Overview (generalization of the physical geography):

• A notable lack of extremes. (thiếu tính thái quá, có nhưng quá)

-Notable = remarkable

-Extremes = too hot, too long, too short.

• Geography elements: mountains, flat land, hills, rivers, volcanos.

-Mountains: none of them are very high

-Flatland: you can't travel far without encountering high hills.

-River: not big

-Volcano: sleeping, not active

-Earthtremos: no more than rattle teacups.

Climate:

• Rainfall:

*Compared to the other countries in European, How wet is Britain?

*Britain rains all the time. It is true? No

– The image of Britain is a country of wet and foggy land.

-London gets no more rain in a year than other major European cities, and less than other country.

-Look at the bar chart of Annual total precipitation in some European cities.

+The cities with the most rainfall are Milan and Cardiff. (1000mm)

+The city with the least rainfall in Athens (Greece). (400mm)

+London has a rainfall of 600 mm →moderate

!!! The weather reflects the short-term conditions of the atmosphere while the climate is the average daily weather for an extended period of time at a certain location. Climate is the average of that weather. For example, you can expect snow in the Northeast in January or for it to be hot and humid in the Southeast in July. This is the climate.

• Weather:

-Britain doesn't have a climate.

*It only has weather. Why?

-The weather changes all the time. You are not sure of dry day. There can be cool (even cold) days in July and some quite warm days in January →changeability

• Temperature:

-The temperature of the hottest month: 33 (Athens) – 18 (Belfast and Edinburgh) and 22 (London) → not too hot

-The temperature of the coldest month: -9 (Moscow) – ( Lisbon) and 6 in London → not to cold

→ lack of extremes

*Land and settlement:

• Britain has neither towering mountain ranges nor impressive large rivers, plains or forests.

→ lack of extremes.

• The scenery changes noticeably over quite short distances →variety.

Ex: a journey of 100 miles seems twice as far.

- South and East: low-lying, flat plains & gently

• Human influence has been extensive.

- Most of the forests have disappeared.

- The fields in southern England are enclosed with hedgerows.

• Much of the land is used for human habitation.

- Because of their habitual concern for privacy and over of the countryside.

- English and Welsh people don't like living in blocks of flats in the city centre and the countries.

→ cities in England and wales have bên built outwards rather than upwards.

Ex: the London area has about three-time.....

*The environment and pollution:

*In Britain, do they have such pollution?

In the past, they did. They were heavily polluted. At present, it improves a lot.

1.Air pollution:

-Britain is one of the industrialized nations in the world.

-Machine replaced people. A lot of factories are set up. When machinery was in operation, it released a lot of smoke.

→"smog" (smoke + fog).

-Its cities were the first to suffer this atmospheric condition

→heavily polluted

→caused 4000 – 8000 deaths in 1952.

2.Water pollution:

-The River Thames was polluted because fish could not live there in the 20thcentury.

-People who fell into the Thames were rushed to the hospital to have their stomach pumped.

3. Noise pollution:

Because Britain is an industrialized country, a lot of factories and plants were built in the past →a lot of noise, but it was in the past. At present, there is less noise.

*London:

• What is London made up of? = Which city (cities) made up of London?

-Westminster, where the parliament and another "city" outside London walls, that these national institutions met.

- London is the largest city in England an Europe

-The square mile (also known simply as "the City" ) is home to the country's main financial organizations.

-the West End and the East End.

-How big (diện tích):

-Population:

-First city in the world to have the underground railways

- Located in the southeast of England

- The best time of the day to visit Buckingham Palace is 11 am to 11:30 cause we can see the royal guards change shifts

- Best time of the year to visit Buckingham Palace July 22 to October 1st, cause it is the time when the queen on holiday.

- The London Eye or Millennium Wheel is a big wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames in London. It called the Millennium Wheel because .......

- House of Parliament, also called The Palace of Westminster, lies on the north bank of the River Thames.

-Buses in London are red, taxies in London are black.

-Park: we can't go cycling in the parks, only the police can do

• The Features:

1.The contract:

-The West End: many theatres, cinemas, expensive shops.

-The East End: poorer residential area (slums), immigrant group.

2. London is a multicultural society:

-More than 300 languages are spoken in London.

- Restaurants offer cuisines from more than 70 different countries.

-Nearly a third of the people in London were born outside Britain (immigrant)

3. Tourism to London:

In late 2007, it was voted the most popular city in the world in an on-line poll of international tourists.

Because:

- You have less chance of being the victim of a crime there than you have in many other British cities

- This popularity is probably the result of its combination of apparently infinite cultural variety and a long history which has left intact many visible signs of its richness and drama.

*Southern England:

1." Commuter land":

-outer suburbs of London.

