CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

How Different the World Is!

лингво-страноведческий конкурс

Цели: закрепить, обобщить и углубить знания, умения и навыки, приобретённые учащимися в рамках базового курса по учебнику The World of English для 10–11-х классов под редакцией В.П. Кузовлева; совершенствовать умения и навыки практического владения языком как средством общения по теме “Культура англоязычных стран” по циклам учебника; повышать мотивацию у учащихся с целью дальнейшего самостоятельного изучения английского языка после окончания школы; развивать творческую инициативу учащихся, их самостоятельность и активность, а также артистические способности.

Оформление зала: приглашение “Welcome to our competition!” “How Different the World Is!” висит на сцене. Зал украшен газетами на английском языке, сделанными учащимися различных классов по разным темам.

Ведущий конкурса – учитель английского языка.
Конкурс проводится между командами мальчиков и девочек 11-го класса. Ведущий рассказывает о цели конкурса, представляет команды и жюри зрителям. Члены команд очень кратко рассказывают о себе.

Teacher: Dear boys and girls! Today you’ll take part in a linguistic and cultural competition based on the textbook by V.P. Kuzovlev, the aim of which is to determine the best knowledge of the culture of English-speaking countries. You’ll have several tasks. For a right answer you’ll get a star. If your answer is wrong, you won’t get anything. At the end of the competition, you’ll count up all the stars you got and the team with the greatest number will be the winner of our competition. The most active participants showing the best knowledge of the material will be awarded, as well. Good luck to you! Let’s start our contest.

I. The First Task

More than five million people live in some 200 different countries and territories. The world is full of interesting places and sights to visit. Now each team will be given five cards with places of interest in English-speaking countries. Your task is to explain what the chosen place is famous for and what attracts you about it most of all.

Названия следующих известных и интересных мест написаны на карточках: Big Ben, the Bronx, Broadway, the Capitol, Cannes Film Festival, Florida, Hollywood, the Houses of Parliament, the Land of Cakes, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Serpentine, the Thames, Woodstock. (Названия взяты из текстов учебника В.П. Кузовлева или книги для чтения, или рабочей тетради, с которыми учащиеся работали.)

II. The Second Task

Teacher: Visiting different countries, people meet different teenagers and young people belonging to various groupings (or subcultures). To communicate with them successfully you should know their beliefs, values, fashion, and favourite music.
The following task is: having listened to the description of various groups or members of groups, guess the name of their subculture.

На кассету записывают описания следующих молодёжных субкультур: панков, хакеров, хиппи, рокеров, модов, готов, рейверов, скинхедов. Каждая команда по очереди прослушивает описание группировки только один раз.

Guess the names of various subcultures:

1. The members of this subculture wear black clothes, a lot of silver jewellery. They look very pale and thin and gather together to read Bram Stoker and talk about being vampires. (They are goths.)

2. They like to be in a group and create all-night dance parties. They want to try out all sort of options and they are thought to be rebellious and violent. (They are ravers.)

3. They support a liberal attitude and lifestyle. Their behaviours and attitudes differ from social norms. They always want to change the world for the best. They are thought to use psychedelic drugs and listen to Rock ‘n’ Roll. (They are hippies.)

4. A young person who has brightly coloured spiked hair and dresses in a shocking way to express his or her identity. He or she wears metal chains and rejects everything in the world. (It’s a punk.)

5. These young people have pale faces and plenty of make up. They prefer listening to soul music. Their clothes are a neat white Italian shirt, a short jacket, narrow trousers and a short blazer. Scooters are their preferred means of transportation. (They are mods.)

6. This type of young people is associated with something rebellious. They wear leather jackets, army boots and a cowboy hats to show off. (They are rockers.)

7. It is a young person who has a deep understanding of how computers work. He can do “magical” things with them. (It is a hacker.)

8. The young people of this subculture have no or very short hair. They are uninterested in traditional politics. The majority of them are working class and football fans. They are regarded as violent and aggressive. (They are skinheads.)

III. The Third Task

Teacher: If you want to understand different subcultures you should know their likes and dislikes. Teenagers abroad prefer listening to various kinds of music. You should know the brightest representatives of the different musical styles and the musicians. The following task is to match different music styles with the suitable musicians and music groups from the box.

IV. The Fourth Task

Teacher: Being abroad, sometimes it’s very difficult to understand people using idiomatic expressions or idioms in their speech. Knowing them is very difficult for foreigners. Your following task is connected with idioms. Choose only five idioms and try to explain their meanings by acting them out. The other team should guess what idiom it is.

