).
Task 1.
Do you know the following names:
the Beatles, Luis Carol, Scotland, Agatha Christie, Cardiff, Conan Doyle, Robinson Crusoe, Wales, Charles Dickens, Mary Poppins, Isaac Newton, London, Robert Stevenson, England, Oxford, Charlotte Bronte, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Rudyard Kipling
If you don’t know what to say, try to divide the names into groups:
- writers
- characters
- music bands
- countries
- cities & towns
- scientists
Task 2.
Find the geographical names and translate the sentences in English:
столица - capital
- Столица Англии и соединенного королевства — Лондон.
- Столица Шотландии — Эдинбург.
- Столица Уэльса — Кардиф.
- Столица Северной Ирландии — Белфаст.
Extra facts
Revision
Homework
