Иностранный язык (Английский). Практикум

PART I. COUNTRIES, CULTURES, PEOPLE

Marriedpeopleweartheirweddingringsonthethirdfingerofthelefthand. Most married women wear wedding rings, but married men often do not.

Вопросы и задания

1.Read and translate the texts.

2.Speak on Russian, British and American traditions of birthday and wedding celebration.

3.Answer the following questions:

1)What are the differences between celebration of Russian, English and American holidays?

2)Are there any holidays in Russia, England or the USA which are celebrated not only in these countries but all over the world?

3)Are there any holidays in these countries which are celebrated more than one day?

4)What are the most important religious holidays in Russia and Eng-

land?

5)Which is the most popular holiday in Great Britain?

6)What are the most favourite Russian and American holidays?

7)When is Christmas celebrated in these countries?

8)How do people in Russia, G.B. and the USA usually decorate their houses and Christmas trees at Christmas and New Year?

9)How do people celebrate Christmas?

10)Are there any performances in these countries on celebrating holidays? What do the people do when they take part in a festival or parade?

11)What is the symbol of the New Year?

12)What can you say about Easter?

13)Do Russian people dye eggs on Easter?

14)Where do people go on Easter?

15)What may people usually cook on Easter?

16)What country do you want to go to on winter holiday?

17)You want to make surprise for your mother on Mother’s day. What

is this?

18)How do people celebrate Halloween?

19)Do you like to celebrate holidays with your friend or with your family?

20)Do you like getting presents or giving them?

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Unit 7

POLITICAL SYSTEMS

Цель занятия: формирование системы знаний и представлений о политическом устройстве родной страны и стран изучаемого языка, формирование социокультурной компетенции.

В результате изучения темы студент должен:

–знать терминологию по теме занятия;

–уметь применять на практике лексику, необходимую для беседы с англоязычным партнером; работать в паре;

–владеть навыками диалогической речи, необходимыми в межличностном и межкультурном общении на иностранном языке (ОК-2).

Актуальность темы: знание базовой лексики необходимо для эффективного межкультурного и межличностного общения на иностранном языке.

Теоретическая часть

▪ Political system in Russia

Russia as a state is a presidential and parliamentary republic. The capital of the country is Moscow. The head of the state is the President who controls all the three branches of power. The Federal Assembly, consisting of the Council of Federation and the State Duma exercises the legislative power. The president of Russia is the government’s chief executive, head of state, and most powerful official. The president is elected by the people to a fouryear term. The president, with the approval of the lower house of parliament, appoints a prime minister to serve as head of government. The prime minister is the top – ranking official of a Council of Ministers (cabinet). The council carries out the operations of the government. The Federal Assembly is also called the Parliament, though it is not its official name. Both chambers (the Council of Federation and the State Duma) are headed by chairmen sometimes called speakers. The State Duma consists of 450 deputies. 225 are elected personally by the population. The other half consists of the deputies who are appointed by their parties after party-list voting according to which every party gains a number of seats. The State Duma makes the country’s laws. Legislation proposed by the Duma must be approved by the Federation Council and by the president before becoming law. However, the State Duma can override a veto by the Federation Council and send legislation directly to the president. The Federation Council approves government appointments and such presidential actions as the declaration of martial law and the use of armed forces outside of Russia. Members of the State Duma are elected

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PART I. COUNTRIES, CULTURES, PEOPLE

by the people to four – year terms. Members of the Federation Council are local government officials. They are not elected directly by the people. Half of the members are appointed by local governors. The other half are elected by local legislatures. All Russian citizens 18 years of age and older may vote in the countries elections. The members of the Council of Federation are elected on a different basis. Two representatives of each subject of the Federation are to be elected, and there are 89 subjects in the Russian Federation. Every law to be adopted must be approved by the State Duma, the Council of Federation and signed by the President.

Russia has a highly-developed system of social insurance. It means that the country invests its money in pensions, public health, education and sport. In Russia a person has insurance and doesn’t have to pay much when he or she enters a university or visits a doctor. When a person retires, he or she doesn’t have to starve, but gets a pension and can afford travelling abroad, medical care and good food.

