UNIT 5

TOPIC 5
GEOGRAPHIC, HISTORIC AND CULTURAL FRAMEWORK OF THE ENGLISH-
SPEAKING CONUNTRIES. DIDACTIC APPLICATION OF THE MOST MEANINGFUL
GEOGRAPHIC, HISTORIC AND CULTURAL ASPECTS.

0. INTRODUCTION.
1. THE UNITED KINGDOM.
2. THE IRISH REPUBLIC.
3. THE UNITED STATES.
4. CANADA.
5. AUSTRALIA.
6. COMMONWEALTH.
7. SOCIOCULTURAL COMPETENCE.
8. CONCLUSION.
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0. INTRODUCTION.
The LOMCE in its Preamble says that mastering a second, even a third, foreign language
has become a priority in Education due to of the process of globalization we are living. The
European Union states as a main aim the development of multilingualism for the construction
of the European project. This law strengthen resources for make students achieve the
communicative competence in at least a first foreign language, the ability to use the language
correctly and appropriately to accomplish communication goals. For this reason it is
necessary to know the culture and costumes of the country.
English has official or special status in at least seventy-five countries with a total population
of over two billion. English is spoken as a native language by around 375 million and as a
second language by around 375 million speakers in the world. English is the language
spoken in al continents, and therefore, it is the most widespread language on earth.
British colonialism in the 19th century and American capitalism and technological progress in
the 20th century were undoubtedly the main causes for the spread of English throughout the
world. The USA has played a leading role in most domains for the last hundred years. The
United States have consolidated their cultural, economical and technological power, which
has contributed to the further expansion and importance of English in the world today.
The world wants a language that can transcend the language barrier, and English is ready to
fill that gap. The learning of socio-cultural aspects will give students clues for a better use of
the language, as well as increasing their affection towards the countries whose language
they are studying. Within the LOMCE, English becomes one of the main subjects of the
curriculum of Primary Stage.
As English teacher we must help our students to develop seven basic competences set by
the LOMCE, one of them is directly related to this topic, the social competence. Knowing
about the culture of other countries our students will develop their interest for learning about
other cultures and relating to other people, speakers or learners of English, fostering respect,
tolerance and integration.
I will write about some of the most important English Speaking Countries, to be known by our
school children.
1. THE UNITED KINGDOM OR GREAT BRITAIN
The United Kingdom (onwards UK) is situated in Western Europe and it is made up of
England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It has a population of approximately 57
million inhabitants. The capital city is London and the currency is the pound sterling.
Its geographic situation has marked its history, characterized by its independence to the
continent. Nowadays this distance has disappeared with the building of the channel tunnel
we mentioned before.
The present UK is the latest of several unions formed over the last 840 years. With the Act of
Union 1707, the independent states of England and Scotland agreed to a political union as
the Kingdom of Great Britain. Last October (2014) Scotish people could vote to decide if they
wanted to be part of UK or not, and finnaly “YES” won, so they are still British.
UK, the dominant industrial and maritime power of the 19th century, played a leading role in
developing parliamentary democracy and in advancing literature and science. In the 20th
century the UK's strenght was seriously depleted in two World Wars; and the dismantling of
the Empire took place and the UK rebuild itself into a modern and prosperous European
nation. UK is one of the permanent members of de UN Security Conuncil, a founding
member of NATO, and of the Commonwealth.
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The UK has been a member of the European Union, but it has not adopt the Euro.
The UK is a constitutional monarchy, with executive power exercised on behalf of the Queen
by the Prime Minister and other cabinet ministers who head departments. It has two
legislative houses (House of Lords and House of Commons). It is one of the few countries in
the world today that does not have a codified constitution, relying instead on customs and
separate pieces of constitutional law.
The Chief of state is the Sovereign and the Head of government the Prime Minister. While
the monarch is Head of State and theoretically holds all executive power, it is the Prime
Minister who is the head of government. The current monarch is Queen Elizabeth II and the
current Prime Minister is David Cameron, appointed in 2010.
The Church of England is the established church of the state in England.
Its habitants consider themselves 'British' as well as 'Welsh', 'English', 'Scottish' or 'Irish' (and
increasingly also 'Afro-Caribbean', 'Indian' or 'Pakistani'), there has long been a widespread
sense of separate national identities in the nations of Wales and Scotland and amongst the
Catholic community in Northern Ireland. Independence for the Republic of Ireland in 1922
provided only a partial solution to what had been termed in the 19th Century the 'Irish
Question'. The Scotish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, and the Northern
Ireland Assembly were established in 1999.
