English around the world

3. Great Britain is made up of England, Scotland and Wales; it is
the biggest island in the UK. These three countries and
Northern Ireland are known as The British Isles. They are also
known as The United Kingdom but this is just a political name.
People from the UK can be called British but they usually call
themselves by their country nationality such as English,
Welsh, Scottish and Irish if they are from England, Wales,
Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively.

4. The two official languages in Great Britain are English and Welsh
which are both Indo-European languages.
The Union Jack is the British flag and it represents the crosses of
the patron saints of England, Scotland and Ireland. They were
mixed to represent the past union between the three countries.
Despite of being in a same group, British people have different
cultures, some of them are really old such as the Welsh and
Scots Gaelic cultures and others are more recent like the varied
cultures of people of New Commonwealth origin.

5. Geography: The tallest mountain in the UK, and British Isles, is
the Ben Nevis in the Grampian Mountains, Scotland. The longest
river is the River Severn which flows from Wales into England.
The largest lake by surface area Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland
and in Scotland Loch Ness has the largest volume.
Food: Sandwiches, fish and chips, pies like the Cornish pasty,
trifle and roast dinners.
Famous people: David Beckham, Simon Cowell, Emma Watson,
Mick Jagger, etc.
Language/s: English, Welsh, Scots, Scottish Gaelic, Irish and
Cornish.
Weather: The climate in the United Kingdom is defined as a
temperate oceanic climate, a classification it shares with most of
northwest Europe.

7. England, its name comes from an old German word for angel
(agles) this is the largest country in Great Britain and its
population is about 49.1 million people.
The official language is English of course but in its capital city,
London, children speak more than 300 languages in London’s
schools which mean that is the most linguistically diverse city in
the world.
Have you ever wondered why English is so weird and its spelling
so unpredictable? Well, this is because it is a combination of
different languages. During its colonial power, English “stole” or
adapted many foreign words.

8. Geography: England is generally lower and flatter than the rest of
the UK, but it has two main divisions in its form- the lowland areas
of the south, east, midlands and the more rugged areas of the
north and west. East Anglia is the lowest area of England, having
no high hills or mountains and hosting an area of the Fens. The
highest area of England is the North West, which contains
England highest hills and mountains, including its highest Scafell
Pike.
Food: Toad in the hole (sausages covered in butter and roasted)
Roast meats ( cooked in the oven for about two hours).
Famous People: Adele, Sam Smith, Thomas Brodie Sangster,
Maisie Williams, etc.
Language: British English
Weather: England has warmer maximum and minimum
temperatures throughout the year than the other areas of the UK.
It rains on fewer days in every month and rainfall totals are less in
every month, with the driest month, May.

10. Wales the smallest country in the UK. It’s not represented in the Union jack
because it used to be under the same king as England when the flag was
created.
Welsh people have a strong sense of national identity, actually the welsh
language is spoken as a first language by one in five people.
At the beginning Wales was separated by Offa’s Dyke and Saxon King built a
huge wall around it. It used to be divided into a number of smaller regions but
later was united by Llywelyn ap lowerth in 1216, who crowned his son Prince of
Wales. In 1283 it was conquered by Edward I of England and his son became
the Prince of Wales since then the heir to the English throne has always been
called the Prince of Wales. Currently the Prince of Wales is Prince Charles, the
eldest son of Elizabeth II, Queen of England.

11. Welsh people are proud of being friendly and welcoming as the
meaning of ‘Cymru’ which means “friends” or “companions”,
cymru is the Welsh word for Wales and Wales comes from wealh,
the Anglo-saxon word for “foreigner”. Nowadays there are a lot of
programmes on tv and radio in the welsh language and also the
students can go to all-welsh Schools.
Geography: Wales is located on the western side of central southern Great
Britain. Most of Wales is mountainous. Snowdonia in the northwest has the
highest mountain in England and Wales.
Food: Lamb, seafood, leek.
Famous people: Courtney Fox, Vinnie Jones, Richard Burtton.
Languages: English and Welsh.
Weather: Wales has warmer temperatures through the year than Scotland, and
has milder winter minima than England, but cooler winter maxima than Northern
Ireland. Wales is wetter than Northern Ireland and England, but has fewer rainy
days than Northern Ireland meaning that rainfall tends to be more intense.

13. Integrated by 790 islands, Scotland is in the northern part of Great
Britain, the most famous islands of this group are the Shetlands,
the Orkneys and the Hebrides. Despite of being a hilly country
with the mountainous Highlands in the north and the hilly Uplands
in the south, there are over 5 million people living near the largest
cities in the Lowlands which are in the centre of the country.
Scotland has always considered itself to be separated from Great
Britain. However it isn’t totally independent, it has its own legal
and education system also it has its own parliament but is still
dependent on the British Parliament for certain issues such as war
and national security.

