Minutes)

20 minutes)

The basis for practical training can be listening to a record of native speaker’s narration or any other kind of listening comprehension exercise with following wide discussion on the spoken subject. The whole idea of the lesson is to minimize the amount of time that students spend working with textbook material and maximize the communicative aspect of the lesson. Each exercise should be spoken over by students upon the completion. In course of all conversation, students should tend to apply new words and expressions that they learn while studying the given topic.

5) Homework (2-3 minutes)

The homework, on the contrary, should engage as much textbook/written exercises as possible. It can include writing a short essays on the passed material, preparing reports and dialogs etc. Also there’d be a text on the topic of the following lesson which might undergo analysis at home for further discussion in class. The example of the text is as follows:

“ Shrovetide and Lent

 

Shrove Tuesday is the eve of Lent, the last day of Shraft, the end of the short festival season which includes Egg Saturday, Quinquagesima Sunday, and shrove, or Collop, Monday. The English name “Shrove” is derived from the pre-Reformation practice of going to be shriven on that day in preparation for the once severe fast of Lent. What the British now call the Pancake Bell is supposed to be a signal to start making pancakes. Originally it was rung to call the faithful to church to make their confessions. But though the religious side of Shrovetide was always important, it is also a time of high festivity, renowened everywhere for the playing of traditional games, cock-fighting, wrestling, dancing, feasting upon pancakes and other good things that the coming forty-day fast forbids.

One of the traditional sports of Shrovetide is football – not the organized game we know today, but the old wild type of game without proper rules or set teams, played in the streets and churchyards, and strongly disliked by the authorities. Hurling takes place of football in Cornwall. In this extremely popular Cornish game, the ball is about the size of cricket ball, made of light wood or cork, and thinly coated with silver, and it can be carried, tossed, hurled by the players, but never kicked.

Shrove Tuesday is the one of the traditional days on which in some old-established English schools, the custom of barring-out the schoolmaster can be observed. The children lock the master out of the school, and bargain with him for a holiday that day, or sometimes for a series of holidays in the coming terms. If the master manages to force the entry, the victory is his, and no holiday is granted. But if the children can hold out for the day (or, for three days, in the past), the schoolmaster makes an agreement with them and grants at least some of their demands.

On Ash Wednesday, Lent begins, and from then on there is no true festival date until Mid-Lent Sunday, the fourth in Lent, also known in Britain as Mothering Sunday. On that day, which is a welcome relaxation in the midst of the long, harsh fast, simnel cakes are customarily baked and eaten. The custom can be traced back to the year 1042, and the name “simnel” is believed to come from the cakes made by Lambert Simnel’s father and nicknamed after his son when the latter’s rebellion failed. Another version is that the word is derived from the Latin, simila, meaning fine wheaten flour. There are three principal types of simnel cakes, named after the towns which first made them: Shrewsbury, Devizes and the most famous Bury simnel.

On Palm Sunday, a fortnight later, palms are carried in procession in the churches in memory of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem.

On Maundy Thursday, the Queen, or in her absence, the Lord High Almoner acting for her, presents the Royal Maundy gifts to as many poor men and as many poor women as there are years in her age. This distribution usually takes place in Westminster Abbey when the date of the year is even, and in some other great cathedral when it is odd. Originally, Maundy Thursday was the day on which the Last Supper eaten by Christ and his Apostles is commemorated. The modern ceremony consists of a lovely and colorful procession, prayers, hymns and anthems, the distribution of Maundy Money, and the final Blessing and singing of the National Anthem.

On Good Friday, countrymen plant potatoes and sow parsley, Sussex people skip, the children in Liverpool “burn Judas” (a straw-stuffed effigys), and everyone eats Hot Cross buns, which are small, round, spiced cakes marked with a cross. They appear to be the Christian descendants of the cross-marked wheaten cakes which the pagan Greeks and Romans ate at the Springtime festival of Diana.