Участникам команд предлагается 17 идиом. Каждая идиома напечатана на отдельной карточке. Все идиомы взяты из текстов, с которыми дети работали на уроках, и даны в конце каждой разработки. Участники должны “разыграть” значение выбранных ими идиом. Команде-сопернице нужно отгадать “разыгранную” идиому. (Team1 « Team2)

V. The Fifth Task

Teacher: Each country has its own well-known writers, artists, actors and politicians, who made their country famous all over the world. The task is to guess the name of an outstanding person. Each team will describe three prominent people without naming them. The other team should guess who these people are. For each correct answer the team will get one point (or a star). (Team1 « Team2)

VI. The Last Task

Teacher: Each country is rich in folksongs that are popular with their people. You should know some of them if you want to be a highly educated person. Your homework for this competition was to learn a famous popular American or English song and to dramatise it.

Команды подготовили песни.

Oh, Susanna

by S. Foster (American)

Billy Boy

English Folksong

За лучшую инсценировку песни команда получает по три очка-звезды.
Перед подготовкой команд к последнему заданию конкурса зрители прослушали песню “Let It Be” из репертуара группы “The Beatles” в исполнении девушек 11-го класса.
Во время подготовки команд к четвёртому и пятому заданиям ведущий (учитель) проводит конкурс со зрителями в зале.

Teacher: You will listen to five extracts of different music styles. Identify what music styles these extracts belong to.

Звучат отрывки из:

1. Reggae – Bob Marley;
2. Rock ‘n’ Roll – Elvis Presley;
3. Techno – Prodigy;
4. Punk Rock – Sex Pistols;
5. Psychedelic Rock – Pink Floyd.

Музыкальные отрывки записаны на аудиокассете в приложении к УМК “The World of English” В.П. Кузовлева для 10–11 классов.

Teacher: Listen to the descriptions of the meaning of idioms and name them.

Болельщикам можно предложить следующие идиомы: a lazy bone, a couch potato, a spendthrift. Эти идиомы следует исключить из списка идиоматических выражений, которые давались командам для “драматизации”. За правильный ответ болельщику можно дать “приз”.

VII. Заключительный этап конкурса:

В конце соревнования подводятся итоги выполнения заданий командами. Объявляется победитель и самый активный знаток культуры англоязычных стран. Вручаются грамоты, сладкие призы. Болельщиков, принимавших самое активное участие в конкурсе, можно наградить конфетами.

Idioms

on second thought a thought that a past opinion may not be right (хорошо подумав). Reader, p. 1.

to be nuts over to be interested and eager about some-body or something (очень любить, быть
большим знатоком в чём-либо). Reader, p. 2.

tо be in full swing (быть в полном разгаре). Reader, p. 25.

tо score a duck to miss a goal. Reader, p. 52

to keep themselves in check to control emotions. Reader, p. 52.

to drive smb. nuts to annoy or irritate someone (сводить с ума). Reader, p. 54.

a wallflower a person who is not asked to dance and stands watching others (дама, оставленная без кавалера).

tо beat about bush to talk about something without saying it directly (ходить вокруг да около). Reader, p. 54.

tо spill the beans to reveal a secret (раскрывать секрет, пробалтываться). Reader, p. 54.

a spendthrift a person who cannot spend money wisely (мот, транжир). Reader, p. 56.

to go berserk to become angry (рассердиться). Reader, p. 56.

a couch potato a person whose pastime is watching TV, video, playing computer games. Activity Book, p. 35.

a lazy bones a person who dreams about his/her great future life, about the career of rock star, DJ, lawyer, who likes to have a rest on the couch and always chews bubble gum. Activity Book, p. 35.

to pat oneself on the back to praise oneself. Student’s Book, p. 326.

to go Dutch to share expenses (устроить складчину, платить свою часть за угощение). Student’s Book, p. 116.

a blind date to arrange a date for two people who do not know each other. Student’s Book, p. 116–117.

to go steady to regularly date only one person (иметь постоянную возлюбленную). Student’s Book, p. 116–117.

Famous People

1. He was an American singer and film actor born in 1915. His distinctive style of singing made him famous as a performer all over the world. He also starred in several successful films and musicals. He died in 1998.

(Frank Sinatra)

2. He was a Spanish explorer. Florida was named by him in 1512 due to the fact that the whole region which he saw was covered with flowers. He searched for the legendary “fountain of youth”.

(Ponce de Leon)

3. He was the Chief Commissioner of Works when the bell of the Great Clock of the Houses of Parliament in London was cast in 1856. The bell in the clock tower is supposed to be nicknamed after him.

