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методическая разработка по английскому языку (8 класс) на тему

“THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE OF GREAT BRITAIN”

Pre – reading.

Exercise 1.

Answer the questions.

• Have you ever been to Great Britain?
• What cities of Great Britain have you visited?
• What sights of Great Britain have you seen?
• What do you know about the geographical position of this country?
• Do you know what language is spoken in Great Britain?
• What cities of Great Britain do you know?
• What sights of Great Britain have you known about?

Exercise 2.

Look at the map and try to understand, where GB is situated; look what seas and oceans wash it; what cities there are in GB.

Exercise 3.

Pronounce these words correctly.

the United Kingdom (the UK)

the British Isles

the Irish Sea

Northern Ireland

the English Channel

the Strait of Dover

the Atlantic Ocean

the North Sea

the Irish Republic

the Union Jack

Wales

Scotland

Edinburgh

Cardiff

Belfast

the English

the Scots

the Welsh

the Irish

Reading.

Read the text to get some new information about Britain.

THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE OF GREAT BRITAIN

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the UK) is the official name of the state which is situated in the British Isles. Thus, "Great Britain" is often the same as "Britain" and refers1 only to Scotland, England and Wales. The "United Kingdom» or the "UK" includes Northern Ireland. It consists of four countries which are England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. You can see them on the map. Their capitals are London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast.

The UK is an island state. The two main islands are Great Britain (where England, Scotland and Wales are situated) and Ireland. Northern Ireland and the independent Irish Republic are there. The two islands are separated by the Irish Sea.

The UK is separated from the continent by the English Channel and the Straits of Dover. Once the British Isles used to be a part of the continent. The nearest point to Europe is the Straits of Dover. The UK is also washed by the Atlantic Ocean in the north and the North Sea in the east.

Everyone who was born in Britain is British. People from England are English. People from Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland are not English. They are Scottish or Scots; Welsh and Irish. People from Scotland and Wales don't like it when they are called English but they are British.

More than 56 million people live in Britain. Many of them live in big industrial cities like London. Manchester and Liverpool, for example, are big industrial cities in the centre of England. But foreigners are often surprised by the fact that much of the land in Britain is open country. There are many lonely hills, quiet rivers, deep lakes and farmlands especially in the south of the country.

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.

As you know, the flag of the United Kingdom is known as the Union Jack. It is made up of three crosses: the cross of St. George (the patron saint2 of England), the cross of St. Andrew (the patron saint of Scotland) and the cross of St. Patrick (the patron saint of Ireland).

1refer to – относиться

2the patron saint – святой покровитель

Exercise 1.

Read the first paragraph and give all the possible names of the country situated in the two large islands of the British Isles.

Exercise 2.

Look quickly through the text and say which of the topics are discussed.

The country's traditions.

The way of living in GB.

The geographical position of the country.

The history and traditions of the UK.

Exercise 3.

Now read the text carefully and fill in the table.

Exercise 4. True-False statements.

Are these sentences true (t) or false (f)?

1. The United Kingdom includes the Irish Republic. _______
2. The two main islands Great Britain and Ireland are separated by the

Straits of Dover. _______

3. People who were born in Scotland are not British. _______
4. People in Britain live only in big cities. _______
5. People speak only English on the British Isles. _______
6. The Union Jack is the national flag of England. _______
7. The Union Jack is made up of three crosses. _______

Exercise 5.

Answer the questions.

• Where is the UK situated?
• Why do you think the UK is called “an island state”?
• What other country is situated on the British Isles?
• What languages are spoken in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern

Ireland?

• How many people live in Britain?
• What is the Union Jack? What do you know about it?

Exercise 6.

Look at the following statements and give some facts from the text illustrating them:

The UK is an island state.

Everyone who was born in Britain is British.

Much of land in Britain is open country.

Everyone in GB speaks English differently.

The flag of the UK is known as “Union Jack”.

Post – reading.

Exercise 1.

Look through the Reference Material and the map and name:

the parts (countries) the UK consists of, and their capitals;

the people who live in the UK and the languages they speak;

big industrial cities of Britain;

water bodies around the UK;

water bodies that separate Britain from the continent.

Reference Material

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the UK)

Exercise 2.

Prepare a summary of:

the land of Great Britain,

the people of Great Britain.

Do you know any other facts about the land and people of Britain? Tell your classmates about them.

Exercise 3.

Write a short essay “What I would tell my friend about the UK”.

In your culture

Exercise 1.

Answer the questions (use the Fact File and the map):

• Where is the Russian Federation situated?
• What seas and oceans wash the country?
• What countries does Russia border on?
• What can you say about rivers in Russia?
• What are the main mountain chains of Russia?
• What do you know about the political system of Russia?
• What are the most famous Russian symbols?
• What are the most beautiful places in Russia?

