Additional course

The 8th form

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the Southwest Pacific Ocean. It lies about 1 600 km southeast of Australia and about 10 500 km southwest of California. New Zealand belongs to a large island group called Polynesia. The country is situated on two main islands — the North Island and the South Island — and several dozen smaller islands. Most of the smaller islands are hundreds of kilometers from the main ones.
Wellington is the capital of New Zealand and Auckland is the largest city. English is the official language of New Zealand and is spoken throughout the country. Many native people speak their own language, Maori, in addition to English.

The country once belonged to the British empire. Today it is an independent member of the Commonwealth of Nations, an association of Britain and a number of its former colonies.
New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy. The British Monarch, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, is the monarch of New Zealand. She appoints a governor general to represent her, but the governor general has little power. The legislation, prime minister, and Cabinet run the national government.
Britain gave New Zealand a constitution in 1852, when it was a British colony. But through the years the New Zealand legislature has changed almost all its provisions. Today, the nation has no written constitution.
The first people who settled in New Zealand were a brown skinned people called Maoris. They came from Polynesian islands located northeast of New Zealand. The country was discovered by Europeans in 1642, but they did not start to settle in the islands until the late 1700’s. Today, most New Zealanders are descendants of the early European settlers. Maoris make up about 12% of the country’s population.
New Zealand has one of the highest standard of living in the world. For many years, the economy of the country depended largely on agriculture. Today agriculture, manufacturing, and service industries are all important to the economy. New Zealand’s economy depends on trade with many countries — Australia, Britain, Japan and the United States.

Questions:
1. Where is New Zealand situated?
2. What city is the capital of New Zealand?
3. What languages do people in New Zealand speak?
4. What is the official language in New Zealand?
5. Who is New Zealand’s head of state?
6. Who runs the national government?
7. Who were the first people to live in New Zealand?
8. What are the main industries of the country?

Тема "Великобритания" (Great Britain)

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the UK) occupies the British Isles and consists of 4 parts: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The country has the population of 60 million people within the land area of 244 thousand square kilometers. The isles are washed by the Atlantic Ocean in the north and in the west and by the English Channel in the south. The UK is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea. Great Britain is separated from Northern Ireland by the Irish Sea and the North Channel.

There are many beautiful lakes and mountains in Scotland and England. The highest point in the Highlands is Ben Nevis (1 340 metres). The longest river flows in England, it is the Severn. The main attraction in the north of England is the Lake District. Thanks to the warm waters of Gulf Stream the island is very green and the British climate is mild. Local summers are rather hot and winters are not cold. As the weather is very changeable in Britain, it is the favourite topic for discussion with the British.

The capital of Great Britain is London. It stands on the Thames river. The country is a constitutional monarchy and officially the Queen is the Head of state. But it is ruled by the Prime Minister and the government. The legislative body is the Parliament which consists of the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

The UK is a highly developed industrial state. The chief industries are shipbuilding, fishing and mining, production of aircraft equipment, electronics, textile and chemicals. The country is the world’s largest exporter of iron and steel goods. The most important industrial cities of Great Britain are London, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Liverpool, Leeds, Edinburgh.

A lot of famous people were born and lived in Great Britain. Among them are Shakespeare, Newton, Churchill, Paul McCartney, Joanne Rowling, Sting, David Beckham and many others.

 

London

London dominates the life of Britain. And it is the greatest and nicest town in the world. Also, the nature of this city is very picturesque.  There are a lot of sites and places of interest here. Many parks and theatres, museums and halls, which are always ready to surprise tourists and English with it’s beauty and charm.  There are about 40 theatres, several concert halls, many museums including the British Museum, and the best art galleries.

Speaking about parks we can always see many people here listening to others or just heaving their rest.  Hide Park with its Speaker's Corner is also in London. Among other parks are Kensington Gardens, St. James Park. In the West End is Buckingham Palace, which is the Queen's Residence, and the Palace of Westminster the seat of Parliament. The best-known streets here are Whitehall with important Government offices, Downing Street, the London residence of Prime Minister and the place where cabinet meets, Fleet Street where most newspapers have their offices, Harley Street where the highest paid doctors live, and some others. There are many statues and monuments there.  I think that the majority is devoted to the famous and outstanding people.

