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British Culture

An Introduction
How many countries make up the
United Kingdom?

• Answer: Four
– England
– Scotland
– Wales
– Northern Ireland
What is the current currency of The
United Kingdom?
• The Pound
• Although the UK joined the EU in 1973, thus far
the country has not switch their currency to the
Euro. This has helped keep the UK financially
strong,
– $1= € .69
– $1= £.62
– €1 = £.90
– So for example, if you liked a desk that was £200, you
would be paying $321.
Who is the current Monarch?
• Queen Elizabeth II—not to be confused
with the Virgin Queen Elizabeth of the
Elizabethan/Shakespearean age.
• Next in line to the throne?
– Prince Charles
• Then?
– Prince William
Where does the monarch
OFFICIALLY reside?
• Buckingham Palace
What famous river flows through
London?
• The Thames (pronounced “Tims”
What Centuries did William
Shakespeare Live?
• 16th and 17th; baptized in 1564, died in
1616.
– Apprx. 38 plays
– 154 sonnets
– Other prominent works
How many times did King Henry
VIII get married? What is the name
of at least one of his wives?
• Six times
• His wives include (in this order)…
– Catherine of Aragon (Spanish Princess)
• Divorced
– Anne Boleyn (mother of Elizabeth I)
• Executed
– Jane Seymore
• Died
– Anne of Cleves
• Divorced
– Kathryn Howard
• Executed
– Katherine Parr
• Widowed
What are the two largest political
parties in the UK?
• Conservative

• Labour
Where are the crown jewels kept?
• The Tower of London
– Most haunted
– Former prisoners
Where were the Beatles from?
• Liverpool
Who is Nessie and where does she
reside?
• Loch Ness Monster; Loch Ness (lake in
Scotland)
What is a Double Decker?
• A two story bus
St. George is the patron saint of
England—what is he famous for
killing?
• A dragon
What is the most popular food in
Britain?
• Fish and chips
Most famous timepiece?
• Big Ben
Works cited (pictures) in order
• Microsoft clip art
• bedandbreakfasts.co.uk
• visitbritain.co.uk; nihongo.istockphoto.com
• topnews.in
• treehugger.com
• latelink.com; londonpermaculturalists.ning.com
• Microsoft clip art
• royalpaperdolls.com
• aboutmyarea.co.uk
• goingtolondon.wikispaces.com
• liverpoollodge.com
• paranormal.about.com; scotland-calling.com; tripadvisor.co.uk
• Microsoft clip art (2)
• frot.co.nz
• englisheso.wikispaces.com
UK US UK US UK US
Clothing Items School Terms Food
Knickers Under- Rubber eraser Biscuit Cookie
wear/
panties
Jumper Sweater Public Private Chips FRIES
School School
Vest Under- State Public Jelly Jello
shirt School School
Wellies galoshes Zebra crosswalk Runner Green
Crossing Beans beans
Trainers Sneakers Marks grades Scone Biscuit
• Open the dictionary to a
Etymology random page.
Main Entry: et·y·mol·o·gy • Look at the first word on
Pronunciation: \-jē\
Function: noun Inflected
Form(s): plural et·y·mol·o·gies
the page and make note
Etymology: Middle English ethimologie, from
Anglo-French, from Latin etymologia, from Greek,
of the etymology
1 : the history of a linguistic form (as a word) shown • Words noted as AS or OE
from etymon + -logia -logy Date: 14th century

by tracing its development since its earliest recorded


occurrence in the language where it is found, by
tracing its transmissionfrom one language to another,
are native; the rest are
by analyzing it into its component parts, by identifying
its cognates in other languages, or by tracing it and borrowed
its cognates to a common ancestral form in an

2 : a branch of linguistics concerned with etymologies• Make note of the


ancestral language

etymologies of 15 words
at the TOP of 15 separate
pages
What is the ratio?