Many popular superstitions are associated with Good Friday. Blacksmiths do not shoe horses because of the use to which nails had been put, long ago, on Calvary. Miners do not go down the pit, believing that some disaster occurs if they do. Housewives do not sweep their houses because to do so is to sweep away the life of one of the family”.

8.2. “American English”

The basic idea of this lesson is to introduce main lexical and grammatical differences between the British English language and its American variant.

Lesson topic: “American English”

Lesson goal: study of the basic distinctions between the English language and it’s

American dialect, try to apply the knowledge in practice.

Lesson structure:

1) Lesson organization (2-3 minutes)

2) Particular review of the previous studies (4-5 minutes)

We accept that the there was a homework related to the given topic; it was based on the analysis of the following text:

“ American English

In the early part of the seventeenth century English settlers began to bring their language to America, and another series of changes began to take place. The settlers borrowed words from Indian languages for such strange trees as the hickory and persimmon, such unfamiliar animals as raccoons and woodchucks. Later they borrowed other words from settlers from other countries – for instance, chowder and prairie from the French, scow and sleigh from the Dutch. They made new combinations of English words, such as backwoods and bullfrog, or gave old English words entirely new meanings, such as lumber ( which in British English means approximately junk ) and corn ( which in British means any grain, especially wheat ). Some of the new terms were needed, because there were new and un-English things to talk about. Others can be explained only on the general theory that languages are always changing, and American English is no exception.

Aside from the new vocabulary, differences in pronunciation, in grammatical construction, and especially in intonation developed. If the colonization had taken place a few centuries earlier, American might have become as different from English as French is from Italian. But the settlement occurred after the invention of printing, and continued through a period when the idea of educating everybody was making rapid progress. For a long time most of the books read in America came from England, and a surprising number of Americans read those books, in or out of school. Moreover, most of the colonists seem to have felt strong ties with England. In this they were unlike their Anglo-Saxon ancestors, who apparently made a clean break with their continental homes.

A good many Englishmen and some Americans used to condemn every difference that did develop, and as recently as a generation ago it was not unusual to hear all “Americanisms” condemned, even in America. It is now generally recognized in this country that we are not bound to the Queen’s English, but have a full right to work out our own habits. Even a good many of the English now concede this, though some of them object strongly to the fact that Americanisms are now having an influence on British usage.

There are thousands of differences in detail between British and American English, and occasionally they crowd together enough to make some difficulty. If you read that a man, having trouble with his lorry, got out his spanner and lifted the bonnet to see what was the matter, you might not realize that the driver of the truck had taken out his wrench and lifted the hood. It is amusing to play with such differences, but the theory that the American language is now essentially different from English does not hold up. It is often very difficult to decide whether a book was written by an American or an English man. Even in speech it would be hard to prove that national differences are greater than some local differences in either country. On the whole, it now seems probable that the language habits of the two countries will grow more, rather than less, alike, although some differences will undoubtedly remain and others may develop.

It also seems probable that there will be narrow-minded and snobbish people in both countries for some time to come. But generally speaking, anybody who learnsto speak and write the standard English of his own country, and to regard that of the other country as a legitimate variety with certain interesting differences, will have little trouble wherever he goes”.

Students should translate and discuss this text in class, expressing their understanding of differences between two dialects, and to tell examples of such from their personal experience (if they have any).

3) New studies (approximately 20 minutes)

This section will be very useful if built upon listening comprehension and discussion exercises mainly. Thus students will be given both listening and oral experience of distinguishing between dialects and using their knowledge in practice.

The approximate volume of information for the first (but not the only one!) lesson on this topic is given below, for both lexical and grammatical differences.

3.1.) Lexical difference

Lexical differences of American variant highly extensive on the strength of multiple borrowing from Spanish and Indian languages, what was not in British English.