The predominant language of the United Kingdom is English, other indigenous languages
include Celtic languages. Recent immigrants, especially from the Commonwealth, speak
many other languages, like Hindi, Bengali, or Cantonese. The UK has the largest number of
Hindi-speaking peoples outside of the India.
2. THE IRISH REPUBLIC.
This nation occupies the largest part of an island situated west of Great Britain, from which it
obtained independence in 1921. The official language is Irish, but the official one is English.
The major religion is Catholicism. Its capital is Dublin. The population of the the country is
around 4 million people.
The Constitution recognizes Irish as the first national language and English as the second. All
official documents are published in both languages. English is universally spoken and taught
in all the schools.
It is member of the UE and its currency is the euro.
Celtic penetration dates from the Iron Age. St Patrick arrived in Ireland in the fifth century and
is credited with Christianizing the entire country.
Irish missionaries were sent out over all of Europe. The Norse invaded Ireland in 1975, but it
reached and end in 1014. The English King Henry II, invaded Ireland in 1171, proclaimed
himself overlord of the entire island. The independence of Gaelic Ireland had come to an end.
A violent rebellion against the British in 1916 was harshly suppressed by British troops known
as the Black and Tans. Civil war followed and a provisional Irish Government was
proclaimed.
In 1949 Ireland left the Commonwealth; from that time on, Britain has maintained its claim on
Northern Ireland, a claim that has never been recognized by the Irish. Successive Irish
governments have favoured peaceful reunification with Northern Ireland. The Protestant
majority of Northern Ireland has remained firmly opposed to unification.
3. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
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The United States of America (onwards USA) is a federal republic composed by a national
government and 50 states governments. The main two parties are the Democratic Party and
the Republican Party. There are two legislative houses: Senate and House of
Representatives. The president is both the chief of the state and head of government, the
current one is Barack Obama. The capital city is Washington, D.C. The monetary unit is the
dollar.
The USA is not a homogeneous but rather a pluralistic society, a nation of groups. Population
is not uniformly distributed; the main concentration takes place in the North East and Pacific
Coast.
The Spaniards reached Florida as early as 1513, the French began their exploration of the
Mississippi valley in 17th century and the Russians reached Alaska in 18th century. However,
the British were the most successful. But America declared its independence on July 4th
(1776) and victory over the British came in 1783. A Constitution was created in 1787; George
Washington was the first President.
It is between Canada and Mexico and its borders both the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific
Ocean. Its population is around 300 million people, it is the world's third-largest country by
size (after Russia and Canada) and by population (after China and India).
The United States made their entry in the World War I, which was decisive for the Allied
victory. In 1929 the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began. It ushered in the
Franklin Roosevelt era of heavy federal involvement in economic and social policy. His New
Deal legislation revolutionized the country, but full recovery was never achieved until war
production became massive on the eve of World War II. The Allied victory in 1945 left the
U.S.A. the leader of the Western world, but embroiled in a cold war with the Soviet Union.
After the end of the Cold War in 1991, the USA remains the world's most powerful nation
state. The economy is marked by steady growth, low unemployment and inflation, and rapid
advances in technology.
The USA is the world's greatest military power and has the largest and most technologically
powerful economy. In this market, private individuals and business firms make most of the
decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services
predominantly in the private marketplace.
There are many ethnic groups: white, black, Asian and Native-American. The number of
Hispanics is around 35 million, which makes Spanish an important second language spoken
in the USA.
American culture has produced many outstanding writers and artists. One of the country’s
most popular and internationally influential art forms has been the films (motion picture). The
country has developed several types of popular music: jazz, the blues, country and western,
and rock and roll.
4. CANADA
It is the USA's northern neighbour, the second largest country in the world, with a population
of 33 million people, most of them concentrated within 160 km. of the US border. The country
consists of 10 provinces and 3 territories. The chief of the state is Queen Elisabeth II,
represented by the Governor General. The head of government is the Prime Minister, who is
elected for five-year terms. It is a rich country in natural resources and has a high living
standard. The capital is Ottawa, on July 1st is Canada Day, and the national emblem is the
maple leaf, which appears on the Canadian flag.
5. AUSTRALIA
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Australia is the world's smallest continent but sixth-largest country. The population is 21
million, mostly of European origin. A minority of the population are Asian and Aboriginal. The
national holiday is Australia Day which is celebrated on 26th January. The country has a
Western-style economy with a high Gross National Product (GNP) and high standard of
living. The national currency is the Australian Dollar. The capital is Camberra, and the major
cities are Sidney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.
