Brainstorming

Decide on giving an opinion backed up by facts.

1. What were the reasons for the United States to expand the territories to the west?

2. Who was the President of the United States who initiated westward expansion?

3. What significant events were taking place in Europe during the period of 1810 – 1814?

4. Draw a contour map of Russia and indicate by arrows the movement of people taking place nowadays.

5. What were the major difficulties of Indians at the time of westward expansion?

Reading and Speaking

Pre-reading task

Work in small groups of two and discuss the following questions.

1. What representatives of American fauna do you know?

2. What natural resources of the United States make the country self-efficient?

3. What mineral resources and deposits of the United States do you know?

4. What famous American and Russian explorers do you know?

5. What are they famous for?

Exercise № 13. Phonetic practice

DEER, BEAR, FAIR, PAIR, ALLIGATOR, CROCODILE, MAMMAL, INSECT, SPIDER, PLANT, BUTTERFLY, GIRAFFE, FUR, TIGER, GEESE, WHALE, BUFFALO, BULL, COW, POLAR BEAR, PENGUIN, MONKEY, GUERILLA, CHIMPANZEE, WOLF, FOX, SWAN, ORYX, BOAR, OWL, RABBIT.

Now, decide what kind of wild animals we can find in America and Russia.

English Idioms

As you already know many English idiomatic expressions deal with names of various wild and domestic animals. Study the following idioms and use them in your own sentences trying to describe fauna life in Alaska.

HORSE

1. Horseplay;

2. You can take a horse to water but you can’t make it drink;

3. I could eat a horse;

PIG

1. Happy as a pig in muck;

2. If pigs could fly;

3. This house is a real pigsty!

4. Eat like a pig.

Exercise № 14. Sentences for dictation.

Man – men; cup – cop; rub – ran; than – then; sleep – slip; street – still; leaf – live.

Historic outlook

Text A: Reading for meaning.

Lewis and Clark Expedition

The United States president Thomas Jefferson commissioned the Lewis and Clark expedition to map America’s newly acquired territory west of the Mississippi River.⁷ A group of brave men led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark began their journey on the Missouri River near St. Louis in 1804. Their exploration helped to open the western United States to settlement and enabled the United States to claim the Oregon territory from France.

In 1804 two American explorers, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, were commissioned to explore the territory west of the Mississippi River acquired by the United States from France in the Louisiana Purchase. They were sending regular reports along with plants and animals directly to the President Thomas Jefferson, who kept the specimens in the White House. Governmental officials could enlarge their knowledge with witnessing typical representatives of flora and fauna. Finally, after two seasons of travel, the expedition reached the Pacific Ocean, the first to do so across the lands of the present-day United States.

Exercise № 15. Look at the map of the present US and name states which had been explored by the Lewis and Clark expedition. Use sentences like shown by the model.

Model: The Lewis and Clark expedition started its trip from St. Lois of the State of Illinois and crossed the states of Missouri and Iowa to make a stop at the Mandan Fort in North Dakota. …

Exercise № 16. Study the map above and make a list of American rivers. Don’t forget to use the definite article “the”.

Model: The River of Snake flows waters through the states of Oregon, Idaho and Wyoming.

Role Play

In groups of three, write a role play and then perform it in the class. Choose one of these topics:

1. A group of American colonists consider moving to the West;

2. A group of western settlers discuss what they need from the East for the forthcoming winter season;

3. A group of presidential advisers discussing benefits and difficulties arising from moving westward.

Exercise № 17. Look at the map and decide what the Lewis and Clark expedition brought to the newly created American nation. Put your words into a short written paragraph of 30 words.

Text B: Reading for meaning.