Starting off

How much do you know about Britain and how British people live? What kinds of things are different from your own country? Work with a partner and think about some of these:

• food and drink

• shops and shopping

• travel and transport

• sports and games

• numbers and measurements

Would you like to live in Britain? Why/why not?

Before you read

Look at the questions below and discuss the answers with a partner. NB - more than one answer may be possible:

1. How many countries are there in Great Britain?

a. three

b. four

c. five

2. Why do people drive on the left in Britain?

a. to shake hands with a friend

b. to fight an enemy

c. to be different from the French

3. The English copied tea-drinking from the French.

a. true

b. false

4. English people wear their wedding ring on...

a. a different hand

b. a different finger

5. How many regional languages are there in Great Britain?

a. six

b. five

c. four

First reading

Read the text and see if your ideas were right. Read as quickly as you can and remember that you don't need to read everything.

Sentence construction

Below are five jumbled questions. Put the words in the right order to make correct questions.

1. the Republic of Ireland / is / Great Britain / part of

• Is…

on the left / in Britain / always driven / have people

• Have people…

• tea with milk / who drank / the British or the French / first

• Who drank…

• why are / very practical / British taps / not

• Why are…

• in queuing / you take / where can / an examination

• Where can…

Second reading

Read the whole text carefully this time and find the answers to the questions.

Vocabulary 1

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

1. extremely hot so that it can burn you, especially water or steam	2. a strong vehicle with four wheels, used for carrying heavy loads and usually pulled by horses
3. a small group of people or things within a much larger group	4. extremely cold
5. the force made by how much gas or liquid there is in a place	6. someone who is against you and wants to harm you
7. something that is officially accepted (by the government, for example).	8. different from

(all definitions adapted from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English)

Vocabulary 2

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

1. Wait! I have to get my coat - it's absolutely ____________________ outside.

2. Most people think it's a good idea. It's only a ____________________ who disagree.

3. I had a problem because my ID card wasn't ____________________ by the authorities.

4. Be careful when you open it - the engine is full of steam and it's ____________________ hot.

5. Why are you so angry with me? I'm not fighting you; I'm not your ____________________.

6. This problem is ____________________ any we have had before. It's something completely new.

7. In the country most farmers have tractors now but you can still see horse-drawn ____________________ in some places.

8. Hurricanes and tornadoes are caused by big differences in air ____________________.

Speaking

Britain is not the only country which has some strange customs - in fact, every country has its odd elements. Think about your country, for example. What is odd or strange about it? What might be hard for a foreign visitor to understand? Work with a partner and think about the areas below (and any others you can think of):




• food and drink

• shops and shopping

• travel and transport

• sports and games

• town and country

• holidays and festivals




What are the strangest things about your country?

Prepare a short presentation to the rest of the class about your plans.











WHY IS BRITAIN ALWAYS A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT?

Those eccentric Britons: so similar and yet so different in so many little ways...

Just what is Great Britain?
There are three countries in Great Britain: England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, not Great Britain. The Republic of Ireland is a different country completely.

Why do Britons drive on the left?
The answer is probably that it was important to have your right hand ready if you met a friend - or an enemy - on the road. One thing to remember is that until around 300 years ago everyone drove (or rode) on the left, only changing to the right because it was easier to watch the wheels of very big wagons from that side.


The left is important in Britain for other things too. For example, when you
get married in Britain you put
your ring on your left hand,
not right as in most
other countries.
The ring goes
on the right only
if your
husband or
wife dies.


Why do the British drink tea with milk?
The British are well known for drinking a lot of tea and for drinking it with milk, unlike most countries where tea is usually drunk with lemon and sugar. Surprisingly, adding milk to tea was not popular in Britain at first. In fact, in the seventeenth century tea itself was much more popular in France than in Britain and it was the French who usually drank it with milk; the British copied the fashion from them.


Separate taps

Go into a British bathroom and you'll notice something unusual: at the sink there are usually two taps rather than one. In this case, however, two are not better than one. With one hot tap and one cold you have a choice of freezing your hands or scalding them; the only way to get warm water for washing is to fill up the bowl. Why? The reason is low water pressure in Britain which means that mixer taps are often not possible.

Queuing
Traditionally, British people are expert queuers. People queue at bus stops, in shops, outside clubs… in fact, people queue everywhere. Queuing is such a part of British society that it is even possible for foreigners staying in Britain to take courses in queuing for foreigners! As far as I know, though, there is no examination to take in queuing. At least not yet...


A Monthly Newsletter for Teachers of English

September 2008

© Pearson Education Polska 2008 PHOTOCOPIABLE

A C T I V I T I E S S H E E T

September 2008

The People of Britain

Britain is a multicultural society with many different ethnic groups, religions and languages.

There are four recognised regional languages in Britain: Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Scots and Cornish.

Britain's population is over 90% white; the largest ethnic minorities are South Asian and Black.

The most popular religion is Christianity (almost 50% of British people). Islam is second (about 3%), followed by Hinduism, Sikhism and Judaism. Around half of all British people have no religion.

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