14. Scotland is not only famous for the Loch Ness Monster, is famous
for its clans which is a Gaelic word for families. In the past they
usually fought each other or they united to fight their common
enemy; the English.
# Interesting Fact: Mac or Mc is a Gaelic word for “son of “
Geography: The physical geography of Scotland is distinguished
by the Highland Boundary Fault which traverses the Scottish
mainland from Helensburgh to Stonehaven
Food: Strawberries, Roast haunch of venison, Smoked salmon
and blackberry pie.
Famous people: Susan Boyle, Richard Madden, Robbie Coltraine.
Languages: English and Scots.
Weather: Scotland has the coolest weather of any country in the
UK; it is also the wettest country in every month, apart from May,
June and December, when Wales is wetter.

16. With a population of 5.6 million Ireland is the second biggest
island in Europe. It is divided in two countries which are called by
them as ‘the North’ and ‘the South’, this division was created in
1921 when the South became independent from Britain and the
North stayed under British rule.
The capital of the Republic of Ireland is Dublin and the capital of
Northern Ireland is Belfast.
Is a country with a rich literary tradition that’s why foreign students
come there to study English and also for its reputation of being fun
and friendly.

17. Geography: the geography of Ireland includes the Mourne
Mountains as well as Lough Neagh, at 388 square kilometres, the
largest body of water in the UK.
Food: Bacon and cabbage, Skirts and kidneys, a kind of pork
stew, Boxty a kind of potato pancake.
Famous people: Collin Farell, Liam Nesson, Ben Stiller.
Languages: English, Irish.
Weather: Northern Ireland is warmer than Scotland through the
year. Sunshine totals in every month are more than those of
Scotland, but less than those of the rest of Great Britain.

19. United States is one of the four largest countries in the world, it is
so big and the differences of hours in the states are very
noticeable, for example when in New York is 12 o’clock in San
Francisco is only 9 o’clock. This country is located in North
America with Canada and Mexico it also has an amazing variety
of landscapes and climates.

20. The United States of America used to be a Britain colony but that
change after 1775 when thirteen colonies declared the war and in
1776 Thomas Jefferson wrote the American Declaration of
independence, 1783 they won the War of independence and with
George Washington as President, the first one, they formed the
United States of America. Later the states started to write the
American constitution and nowadays there are 50 states in the
United States.
The American flag represents on its colours the history of itself, for
example, the red and white stripes stand for the thirteen original
colonies, and the stars on the flag stand for the fifty states in
America.

21. Geography: Vast central plain mountains in west hills and low
mountains in east; rugged mountains and broad river valleys in
Alaska; rugged volcanic topography in Hawaii and the territories.
Food: Commonly hunted game included deer, bear, buffalo and
wild turkey.
Famous people: Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama, Elvis Presley,
Marilyn Monroe.
Languages: English 80%, Spanish 12.4%, other Indo European
3.7%, Asian and Pacific island languages 3 %, other languages
0.9%
Weather:
west: mostly semi-arid to desert, Mountains alpine, Northeast
humid continental, Southeast humid subtropical, coast of
California Mediterranean Pacific, Northwest cool temperate
oceanic, Alaska mostly subarctic, Hawaii, south Florida and the
territories tropical.

23. Canada is one of the largest countries in the world, the second
one to be more specific and its coastline is the longest in the
world. Its population is less than the USA, only one-ninth. This
country is rich in natural resources such as gas, oil, gold, silver,
etc. in fact 60% of the world’s lakes are in Canada. As a
multicultural country one quarter of its population speaks French
as first language and of course the other official language is
English.
It is important not to compare a Canadian with an American
because they considered it quite offensive.

24. Geography: mostly plains with mountains in west and lowlands in
southeast.
Food: roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, baked beans, maple
syrup.
Famous people: Avril Lavigne, Rachel McAdams Dwayne
Johnson.
Languages: English and French.
Weather: temperate in south to subarctic or arctic in north

26. The West Indies or also known as the Caribbean is an
archipelago of about 7000 islands, reef and cays. These islands
used to be colonies, in fact some of them still are. In most of the
islands people speak English and Creole, which is a local
language different in each island because of its mixture of slaves
from Europe and the West African Language.
Christopher Columbus discovered these islands in 1492 and with
Spaniards they got enthusiastic about them because of the gold
and jewels. They forced the natives to bring their gold every three
months, if any of them reject to do it they were killed, one third of
the native population was killed in five years.

27. The Europeans brought criminals to work in the fields where crops
such as cotton, sugar and tobacco grew. They started to import
slaves from West Africa when they needed more workers.
Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago didn’t get independent until
1962.
Geography: Some islands in the region have relatively flat terrain
of non-volcanic origin; others possess rugged towering
mountains-ranges. The Puerto Rico trench, located on the fringe
of the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea just to the north of the
island of Puerto Rico, is the deepest point in all of the Atlantic
Ocean.

28. Food: pelau, ackee and saltfish, callaloo
Famous people: Lenny Kravitz, Ben Gordon.
Languages: Spanish, English, French, Dutch, French Creole,
English Creole, Caribbean Hindustani among others.
Weather: The climate of the area is tropical to subtropical in Cuba,
The Bahamas and Puerto Rico. Rainfall varies with elevation, size
and water currents. Hurricane season is from June to November,
but they occur more frequently in august and September and
more common in the northern islands of the Caribbean.