Fact File

Name: The Russian Federation (Russia)

Geographical position: Eastern Europe, Northern Asia

Area: 17.1 million square kilometres

Seas and oceans: the Caspian Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea; the Pacific

Ocean, the Arctic Ocean.

Rivers: the Volga, the Ob

Mountains: the Urals

Capital city: Moscow

Land division: republics, krais, oblasts, okrugs

Population: about 150 000 000

Nationality: more than 100 ethnic groups (Russian, Tatar, Bashkir, Chuvash,

Buryat, Evenk, Ingush, Kalmyk, Udmurt, Yakut, and others)

Languages: Russian (the official language), others

Symbols: the national flag with three stripes (white, blue and red), birch tree

Exercise 2.

Some foreign teenagers don't know much about Russia.What would you tell your foreign friend about Russia?

“GREAT BRITAIN: A COUNTRY OF TRADITIONS”

Pre – reading.

Exercise 1.

How much do you know about the British holidays and festivals? Answer the questions.

• When is Christmas celebrated in Britain?
• How do the British decorate their houses at Christmas?
• What is the traditional Christmas food?
• What are Christmas carols?
• What is the day after Christmas called?
• What is special about New Year’s Day in Britain?
• The British people celebrate Guy Fawkes' Night on the 5th of November,

do they?

• What does Easter mean for Christians in Britain?
• What do the British usually do on Easter Sunday?

Exercise 2.

Listen to the tape. What holidays are these people speaking about? Match.

1. New Year’s Eve                1. Lily’s Neighbor
2. EasterSunday                        2. The Gordons
3. GuyFawkes' Night                3. Tommy Forester

Exercise 3.

Pronounce these words correctly.

Braemar, Henley, the Shetland Islands, the Vikings, Mummers, Jesus Christ, buttonhole, parade, brass, conspirators.

Reading.

Read the text once very attentively and try to understand and remember as much as you can.

GREAT BRITAIN: A COUNTRY OF TRADITIONS

Just like families have their own traditions so do countries. It's common knowledge that the British are lovers of traditions. In a whole year, each season in Britain is connected with various colourful traditions, customs and festivals.

Spring

St David's Day. March 1st is a very important day for Welsh people. It's St David's Day. He is the "patron" or national saint of Wales. On March 1st, the Welsh celebrate St David's Day and wear daffodils in the buttonholes of their coats or jackets.

May Day. May 1st was an important day in the Middle Ages, the celebration of summer's beginning. For that day people decorated houses and streets with branches of trees and flowers. In the very early morning young girls went to the fields and washed their faces with dew. They believed this made them beautiful for a year after that. Also on May Day the young men of each village tried to win prizes with their bows and arrows. People put a striped maypole decorated with flowers and danced round it. Some English villages still have maypole dancing on May 1st.

Summer

The Trooping of the Colour. The Queen is the only person in Britain with two birthdays. Her real birthday is on April 21st, but she has an "official" birthday, too. That's on the second Saturday in June. And on the Queen's official birthday, there is a traditional ceremony called the Trooping of the Colour. It's a big parade with brass bands and hundreds of soldiers at Horse Guards' Parade in London. The Queen's soldiers, the Guards, accompany her. At the front of the parade is the flag or "colour". The Guards are trooping the colour. Thousands of Londoners and visitors watch Horse Guards' Parade. And millions of people at home watch it on television.

Swan Upping. Here's a very different royal tradition. On the River Thames there are hundreds of swans. A lot of these beautiful white birds belong, traditionally, to the King or Queen. In July the young swans on the Thames are about two months old. Then the Queen's swan keeper goes, in a boat, from London Bridge to Henley. He looks at all the young swans and marks the royal ones. The name of this custom is Swan Upping.

Highland Games. In summer Scottish people traditionally meet together for competitions called Highland Games. After Queen Victoria visited the games at Braemar in 1848, the Braemar games became the most famous tradition in Scotland. Today thousands of visitors come to see sports like tossing the caber (when a tall pole is thrown into the air as a test of strength) or throwing the hammer. The games always include Scottish dancing and bagpipe music.

Autumn

The State Opening of Parliament. Parliament controls modern Britain. But traditionally the Queen opens Parliament every autumn. She travels from Buckingham Palace to the Houses of Parliament in a gold carriage - the Irish State Coach. At the Houses of Parliament the Queen sits on a throne in the House of Lords. Then she reads the Queen's Speech. At the State Opening of Parliament the Queen wears a crown and the crown jewels.

