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Past Simple - Learning English Through History PDF

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791 views

Past Simple - Learning English Through History PDF

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karyland
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Introduction Timeline Chronological chapters Civilizing the barbarians: The Romans in Britain 1066 and all that: The Norman Conquest, Majesty and marriages: King Henry VIll Good Queen Bess: Elizabeth | Roundheads and Cavaliers: The English Civil War re and plague: Samuel Pepys’ London The longest reign: The Victorians A long way from Tipperary: The First World War Britain can take it: The Blitz From the cradle to the grave: The welfare state Cultural revolution: The swinging sixties The Iron Lady: Margaret Thatcher Thematic chapters: From barons to ballot box: The long road to democracy The Bard of Avon: The sun never set: The British Empire A special relationship? Britain and the USA. A funny old game: Cricket Seen and not heard: British childhood Auld enemies: England and Scotland That cloud in the West: Ireland A safe haven? Immigration to Britain liam Shakespeare An enduring obsession: Social class in Britain Glossary Index 12 18 SSsssessese 78 90 96 102 108 4 120 126 132 138 142 ‘Life is one-tenth here and now, nine-tenths a history lesson.’ Graham Swift (English novelist) This book is based on the idea that learning about a country's history is a wonderful way to learn its language. English was born in Britain, and has both shaped and reflected British history over many centuries. History and language are intimately bound together. You cannot truly understand one without knowing something about the other. History is traditionally narrated in the past simple tense of our title, but its richness and variety mean that all sorts of other language and structures are used, too: idioms and conditionals, for example, as well as the full range of perfect and continuous tenses. All of these (and more) appear and are explored in the book. Past Simple consists of 22 chapters on selected aspects of British history, 12 of them on key episodes or periods such as the Elizabethan Age or First World War, the other 10 on some of the big themes (imperialism, the growth of democracy) that run through the story of these islands. Each chapter is based around a central reading text, which is followed by comprehension and critical thinking exercises, additional primary source material focus on relevant language points. Plenty of opportunity is also given for ski ‘well as reading ~ and there are follow-up research tasks to be done on the Internet and in libraries. in this regular structure, the texts themselves are presented in different ways — as conventional factual ‘accounts, as magazine-type articles, and in the style of webpages — to ensure a varied diet for the learner. Our aim has been to create a book on British history for learners of English, and not in any sense a defini History of Britain, We have included the material that we consider most interesting and useful for English to know, keeping the needs of would-be British citizens in mind, The book can be dippet and the timeline should help anyone doing so to keep their bearings — but the largely chronological arrangement ‘means that learners can acquire an overall sense of the development of British history by starting at the beginning and wor at intermediate level and above. People learn hest when they are engaged by the subject matter. Past Simple delivers English through the culturally vital ‘medium of British history, which offers so much stimulating material that the hard part for us was choosing what to leave out. In our view, history’s great advantage as a language-learning topic is that i i enjoy and learn. David Ronder, Peter Thompson This timeline of key events in British history is selective, focusing on the key events and reigns covered in Past Simple. We suggest you build on it and create your own, more extensive timeline of British history. 55 & 54 BC AD 43 410 1066 1215 1509-47 1558-1603 1564 1588 1642-48 1649 1665-66 1666 1707 4757 1800 1807 1832 1837-1901 1886 1903 1916 1927 1940-41 1947 1948 1952 1973 1979 2003 + Julia Caesar leads expeditiony of Roman soldiers into Britain, fromGaul (France) + Emperor Claudius leads a fulvRoman inwasion of Britaiw The Romans abandon Britain | The Battle of Hastings + The signing of the Magna Cartw + The reign of King Henry VIII L The reign of Queen Eligabeth I L The birth of Wiliany Shakespeare + The Spanish Armade | The English Cwil War | Theexecution of King Charles I + TheGreat Plague + The Great Fire of Londow + The Act of Union between England and Scotland + Britain takes political control of India through the East Indic Company + The Act of Union between Britain and Ireland + The abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire + The Great ReformAct ++ The/recgn of Queen Victoria L The furst Irish