SAINT GEORGE’S DAY - 23rd April St George is the patron saint of England He lived in the third century, but he probably was not English He was a soldier and was killed on 23rd April, 303 because he was a Christian His tomb is said to be in Palestine and, over the centuries, he came to symbolise bravery and good manners Another word for these good qualities is chivalry In the Middle Ages every good soldier wanted to be chivalrous, like St George was in earlier times England made him its patron saint in the fourteenth century, when bravery in war was very important There is a famous story about St George and a dragon who was frightening the whole country First of all, the people gave it two sheep a day to eat, but then they had no more sheep So they had to give it humans to eat and they did this by drawing lots This meant that everyone’s name was written down and one was picked out every day One day, the king’s daughter, the princess, found out that she was to be the dragon’s next meal The king was very sad, but the people said that she must go That was when the king asked for St George’s help The princess dressed herself all in white and went to the dragon, but St George was right behind He bravely fought the dragon and took it back to show the king using the princess’ belt to pull the dragon along He told the people not to be afraid, but to become Christians by being baptised This is a ceremony where water is poured on the head and the person becomes a Christian They agreed, so St George killed the dragon and baptised fifteen thousand people! The king wanted to give him money in return for saving his daughter’s life, but St George refused Instead, he asked the king to look after the poor, the priests and the churches The red rose is the emblem of England, but not many people wear a rose on St George’s Day In fact, the majority of them not even know which day their patron saint is remembered - unlike the Welsh, the Irish and the Scots The 23rd April is also the birthday of William Shakespeare, England’s greatest playwright He lived from 1564 to 1616 and was born in Stratfordupon-Avon He wrote at least thirty seven plays, some of which are comedies like A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and some of which are tragedies, like Hamlet and Macbeth His language can be difficult to understand, even for British people, but his plays are studied a lot in schools They are also regularly performed, specially at Stratford-upon-Avon EXERCISES 1.- Say if the following sentences about the text are true or false: TRUE FALSE a.- People gave two sheep to the dragon every week b.- The red rose is the emblem of the UK c.- St George was killed in the fourteenth century d.- Shakespeare wrote tragedies and comedies e.- St George’s Day is a very important day in England, and people celebrate it a lot f.- Shakespeare’s language is difficult to understand g.- Everyone’s name was put on a list for the dragon h.- St George used the princess belt to kill the dragon 2.- In the text about St George, there are some irregular verbs in simple past tense, put them in the box and then write a sentence with each one Some of the verbs are repeated, only use one a b _ c d _ e f _ g h _ i _ j _ a _ b _ c _ d _ e _ f _ g _ h _ i j 3.- Make questions about the text for these answers using Wh-words like when, where, who, what, how, why.: a.- _ ? - His tomb is said to be in Palestine b.- _ ? - The next person for the dragon was the princess c.- ? - People are baptised by pouring water on their heads d.- _? - It’s the emblem of England e.- ? - The king wanted to give money to St George because he saved his daughter’s life 4.- Match these verbs with their meaning: - Pick out - Find out - Ask for - Take back - Pull along - Look after - Llevar de regreso - Pedir - Escoger - Llevar arrastrando - Descubrir - Cuidar 5.- Pronunciation: In the text about St George there are 13 words that are pronounced using the sound /ai/, and another 13 words pronounced with the sound /ei/ Find them: /ai/ - Palestine - - /ei/ - Saint - - 6.- Change into negative these sentences extracted from the text: - The king wanted to give him money - _ - He told the people not to be afraid - _ - The red rose is the emblem of England - _ - The people gave it two sheep a day to eat - _ - His language can be difficult to understand - _ 7.- Draw a map of Britain, then mark and colour England (red), Wales (yellow), Ireland (green) and Scotland (blue) Locate their capitals 8.- In the text you can find many words in plural Some of them finish in -s, others finish in -es, others in -ies, and others don’t add anything Can you classify them into groups? -s _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ -es _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ -ies _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ nothing Now add to the list more plural nouns to complete all the lines 9.- The Possessive Case As you already know, sometimes we need to express possession using The Saxon Genitive (Possessive Case) with the form ‘s or -s’ In the text there are examples, write them down here: a.- _ b.- _ c.- _ d.- _ e.- _ 10 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S BIOGRAPHY William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) was born in Strattford-uponAvon There is no information about his early years At the age of eighteen, he married Ann Hathaway, a farmer’s daughter There is a gap of seven years in which nothing definite is known about Shakespeare, until he appears as an actor -dramatist in London His plays, ‘ Hamlet ‘, ‘ Macbeth’ , ‘ Romeo and Juliet ‘, etc are known all over the world He also wrote 154 sonnets, of which, perhaps, the most famous is the one which begins with the line ‘ Shall I compare thee to a Summer’s day ? ‘ Shakespeare is the greatest dramatist and poet of the English language A Make questions for the following answers Shakespeare Anne Hathaway Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet 154 sonnets B Read Aloud A SONNET ( XVIII ) Fragment Shall I compare thee to a Summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate Rough winds shake the darling buds of May, And Summer’s lease hath all too short a date Think for a while What’s the meaning of ? thee: _ thou: _ art : hath : TO BE OR NOT TO BE ( Fragment ) To be or not to be, that is the question: Whether ‘t is nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them ? To die, to sleep, No more; and by a sleep to say we end The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks ‘ Hamlet ‘ ( Act III, Scene I ) Complete the sentences with a word from the text a The girl fell in love and said that she had a terrible b My best friend an accident last night c I couldn’t last night because I had too much coffee d I found a deer hurt by an in the forest e One friend of mine is always in because of his behaviour f Barcelona plays Español tonight