Seminar Questions

Темы семинарских занятий по Лингвострановедению (английский язык)

Основная цель семинарских занятий заключается в самостоятельном изучении истории, географии, политического устройства, образа жизни, традиций и культурного наследия стран изучаемого языка.

Модуль 1. The UK.

Занятие №1. British Monarchy (general historical outline on the formation of the British dynasty).

1) Geographical position of the UK.

2) From ancient times till the Anglo-Saxon and Jute invasion.

3)  The Normans.

4) The Plantagenet dynasty.

5)  Lancaster and York dynasties.

6) Tudor and Stuart England.

7) The Hanoverian and Winsor dynasties.

8) The present monarchy. The royal family. Queen Elizabeth II. King Charles III as head of state.

Занятие №2. Population and Religion in the UK.

1) The people (Britain’s total population, distribution of the population, ethnic composition, the class system).

2)  The English language (stages of the formation). Britain’s other languages (the Welsh language, Irish and Scottish Gaelic) (characteristic features of the languages: number of people speaking, morphological, phonetic, lexical, syntactical differences between the languages         ).

3) Religion and beliefs (the Church of England, the other Christian churches, other religions) (official and unofficial religions, short historical outline).

4) Festivals and holidays in Britain (origins, dates and ways the holidays are celebrated).

Занятие №3 The British Political System. Part 1.

1) The political system of the UK. The organs of government (the legislature, the executive, the judiciary: basic principles upon which the division into branches of power is done).

2) The Legislative branch. The British Parliament (structure, functions, role, the way a bill becomes a law: key stages (an Act of Parliament).

3) The Executive branch. The Prime Minister and the Cabinet (structure, function, role). 

Занятие №4 The British Political System. Part 2.

4) Local government (structure, functions, role).

5) Political parties (the Labour Party, the Conservative Party, the Liberal Democrats: time and reasons of appearance and formation, slogans and policies promoted).

6) The electoral system (procedure, requirements for the candidates).

Занятие№5. The British Political System. Part 3.

1) The system of Justice. British Constitution and the system of Common Law.

2) Types of Courts (division based on types of cases heard in courts, function fulfilled).

3) The Judicial Personnel (job titles, functions, education needed for the position).

4) The British Police (birth date, the founder of the police force, the structure and main functions).

Модуль 2. The USA.

Занятие №6. First Settlers and Colonies in North America.

1)  The New World (explain the meaning of the term "new world", say when and how it appeared).

2) The first English settlers in the USA (when, why and who came to America first).

3) Colonial America (name first colonies, sy how they formed).

4) Pilgrims in America (who are pilgrims, reasons of their coming to America).

Занятие № 7. The War for Independence.

1) The American Revolution (date, reasons, results).

2) The Declaration of Independence (date, place, reason of its appearance).

Занятие №8. The Civil War in the USA.

1) American North and South (name the states that are considered to be northern and southern, reasons of the split between them).

2) The Civil War (date, reasons, results of the war).

3) Years of Reconstruction (beginning and ending of this time, positive and negative sides of it).

Занятие №9. Political set-up in the USA. The US Government.

1) The US Constitution. The Bill of Rights (explain the meaning of the term "constitution", documents that make the constitution, give the dates they appeared at, speak about its structure).

2) The legislative branch. The Congress (the Senate, the House of Representatives, the functions of the Congress) (structure, functions).

3) The executive branch. The President. The vice-president. The Cabinet (role, function, requirements candidates need to feet to hold the kind of position).

4)  Major political parties (the Republican Party, the Democratic Party) (when and how the parties appeared, their slogans).

Занятие №10. The System of Law in the USA. 

1) The Judicial branch. Federal and state system of courts (structure, functions, division upon the types of cases heard).

2) The Supreme Court of the USA (structure, function, types of cases heard).

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2024/nov/06/us-election-results-map-2024-live-donald-trump-kamala-harris-president