1. Old English

From about the ninth century, the Vikings - who lived in what is now Sweden and Norway, began to arrive in the north of England. The language people spoke began to change. In the south of England, people began to translate books from Latin into English.

2. Middle English In 1066, the Normans invaded England and French became the official language. Most educated people had to speak three languages: French, Latin and English! At this time, English literature began to develop. One of the most famous writers was the poet Geoffrey Chaucer in the fourteenth century. His language is a little like the English of today.

3. Early Modern English

(1450-1750)

This period includes the time of William Shakespeare - England's greatest writer. By the end of the seventeenth century, great scientists, like Isaac Newton, wrote in English, not in Latin. The British Empire began, and the English language traveled across the Atlantic to North America and across Asia to India.

4 Modern English

(1750-1950)

English was now a national language. The first dictionary - Johnson's Dictionary – appeared in 1755, and the first grammar books appeared soon after. As the British Empire grew in the nineteenth century, English became a more international language. People began to learn English around the world. The first English language textbooks appeared in the 1930s.

5 Late Modern English

(from 1950)

Now, English language teaching is an important international industry. After World War 11, the United States became the most important economic and cultural power in the world, and a world market in audio-visual communication began. CNN International began in 1989 and the Internet developed in the 1990s. English became a global language, with about two billion speakers.

References:

the Vikings - викинги; Latin – Латинский язык ; the Normans - норманны ( жители или уроженцы Нормандии ) ; Geoffrey Chaucer - Джеффри Чосер ; The British Empire – Британская империя.

Ex.1. Say if it is true that

the Vikings were the first who began to invade England;

french was the official language of England;

by the end of the 17^th century most of famous writers and scientists wrote in English;

English is an international language.

Ex.2 . Write 10 special questions to the text.

Population of the uk

The U.K. unites four countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Great Britain consists of three countries -- England, Scotland, and Wales and doesn't in­clude Northern Ireland, but very often they say "Great Britain" when think about the United Kingdom.

People outside Great Britain call those who live in the U.K. the English. But it is not quite right, because there are four main nationalities in this country, the English, the Scots, the Welsh and the Irish.

The population of the U.K. is about 57 million. Most of people live in large towns. The population lives mostly in towns and cities and their suburbs. Four out of every five people live in towns. The distribution of the population is rather uneven. Over 47 million people live in England, over 3 million in Wales, a little over 5 million in Scotland and about 1, 5 million in Northern Ireland.

Greater London, the south and the southeast are the most densely populated areas. Only London’s population is over 7 million. Most of the mountainous parts of the UK including much of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and the Pennine Chain in Northern England are very sparsely populated.

English is the official state language of the country. Besides standard literary English there are several regional and social dialects. A well-known example is the Cockney of East Londoners. The Scottish and Irish forms of Gaelic survive in some parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland. Wales is officially bilingual, Welsh is spoken by about a fifth of its population. Nowadays there is a growing movement in Wales and Scotland for a revival of national culture and languages.

References:

to be situated-располагаться; to include-включать; to consist of-состоять из; outside-вне, за пределами; to call-называть, is not quite right-не совсем правильно; modern-современный; Cockney - кокни, лондонское просторечие; Gaelic – гаэльский язык; bilingual – двуязычный.

Ex.1. Answer the questions:

1. Is the number of countries and of the islands the same in the U.K.?

2. How many countries does the U.K. consist of?

3. How many countries does G.B. consist of?

4. Do only the English live in the U.K.?

5. What languages do they speak?

6. What is the population of the U.K.?

7. What can you say about the distribution of the population?

8. What is the official state language?

9. What languages are spoken in the UK?

Ex.2. Complete the table.

Country	Nationality	Language
e.g. England	the English	English

Ex.3. Agree or disagree:

1. The U.K. unites 2 countries: England and Scotland.

2. There is only one nationality in the U.K.-the Welsh.

3. They speak only English in the U.K.

4. Half of the population in G.B. lives in villages and small towns.

5. The population of the UK is about 37 million people.

6. English is the only language of the country.

Ex.4. Ask your friends questions about:

a) geographical names of G.B.

b) population and language