Home Rule BAL + The foundation of the Women's Social and Political Uniow + The Battle of the Somme 7 The establishnent of the British Broadcasting Corporation, - The Battie of Britain and the Blity + India gains independence from Britaiw + The foundation of the National Health Service + The start of the reign of Queen Elizabeth IL + Britain joins the European Economic Community + Margaret Thatcher becomes Britain's first female Prime Minister L America and Britain inwade Iraq ‘TIMELINE OF KEY EVENTS IN BRITISH HISTORY Section 1: Reading AA Before you read — think and discuss The Roman Conquest was the first major invasion of the British Isles. Britain at that time was not a unified country. It was populated by a collection of tribes known as the Celts. Who were the original inhabitants of your country? Does your country today have any connection with its ancient inhabitants? Did the Romans ever rule your country? it Britain? B Read the text if anything, do you know about the Romans and the Celts | WHAT THE ROMANS DID FOR US | ‘From the year 400 to the year 1900, no one had central heating and very few had hot baths.’ Winston Churchill 1n 1980, the National Theatre in London staged a play I that caused outrage for its violent and expt scenes. ‘though it was called The Romans in Britain, it told ‘only part of the story A truly historical play would feature ‘much more inthe way of dul practical achievement; there would be graphic road-building scenes, shockingly good engineering, ad all the drama of fusing tots, Julius Caesar made the first offal contacts between Rome and Britain in 55~54 BC, but the full Roman Conquest +0 came nearly a century later, The Emperor Claudius decided to invade in AD 43 because he was the new Emperor of ome and needed to prove he was a strong ruler. In order to be sure of defeating the Celts, Claudius landed with 50,000 men atthe site of modern-day Richborough in Kent. The Roman occupation of ‘Britannia’ (most of modern-day England and Wales) was to last from AD 43-410. ‘Athough the occupation of Briain lasted nearly 400 years, itremained incomplete, The more developed south- feast was conquered quickly, though there were later rebellions. This success was due to diplomacy as well as 20 arms. The Romans benefited from alliances with ‘sympathetic native rulers, who then enjoyed favoured status. The advancing Roman army built fortresses, camps and roads and helped with construction in towns such as Camulodunum (Colchester), Britannia's first capital. The earliest towns, dating from the mid-tst century, reveal ‘wooden houses and shops as well as stone public buildings. such as temples and administrative headquarters. The Romans also brought their particular style of architecture to the countryside in the form of villas, the most impressive 30 of which contained garden-courtyards, mosaics, wall paintings and Mediterranean statues, Many of the native tribes in Britannia ~ including the Iceni the Brigantes and the Atrebates ~ were intaly given semi-independence by the Romans. In AD 60, the king of the Iceni died, and the Romans decided to remove this independence. They seized property and raped his daughters. The girls’ mother, the tal lame-haired Queen Boudicca, rose up in fury against the Romans. The Iceni 40 destroyed the towns of Camulodunum, Verulanium (St ‘Abars) and the flourishing port of Londinium (London). The Romans eventually defeated the rebels in a batle during which, according to one Roman report, 80,000 Britons and just 400 Romans were killed, though itis dificult to judge the accuracy of this report. After the battle, Boudicca was determined not to be captured. She gave her daughters deadly poison before taking her own life, According to popular legend, she is buried under Platform 9 of Kings Cross. To this day, Boudicca remains ‘50 a symbol of revolt against Occupation ‘ter the Boudiccan revolt, the Romans began to expand their area of control. The Roman province now included Wales, northern England and, brief, southern Scotland, n AD 122, the Emperor Hadrian visited Britain. He ordered the construction of a 117 km-long stone wal from the River Tyne to the Solway Firth. Hadrian's Wall separated the Roman province from the barbarian north, and was a visual demonstration of the power of Rome. However its true historical significance thatit symbolizes «0 the failure ofthe Romans to conquer the whole of Britain The Romans brought many architectural splendours to Britain and also a money economy The Roman troops had cash wages and were able to purchase items wth them. The Romans started charging taxes and creating markets ‘or their goods. Consequently, by the late Istlearly 2nd centuries AD people commonly used coins, even on the hhumble farms where most of the native population lived. tual fein Roman Britain was complex yet harmonious. Romans and incomers from other provinces introduced their 70 own religious customs, such as the worship of the fertity

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