American variant British variant

Subway underground

the movies the cinema

shop  store

sidewalk pavement

line  queue

soccer football

mailman postman

vacation holiday

corn maize

fall autumn

Also claim attention differences in writing some words in American and British variants of language.

For instance, following:

American variant British variant

honor honour

traveler traveller

plow plough

defense defence

jail  gaol

center centre

apologize apologise

3.2.) Grammatical difference

Grammatical differences of American variant consist in following:

1.                   In that events, when British use Present Perfect, in Staffs can be used and Present Perfect, and Past Simple.

2.                   Take a shower/a bath instead of have a shower/a bath.

3.                   Shall is not used. In all persons is used by will.

4.                   Needn't (do) usually is not used. Accustomed form -don't need to (do).

5.                   After demand, insist, require etc should usually is NOT used. I demanded that he apologize (instead of I demanded that he should apologise in British variant).

6. to/in THE hospital instead of to/in hospital in BrE.

7. on the weekend/on weekend instead of at the weekend/at weekend.

8. on a street instead of in a street.

9. Different from or than instead of different to/from

10. Write is used with to or without the pretext.

11. Past participle of "got" is "gotten"

12. To burn, to spoil and other verbs, which can be regular or

irregular in the British variant, in the American variant ALWAYS

regular.

13. Past Perfect, as a rule, is not used completely.

4) The training of practical application of the new knowledge should be given mainly in the form of listening/spoken exercises.

5) Homework (2-3 minutes)

A good kind of a homework for this particular lesson would be a task to compose a free-style topic in the British English language (about an A4 page in size) and then rewrite it in the American English; then discuss the lexical and grammatical differences between topics in class.

Bibliography

1. Hole, Christina. English traditional customs. London - Sydney, Batsford, 1975.

2. Hogg, Garry. Customs and traditions of England. Newton Abbot, David & Charles, 1971.

3. Baker, Margaret. Folklore and customs of rural England. Newton Abbot, David & Charles, 1974.

4. Rabley, Stephen. Customs and traditions in Britain. Harlow (Essex), Longman, 1989.

5. Murphy Raymond. English Grammar in Use. - Cambridge University Press, 1997.

6. Швейцер А.Д. Американский вариант литературного английского языка: пути формирования и современный статус.//Вопросы языкознания,1995, №6,стр. 3-17.

7. Подласый И.П. Педагогика. т.1. Москва, Владос, 2001.

8. Bowle, John. England: A portrait. London, Benn, 1966.

9. Bryant, Arthur. A history of Britain and the British people. London, Collins, 1990.

10. Clark, George. English history: A survey. London, Oxford univ. Press, 1971.

Contents

1. Great Britain: General Facts ……………………………………………..…… 1

2. The History of Great Britain ……………………………………………...……1

2.1. Britain in the reign of Elizabeth …………………………………………..… 2

2.2. Britain in the seventeenth century ……………………………………….….. 3

2.3. Britain in the eighteenth century ……………………………………………. 5

2.4. Britain in the nineteenth century ……………………………………….…… 6

2.5. Britain in the twentieth century ……………………………………………... 9

3. Culture of Great Britain ……………………………………………………... 12

3.1. Cultural Life in Great Britain ……………………………………………... 12

3.2. Musical culture of Great Britain …………………………………….….…. 13

3.3. Art Galleries ……………………………………………………………….. 14

3.4. The British Theatre ………………………………………………………... 15

4. The British Education …………………………………………………….…. 15

4.1. The British Schools ………………………………………………………... 16

4.2. Universities and Colleges in Great Britain ………………………………… 16

5.The Modern British Economy ……………………………………………...… 17

6. The Modern British Industry ………………………………………………….18

7. The Modern British Army ……………………………………………...……. 18

8. The Two Lessons ……………………………………………………..……… 20

8.1. “Customs and Traditions of Great Britain” ……………………………...… 20

8.2. “American English” …………………………………………………..……. 27

Bibliography ……………………………………………………………...…….. 32