Coursework 1

There are four countries in the UK – England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – and there are over 63 million people. The people are a mixture of different nationalities and ethnic groups. 6.8% of the population are Asian, and about a million people come from countries in Eastern Europe – for example, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. The most common ‘foreign’ languages in Britain are Polish and Bengali.

The three biggest cities in the UK are London (the capital), Birmingham and Manchester. The longest river is the Severn, which is 354 kilometres long. The highest mountain is Ben Nevis in Scotland, which is 1342 metres high.

In Britain school starts about nine o’clock and finishes about three thirty. We have a short break in the morning, then a lunch break. You can have your lunch in the canteen, or you can take a packed lunch. You can also have your breakfast at school. There are lots of clubs and different activities at my school. We do shows and concerts in the school hall, and we have exhibitions of our art work. If you’re in one of the sports teams, there’s usually a match at the weekend, for example football, hockey, tennis. Every year we go on a trip somewhere, for example this term we’re going to London to visit the Globe Theatre.

Most of my friends do sport in their free time, and I belong to an athletics club. The British are great sports fans. The most popular sports here are swimming, athletics, football, cycling, golf and tennis.

At the weekend, people in the UK like spending time with their friends and family, eating out and going to the cinema, going out for a walk, or just staying at home watching TV, reading and listening to music. My parents love gardening, and I sometimes help them, but I don’t really enjoy it. My dad sings in a choir and my mum goes to an evening class once a week. She’s learning Spanish at the moment.