Guy Fawkes Day. November 5th is Guy Fawkes Day in Britain. All over the country people build wood fires, or "bonfires", in their gardens. On top of each bonfire is a guy. That is a figure of Guy Fawkes. He was one of a band of conspirators who wanted to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill King James I and his ministers. However, the plot failed, Fawkes was caught on the 5th of November 1605. The conspirators were executed and Britain has celebrated Guy Fawkes night since then. Before November 5th, children use their guys to make money. They stand in the street and shout "Penny for the guy". Then they spend the money on fireworks.

Winter

Up-Helly-Aa. The Shetland Islands are north of Scotland. In the ninth century the Vikings from Norway came to the Shetlands. They came to Britain in ships and took away gold, animals and sometimes people.

Now, 1000 years later, people in the Shetlands remember the Vikings with the festival, which they call "Up-Helly-Aa". Every winter people of Zerwick, the capital of the Shetland Islands, make a model of a Viking longship with the head of a dragon at the front. Then, on Up-Helly-Aa night in January, the Shetlanders dress in Viking costumes and carry the ship through the town to the sea and burn it there. The festival is a party for the people of the Shetland Islands.

Carol Singing. Originally, carols were songs performed with dancing at Christmas and other festivals. They were often sung outside houses by fantastically-dressed actors called Mummers. Many of today's carols have been written since the 19th century as Christmas hymns celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.

Exercise 1.

Look quickly through the text and match the names of the traditions with the season of the year.

Exercise 2.

Read the text again for more detailed information and say which of the two is right.

1. The Shetlanders build a … a Viking longship and then burn it.

a) real                b) model of

2. St David's Day is an important day for .....people.

a) Welsh                b) Scottish

3. In the past on May Day young .....went to the fields and washed their faces with dew.

a) men                b) girls

4. On the day of Trooping the Colour the Queen's soldiers, ..... , march in front of her.

a) the Guards                b) the troopers

5. On the day of Swan Upping the Queen's swan keeper marks .....swans.

a) young                b) old

6. At Highland Games you can see ..... .

a) only sports competitions                b)sports competitions and dancing

7. During the State Opening of Parliament the Queen sits on a throne in ... .

a) the House of Commons                b) the House of Lords

8. Guy Fawkes was .....of King James I.

a) a minister                b) an enemy

9. Carols are often sung .....houses.

a) outside                b) inside

Exercise 3. True-False statements.

Are these sentences true (t) or false (f)?

1. On May Day the young women of each village tried to win prizes with their bows and arrows. _______
2. The Queen's official birthday is on April 21st. _______
3. On the River Thames there are hundreds of ravens. _______
4. In summer Scottish people traditionally meet together for competitions called Highland Games. _______
5. Before November 5th, children use their guys to make money. _______
6. The Shetland Islands are east of Scotland. _______
7. Originally, carols were dances performed at Christmas and other festivals. _______

Exercise 4.

Ask your partner 5 questions about British holidays.

1. _____________________________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________________
4. _____________________________________________________________
5. _____________________________________________________________

Post – reading.

Exercise 1.

Speak about one of the holidays in greater detail.

Exercise 2.

Write a short essay. Answer the question “What is the most interesting British holiday for you?”

In your culture

Exercise 1.

Make sure that you know the Russian national holidays and festivals and match the names of the holidays, the dates and their descriptions.

1. It celebrates the end of the Soviet Union's participation in World War II in Europe. Parades and processions of veterans are held in big cities. People lay flowers in Moscow's Park Pobedi and at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
2. This day is celebrated with all-night services in church.
3. This is a day off. Probably the busiest people on this day are flower-sellers. Men and young boys try to please their mothers, sisters and friends by giving them presents, flowers and chocolates.
4. We celebrate the day when Russia became an independent country, the Republic of Russian Federation after the break up of the Soviet Union in 1991. Thisisanofficialholiday.
5. It is the main Orthodox festival. Children colour eggs and enjoy traditional Russian dishes. Churchesholdspecialservicesonthisday.
6. This is a new holiday in Russia to celebrate the unity of the nation. Now this day is marked by marches and demonstrations in central parts of Russian cities and towns. For many people it's just another day off. This day was chosen as four centuries ago at the beginning of November the Polish invadors were driven out of Moscow by Russian troops under Citizen Minin and Prince Pozharsky.
7. This is the day when gifts are given by Ded Moroz (Father Frost), decorating New Year trees and joyful parties.
8. This festival marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring and Lent. During this festival people make pancakes, sing traditional songs and dance traditional dances or go visiting each other.
9. This holiday is devoted to soldiers and officers and everyone else who ever defended the country or is in the Army. These people are sent special cards and given presents. Concerts are also given in their honour.
10. On this spring day people prefer to go out into the streets and take part in all kinds of outdoor activities.

Exercise 2.

Speak about one of the holidays in greater detail.