There are many political parties in Russia. The most well-known are the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, United Russia, Regions of Russia, Motherland – All Russia, Yabloko and Union of the Right Forces.

Вопросы и задания

1.Read and translate the text.

2.Answer the questions:

1)What kind of state is Russia?

2)What is the political structure in Russia?

3)Who is the head of the state?

4)What institutions does the Federal Assembly consist of?

5)Who may be a deputy of the State Duma?

6)What is the State Duma responsible for?

7)What can you say about the system of social insurance in Russia?

8)Do you think that in politics much depends on the personality of a politician?

9)Which traits are positive and which are negative for a politician in your opinion?

10)Are there many political parties in Russia?

3.Review the functions each of the power institutions performs.

4.What is important for real democracy?

5.Cross out the words that don’t match the idea of democracy: integration, separatist, ethnic harmony, liberal, peace, democratic, constitutional, and racist.

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6. Read and translate the text.

Political System in Great Britain

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy. This means that it has a monarch (a king or a queen) as its Head of State. The monarch reigns with the support of Parliament. The powers of the monarch are not defined precisely. Everything today is done in the Queen’s name. It is her government, her armed forces, her law courts and so on. She appoints all the Ministers, including the Prime Minister. Everything is done, however, on the advice of the elected Government, and the monarch takes no part in the decision-making process.

Once the British Empire included a large number of countries all over the world ruled by Britain. The process of decolonisation began in 1947 with the independence of India, Pakistan and Ceylon. Now, apart from Hong Kong and a few small islands, there is no longer an empire. But the British ruling classes tried not to lose influence over the former colonies of the British Empire. Аn association of former members of the British Empire and Britain was founded in 1949. It is called the Commonwealth. It includes many countries such as Ireland, Burma, the Sudan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and others. The Queen of Great Britain is also the Head of the Commonwealth, and so the Queen of Canada, Australia, New Zealand... The Queen is very rich as well as the other members of the royal family. In addition, the government pays for her expenses as Head of State, for a royal yacht, train and aircraft as well as for the upkeep of several palaces. The Queen’s image appears on stamps, notes and coins.

Parliament consists of two chambers known as the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Parliament and the monarch have different roles in the government of the country, and they only meet together on symbolic occasions such as the coronation of a new monarch or the opening of Parliament. In reality, the House of Commons is the only one of the three which has true power. It is here that new bills are introduced and debated. If the majority of the members are in favour of a bill it goes to the House of Lords to be debated and finally to the monarch to be signed. Only then it becomes law. Although a bill must be supported by all three bodies, the House of Lords only has limited powers, and the monarch has not refused to sign one since the modern political system began over 200 years ago.

The British Parliament and the Electoral System

The British Parliament consists of the House of Lords and the House of Commons and the Queen as its head.

The House of Commons plays the major role in law-making. It consists of Members of Parliament (called MPs for short), each of whom represents an

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PART I. COUNTRIES, CULTURES, PEOPLE

area in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. MPs are elected either at a general election, or at a by-election following the death or retirement of an MP.

Parliamentary elections must be held every five years, but the Prime Minister can decide on the exact date within those five years. The minimum voting age is 18, and the voting is taken by secret ballot.

The election campaign lasts about three weeks. The election is decided on a simple majority - the candidate with most votes wins. An MP who wins by a small number of votes may have more votes against him (that is, for the other candidates) than for him. Many people think that it is unfair because the wishes of those who voted for the unsuccessful candidates are not represented at all. The British parliamentary system depends on political parties. The political parties choose candidates in elections. The party which wins the majority of seats forms the Government and its leader usually becomes Prime Minister. The Prime Minister chooses about 20 MPs from his or her party to become the Cabinet of Ministers. Each minister is responsible for a particular area of the government. The second largest party becomes the official opposition with its own leader and “Shadow cabinet”. Leader of the Opposition is a recognized post in the House of Commons.

