A Study of English-Speaking Nations: Key Aspects

Posted on Feb 22, 2025 in Other civil servant exams

English-Speaking Countries: Geography, History, and Culture

Unit 5: Geographical, historical, and cultural aspects of English-speaking countries. Didactic application of the most significant geographical, historical, and cultural aspects.

This essay aims to study the most important English-speaking countries, providing the reader with a geographical, historical, and cultural outline of each one. First, I will deal with the United Kingdom. Second, I will concentrate on the United States. Then, I will highlight the importance of developing Sociocultural Competence in the English Foreign Language Classroom. Finally, I will compile the main conclusions and the bibliography used to develop this topic.

As far as foreign language learning is concerned, the legal framework is the Organic Law 2/2006 of Education, 3rd May, modified by the Organic Law for the Improvement in Educational Quality, 8/2013, 9th December. Section XII of its preamble establishes that “the command of a second or third language has become a priority in the Education field, as a consequence of the globalization process we live in”. One of the most relevant aspects of the Organic Law for the Improvement in Educational Quality is related to the Order ECD/65/2015, 21st of January, which establishes the relation among the key competences, contents, and evaluation criteria in Primary Education. On the other hand, the Royal Decree 126/2014, 28th of February, establishes the Minimum Teaching Requirement for Primary Education and it states in the article 7, Objective F “to acquire basic communicative competence, in at least, one foreign language to enable expression and comprehension of simple messages and survive in everyday situations”. In addition, the Order EDU/519/2014 17th of June, modified by the Order EDU 278/2016 8th of April, establishes the minimum contents for the Primary Education in the Autonomous Community of Castilla y Leon.

Bearing in mind all these legal references, I will start by mentioning the geographical framework in Great Britain and Ireland.

Great Britain and Ireland

Geographical Framework

The British Isles are a set of islands situated in the northwest of the European continent. The main island, Great Britain, is where England, Scotland, and Wales lie. England is the biggest one, and the second island in importance is Ireland. London, the capital of Britain, is an important metropolis. Related to the Political aspects, Great Britain with North Ireland makes up the United Kingdom. There are four different countries in the UK: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The UK is a constitutional monarchy where Queen Elizabeth II is the Head of State. In Britain, most of the citizens are Anglicans, and the rest are Roman Catholics. However, in Ireland, 95 per cent of the population is Catholic. On the other hand, the British weather is humid and English is the main language in the country.

Historical Framework

The Celts came to Britain around the year 700 BC. In the first century, the 1st Roman expedition was led by Caesar, so they established a Romano-British culture across the southern part of Britain. In the fifth century AD, the Saxons began to raid Britain and started to settle there. By the end of the eighth century, the Vikings conquered Britain and started to settle. King Arthur was a Celtic ruler who fought the Anglo-Saxons. In 1066, William the Conqueror defeated the Anglo-Saxon King Harold in the battle of Hastings. He was crowned William I, King of England in Westminster Abbey. In 1275, Edward I created the House of Commons, and he brought the first real parliament. From 1485 to 1603, the Tudor century, was the most glorious period in English history. Henry VII built the foundations of a wealthy nation and he carried out the Reformation. In the 17th century the Stuart monarchs, from James I onwards, were less successful than the Tudors. But King Charles I quarreled with the Parliament and the result was a civil war. In 1707, Scotland and England completed their union by Act of Parliament. In the 18th century, the industrial revolution turned Britain into the most advanced economic force in the world. In the 19th century, during the reign of Queen Victoria, Britain’s colonial expansion reached its zenith. On the other hand, Ireland suffered the potato crop disaster, so many Irish citizens died of hunger and others left the country. At the beginning of the 20th century, Britain was the greatest world power, but by the end of the 1970s it had lost it all because of the two World Wars. In 1931, Britain tried to hold onto its international position through its Commonwealth. In 1998, the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, signed the pacification in Northern Ireland.

Culture

The greatest poet of the Middle English time was Geoffrey Chaucer with his Canterbury Tales. During the mid-16th century William Shakespeare filled theatres with their plays. English Literature definitively entered the Modern Age in the 18th century with heroes and protagonists of books as Robinson Crusoe or Gulliver. In the 19th century, Charles Dickens, Yeats, and Joyce were also highlighted.

