SUMARY CHAPTER 7, Wales

Welsh is a living Language: about 25 per cent of Welsh people know it well, although they also know English. There is a Welsh Language TV and newspapers, and the signs in towns are in Welsh and English.

Food

Breakfast in Wales may include black laverbread, which is a paste made with the same type of seaweed that sushi. Other typical Welsh dishes are Welsh rarebit (cheese on toast made in a special way) and Bara Brith (Welsh fruit cake).

Sport

Rugby is the most popular sport in Wales. The Wales team take part in the “Six Nations” competition. But, another type of sports, which are so popular, are Football, cricket, snooker and surfing which on many beaches from Wales you can do it.

The Land of Song

Wales is called the “land of song”, and the Welsh national song is called “Land of my Fathers”. Wales is famous for its men’s choir and they often sing before rugby matches.

The Eisteddfod

Eisteddfod is a Welsh word which means “to be sitting together”. An Eisteddfod is an annual meeting of poets, musicians, singers and sometimes dancers who compete for prizes.

The Eisteddfods are symbols of the Welsh love of poetry, music and song.

Iconic places

Cardiff is the capital of Wales.  The second largest city in Wales is Swansea.

Near Swansea there are some prize-winning beaches:

Oxwich Bay

Three Cliffs Bay

Rhossili Bay

Saint David’s is the smallest city in the UK.

Snowdonia is a national park in North Wales. The name comes from the highest mountain, Mount Snowdon.

The English king Edward I wanted to control Wales, so he built huge castles to protect Wales. Four of the most important castles that you can see today are Caernafon, Harlech, Beaumaris and Conwy.

There are many other beautiful areas in Wales, such as Cardigan Bay, the Pembrokeshire Coast, the island of Anglesey and interesting towns like Aberystwyth, Bangor and Llandudno.

Ionic people

Two heroes of the Welsh people are Llewellyn the Great (1173-1240) and Owen Glendower (1357-1416).

Glendower was a nationalist leader who led a revolution against the English king, Henry IV, from 1400 to 1412.

Henry Morgan was a Welsh pirate who robbed ships and towns in the Caribbean in the seventeenth century.

In recent times, there have been many famous Welsh writers, actors, and politicians…

Shirley Bassey has had a long career in show business since she began performing in 1953. She is famous for singing the title songs for three James Bond films.

Welsh legends: King Arthur and Branwen

Some people say that Arthur’s castle, Camelot, was in Wales but others say it was in south-west England or Brittany in France.

                                                                                                     

Another legend is about a girl called Branwen, whose brother was a giant, and a king in Wales. Brawen married the Irish king but when he took her to Ireland he was very unkind to her. Branwen sent news to her brother. Her brother walked through the sea to help his sister. There was a terrible war and many people were killed, including the Welsh and Irish kings. Branwen returned to Wales with the head of her dead brother and was sad about what happened. 

The flag

SUMARY CHAPTER 6, Ireland

Food:

The national dish is Irish stew that is made from lamb, potatoes, onions, carrots and parsley. Irish people drink more tea than English people.

Sport:

The national sport of Ireland is Gaelic football. It’s different from normal football because in that football you can throw the ball by hand, there are 15 players in each team. Another Irish sport is hurling, in this sport you hit the ball with a stick. In Ireland are horse racing, rugby, golf and football (normal).

Music and Dance:

Irish dancing is also popular and the show Riverdance was an international success. There are also many Irish rock and pop stars (U2, Boyzone, Westlife…).

The best-known traditional Irish song is “Danny Boy”, the music of this song is Irish but the words were written by a Englishman.

The Economy:

Ireland has been a poor country with many problems but from 1995 to 2007 there was an economic boom there. This means that the Irish economy grew fast. People called Ireland the “Celtic Tiger” at this time. Unfortunately the Irish economy got worse after 2008.

Ionic places:

Dublin is the capital of the Republic of Ireland. It is a beautiful city with Georgian buildings, a castle, art galleries and a famous theatre, the Abbey Theatre.

Inside the Post Office you can see the bullet holes in the stone when some of the Republicans organized a revolution.

Trinity Collage is the most important Irish University; in the book of Kells you can read parts of the Bible.

Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland. For many years it was divided between the Catholics and the Protestants.

The Giant’s Causeway is on the east coast of Northern Ireland. There is a legend, which says that an Irish giant made this type of bridge by throwing rocks in the sea so that he could cross to Scotland to fight a Scottish giant.

The Blarney Stone is a bluestone, which is an ancient, piece from Corks a city near Blarney castle.

The west coast of Ireland on the Atlantic Ocean is famous for its great beauty. The Lakes of Killarney is in a ring of mountains.

In many places there are very tall round towers. The most famous are Rock of Cashel and the Glendalough.

Ionic people:

There are many famous Irish writers and artists, for example G.B Shaw, W.B Yeats, Samuel Beckett, Oscar Wilde and Seamus Heaney.

Another ionic people were Bob Geldof who was the leader of an Irish punk band and the Boomtown Rats. He formed Band Aid to raise money for Ethiopia in 1984 and organized Live Aid, a rock concert, in 1985.

