Hello, boys and girls!
You know some information about the USA from the previous lesson.Do you remember the official name of the country?
(The official name of the country is the United States of America.)
What is the capital of the USA?
(The capital of the country is Washington, DC.)
Is the area of the country 9,372,614 square km or 10,325,675 square km?
(The area of the USA is 9,372,614 square km.)
How many states are there in the country?
(There are 50 states in the country.)
Is the population of the USA about 270 million or about 325 million?
(The population of the USA is about 270 million.)
What is the name of their national flag?
(The name of the flag is “Stars and Stripes”)
What state is the largest?
(The largest state of the USA is Alaska (1,530,700 sq km)
What is the smallest state of the country?
(The smallest state of the country is Rhode Island (3.950 sq km)
I see that you don`t forget the general information about this country. I think you know that the USA is historically divided into eight regions: New England; Middle Atlantic States; the South, the Midwest; the Southwest; the Rocky Mountain region; the Pacific Northwest and Alaska; California and Hawaii. Now I suggest you to go to New England to learn more about this region.
1. Look through the questions and be ready to answer them while reading the text:
- What does “Yankee” mean?
- What state was there the first British settlement in?
- When did they get to the shore of North America?
- What was the first colony of British in North America?
- Who were the Puritans?
- How did the state New Hampshire (Rhode Island, Connecticut) get its name?
- What are the characteristic features of the Yankee character?
- Where did the famous pioneer Samuel Colt live?
- What state is the birth state of Mark Twain?
- What special role did the New England Yankees play in the United States history?
NEW ENGLAND
Over 350 years ago the first settlers arrived from Europe. The first settlers landed on the East Coast. They began clearing the forests and ploughing the soil. New England with its stony soil is poorly suited for agriculture but it has a lot of water power which can be used in industry.
New England includes six “Yankee States” – Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Some scholars suppose that “Yankee” may be the Dutch word “Jan”, the name from “John”, with a diminitive “ee” at the end. It was used as a nickname for the New England soldiers serving in the British army before the war of Independence. When the Americans first defeated the British at Concord 22 miles from Boston (April, 19, 1775) they began to call themselves “Yankees” and were proud of their name. The “Yankees” have a reputation for being honest but shrewd, realistic, practical, untalkative, thrifty and independent.
The “Yankees” like to speak about the special role that New England has played in United States history. The American Revolution began in New England, because the “Yankees” were among the strongest supporters of independence. In the 19th century it was New England “Yankees” who led the fight against slavery in America.
All the six New England states are alike in many aspects but have their own features.
MAINE
First sailors gave the shore its nickname “Down East” to denote that the state is down to Boston and “Down easters” are the people living in Maine. Fourfifth of Maine is covered with forests diving the posibility of developing industry. Lumbering is the main occupation there. Hence its nickname are “Lumber State” and the “Pine-tree State”. Besides lumber, lobsters, canned sardines, potatoes and blue berries are the main products, as well as shoes, beetsugar and paper. Maine is widely known in the USA as the “Switzeland of America” or “Vacation Land”. Tourists come here to see the mountains and snowfalls.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
The name New Hampshire was given to the territory by Captain Mason in 1629. Before his coming to America he was governor of Portsmouth in Hampshire, England. The state is small but well wooded with many mountains, lakes and rapid rivers.
New Hampshire has 222 towns (nicknamed “little republics”), using the traditional town-meeting for administration. “Town-meeting” is either a general meeting of the inhabitants of a town or a meeting of qualified voters of a town. The town meetings elect “townsmen” who run the community. The official nickname of New Hampshire is the “Granite State” and the people there are called “Granite Boys”. New Hampshire is proud of its motto, “Live Free or Die”.
VERMONT
Vermont is noted for its green mountains and maple-sugar groves. It is generally, by simply translation of the original French name, called the “Green Mountain State” and “Vermonters, “Green Mountain Boys”. People are very proud of its nickname because it is associated with Green Mountain Boys in the past (the name of the army) when they fought against New York and won.
RHODE ISLAND
The name is derived from the Dutch which means “the red island”. Rhode Island has a few nicknames “Little Rhody”, due to its small territory, the “Southern Gateway of New England”, the “Land of Roger Williams”, for Roger Williams founded Providence Plantation when he was expelled from Plymouth Colony. New Port, a city in Rhode Island, became a fashionable summer home for the very rich.
