UNIT 1

COUNTRY AND PEOPLE

Identifying symbols of the four nations:

England

Patron saint

Saints Day

_____________________

________

Wales
Scotland

_____________________
_____________________

Ireland

England

________

_____________________

_________

Plant

Color1

_____________________

_________

Wales2
Scotland

________

_____________________
_____________________

Ireland

_________
_________

_____________________

________

John Bull

is a fictional character who is supposed to personify

Englishness and certain English virtues. He can be compared to
uncle Sam in the USA. He features in hundreds of nineteenth
century cartoons. His appearance is typical of an eighteen century
country gentleman, evoking an idyllic rural past.

Briton

is a word used in official contexts and in formal writing to describe

a citizen of the United Kingdom. Ancient Britons is the name given
to the race of people who lived in England before and during the
Roman occupation(AD 43-410). These are the ancestors of the
present-day Welsh people.

Caledonia, Cambria and Hibernia

were the Roman names for Scotland, Wales and Ireland respectively. The words
are commonly used in scholarly classifications (for example, the type of English
used in Ireland is sometimes called Hiberno-English) and for the names and
organizations (for example, the airline British Caledonian).
Erin is a poetic name for Ireland. The Emerald Isle is another way of referring
to Ireland, evoking the lush greenery of its countryside.
The Union Jack
The Union Jack is the national flag of the UK. It is a combination of the cross of
St George, the cross of St Andrew and the cross of St Patrick.
The Invisible Scot
1

Read the brief extracts from an article written by a Scotswoman, Janet

Swinney, which expresses anger at how the dominance of England over
Scotland is reflected in the way things are described. Write down the dominant
aspects that England has over Scotland.
First, there is a domination by omission. A map appeared in the Observer
newspaper in May 1989 under the heading Britains Dirty Rivers. It showed
only England and Wales. Janet Swinney says: What is the meaning of this
illustration? Does Scotland have no rivers or no dirty rivers, or has someone
simply used the word Britain to mean England and Wales?
Second, she points out the common use of England/English/ to mean
Britain/British: When I went to Turkey a few years ago with an assorted
group of Britons, most of the English were happy to record their nationality on
their embarkation card as English , and saw nothing offensive about it. Its not
unusual , either, for Scots to receive mail from elsewhere in the UK addressed
Scotland, England Last year, works of art from the Soviet Union intended for
display at the Edinburgh International Festival were sent to the City Art Gallery
addressed Edinburgh, England.
A third aspect of domination can be seen in the names given to publications
and organizations: The practice is to label anything that pertains to England
and (usually) Wales as though it were the norm, and anything Scottish as
tough it were a deviation from it. Why else do we have The Times Educational
Supplement (Scotland), The National trust and The National Trust for
Scotland , the Trades Union Congress and the Scottish Trades Union Congress
? In a society of equals, all these names would carry their geographical
markers: The Times Educational Supplement (England and Wales) etc.
J Swinney, The Invisible Scot, English Today, April 1989

1. _______________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
2. _______________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
3. _______________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

Population in 1995
England
48.9 million
Scotland
5.1 million
Wales
2.9 million
Northern Ireland
1.6 million
____________________________
UK total
58.6 million
These figures are estimates provided by the Government Actuarys Department
of the UK, based on the 1991 Census. It is expected that the total population of
Britain will continue to rise by very small amounts until around the year 2025.
QUESTIONS
1. Think of the most well-known symbols and tokens of nationality in Macedonia.
Are they the same types of real-life objects (e.g. plants, clothes) that are used in
Britain?
2. In 1979 the BBC showed series of programs about the history of the British
Empire. Before the series started they advertised it. The advertisement
mentioned Englands history. Within a few hours he BBC had received thousand
of angry calls protest and it was forced to make an apology. Why did the BBC
apologize?
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
3. In 1991 UEFA (the Union of European Football Association)introduced a new
regulation. This limited the number of foreign players who were allowed to play
for a football club in European competitions. For example, a German club team
could have only a certain number of players in it who were not German. Under
the new regulation a player in the Liverpool team, Ian Rush, was classified as
foreign , even though he was born only twenty miles from Liverpool and had
lived in the same area all his life. Many other players of English club teams
found themselves in the same position. Many people in England though that this
was ridiculous. How did this happen? Do you think it was ridiculous?
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________

4. The dominance of England in Britain is reflected in the organization of the

government. There are ministers for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but
there is no minister for England. Do you think this is good for the people of the
other British nations( they have special attention and recognition of their distinct
identity) or is it bad (it gives them a kind of second-class colonial status?
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
5. Are there any distinct national loyalties in Macedonia (or are they better
described as a regional loyalties)?If so, is the relationship between the nations
in any way similar to that between the nations in Britain? If not, can you think of
any other countries where such loyalties cause problems in those countries?
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________

PROJECT 1 COUNTRY AND PEOPLE IN THE USA

__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
5

__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
Submitted by:
____________

Approved by:
_____________

Date
________