The House of Commons

The House of Commons is made up of 650 elected members, known as Members of Parliament (MPs). The House of Commons is presided over by the Speaker, a member acceptable to the whole House. MPs sit on two sides of the hall, one side for the governing party and the other for the opposition. The first two rows of seats are occupied by the leading members of both parties (called ‘front-benchers’), the back benches belong to the rank-and- file MPs (‘back-benchers’). Each session of the House of Commons lasts for 160-175 days. Parliament has intervals during its work. MPs are paid for their parliamentary work and have to attend the sittings. MPs have to catch the Speaker’s eye when they want to speak, then they rise from where they have been sitting to address the House and must do so without either reading a prepared speech or consulting notes.

Although there is some space given to other than government proposals, the lion’s share of parliamentary time is taken by the party in power. A proposed law, a bill, has to go through three stages in order to become an Act of Parliament. These are called readings. The first reading is a formality and is simply the publication of the proposal. The second reading involves debate on the principles of the bill, its examination by a parliamentary committee, and the third reading - a report stage, when the work of the committee is reported on to the House. This is usually the most important stage in the

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process. The third reading is often a formality too; if six members table a motion, then there has to be a debate on the third reading. If the majority of MPs still vote for the bill, it is sent to the House of Lords for discussion. When the Lords agree, the bill is taken to the Queen for Royal assent. All bills must pass through both houses before being sent for signature by the Queen, when they become Acts of Parliament and the Law of the Land.

The House of Lords

The other House of Parliament is the House of Lords. The House of Lords has more than 1,000 members, although only about 250 take an active part in the work of the House. This House consists of those lords who sit by right of inheritance and those men and women who have been given life peerages which end with the life of their possessors. Members of this Upper House are not elected. They sit there because of their rank. The chairman of the House of Lords is the Lord Chancellor and he sits on a special seat called the Woolsack.

The members of the House of Lords debate a bill after it has been passed by the House of Commons. Changes may be recommended, and agreement between the two Houses is reached by negotiations. The Lords’ main power consists in being able to delay non-financial bills for a period of a year, but they can also introduce certain types of bill. The House of Lords is the only non-elected second chamber in the parliaments of the world, and some people in Britain would like to abolish it.

The division of Parliament into two Houses goes back to over some 700 years when a feudal assembly assisted the King. In modern times, real political power rests with the elected House although members of the House of Lords may occupy important cabinet posts.

Political Parties

Political parties first emerged in Britain at the end of the 17th century. The Conservative and Liberal Parties are the oldest and until the end of the 19th century they were the only parties elected to the House of Commons. The main British political groupings are the Conservative and Labour Parties and the Party of Liberal Democrats. The Conservative Party is the present ruling party, the Labour Party - the opposition to the Conservative - and the party of Liberal Democrats is called ‘conservatively oriented’. The Social Democratic Party was formed in 1981 and made an alliance with the Liberal Party in 1988.

There are also some other parties: the Scottish National and Welsh Nationalist Parties, the Communist Party of Britain and the Communist Party of Great Britain.

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PART I. COUNTRIES, CULTURES, PEOPLE

Because of the electoral method in use, only two major parties obtain seats in the House of Commons. People belonging to smaller political parties join one of the larger parties and work from within to make their influence felt. The exception to this are members of the Scottish National and Welsh Nationalist Parties, who, because their votes are concentrated in specific geographical areas, can manage to win seats although their total support is relatively small.

7. Answer the following questions:

1)What is Britain’s political system?

2)What does the term “constitutional monarchy” mean?

3)What role does Parliament play?

4)What can you say about the electoral system of the British parlament?

5)What are the functions of the House of Commons and the House of

Lords?

6)What are the major political parties in Great Britain?

7)What interests does the Conservative Party present?

8)Is there any division within the party itself?

9)What can you say about the Liberal and the Labour Party?

10)Are there any other parties in Great Britain?

8.The idea of democracy plays a great role in politics. What do you think ‘democracy’ means?

• People do what they want.

• People rule the country.

• People do what they want within the framework of law.

• People elect their representatives to rule the country.

• People elect the head of state directly.

• People say what they think.

• People can live in any place they choose.

• The head of state guarantees the rights of citizens.

• All people and authorities follow the constitution.

9.What activities are the Queen, lawmakers, the Prime Minister, the members of the opposition and ministers involved in?