(Sir Benjamin Hall)

4. He was an English novelist who was very popular during his lifetime as a storyteller, making his readers laugh and cry. His novels include The Pickwick Papers, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, Great Expectations and others.

(Charles Dickens)

5. He was a king of England in 1066–1087. He invaded England from France and established Norman rule in England.

(William the Conqueror)

6. He was an English statesman, a powerful orator and Prime Minister from 1951 to 1955. This leader wrote several books on history and was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.

(Sir Winston Churchill)

7. This 17th century man was an Irish satirical writer and cleric who wrote Gulliver’s Travels, as well as many other works attacking corruption in religion and education.

(Jonathan Swift)

8. He was an Irish novelist, actor, theatre manager and author. He wrote his even popular novel Dracula in 1897.

(Bram Stacker)

9. This man is a US film director, writer and producer, born in 1946. He directed many films such as Jurassic Park (1993) and Schindler’s List, for which he received Academy Awards for Best Film and Best Director.

(Steven Spielberg)

10. He was a US filmmaker and animator, a pioneer of family entertainment. He established his own studio in Hollywood in 1923. He opened the first theme park in California in 1955. His cartoon films and characters are famous all over the world.

(Walt Disney)

Sights and Interesting Places

1. Big Ben. I’d like to see Big Ben. It is the name of the bell that strikes the hours inside the great clock of the Houses of Parliament. Big Ben is supposed to be nicknamed after Benjamin Hall who was the Chief Commissioner of Works when the bell was cast in 1856.

2. The Bronx. I’d like to visit the Bronx because it is one of the five boroughs of New York City. It is considered to be a poor area of New York, but it contains a world-famous Zoo and Yankee baseball Stadium.

3. Broadway. Broadway is a major avenue in New York City running from the top of Manhattan and crossing Times Square at 42nd Street. Broadway is known to be the heart of the theatre district. This avenue is famous as “The Great White Way”. New York theatres situated outside this area are described as “off-Broadway”.

4. The Capitol. It is the tallest building in Washington, D.C, and one of the most famous buildings in the USA because the United States Congress meets there. The Capitol is the place where laws are made. It is surrounded by a beautiful garden with many trees and flowers.

5. Cannes Film Festival. Cannes Film Festival is an international film festival. It has been held every year in April or May since 1946. Many guests from different countries attend. They are actors, film producers, directors and so on. The first prize of the festival is La Palme d’Or.

6. Florida. Florida attracts me most of all and I’d like to visit it. Florida is one of the fifty states of America. Florida was named by Ponce de Leon in 1512 because the whole region was covered with flowers. This state has various nicknames: the “Alligator State”, the “Everglade State”, the “Mockingbird State”, the “Orange State”. Florida has beautiful beaches, Cape Canaveral, and Disney World.

7. Hollywood. It is a district in the city of Los Angeles in California. Hollywood has been the centre of the US film industry since 1911. It is the home of legendary film studios such as: 20th Century Fox, MGM, Columbia Pictures, Disney, Warner Bros. MGM and Universal Studios have become major theme parks and tourist attractions.

8. The Houses of Parliament. The Houses of Parliament are the group of buildings in London where the House of Commons and the House of Lords meet. The Houses of Parliament are also known as the Palace of Westminster where members of Parliament gather to issue laws of the country.

9. The Land of Cakes. I’d like to visit the country which has the name of the “Land of Cakes”. This name was given to Scotland, which is famous for its oatmeal cakes. Scotland is also rich in beautiful lakes (lochs) visited by many tourists.

10. The Serpentine. I’d like to see the Serpentine. It is a lake in Hyde Park in London. This lake is famous for the custom of swimming in it on Christmas Day.

11. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. I’d like to see the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This museum is the most important art museum in New York City. It has great art collections from all over the world. It’s located in Central Park.

12. The Thames. The Thames attracts me most of all because it is a river in southern England with a length of 338 km. The capital of the UK is situated on the Thames. London is full of old buildings and different sights and places of interest to see and to visit, many of them located on the Thames.

13. Woodstock. Woodstock is a farm in upstate New York where the biggest and most famous three-day Rock Festival took place in 1969. This Festival was a landmark in the US youth culture of the 1960s. Janis Joplin and Timmy Hendrix appeared among many big name stars. Many festivals were later held but none was as famous as the Woodstock Festival.

By Nadezhda Ratina, L. Kulnozarova,
Zheleznogorsk, Krasnoyarsky Reg.