Great britain

Aims
If you watch this presentation you will be able to discuss these questions:
Geographical position of the UK
Countries and capitals
The political system
London’s places of interest
British traditions and holidays

Geographical position
The UK is the official name of the state which is situated in the British Isles. Thus, “Great Britain”, the main island, is often the same as the UK. It consists of four countries which are England, Scotland and Wales (in Great Britain) and Northern Ireland ( in Ireland). The UK is separated from the continent by the English Channel and the Strait of Dover.
Scotland
England
Wales
Northern
Ireland
IRELAND
GREAT BRITAIN

Countries and capitals
England is the largest part. London is its capital.
Scotland takes up one third of the territory of Great Britain. Edinburgh has been the capital since the 15th century.
Wales became part of England in 1536. The capital of Wales ( or Cymry as they call themselves) is Cardiff.
Northern Ireland is the smallest part. It occupies the northeast of the island of Ireland, only one-sixth of its territory. Its capital city is Belfast.

Political system
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. 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 or the opening of Parliament. In reality, the House of Commons is only one of the three which has true power.

Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II
Parliament
House of Commons
House of Lords
Has true power

ELIZABETH II
Born in Windsor on 21 April1926
Came to the throne in 1952
Was crowned in Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953
Has four children: Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward
Prince Charles
Prince Andrew
Princess Anne

British Parliament
The House of Commons is made up of 650 elected members (MPs)
It is here that new bills are introduced and debated.
It is presided by the Speaker.
The House of Lords has more than 1,ooo members (only 250 take an active part in the work.
Members are not elected.
They debate a bill after it has been passed by the House of Commons. Ganges may be recommended and agreement is reached by negotiations.

London
London is the capital of England and the UK and it is one of the largest cities in the world.
It is situated upon both banks of the River Thames.
The City extends over an area of about 2.6 square kilometres is the heart of London. It is the financial centre of the UK with many banks, offices and the Stock Exchange.
The West End with its historical palaces and parks and the East End with a famous port are the other parts of London.

British Natural
History
Museum
Tower of London

CITY OF LONDON

England
Stratford-upon-Avon
Bath
Cambridge
Oxford

Scotland
Loch Ness
Bagpiper
Ben Nevis
Edinburgh

Wales
Snowdonia
Eisterdd

Northern Ireland
Belfast
CityHall

British traditions and holidays
Christmas
Easter
Guy Fawkes' night
Halloween
Eisteddfods

Christmas
The 25th of December is Christmas Day
Most families decorate Christmas Tree
Children leave long socks or stockings for presents, fruit and nuts
The Queen delivers her traditional Christmas speech to the IK and the Commonwealth
26th December is also a public holiday, Boxing Day, and this is the time to visit friends.

Easter
Although the Christian religion gave the world Easter as we know today, the celebration owes its name and many of its customs and symbols to a pagan festival called Eostre. Eoster, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of springtime and sunrise.

Halloween
Halloween means “holy evening”, and takes place on 31th October.
At parties people dress up in strange costumes and pretend they are witches.
They cut horrible faces in vegetables and put a candle inside
Children dressed in white sheets knock on doors and ask if you would like a “trick” or a “treat”. If you give them something nice they go away, but if you don’t…

Guy Fawkes’ night
This day the English traditionally celebrated 5th November by burning a dummy, made of straw and old clothes, on a bonfire, at the same time letting off fireworks.