The United Kingdom（Period 1　Welcome to the Unit）

t: here is a picture of her.��
t: elizabeth ⅱ, born on april 21, 1926, is the eldest daughter of george ⅵ and elizabeth bowes-lyon.she married philip mountbatten, a distant cousin, in 1947;  the pair have four children: charles, prince of wales, anne, andrew and edward.she has reigned for forty-six years, and appears capable of remaining on the throne for quite some time.
t: then who is the current prime minister in the uk?��
s: blair.��
t: yes.tony blair.do you know anything about him?here is a picture of him.
 
t: blair was labor member of parliament for sedgefield and leader of the opposition in the house of commons until the may 1, 1997 elections, at which time, as head of the new majority party, he became prime minister.��
t: what are the provinces called in england, counties, departments or states?��
s: counties.��
t: england has been divided into counties for hundreds of years.the divisions originated as administrative areas, but have been adopted for geographic purposes.a series of local government reforms from the 19th century onwards has left the exact definition of the term ‘county’ slightly ambiguous(不明確的).��
t: do you know how many counties there are in england?��
s: over thirty.��
t: yes.there are 36 counties in england.��
t: which is the longest river in england, the river avon, the river thames or the river severn?
s: the river thames.��
t: the river thames is actually very famous in the uk.whenever people talk about the uk, they will think of this river.it has nearly become one of the landmarks of the united�� kingdom.here is a picture of it.��
 
t: do you know anything about the other two rivers?��
s: i know nothing about them, except that they are in the uk.��
t: look at the pictures below.��
 　　　　
t: on the left is the river avon and on the right is the river severn.do you know the lengths of these rivers?��
ss: we have no idea.��
t: the river thames is about 211 miles, the river avon is only about 4 miles, and the river severn is about 220 miles.so the longest river in england is the river severn.��
t: of the five questions, how many of them did you get right?if you got all five questions�� right, you know a lot already.but even you got all of them wrong, don’t be worried.we are going to learn more about the uk in this unit.��
step 3 listening��
t: now we are going to do some listening test about some english kings and queens.first listen to the tape and tick the ones that you hear about from the list.��
(t plays the tape for the students to listen and finish the task.)��