Программа авторского элективного курса предпрофильной подготовки учащихся 8-9 классов (стр. 3 )

Christmas is the most popular holiday in Britain. It is celebrate on the 25-th of December. People spend time at home, with their families, eat special food (turkey, potatoes, green vegetables, a Christmas pudding) and drink a lot. Many people decorate Christmas trees with toys and little coloured lights. People buy Christmas cards and little coloured lights. People buy Christmas cards and send them to their friends and relatives. Long before Christmas the shops are busy, because a lot of people buy Christmas presents. In churches people sing Christmas carols – special religious song.

On Christmas Eve (the 24-th of December) some people go a special church service. This service is called Midnight Mass. It starts at 12 o’clock at night.

The day after Christmas, the 26-th of December, is called Boxing Day. The priest in church opens boxes with money and gives to the poor people.

New Year’s Day is less popular in Britain than Christmas. Some people don’t celebrate it at all. Some people have New Year parties. At midnight they listen it the chimes of Big Ben, drink a toast to the New Year and sing Auld Lang Syne.

St. Valentine’s Day is celebrated on the 14-th of February. It is the day of sweethearts. On this day people send cards, candy or flowers to those whom they love.

Easter is a Christmas holiday in March or April. On this day Christmas remember the death of Christ and his return to life. They go to church and have a celebration dinner. The most popular emblem of Easter is the Easter egg. People paint hard-boiled eggs in different colours.

May spring Festival is celebrated on the 1-st of May. Girls put on their best summer dresses and put flowers in their hair and around their waists. The most beautiful girl is crowned with a garland of flowers. Spring Bank Holiday is celebrated on the last Monday in May. People don’t go to work on this day. Many people go to the country and have picnics.

Summer Bank Holiday is celebrated on the last Monday in August. It is time for big sports meetings all over the country.

Guy Fawkes Day is one of the most popular festivals in Britain. It is celebrated on the 5 of November. On that day, in 1605, Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill King James I. But the King’s men found the bomb, took Guy Fawkes to the Tower and the cut off hiss head.

Since that day the British burn a dummy, made of straw and old clothes, on a bonfire and let off fireworks. This dummy is called a “gay”. Children go about the streets saying “Penny for the gay.” If they collect enough money they buy some fireworks for the festival.

Опорная схема

Holiday	Date
New Year’s Day	January,1
St. Valentines Day	February,14
April Fool’s Day	April,1
Easter	Late March or early April
May Spring Festival	May,1
Spring Bank Holiday	May last Monday
Summer Bank Holiday	August, last Monday
Halloween	October,3
Guy Fawkes Day	Novembsr,5
Christmas Eve	December,24
Christmas	December,25
Boxing Day	Decembert,26

Answer the questions.

What public holidays in Great Britain do you know? What are they? Why some holidays are called Bunk Holidays? What is the most popular holiday in Britain? When and how do the British celebrate Christmas? Where do they spend time on this day? What do they usually have for Christmas dinner? Do the British decorate Christmas trees? What is the service on Christmas Eve called? When does it start? Why is the day after Christmas called Boxing Day? Is New Year’s Day popular in Britain? When is St. Valentine’s Day celebrated? What do people usually do on this day? What important Christian holiday do the British celebrated in March or April? Whom do Christmas remember on this day? What is the most popular emblem of Easter? When do the British celebrate May Spring Festival? What do the British girls day? How is the most beautiful girl crowned? Why don’t most British go to work on the last Monday in May? Where do they go on this day? When is the time for big sports meetings all over this Great Britain? What holiday do the British celebrated on this day? What do you know about Guy Fawkes Day? When is this holiday celebrated? What happened on this day in 1605? What do the British usually do on this day? What do the children say going about the streets?

Read and learn by heart the dialogue. Then act it out.

Ann: What about this hat?

Susan: Mm...It looks fine. How much is it?

Ann: It’s rather expensive.

Susan: I’ll take it. It’s good Christmas present for mother. I know what she is going to say. “What a lovely hat, that’s just what I wanted.”

Ann: when will you give your present?

Susan: On Christmas – the twenty-fifth of December. We usually put our presents in special stockings.

Ann: Stockings?

Susan: Yes, it’s an old tradition. Children find stockings in the morning near the beds or under the Christmas tree. They think that Santa Claus has brought the presents for them.

Ann: Do you decorate the Christmas tree tree?

Susan: yes, with tinsel, balls, and Christmas lights.

Ann: What do you usually say to each other?

Susan: “Marry Christmas” – “and to you”. Christmas is a time for sending greeting cards, exchanging presents...

Ann: ...Eating, drinking and being merry.

Lesson - 2 Great Britain: a country of traditions.

Jigsaw reading

1. Read the text once very attentively and try to understand and remember as much as you can. You must understand what is the main idea of the text is. Find necessary information and one of you will work in expert group.

As a result. All of you will know all information about customs and traditions of Great Britain. Please, make 4 groups of 3-4 pupils.

Just like families have their own traditions so do the countries. It’s common knowledge that the British are lovers of traditions. A whole year, each season in Britain is connected with various colourful traditions, customs and festivals.

Spring.

St. David’s Day. March 1-st is a very important day for Welsh people. It’s St. David’s Day. He is the “patron” or national saint of Wales. On March 1-st, the Welsh celebrate St. David’s Day and wear daffodils in the buttonholes of their coats or jackets.

May Day. May 1-st was an important day in the Middle Ages, the celebration of summer’s beginning. For that day people decorated houses and streets with branches of trees and flowers. In the very early morning young girls went to the fields and washed their faces with dew. They believed this made them beautiful for a year after that. Also on May Day the young men of each village tried to win prizes with their bows and arrows. People put a striped maypole decorated with flowers and danced round it. Some English villages still have maypole dancing on May 1-st.

Summer.

The trooping of the Colour. The Queen is the only person in Britain with two Birthdays. Her real birthday is on April 21-st, but she has an “official” birthday, too. That’s on the second Saturday in June. And on the Queen’s official birthday, there is a traditional ceremony called the Trooping of the Colour. It’s a big parade with brass bands and hundreds of soldiers at Horse Guards’ Parade in London. The Queen’s soldiers, the guards, march in front of her. At the front of the parade is the flag or “colour”. The Guards are trooping the colour. Thousands of Londoners and visitors watch Horse Guards’ Parade. And millions of people at home watch it on television.

Swan Upping. Here’s a very different royal tradition. On the River Thames there are hundreds of swans. A lot of these beautiful white birds belong, traditionally, to the King or Queen. In July the young swans on the Thames are about two months old. Then the Queen’s swan keeper goes, in a boat, from London Bridge to Henley. He looks at all the young swans and marks the royal ones. The name of this custom is Swan Upping.

Highland Games. In summer Scottish people traditionally meet together for competitions called Highland Games. After Queen Victoria visited the games at Braemar in 1848, the Braemar games became the most famous tradition in Scotland. Today thousands of visitors come to see sports like tossing the caber (when a tall pole is thrown into the air as a test of strength) or throwing the hammer. The games always include Scottish dancing and bagpipe music.

Autumn.

The State Opening of Parliament. Parliament controls modern Britain. But traditionally the queen opens Parliament every autumn. She travels from Buckingham Palace to the Houses of Parliament in a gold carriage – the Irish State Coach. At the Houses of Parliament the Queen sits on a throne in the House of Lords. Then she reads the Queen’s Speech. At the State Opening of Parliament the Queen wears a crown and crown jewels.