10.Match the words with their definitions:

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11. Read and translate the text.

The USA and its political system

The country is a federative republic which consists of 50 states and District of Columbia, where Washington, D.C., the capital of the country, is situated. The head of the country is the President, who is elected every four years. Every state has its own Constitution and the system of power.

The supreme legislative organ is the Congress of the US. The members of the Congress are called congressmen. The Congress consists of two chambers – the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives is the lower chamber, the representatives are elected proportionally to the population of the USA. The Senate is the higher chamber; two senators are elected from each of the USA states notwithstanding the size of population in the state.

The main political parties are the Republicans (their symbol is Elephant) and the Democrats (their symbol is Donkey).

The main law of the USA is the Constitution. It was created and adopted in Philadelphia in 1787. The main goals of the Constitution were to create a stable federative state and to guarantee the right to have private property. But other rights and freedoms of the citizens were not guaranteed by the Constitution. So in 1789 there appeared the necessity of including more articles which would declare and guarantee political and personal rights of the US citizens. The first ten items – called Amendments – were called the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights on the one hand is now a part of the US Constitution, that’s why it is rather difficult to

write a Bill of Rights for an imaginary state. The US Bill of Rights is an addition to the existing Constitution and is formed of some Amendments to it. So any Bill of Rights should be built on the Constitution. On the other hand, the US Bill of Right is the only part of the US Constitution which guarantees the main rights and freedoms of the citizens. Russia doesn’t need any Bill of Rights, since all the rights and freedoms are guaranteed by the Russian Constitution.

12. Answer the questions:

1)What is the political system in the USA?

2)Who is the head of the state in the USA?

3)Do you think that the role of the head of state in the USA is ceremonial like in Great Britain?

4)What is the supreme legislative organ?

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PART I. COUNTRIES, CULTURES, PEOPLE

5)What chambers does the Congress consist of?

6)What can you say about the electoral system in the USA?

7)What kind of person may be elected a senator?

8)What are the main political parties in the USA?

9)What is the main function of the constitution?

10)What can you say about the US Bill of Rights?

GROUP WORK

1)The US, British and Russian governmental systems have different features. What is the difference between them?

2)Are there any common features in the governmental systems in Russia, Great Britain and the USA?

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Unit 8

NATIONAL LIFE

Цель занятия: формирование системы знаний и представлений о наиболее типичных национальных черт характера и национальных особенностях родной страны и стран изучаемого языка, формирование социокультурной компетенции.

В результате изучения темы студент должен:

–знать терминологию по теме занятия;

–уметь применять на практике лексику, необходимую для беседы с англоязычным партнером; работать в паре;

–владеть навыками диалогической речи, необходимыми в межличностном и межкультурном общении на иностранном языке (ОК-2).

Актуальность темы: знание базовой лексики необходимо для эффективного межкультурного и межличностного общения на иностранном языке.

Теоретическая часть

▪ Flags

The Russian flag has stripes of white, blue and red colour. It was adopted in 1991. The state seal was adopted in 1993. It includes symbols of the Russian Empire.

The United Slates flag is called the “Stars and Stripes”. It has thirteen red-and-white stripes and fifty white stars on a blue square. One star is for each state of the United States now, and the stripes are for the first thirteen states of the union. There is a story that the first flag was a patchwork quilt made by a patriotic lady called Betsy Ross. The flag is also called the “Star-Spangled Banner”, the name of the national anthem of the United States.

In the eighteenth century, America was a land of many flags. There were, for example, the ship of New Hampshire, the tree of Massachusetts and the anchor of Rhode Island. The Stars and Stripes first became the national flag after the Declaration of Independence, in 1776.

Americans enjoy their flag. They use the stars and stripes as a popular design on shirts, shoes, hats anywhere and everywhere in fact. It is typical of American informality and their love of bright, cheerful colours.

But Americans are patriotic, too. Many of them think that America is the best, the first and the greatest nation in the world, and that their flag is the flag of freedom.

The Stars and Stripes stands by the President’s desk. The flag hangs in every classroom in America, and in many schools every day children salute it

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