-the most densely populated area.

-inhabitants travel into London to work every day.

2. The County of Kent: is known as "the garden of England " because of the many kinds of fruit and vegetables grown there.

3. The Downs: a series of hills in a horseshoe shape to the south of London, is used for sheep farming.

4. The West Country: has an attractive image of rural beauty in British people's mind. Some parts of the West Country are well-known for their dairy products, such as Devonshire cream, and fruit.

5. East Anglia: it is the only region in Britain where there are large expanses of uniformly flat land.

*The Midlands of England:

1.Birmingham: is Britain's second-largest city. (sometimes known as the Black Country).

2.The Industries: pottery, China, fishing

3.Tourism: Shakespeare's birthplace.

*Northern England:

1.Geography: the Pennines mountains run up the middle of northern England like a spine.

• large deposits of coal: used to provide power

• iron ore: used to make machinery

2. The prototype of noisy, dirty, factories symbolize the Industrial Revolution is found in the once – industrial north of England.

3.Population:

- Open and uninhabited countryside is never far away from its cities or towns.

-The typically industrial landscape and the very rural landscape interlock.

4. The geography and the art:

-In the northwestern corner of the country is the Lake District.

-The Romantic poets Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey lived here and wrote about its beauty.

*Scotland: (to the North)

1. The economy: sheep farming, tourism, whisky production.

2. The geography:

-The southern uplands: just north of the border with England.

-The central plains: further north.

-The highlands: mountains, deep valleys, numerous small islands off the west coast.

3. Two major cities: Glasgow, Edinburgh.

• Glasgow:

-Glasgow is associated with heavy industry and some of the worst housing conditions in Britain.

-Glasgow has a strong artistic heritage.

+European city of culture.

+Immigrants from Ireland →the echo of same divisions in the community that exist in Northern Ireland.

• Edinburgh:

-Capital of Scotland.

-It is associated with scholarship, the law, and administration.

Wales: (to the West)

1. The industrial revolution in the north of England:

-Locate the prototype coal mine in south Wales.

-It is the only part of Britain with a high proportion of industrial villages.

2. Topography:

Most of the rest of Wales is mountainous. The area around Mount Snowdon in the north-west of the country is very beautiful and is the largest National Park in Britain.

Northern Ireland:

-Capital: Belfast.

-It is famous for linen and shipbuilding.

-Economy: agriculture.

EXERCISE:

I. Match:

1. Big Ben: The nickname for the great bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, and often extend to refer to the clock tower.

2. East End of London: An area of central London containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses.

3. The London Eye: A giant Ferris wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames in London, England.

4. The Palace of Westminster: The meeting palace of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, these two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

5. The Square Mile: widely referred to as the City (often written on maps as "City" and differentiated from the phrase "the city of London" by capitalizing the world City). It is home to Britain's main financial organizations.

6. The Thames Estuary: the place in which the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea.

7. Tower Bridge: A suspension bridge in London which crosses the River Thames (built 1886-1894).

8. Tower of London: A historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England.

9. West End of London: An area of central London containing many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buildings, and entertainment venues.

10. Westminster Abbey: A large, mainly Gothic, church in the City of Westminster, London.

II. Word or Phrase:

1. The edges of hills facing out to sea on the south coast of England: cliffs

2. Areas of land where there are no towns or cities (the opposite of "urban"): rural

3. A combination of smoke and fog: smog

4. The area surrounding the outer suburbs of London: commuter land

5.The flat, watery area in East Anglia: The Fens

6. An area of Glasgow famous in the past for its terrible housing conditions: The Gorbals

III. Put the following in order from north to south:

The Athens of north →The European City of Culture →Bradford →Leeds →Manchester →Liverpool →Mount Snowdon →Nottingham →Derby →Leicester →Birmingham →Shakespeare's country →The Capital of UK →Cardiff →The Downs

III. Fill in the gaps:

It is part of English folklore that the north and south of the country are irredeemably different from each other. The north is full of poor but honest workers; the south is full of rich softies who live off the sweat of the northerners. In the south of England, all the men wear bowler hats and suits and carry briefcases on the train to work in the city every day. In the north, they all wear workman's overalls and cycle to work in the local factory carrying sandwiches. In the south, they are polite, but a bit soft and hypocritical. In the north, they are plain-speaking and hard, suspicious of strangers but actually very friendly. These two stereotypes are well-known in England. But they cannot be completely true. After all, most of the heavy industry in the north has closed down. In any case, people in Britain move around a lot in their lifetimes, so that lots of the people in the south of England must be northerners and vice-versa. Nevertheless, it is true that the houses cost much more in the south than they do in the north. But even here the picture is complicated. Ten of the poorest areas in the country are actually in London.