30. Australia is the largest country in the world but it is also the largest
island and not only that, it is a continent too.
It is the flattest continent, having more snowfall than Switzerland.
It is famous for its variety of animals and weird plants which have
been developed independently from other animal forms because
of its geographical position far from other lands.

31. Geography: The geography encompasses a wide variety of
biogeographic regions being the world’s smallest continent but the
sixth largest country in the world. Its geography is extremely
diverse, ranging from the snow-capped mountains of the
Australian Alps and Tasmanian to large deserts, tropical and
temperate forests.
There are also some interesting facts about the fauna of this
country for example the origin of the word Kangaroo which comes
from the Australian aborigines, for them that word mean “I don’t
understand your question”. Emus despite of being birds they can’t
fly but they can run really fast. Koalas sleep up to 18 hours a day
because of its digestion which takes so long. In Australia the law
protects the Platypus which is a monotreme, a type of animal very
old in the world.

32. Food: Vegemite, Chiko, Roll, Tim Tams
Famous people: Hugh Jackman, Chris Hemsworth, Nicole
Kidman.
Languages: Australian English (80%), Mandarin Chinese (1.6%) ,
Italian (1.4%) , Arabic (1.3%), Greek (1.3%) , Cantonese (1.2%).
Weather: By far the largest part of Australia is arid or semi-arid.
Rainfall is highly variable, with frequent droughts lasting several
seasons.

34. “Land of the long white cloud” that means Aotearoa which was the
name the Maories gave to this land 1500 years ago. There
weren’t natural predators so they considered a safe land for at
least 1000 years. However Abel Tastam, a European, discovered
this land in 1642 and in 1769 it was claimed for Britain by Captain
Cook.

35. When the British arrived they brought trade and commerce and
the Maori were pacific; in fact they signed a treat called “The
Treaty of Waitangi” in 1840 which consisted in giving land
ownership rights to the Maori and the right to rule to the British.
After this more settles arrived from Britain to the Maori lands but
this caused a war between them, it was so bloody.
Finally in 1995 the New Zealand government and the Tainui
queen signed an agreement to give back some of the land to the
Maori and the Queen Elizabeth II apologised for the bad treatment
to them.

36. In the “Treaty of Waitangi” was a translation mistake that meant
that the Maori probably didn’t know what they were really signed.
Geography: The South Island is the largest land mass and
contains about one quarter of the population. The east side of the
island has the Canterbury Plains while the West Coast is famous
for its rough coastlines, very high proportion of native bush, and
Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. The North Island is less
mountainous than the South, and is marked by volcanism.
Food: Roast lamb, Seafood, Fish and chips, cheese and wine.
Famous people: Russell Crowe, Anna Hutchison, Simone Kesell.
Languages: English, Maori, New Zealand English
Weather: Snow falls in New Zealand’s South Island and at higher
altitudes in the North Island. Rainfall is generally plentiful in New
Zealand

38. Asia is the largest continent of the world. It has a diversity of lands
and rivers. It limits with the Arctic Ocean and it is made of different
countries such as Turkey, Iran, South Korea, Indonesia, China
and India among others.
India was the “jewel in the Crown” for Britain; they considered it
the most valuable country that the British ruled. It is a multicultural
country, it has 16 official languages including English and Hindi,
and they use English as a “link language” because it is used by
many cultures around the world.

39. It is the second most populous country, the first one is China.
It has different religions one of them is the oldest in the world, it is
called Hinduism. There is also the Buddhism and Sikhism, the
religion and life in India are closely linked. Yoga this popular way
of meditation is originally Hindu.

40. Geography: Mountain systems; plateaus; plains, steppes and
deserts; freshwater environments; and saltwater environments.
Food: cereals, horse meat, sushi, fish.
Famous people: Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen.
Languages: Arabic, Armenian, Cantonese, English, Greek,
Japanese, Korean, Persian, Russian, Vietnamese, etc.
Weather: The Southern sections of Asia are warm to cold, while
far north-eastern areas such as Siberia are very cold. East Asia
has a temperate climate. West-central Asia experiences some of
the largest diurnal temperature ranges on Earth.

42. According to the scientists the human race could be originated in
Africa due to this is the oldest inhabited continent there weren’t
countries in the past, there were just tribal groups with their own
language and culture. However it was colonised by many
European countries like Britain, France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal,
Germany and Italy, many of the African countries were created by
those European countries ignoring the tribal lands and groups.
800 million people live in Africa turning it into the second-largest
continent after Asia. Deserts, jungles, coasts and grasslands are
among the landscapes of this country some of them are still rich in
resources but others were totally stripped.

43. Geography: The coastal plains, often fringed seawards by
mangrove swamps.The atlas range orthographically distinct from
the rest of the continent being unconnected with and separated
from the south a depressed and desert.
Food: Akara, Chakalaka, Drava soup
Famous people: Nelson Mandela, Kofi Annan, David Rudisha.
Languages: Afro-asiatic, Nilo-Saharan, Niger-Congo, Khoe,
Austronesian, Indo-European.
Weather: Tropical rainforest, subtropical, Mediterranean,
Savannah, Steppe, Highland, Marine.