The first woman president of Ireland between 1990 and 1997, and was later the United Nations High Commissioner was Mary Robinson.

Saint Patrick:

Saint Patrick wasn’t Irish but Irish pirates caught him. He was a slave in Ireland, je escaped but returned to Ireland and he converted the Irish people to Christianity.

The Irish celebrate St Patrick’s Day on 17^th March with special parades.

Stories from the past:

There are lots of stories in Ireland about leprechauns. Leprechauns are little old men who wear green or red jackets, carry a stick and wear a tall hat. If you catch a leprechaun, maybe you will find his pot of gold and he might give you three wishes.

Many Irish people don’t like this image of leprechauns, which they think is something just to please the tourists.

Actually there are lots of legends, one of these is about “Deirdre of the Sorrows”.

Ireland has not had an easy history. It’s divided into the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, there has been a difficult division between Roman Catholics and Protestants. 

Flag

Leprechaunds

SUMARY CHAPTER 4, England

What do the English like doing?

Popular hobbies include gardening and DIY (Do It Yourself). Fishing in rivers is a common activity. Teenagers enjoy clubbing (going to nightclubs with their friends). In the past, people went for seaside holidays in places like Brighton or Scarborough, but now they prefer foreign holidays because it is often cheaper to go abroad. And shopping is always a popular activity.

What is there to eat in England?

Most English people eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. In addition, there are elevenses (snack at about 11 a.m.), tea (in the afternoon at about 4 p.m.) and supper (a light meal before bed). English food doesn’t have a good reputation in other countries but there are some delicious dishes:

-Fish and chips: is made using white fish such as cod, haddock or plaice, which is fried in batter.

-Roast dinner: is the traditional English Sunday lunch of roast meat, such as lamb or beef, together with roast potatoes and lots of vegetables.

-Stilton cheese: is a blue cheese with a very strong taste and many people call it the King of Cheeses.

-English cakes and biscuits are very popular with English people and with tourists.

-A cream tea is usually eaten in the afternoon and many include scones, butter, jam and cream.  

A full English breakfast is a good way to start the day if you aren’t on a diet, because includes sausages, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, fried eggs, fried bread and a cup of strong tea.

Curry isn’t originally English but they love curries. Curry came to England from South Asia, but it became very popular after World War II.

Sport

The main sporting events in an English year are: the FA Cup, the Oxford-Cambridge boat race, the Grand National and the Derby, Wimbledon, the Open Golf, the Six Nations and international Test Matches.

The English say that they invented football but so do other countries.

It was so popular in the Middle Ages that some kings banned it because the players became very angry and noisy and it stopped men from preparing for war.

Teams at the top of the English Premier football league are very rich and have some of the best players in the world.

Cricket is played by many English-speaking nations, and the matches can last for five days, four days or one day. The shortest from of the sport is called 20-20 and England won the world championship in 2010 when they beat strong teams from South Africa, Sir Lanka and Australia.

Celebrations

Christmas and Easter are the most important festivals for the English but there are many others. Most English children look forward to Fireworks’ Night or Guy Fawkes Night on 5^th November.

Another date is 1^st April or April Fool’s Day. On this day, people are allowed to play jokes on other people.

Music

English pop and rock music is popular all over the world. From Rolling Stones and the Beatles to Elton John (1960s) to Coldplay and Radiohead (2000s), it has developed over the years and is still developing now.

Ionic Places

Stonehenge and Hadrian’s Wall are some examples from the early history of Britain. Tower of London was build when the Normans came.  The White Tower was the original main building.

The Crown Jewels are kept in the Jewel Hose at the tower. Large black birds called ravens have lived in the Tower since the late eighteenth century.

As well as castles, England also has many famous cathedrals. Canterbury Cathedral, York Minister, Salisbury and Lincoln Cathedrals are some of the most beautiful. And Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s are cathedrals which members of the royal family get married.

In Britain there are also many great houses in England such as Chatsworth House and Blenheim Place.

The Lake District is one of the most attractive landscapes in the UK and was loved by the Romantic poets.

The white cliffs of Dover are well-known as they are the first thing that you see if you come to England by ship from France.

Ionic People

England had many famous people, such as Queen Elizabeth I, Shakespeare, Isaac Newton, Dickens, Darwin and Winston Churill.

-Princes Diana was the wife of Prince Charles but became unhappy in her marriage. She died in a car crash in Paris in 1997.

-John Lennon wrote most of the songs of the Beatles with Paul McCartney. He was murdered in New York in 1980.

-Margaret Thatcher was the first woman to become Primer Minister of the UK. Some British supported Margaret and her ideas but she also had strong enemies.

-David Beckham is probably the most famous English footballer of the 1990s and 2000s

England is a country with castles, cathedrals and strong traditions, but it is also a place of surprises and new ideas!






TIPICAL FOOD (fish and chips)

IONIC PEOPLE (david beckham)






IONIC PLACES (dover white cliffs)

ELTON JOHN (Music)