6. THE COMMONWEALTH.
It was founded in 1931 to carry out the dissolution of the British Empire. It is formed by 32
independent nations, they maintain the English crown as their Head of State. The reason for
this institution is the economic interest of the countries that belong to it. Some of the states
members are: UK, Canada, Trinity and Tobago, Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia, Australia, New
Zealand, etc.
7. SOCIOCULTURAL COMPETENCE
So far we have studied the main geographical, historical and cultural aspects of some of the
most important English-speaking countries. Such a detailed knowledge must obviously not be
expected of our pupils but the attainment of a basic sociocultural competence is one of our
goals.
In order to organize the teachings, the Decree 89/2014 of 24 th of July has divided, according
to LOMCE, the contents of the English area in six blocks (Listening, speaking, reading,
writing, syntactic discursive contents and English culture). The last one introduces
sociocultural aspects and intercultural awareness. This block contributes to let the children
know some characteristics of cultural elements of the English-speaking countries. This
knowledge will promote the respect and interest towards other cultures and countries. The
contents proposed by the decree mentioned before are:
- Customs and cultural traditions of English-speaking countries.
- Songs, dialogues and debates.
- Introduction to children's literature in English.
- Story and characters of English-speaking countries.
Children are fascinated by what other kids do in other countries. Learning about other
cultures is a bridge to internalization and to an appreciation that English is truly a language
spoken by real people (besides the teacher).
Children who start to learn a foreign language early in life can better understand their native
language as they become conscious of the existence of language as a phenomenon. Their
cultural outlook is wider than that of monolingual children who often believe that their own
culture, their language and their customs are the only ones that matter in the world. The
introduction of a foreign language into the child's world helps to develop tolerance toward
people of other nationalities and in the long run contributes toward international
understanding.
The aspects related they should be taught in Primary school are the following:
- They should locate on a map the main English speaking countries, and name their capitals.
- They should be familiar with the important landmarks and the place where they are found
(Big Ben, Statue of Liberty, the Sydney Opera House, etc...).
- They should understand the difference between being “English” and being “British”.
They need to be familiar with different varieties of English, especially British and American
English. We must use audio material with both forms of spoken English.
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Other relevant aspects for our young students are: typical food, traditional nursery rhymes
and traditional songs, festivals and holidays, etc.
HOW CAN WE TEACH ENGLICH CIVILIZATION?
There are 3 different procedures:
Interpretative reading: We can use different types of texts. But first, there should be a
correspondence between the level of the text and the level of the group.
The important result is that they get the signification about the society or social aspects
reflected in the text. Example: journey around the world in 80 days. The typical gentleman.
Practices of oral expression: We can offer our pupils photographs showing different aspects
of British life, they must say whatever they suggest to them. We can use a dramatization of a
dialogue, eg. “An English breakfast” (foods, timetable, courtesy sentences), “a tourist visit”
(we can use postcards or photographs). We can mention Christmas, Thanksgiving Day,
American Independence).
Didactic use of songs: They are a pedagogic support for the teaching of civilization. The
songs must have certain characteristics: correspondence with the level of the pupils,
interesting for the pupils, and they can learn some structures with the songs.
7. CONCLUSION
I have presented different aspects of the most widespread English speaking countries, within
these characteristics; we have dealt with cultural studies.
Cultural studies concerns itself with the meaning and practices of everyday life. Cultural
practices comprise the ways people do particular things (such as watching television, or
eating out) in a given culture. Particular meanings attach to the ways people in particular
cultures do things.
In order to know a language and its culture completely, we will asure the whole learning of
these factors from our students.
I would like to point out that familiarity with socio-cultural aspects of the target language is
important. Socio-cultural competence is one of the basics competence that a student of a
foreign language needs to learn or acquire. In this sense, the introduction of socio-cultural
competence as one of the five blocks of contents of our Curriculum is important innovation.
As teacher we must to take into account how important and useful the ICTs are nowadays,
new technologies bring the real world into the classroom and being a great source of cultural
information from all countries around the word. Webpages and blogs are some examples.
For this reason, it is one of the common elements that the LOMCE has set. As teachers we
have to help our students to make a good use of it and understand that it is necessary to take
care when using them. If we are able to make them understand this, it can be a very
motivating and useful tool to use in our lessons whenever is possible.