London Is situated upon both banks of the River Thames and it is one of the largest cities in the world.  Speaking about the West end of London we mean it’s center where famous parks and tropical places are situated.  In Westminster Abbey begins and comes to an end royal destiny: in its walls the British monarchs are crowned, here they find their eternal rest. Besides Westminster Abbey is well known for the "poet’s Conner". So… many others memorial boards are established. But the present tombs are far from being all mentioned to the poets.

Well it is safe to say that it is the most famous building in England.  It is a fine Gothic building, which stands opposite the Houses of Parliament. It is the work of many hands and different ages and the oldest part of the building dates from the 8th century.

The White Tower, dating from 1078, contains a spectacular collection of arms.       Now The Tower protects the Crown Jewels. The Imperial State Crown and the Crown of Queen Elizabeth both incorporate precious stones whose history goes back centuries. Ceremony is still part of the daily life within The Tower. Following a 700-year tradition, each night the Chief warder locks the gates and hands the keys to the Resident Governor.

And now we can talk about a Tower Bridge of London. London's best known and most distinctive bridge has straddled the Thames for a century. The twin draw-bridges, each weighing about 1,000 tons, have been raised more than half a million times since the bridge was built. It is a working tribute to Victorian engineering genius. The draw-bridges take just 90 seconds to rise. All the original machinery is still in place with just one concession to modern technology: electric motors now replace the steam engines. Between the massive gothic-style towers that rest on the river bed are walkways, giving superb views of the river and the Tower of London.

Now we can talk about BIG BEN!!

Big Ben is the name of the huge clock in one of the tall towers of the Houses of Parliament. People are allowed to get inside the Tower so that they can see the works of Big Ben. There is no lift and there are 340 steps up to Big Ben. The faces of the clock are very large.

The sound of Big Ben is well-known to all British people and the tower of Big Ben is often used as a symbol of Britain. The great bell got its name in 19th century after Sir Benjamin Hall.  Big Ben is the voice of London; it shows an exact time since 1859.

Therefore there are many nice squares in London. Trafalgar Square is one of them and it is situated in the center of the West End.  There you can see a statue of Lord Nelson named by Nelson’s Column, which is situated in the middle of the square.  Trafalgar Square commemorates Nelson's naval victory of 1805. It was laid out between 1829 and 1841. There is Nelson's column there, nearly 185 feet high topped by statue of Nelson 17 feet high. The fountains and friendly pigeons make Trafalgar Square a popular place for Londoner and tourists. The building of National Gallery - one of the world famous art museums is situated on the Trafalgar square too.

Now we can tell few words about Buckingham Palace. It  has served as the official London residence of Britain's sovereigns since 1837. It evolved from a town house that was owned from the beginning of the eighteenth century by the Dukes of Buckingham. Today it is The Queen's official residence. Although in use for the many official events and receptions held by The Queen, areas of Buckingham Palace are opened to visitors on a regular basis. The State Rooms of the Palace are open to visitors during the Annual Summer Opening in August and September. They are lavishly furnished with some of the greatest treasures from the Royal Collection - paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Vermeer, Canaletto and Claude; sculpture by Canova and Chantrey some of the finest English and French furniture in the world.
 Visits to Buckingham Palace can be combined with visits to The Queen's Gallery, which will reopen in the spring of 2002. The nearby Royal Mews is open throughout the year.

Well… it is safe to say that a have finished my story about the nicest city in the world, exactly London and about all it’s sights, beauties and places of interest of course. As for me I’d like to visit it again, to feel everything I felt before, spending there my free spring time and therefore I’d like to know English better and that’s why I advise all of you to visit this irresistible city!

Task 1. Imagine that you happened to be in the United Kingdom. What country would you like to visit – Scotland or Wales?

Example:

- I would like to visit Scotland, because Scotland is the land of myths and mysteries. And I want to know more about them.

Task 2. You have just returned from England. There you lived in a host family and very often you went sightseeing. Your friends want to know about British sights and ask you a lot of questions. Tell them what you know about British sights.