英语国家概况课程教学大纲教案

英语国家概况课程教学大纲

教案

（2011.4学年第1学期）

（一）课程教学目的和要求

随着我国对外交往的日益频繁和涉外工作的需要，大学生不仅有必要学好英语语言能力，还应该对英语国家社会与文化基本情况进行大致了解，以便进一步搞好夸文化交流。该课程主要介绍了英国、美国、加拿大、澳大利亚和新西兰等地的社会与文化基本状况。（二）课程教学重点和难点

1、重点：

了解掌握5 个说英语的国家人文、地理、气候特征，政府政治与经济制度，以及文化教育特点。

2、难点：

地貌特征产生的原因，各政府政治执政的相同模式和不同点。

（三）教学方法

讲解和讨论并用。

（四）课时安排：总课时：36课时，

每堂课一个专题。

（五）考核方式：期末考试

（六）参考教材

王恩铭《英语国家概况》上海外语教育出版社2008

谢福之《英语国家概况》外语教学与研究出版社2007

1) Where does Britain lie?

2）What is its full name?

3）What is the total land area of the United Kingdom?

4）What is British Isles?

5）How long does its coastline run?

1. Geographic features and its total area.:

Britain is situated in Western Europe and is separated from the European continent in the east

by the North Sea, the Strait of Dover and the English Channel in the south. It is an insular（保守的）country. Its coastline runs 12,429 km, I t is one of the countries with longest coastline. To the west of it lies the Atlantic Ocean, across and beyond it is America. The Straits of Dover between France and England is quite narrow and it is 33 km across. In 1985 the British government and the French government decided to build a channel tunnel under the Straits of Dover so that England and France could be joined together by road. This channel tunnel was opened to traffic in May 1994 after eight years hard work.

The Britain faces Scandinavia Peninsular (Norway, Sweden and Denmark) to the northeast and to the North lies Iceland To the south across the English Channel lies France and Belgium and to the east across North Sea lie Germany and Holland.

The total area is about 244,820 square kilometers.

It Is over 1,000 km. from south to north and it is about 500 km. from west to east.

2. The names of UK

Its full name is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,usually shortened , abbreviated to the United Kingdom or U.K.. It may also called Great Britain, Britain or informally England.

England: 130.000skm, 60% of whole island.

British Isles: Two large islands and several small ones

Britain：The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Great Britain ：England, Wales, Scotland

Britain is divided into highland area and lowland area.

It has large mountain ranges : the Pennies：Bulk of Pennines（奔宁山脉）is moorland. The Cumbrian Mountain Range, the Grampian Mountains , the Cambrian Mountain Range and such important rivers as Thames River ,the Seven River, Mercy River, the Humber, the Clyde River and the Forth.

Scotland has an area of 78,760 square kilometers in northern part.

It is situated in the north of Great Britain with a good number of mountains and islands. There are 800 islands which contain Hebrides, Shetland and Orkney islands. Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland.

Wales: Wales is in the west of Great Britain. It has an area of 20,761 square kilometers and it take up less than 9% of the whole island. The capital of Wales is Cardiff. Most of Wales is mountainous. The hills rise steeply from the sea and rather flat on top. 6% of Wales is covered with forest and much of the country is pastureland for sheep and cattle. Wales on the Western Prominence. 20.700skm, 9% of the whole island.

Wales was united to England in 14th century

Northern Ireland takes up the northern fifth of Ireland. It has an area of 14,147 square kilometers. It is made up of six counties that consist of fertile, drumlin [`drʌmlin] (鼓丘) country surrounding Lough Neagh. Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland. Mountains in the north and south, separated by the fertile basin of Lough Neagh, mainly agricultural, industrial center: two ports–Belfast and Londonderry.

3. Climate and Weather ------A maritime type of climate:

1) moderated by the Atlantic Gulf Stream, milder than places in the same latitude.

2) equable: winters are mild, temperature exceed 4c in the west, lower in the east. July about 18c. 13c in the northern Scotland.