Arhivi Kategorije: Miscellanea

The United Kingdom

Britain

Britain has several names: Britain, Great Britain, the United Kingdom, and the UK, but officially, it’s The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The capital city is London. It consists of four countries: England (the largest), Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The flag of the UK is called the Union Jack.

Scotland

Scotland joined England when Queen Elizabeth I. – the Queen of England died in 1603. The King of Scotland (King James – her cousin) became king of England too and the two countries were called the United Kingdom.

Ireland

Queen Elizabeth I.’s armies conquered Ireland and it became part of England. In 1920, the south of Ireland became an independent country – the Republic of Ireland. The north of Ireland stayed in the United Kingdom – it’s Northern Ireland.

 

Tana, Ksenija, Sofija, 7. r

The United Kingdom

The United Kingdom lies on an island 229,850 km2 big. It’s the ninth biggest island in the world and the third most settled. It has 62 million people.

England is 130,395 km2 big and it has 51 million people. London is the capital, two other big cities are Manchester and Liverpool. The language is English and the current Queen is Queen Elizabeth II. The Prime Meridian goes through England (Greenwich, London).

Scotland represents 1/3 of the UK. It joined England in 1707 to form the United Kingdom. It has 5,300,000 people. Men wear kilts and play bagpipes there.

Wales represents 8,5 % of the UK’s surface and 5 % of the entire population of the UK. The anthem of Wales is Hena Wlad. The languages that they use are Welsh and English. On 20,779 km2, 148 people live per square kilometer.

Norther Ireland’s capital city is Belfast. It joined the UK in 1920 when the South became independent (The Republic of Ireland). It measures 14,030 km2 and has 1,810,000 people. They speak English and Irish there.

Ivan, Žiga, Tadej, David, 7. r

The Solar System

There were nine planets in our Solar System until 2006 when scientists decided that Pluto wasn’t big enough to be a planet. The other, “real” planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus.

Mercury is the smallest planet and it’s the nearest to the Sun. Venus is about the same size as Earth and it’s our neighbour. We live on planet Earth. It takes 365 days to go around the Sun. Mars is also called “The Red Planet” and scientists think there was life on Mars a long time ago. Jupiter is the largest planet and it’s made of gas. They say that the red spot on it is a huge storm. Saturn has a ring and like Neptune and Uranus it’s made of gas.

But … Surprise! Scientists have just discovered a new planet! It’s called planet Mearch. It’s similar to Jupiter, but it’s pink and blue. On this planet there are robots called Yolowci. They speak yolowish. They live in electric balloons. They eat bubble gum and pancakes. They are very kind and sweet. Every thirty days they come to visit Earth because they can. In their balloons, they can travel between planets. In their free time, they swim in chocolate.

Tara & Pia, 7. r

The Human Story

The path

First, humans moved from Africa to Asia and Europe. In the ice age, they moved across the frozen sea to Australia and North America, and after that, they moved down from North America to central America and then to South America.

Before us (Homo Sapiens), there were the Neanderthals in Europe. They were stronger and bigger than our ancestors. They got extinct and we don’t know why.

They hunted mammoths and woolly rhinoceros. The Neanderthals, who lived close to the ice caps, evolved special adaptations to the ice age conditions.

The big events

1 million BC: first evidence of humans migrating from Africa to Europe and Asia

700,000 BC: first evidence of humans using fire for survival

3,500 BC: first evidence of written language

Elija, Emir, Maks, Vid, 7. r

Slovenian and British Families

In a typical Slovenian family, the family members are the mother and the father (the father is older than the mother), two children of different ages and a small pet, often a cat or a dog. In a typical British family, the family members are usually the mother and the father, three children, and a pet too.

Typical Slovenian families live in a house or in a flat in a block of flats. They often live together with the grandparents. Slovenian parents often divorce. Typical British families live in a block of flats or in a house with a garden. They don’t live with their grandparents. Grandparents live in an old people’s home. British children often live with step-brothers and step-sisters, because parents often divorce. Some families often move because of that.

The rooms in a typical Slovene house are seven: a kitchen, a dining room, three bedrooms, a bathroom and a living room. In a typical British house, they have seven rooms too: a kitchen, four bedrooms, a bathroom and a living room.

 

Nike, Maks, Leon & Lina, 7. r

Bullying

In our English class this year, we talked about bullying. We read some texts in our book and on the internet and we watched a video about victims of bullying.

Bullying is when a person or a group of people picks on a victim. It is violence among peers and it can be physical (fighting, punching, etc.) or mental (calling names, telling lies). Cyberbullying is a special kind of bullying which happens on the internet (spreading lies about someone, gossip, etc.) It is probably the most common nowadays.

Bullying has many different causes. Usually it is connected with how the victims look. Victims are usually short, overweight, ginger, they sometimes wear glasses. By character, they are quiet, shy, they like to be on their own rather than in a group, they can be new at school. They can be poor or, on the other hand, rich and spoiled. Their sports ability or grades at school can be a cause too. They can be of different race or religion

Typical bullies are usually popular at school, popular with the opposite sex, they have lots of friends, are intelligent and good-looking, they can be fashion leaders.

We think bullying happens everywhere, at every school, because there is always one kid who won’t stop doing it. To square up doesn’t work, because bullies are usually stronger. If you experience bullying, you should speak up and get support. You should tell your parents, your teachers, other trusted adults. Surround yourself with family and friends – people who care about you. Bullying needs to stop because it hurts people and damages their self-image. However, usually even if teachers punish bullies they don’t stop because they don’t care about it. We think more people should be notified of this problem because it’s very serious.

 


A mini-dictionary of bullying:

  • to call somebody names = zmerjati,
  • extortion = izsiljevanje,
  • spoiled = razvajen,
  • to square up to somebody = postaviti se zase,
  • to reach = doseči,
  • to be expelled from school = biti izključen iz šole,
  • insignificant = nepomemben,
  • upset = prizadet,
  • to distance youself from somebody = oddaljiti se od nekoga,
  • to mock = zmerjati, žaliti,
  • to pick on somebody = spraviti se na nekoga,
  • to frighten = zastrahovati,
  • to threaten = groziti,
  • cyberbullying = spletno ustrahovanje,
  • peers = vrstniki,
  • to tell somebody off = ošteti,
  • to tackle something = spopasti se z nečim,
  • to surround yourself with = obkrožiti se z.
  1. r

My town Nova Gorica

Nova Gorica is a small town near Italy. There are lots of shops, restaurants, bars and other buildings meant for entertaiment. Nova Gorica is also a city of culture. It’s got a big library, a theatre, lots of statues and different monuments. Bevk square is the centre of the city. The symbol of Nova Gorica is a red rose.

There’s a lot of fun stuff to do in Nova Gorica all the time. In summer you can go swimming in the outside pool or in the river Soča in Solkan, a village near the town. Of course, the river is very cold. In winter you can go ice-skating on Bevk square. There are also many festivals during the year.

I like Nova Gorica, because there are a lot of places to go. So you’re never bored when you go out with your friends. But most of all I like the ice-cream in Nova Gorica. It’s delicious!

Neža, 7. r

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