3. Complete this table using the map and the names from the pronunciation drill.

• Listen to the teacher and show your red card if the name refers to England, your blue card if it refers to Scotland, your yellow card if it refers to Wales and two cards (blue and yellow) if it refers to N. Ireland.

• Work in pairs. Ask each other questions based on the data in the table and answer them. E.g. ‘What is the capital of Scotland?’, ‘Where does the Trent flow?’, ‘Where is …situated?’, etc.

Country	Capital	Mountains (mind the article)	Rivers (mind the article)
England
Scotland
Wales
N. Ireland

4. Read the text and explain the following realia: a county, a conurbation, the Home Counties.

e.g. A conurbation is a city area containing …, formed by … .

Counties and conurbations. Britain is divided into 53 administrative areas called counties. The counties around the capital, London, are known as the Home Counties. Some large cities have become highly populated and have expanded into the surrounding countryside. These large urban areas are known as conurbations. Great Manchester is a conurbation that includes the industrial city of Manchester, all its suburbs and the surrounding towns which form a single urban mass.

Different parts of Britain are often described in terms of compass points. A person may say, ‘I’m from the North-east’, or ‘I’m from the Midlands’. Alternatively, it is possible to refer to an area in terms of its geographical features, for example, ‘The Lake District’ or ‘The Welsh Valleys’.

• Which of these counties are Home Counties? What other Home Counties are there?

Kent Surrey Norfolk Staffordshire Yorkshire Essex

• Match each of these towns with its correct area.

AREA	TOWN/CITY	AREA	TOWN/CITY
The Midlands	Brighton	The Lowlands	Liverpool
The North-East	Inverness	East Anglia	Stirling
The Highlands	Birmingham	The North-West	Exeter
The South-East	Newcastle	The West Country	Norwich

• Read the clues and identify the city.

This Scottish city is on the river Clyde.

This large port is in south-west England, on the river Avon.

This is the capital city of Wales.

• Now write five clues to test your partner.

Find the English equivalents: графство; конурба́ция; графства, окружающие Лондон, или «Домашние графства»; окрестности/пригород; по названиям сторон света; с точки зрения географических особенностей; центральные графства Англии; Се́веро-Восто́чная А́нглия; Хайленд; Юго-Восточная Англия; Лоуленд; Восточная Англия; Северо-Западная Англия; Юго-Западная Англия/графства, расположенные к юго-западу от Лондона)

5. To refer to the nationality of the people of Britain or the United Kingdom, you use the adjective British. Fill in the table below with the adjectives that describe people from the countries and some cities of the UK. Work in pairs.

e.g. – What do they call a person who lives in London?

– It is Londoner, isn’t it?

• What is the Russian for ‘Londoner’?

• The Russian for ‘Londoner’ is ‘лондонец’ or ‘житель Лондона’.

Place	Adjective	Translation (Rus)
Ireland
Scotland
Wales
London
Dublin
Glasgow
Manchester
Liverpool
Edinburgh
Cardiff
Cambridge
Oxford

6. There are some historical and poetic names for different parts of the United Kingdom. Read the information and sum it up mentioning the most important and interesting details. You can use the following model:

“Besides their official names, different parts of the United Kingdom have their historical and poetic names. The poetic name for England is ____________ . The Romans originally gave it to ____________ . Now it refers to England in rhetorical contexts. The Roman names for Scotland, Wales and Ireland are________________________________ respectively. Nowadays they are mostly used by scientists or _____________. There are two ways of referring to Ireland. It’s poetic name is_________ . The second name is___________________ . There is also a female embodiment of Britain – _____________ . It is always depicted wearing a ____________ and holding a ____________ . A male fictional character that represents Englishness is _____________ . He looks as ______________________ .”

A lbion is a word used in some poetic or rhetorical contexts to refer to England. It was the original Roman name for Britain. It may come from the Latin word albus, meaning ‘white’. The white chalk cliffs around Dover on the south coast are the first parts of England to be seen when crossing the sea from the European mainland.

B ritannia is the name that the Romans gave to their southern British province (which covered, approximately, the area of present-day England). It is also the name given to the female embodiment of Britain, always shown wearing a helmet and holding a trident (the symbol of power over the sea), hence the patriotic song which begins ‘Rule Britannia, Britannia rule the waves’. The figure of Britannia has been on the reverse side of many British coins for more than 300 years.

John Bull is a fictional character who is supposed to personify Englishness and certain English virtues. He features in hundreds of 19^th century cartoons. His appearance is typical of an 18^th century country gentleman.

Caledonia, Cambria and Hibernia were the Roman names for Scotland, Wales and Ireland respectively. The words are commonly used today in scholarly classifications (for example, the type of English used in Ireland is sometimes called ‘Hiberno-English’) and for the names of organizations (for example, the airline ‘British Caledonian’).

Erin is a poetic name for Ireland. ‘The Emerald Isle’ is another way of referring to Ireland, evoking the lush greenery of its countryside.

Find the English equivalents: Альбион, меловые скалы, континентальная Европа, воплощение/олицетворение, Джон Буль, Изумрудный остров

7. At one time the four nations of the UK were distinct from each other in almost every aspect of life. In the first place, they were different racially. The people in Ireland, Wales and highland Scotland belonged to the Celtic race; those in England and lowland Scotland were mainly of Germanic origin. This difference was reflected in the languages they spoke. People in the Celtic area spoke Celtic languages: Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh. People in the Germanic areas spoke Germanic dialects (including the one which has developed into modern English). The nations also tended to have different economic, social and legal systems.

Today these differences have become blurred. But they have not completely disappeared. Although there is only one government for the whole of Britain, and people have the same passport regardless of where in Britain they live, some aspects of government are organized separately in the four parts of the UK. Moreover, Welsh, Scottish and Irish people feel their identity very strongly.

The four nations have their identifying symbols. Study the picture and tell about the national symbols of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

e.g. Each of the four countries of the UK has its symbol, a national fag, a national floral emblem and a patron saint. The Three Lions symbolise England. The national flag of England is St George's Cross. It is a red cross on a white background. St George is the patron saint of the country. And the national plant of England is a red rose………..

Find the English equivalents: кельтский, гэльский, социальный строй, правовая система, чертополох, желтый нарцисс, трилистник.