CONNECTICUT
It got its name from the river, which was named by the natives and meant “the long river”. The state is a leader in producing helicopters, electronic goods, jet engines, nuclear submarines. The state is divided by the Connecticut River into two almost equal regions.
The nickname the “Nutmeg State” is used for Connecticut, because its people had the reputation of being so ingenious and shrewd that they were able to make and sell wooden nutmeg. Its business pioneers are revolver inventor Samuel Colt and rubber magnate Charles Goodyear.
Often called the “Insurance Capital of the World”, Connecticut’s capital Hartford is home for 40 firms.
A lot of tourists come here to visit a number of places, including the birth home of Mark Twain.
MASSACHUSETTS
The word Massachusetts is formed from two Indian words: “massa” meaning “great” and “wachusett” meaning “a mountain place”. Today a key New England state, Massachusetts was also one of the most important of the thirteen colonies. It was at Plymouth in 1620 that the Pilgrim Fathers landed. They were mostly Puritans, but they were not satisfied with the religious discipline in England. They wanted to “purify” the religion, they had very strict rules about church services and also about the way people lived. There is a story about a sea captain who had come back from a three-year voyage and kissed his wife on their doorstep, outside their house. The Puritans were indignant at such behaviour and publicly punished the captain. They demanded reforms in doctrine and worship. For some time they lived in Holland and in the summer of 1620 they boarded the ship Mayflower at Plymouth and sailed for America.
It so happened that two months later the little ship dropped anchor off the Coast of Cape Cod, hundreds miles from the place they wanted to land. The colonists named their settlement Plymouth, and Plymouth Rock is the place where the Pilgrims are said to have stepped ashore.
During the Civil War the “Plymouth Pilgrims” was a nickname used in the South for northern soldiers. “Plymouth Colony” was the name of the colony established in southeastern Massachusetts by the Pilgrim Fathers. Later it became known as the “Old Colony”, and modern Massachusetts is often referred to as the “Old Colony State” or the “Puritan State”. The people of Massachusetts are often called “Blue Noses”. The word means one who is very puritanical or inquisitive. Massachusetts is also nicknamed the “Baked Bean State” and its people “Baked Beans” or “Bean Eaters” in allusion to the Puritan State, when baked beans were the regular Sunday meal.
The official nickname of Massachusetts is the “Bay State”, because it was originally the colony of Massachusetts Bay. The arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth was accidental. They were going to reach the Hudson River, but because of a storm they landed at Plymouth Rock. Before landing they drew up an agreement for government of the Plymouth Colony, called the “Mayflower Compact”. It was based on the principles of Puritanism. They insisted on religious freedom for themselves, but denied it to the others. Roger Williams and Thomas Hooker were settled in Rhode Island in 1637. Puritan oppression reached a terrible climax with the infamous Salem witch trials at the end of the 17th century. In 1692 in Salem Village several hundred persons were accused of witchcraft. Many were convicted, nineteen were hanged. Later most people regretted having lost their heads.
2. What state does it refer to?
- The first settlement in North America was founded there.
- Its name is derived from the Dutch word “the red island”.
- It is a fasional summer home for the rich.
- Its people are called “Blue Noses”.
- Towns in the state have their own form of governing.
- It is called the “Insurance Capital of the World”.
- The state is rich in forests. Samuel Colt lived there.
- It is known in the USA as the “Switzerland of America”.
- Its motto is “Live Free or Die”.
3. Complete the following sentences using information from the text:
- New England includes…
- New England with its stony soil…
- Maine is widely known in the USA…
- The state is small but well…
- New Hampshire is proud of …
- Vermont is noted for its …
- Rhode Island has a few nicknames…
- The state is a leader in producing…
- The word Massachusetts is formed from…
- During the Civil War the “Plymouth Pilgrims”…
4. Express the same in English to learn more about New England:
- Первые поселенцы высадились на восточном побережье.
- Первые фабрики были в Новой Англии. Они производили хлопковую одежду.
- Рыбная ловля была важна на северо-востоке.
- Особенный характер янки Новой Англии обусловлен историей и географическим положением места.
- Пуритане покинули Англию, потому что они были не согласны с некоторыми учениями английской церкви.
- Территория Род-Айленда, самого маленького штата составляет 3,144 кв. км.
- Столица Род-Айленда – Провиденс.
5. Choose any state you like and describe it such a way that the others could guess it.