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  • London’s factfile

    London is the:

    • capital city of the United Kingdom;
    • largest capital city in Europe;
    • has a population (2015 data) of 8,673,713 – that is Greater London;
    • only city in the world that has hosted 3 summer olympic games (in 1908, 1948 and in 2012);
    • city with the most bridges in Europe (33 over the River Thames).

    Some of its icons are:

    • the double-decker buses;london-icons
    • black cabs (= taxis);
    • red phone booths;
    • the Beefeaters (yeomen warders of the Tower of London).

    You can see the iconic sights here.

     

    London (named Londinium by the Romans) has been an imortant trading centre since Roman times. Boudicca, the warrior queen of the Iceni and her men destroyed Londinium in AD 61. The Romans rebuilt the city to make it a fort by AD 100. Some ruins of the Roman wall can be still seen nowadays.

    The population of London grew because:

    • of the River Thames (ships and vessels reached a city making it a busy trading port);
    • roads in the Middle Ages;
    • the railway in the 19th century.

    London “swallowed” nearby towns and Greater London was formed.

    how-london-grew
    How London’s population has grown from AD 100

     

  • Pitch, court, course…

    Where do you play / do sports?

    court: tennis, volleyball, basketball, netball, squash…

    pitch / field: football, hockey, rugby, hurling, American football, cricket…

    course: golf

    pool: swimming, water polo…

    rink: ice-skating, ice-hockey…

    track: athletics (running), cycling, horse racing…

    circuit: motor-racing

    slope: skiing

    Don’t forget: bowling green; bowling alley; lane (e.g. in swimming or athletics)

    sportplaces

  • How to play Hurling

  • 40 most popular British food

    According to a survey of 2,000 British people asked about their favourite food traditional Fish ‘n chips made the top.

    Here’s the list of the 40 most popular food in Britain:

    1. Fish ‘n’ chips
    2. Roast dinner with Yorkshire pudding
    3. Full English breakfast
    4. Bacon butties
    5. Apple crumble
    6. Strawberries and cream
    7. Bangers and mash
    8. Cream tea
    9. Shepherd’s Pie
    10. Crumpets
    11. Ham, egg and chips
    12. Sausage rolls
    13. Cornish ice cream
    14. Baked beans
    15. Victoria Sponge
    16. Toad in the hole
    17. Sticky Toffee Pudding and custard
    18. Cornish Pasty
    19. Steak and kidney pie
    20. Pork pie
    21. Bakewell Tart
    22. Ploughman’s lunch
    23. Chips and gravy
    24. Rhubarb and custard
    25. Scampi
    26. Prawn cocktail
    27. Mushy peas
    28. Marmite
    29. Cheese and pickle on crackers
    30. Scotch eggs
    31. Cornish fudge
    32. Spotted Dick
    33. Irish stew and dumplings
    34. Chelsea buns
    35. Eccles cakes
    36. Pea and ham soup
    37. Cucumber sandwiches
    38. Haggis and tatties
    39. Cockles and mussels
    40. Jellied eels

  • Food in Britain

    Watch the video below and answer the questions.

    1 At 0:08 in the film, what can you see in the fridge?

    a jar of mar_ _ _ _ _ _; a carton of fr _ _ _  ju _ _ _; a b _ _ _ _ _ of champagne;
    a jug of m_ _ _; some e_ _ _ _ and some fr _ _ _

    2 Who comes early in the morning and why?

    3 What’s in Mr Robinson’s full English breakfast?

    4 What do the others eat?

    5 How much is a portion of fish and chips? (At 4:08 in the video)

     

  • Boudicca’s song

    Listen and join in.

  • Roman Britain 1

    Julius Caesar wrote in around 55 BC, “The Britons have a huge number of cattle, they use gold coins or iron bars as their money, and produce tin and iron.” So Caesar and his army invaded Britain because Rome wanted to get its hand on British resources to become richer.

    The Romans came from the south and led by Claudius, they arrived in AD43 in Kent.

    In the next year, they battled inland and got to London and founded Londinium.

     

    What the Romans left in Britain:

    • their brick and stone buildings with central heating,
    • sewage systems,
    • paved, straight roads,
    • public baths,
    • villas,
    • temples,
    • walls around towns,
    • reading and writing (Latin words),
    • Christianity,
    • rabbits,
    • coins.

     

     

  • Stonehenge

    Watch and listen to the mystery of the Prehistoric monument of Britain.

     

    The way how the Stonehenge was possibly built:

  • Tags

    What words can you find in the Tagxedo and what can you say about them?

    word-tagxedo-01

  • A Christmas Carol

    Takes part in London at Christmas time.
    The main characters are:

    • Ebenezer Scrooge
      a money-lender in London (a greedy, stingy, selfish old man)
    • Jacob Marley
      Scrooge’s business partner, died 7 years before the story begins and comes back as a ghost
    • Bob Cratchit and his family
      Scrooge’s clerk, his wife and children, the youngest is Tiny Timothy (Tim) who is handicapped
    • the three ghosts
      the Ghost of Past, the Ghost of Present and of Future Christmas
    • Mrs Dilber
      Scrooge’s housekeeper
    • Fred
      Scrooge’s nephew
    • Fan
      Scrooge’s sister, Fred’s mother
    • Belle
      Scrooge’s girlfriend, they were engaged but didn’t get married
    • Mr Fezziwig
      Scrooge worked for him, Fezziwig was kind to Scrooge