13 Borrowed
2 Native • Irrevocable (Latin)
• Outlandish (OE) • Jangle (O French)
• Woodruff (OE) • Motion (Latin)
• Pointillism (French)
• Pulse (Latin)
• Serviette (O French)
• Suit (Latin)
• Vamplate (Anglo-Norman
French)
• Wheedle (German)
• Zygoma (Greek)
• Adequate (Latin)
• Aperture (Latin)
• Close (Latin)
2:13
(13%)
Percentage Latin/Greek Percentage Other

• 8/13 = 62% • 5/13 = 13%

What does this imply about


the ENGLISH language?
Our Language
• English is incredibly diverse!
• English dictionaries: 600,000 words—closest rival
(German): 185,000 words
• Knowing where language originates from allows us to
connect and understand how and why we
communicate the way we do.
Pәter
Sanskrit Piter
Classical Greek Pater
Latin Pater
Gothic Fadar
Old Irish Athir
French Pere
Spanish Padre
Portuguese Pai
English Father
German Vater
Proto Indo European

Indo- Greek Latin Balto-Slavic Celtic Germanic


Iranian Albanian
Baltic Slavic Welsh
Sanskrit Iranian Bretan
Romanian
French Gælic

Spanish Latvian Russian


Hindi Persian
Portuguese Lithuanian Ukrainian
Bengali Kurdish
Italian Czech
Slovak
Serb-
Croatian
Pәter
Sanskrit Piter
Classical Greek Pater
Latin Pater
Gothic Fadar
Old Irish Athir
French Pere
Spanish Padre
Portuguese Pai
English Father
German Vater
Germanic

North East West


Germanic Germanic Germanic
Old Norse Low High
Gothic
West East
Old High
Norse Norse German

Swedish
Danish Old English Old Frisian Old Low German
Icelandic

Norwegian Old Low Old


West Anglian Kentish Franconian Saxon
Saxon

Middle English Modern English


Old English
• Old English has different LETTERS.
• "Thorn" (Þ or þ)
– Cloth (cláþ)
– Thin
• The letter "eth" (ð)
– Clothes
– Then
• Old English does not require a specific word
order, the way Middle and Modern English do.
• Instead, OE uses declensions (little endings
stuck on the end of nouns)
Middle English
• Spelling has not yet been formalized in a
systematic way, and many Latinate terms
have entered English through intermediary
French influences under the Norman
conquerors in 1066.
Early Modern English
• Shakespeare’s day
– thou/you,
– thy/your,
– thine/yours,
• Shakespeare's alphabet in the early modern is
practically identical to ours
• Doesn't yet have identical punctuation conventions
to ours. For instance, the exclamation mark still
wasn't invented in 1590.
Narrative Writing
Page 8 of Writing Handbook
• There are 7 major components in most
stories:
1. Plot
2. Character
3. Setting
4. Theme
5. Mood
6. Tone
7. Viewpoint
Plot
• A series of related actions that lead to the
– Climax
– Resolution
• Every good plot needs a conflict, or a
struggle between two forces in the story.
This creates interest and suspense. There
are 2 basic types of conflict
– Internal
– External
Plot
• There are 6 steps in a typical plot:
1.Exposition
2.Narrative hook
3.Rising Action
4.Climax (indicates how conflict will be
resolved) and Denoument (turning point/
Ah-ha moment)
5.Falling Action
6.Resolution
To practice
• Using all of the target words AND at least 2-3 of the UK
words from our earlier discussions (underline them in
your story as you use them), complete the rest of the
story. Really let your imagination flow. Don’t forget to
create a title.
– You need a PLOT and CONFLICT in your story but that is all
that is absolutely required other than the use of the target words
and language as per our discussion today
• Target words: England, suitcase, aviator sunglasses,
brick wall, dangerous, cliff, rose colored vase,
Stonehenge
Everyone’s first line should be: I was on my way to the
Tower of London when…

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