A Monthly Newsletter for Teachers of English April 2009

STARTING OFF
How many regions does your country have? How are they different? Think about:

what people eat and drink

what people wear where people live
how people speak (special
words and accents) what people are like where people work (what
(character) kinds of jobs)

Which regions of your country would you like to live in? Why?

BEFORE YOU READ

Look at the questions below and discuss the answers with a partner:

1. How many countries are there in Great Britain? 4. There are ten times more people in England than the
rest of Great Britain.
a. three b. four c. five
a. true b. false
2. Is Northern Ireland part of Great Britain?
5. Scotland has its own language.
a. yes b. no
a. true b. false
3. Great Britain is one of the five biggest islands in the
world. 6. Wales has its own language.

a. 100 b. 200 c. 300 a. true b. false

FIRST READING
Read the text quickly and check if your ideas were right.

© Pearson Longman 2009 PHOTOCOPIABLE

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A Monthly Newsletter for Teachers of English May 2009

SECOND READING
Look at the text again and complete the summaries for each country.

VOCABULARY 1
Eight words in the text are underlined. Match them to the definitions below.

How many regions does your country have? How are they different? Think about:

CONFUSED
OBVIOUSLY SEPARATE WEAKER
INCLUDE
NOWADAYS INDEPENDENCE CHOOSE

1. easy to see or understand (ADVERB) 2. not controlled by anything else (NOUN)

3. stop being together (VERB) 4. not understanding what is happening (ADJECTIVE)
5. less strong (ADJECTIVE) 6. now, this time, not in the past (ADVERB)
7. have as a part (VERB) 8. decide which thing you want (VERB)

VOCABULARY 2
Complete the sentences using one of the words from Vocabulary 1. You may need to change the form of the word.

1. They came to the party together, but they left in ____________________ cars.

2. ____________________, most people understand how important exercise is.

3. The blue one or the red one? I just can’t ____________________!

4. The 4th of July is ____________________ Day in the United States.

5. As well as your salary, the job ____________________ a company car and a company phone.

6. The television picture was very bad because the signal was so ____________________.

7. We listened to his lecture carefully. It was ____________________ that he was a very clever man.

8. It was a very difficult problem. I just felt ____________________.

THIRD READING
Without looking at the text, try to finish the sentences below:
1. Great Britain is called ‘Great’ because...
2. Great Britain is made up of…
3. Great Britain does not include...
4. English is an official language for...
5. Most English people historically come from...
6. Independence is possible if...
Read the text again and check your answers.

© Pearson Longman 2009 PHOTOCOPIABLE

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 ACTIVITIES SHEET May 2009

WRITING
Look back at the discussion you had at the beginning of the lesson (‘Starting off’) about your country’s regions.
Using that information produce a text about your country similar to the one you have read.
Structure the text as follows:
INTRODUCTION general information on your country as an introduction
FIRST PART the similarities of the regions
SECOND PART the differences of the regions
THIRD PART what might happen in the future
FOURTH PART a factsheet: summaries of the regions (in table form)
You can work in groups to prepare the texts.
 ACTIVITIES SHEET May 2009

“You speak English. You are British. Your country is the United Kingdom.
No wonder English people always look so confused.”

Just over three hundred years ago, on the 1st of May 1707, Great Britain was born. But what is
Great Britain? How is it different from the British Isles and from the United Kingdom?
What is Great Britain?
Great Britain is an island - the biggest island of the British Isles, which is why it is
called ‘Great’. It is the ninth biggest island in the world. Great Britain is made up
of England, Scotland and Wales. It does not include Northern Ireland or the
Republic of Ireland.
The United Kingdom is the name of the state. It has a parliament and government
in London; the Queen is the Head of State. The United Kingdom includes
England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but not the Republic of Ireland.
‘The British Isles’ describes all the islands together. It includes England, Scotland, Wales, Northern
Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The British Isles is a geographical name, not a state or country.
How are the countries different?
The three countries of Great Britain are different in many ways. Most obviously, they are different
sizes: England has some 51 million people, Scotland around 5 million and Wales about 3 million.
English is an official language for all, but Scottish Gaelic and Scots dialect are official languages in
Scotland and Welsh is an official language in Wales. Different sports are more popular in different
countries: football and cricket in England, football and rugby in Scotland and Wales. The three
countries have different traditional foods as well: roast beef, pies and tea in England; haggis and
whiskey in Scotland; Welsh rarebit and lamb in Wales. Ethnically, the people are very different,
with the Scots and the Welsh being Celtic peoples, while most English people historically come
from Scandinavian countries. Nowadays, of course, there are many cultures in all three countries.
Could the three countries separate?
It is certainly not impossible. There is a strong independence party in Scotland (the SNP - the
Scottish Nationalist Party or Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba) and a weaker one in Wales (the Party of
Wales or Plaid Cymru). At the moment both countries have some independence with a National
Assembley in the Welsh capital of Cardiff and a Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh but independence
is possible if the Scots or the Welsh choose it.
 ENGLAND
ACTIVITIES SHEET May 2009
Capital London

Population ...

Language(s) ...

Foods ...

Sports football, cricket

People the English

“Good morning” “Good morning”

SCOTLAND
Capital ...

Population ...

Language(s) ...

Foods ...

Sports football, rugby

People ...

“Good morning” “Madainn mhath”

WALES
Capital ...

Population ...

Language(s) ...

Foods ...

Sports ...

People ...

“Good morning” “Bore da”