Britain is full of customs and traditions; here are some of the festivals:

  • St Valentine’s Day
  • Halloween
  • Guy Fawkes’ Day
  • Christmas
  • New Year

In addition, the British way of life is very different: They eat the English breakfast which consists of fried eggs, sausages, bacon, pancakes, and toasts with marmalade. Fish and chips meal is the original British fast-food and tea is the favorite drink of the British.

The United States

Geographical Framework

The USA is the fourth largest country in the world. The main rivers are: Mississippi, Missouri, Rio Grande, Arkansas, Colorado, and Columbia. The USA is a federal republic made up of 50 states. The capital is Washington and the monetary unit is the dollar and It has been formed by different nations and cultures.

Historical Framework

In the 16th century, the Spaniards reached Florida. Jamestown was the first permanent British settlement named after James I, king of England, who founded the Virginia colony. In 1620, the pilgrims wrote an agreement to work together for the good of all and this is the first important document in the history of democratic government in America. In the 18th century, people from the southern Colonies of Virginia had black slaves. At first, the colonies accepted the British rule, but then, the colonies organized opposition to tax laws, so British and Americans went to the war of Independence. In 1776 Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. Then, George Washington was the first President. In the 19th century, The USA began a civil war between the North and the South with Abraham Lincoln as President. From the 1890s onwards, it was a period of prosperity because of the First World War. In 1945 the President Kennedy tried to help the poor and he also wanted to improve the position of American blacks. The 1990s were characterized by the end of the cold war. Nowadays, the USA is still the first economical and military power.

Culture

The dominant culture is the Anglo-Saxon, although it has had many different influences from the variety of ethnic and racial groups that make up the nation. All races have been influenced by the same culture and language, the English. As far as literature is concerned, Mark Twain, Allan Poe, and Henry James were highlighted in the 19th century. But in the 20th century, William Faulkner and Elliot were very important too. The USA has become a major exporter of influences in the 20th century. American popular taste and attitudes have conquered the world as American films, rock and roll music, eating fast-food, wearing blue-jeans or building skyscrapers in the main cities. Americans celebrate the American Independence Day and the Thanksgiving Day apart from the typical ones such as Easter, Halloween or Christmas.

Didactic Application of Relevant Aspects

The final goal of the Foreign Language class is the development of the student’s communicative competence, and one of the subcompetences implied in this term is culture. So the teacher must introduce the students to relevant knowledge of the countries where English is spoken. The way to share the cultural knowledge would be through materials and activities related to our students’ interests such as labels, songs, money, stories, maps or photographs in class to approach this new reality.

Geographical Aspects

To teach geographical aspects, we will use maps to locate the main cities and the countries, we also use flags from each country. We will make a quiz competition about Britain and the USA. Another idea is to listen to the weather forecast in Britain while completing a map using weather symbols following the CLIL methodology.

Historical Aspects

If students are learning about the historical aspects, they can research for relevant information about British and American characters or events through the use of materials as comics, texts, films of historical backgrounds, for example Pocahontas or Robin Hood. Moreover we can teach the students songs to introduce historical events, as “My Bonnie” or “Kumbaya”.

Cultural Aspects

In Primary Education, the cultural aspects include a variety of topics: social conventions, schools, food and drink, houses, money, English names, festivals, music, monuments, sports, and TV programs. To teach so, we can use the following activities: role-plays to practice social conventions, English names and projects which are very good for integrated skills; realia: the use of real objects motivates students towards the culture behind the objects such as tickets, flags, postcards, magazines, recipes, tea or celebrating British or American festivals in class. Children also enjoy telling jokes, stories or taking part in webquests being an active part of the learning process as they use technology to create their own webquest about different countries.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to say that in order to get our students involved in socio-cultural aspects, we as teachers, must provide them with real and cultural activities in every lesson, because it increases the student’s motivation, interests and respect towards the multicultural issues of the English speaking countries.

Bibliography

The bibliography used to develop this unit includes:

  • COUNCIL OF EUROPE. (2003). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
  • EMMER, E.T. & GERWELS, M.C. (2002). Cooperative Learning in elementary classrooms: Teaching practices and lesson characteristics. The Elementary School Journal.
  • GARDNER, H. (2001): Reformulated Intelligence. Multiple Intelligences in XXI Century. Buenos Aires: Paidós.
  • HARMER, J. The Practice of English Language Teaching. London: Longman, 2008 (4th ed.)
  • NUNAN, D. (2010): Language Teaching Methodology. University Press.

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