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THE DIS-UNITED KINGDOM: ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND

Tenement living

Task 1: INTRODUCTION – Houses in England and Scotland

Look at the photos of an English city and a Scottish city. What differences can you see between them?

Matt Jackson, 2017

Warsaw ELT Forum 1st – 3rd September 2017, The United Kingdom, with Matthew JacksonLike us https://www.facebook.com/learningwithoutborders.eu/

https://www.facebook.com/learningwithoutborders.eu/

Matt Jackson, 2017

Which one do you think is England and which one do you think is Scotland? What do you think are the differences between living in England and living in Scotland? How old do you think the houses are in each picture?



THE DIS-UNITED KINGDOM: ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND

Task 2a: READING Living in England, Living in Scotland

The following texts come from a website where people ask questions for other people to answer. Someone asked the question “How is living in England different from living in Scotland?”. Read the texts and answer the questions below – the answer to each question is a letter from the name of the person answering. So, if the answer is “Chris Shaw” and you need the first letter of his surname, put “S” in the space.

1. Take the last letter of the first name of a person who thinks that England is more multicultural. _

2. Take the second letter of the first name of a person who thinks that the only difference between an English village and a Scottish village is the way people speak. _

3. Take the first letter of the first name of a person who has had problems using Scottish money in England. _

4. Take the first letter in the name of the university subject that the person studied who thinks that Scotland is more like Northern England than Southern England. _

5. Take the third letter of the first name of the person who says not everyone is friendly in Scotland even if they are friendlier on average than English people. _

6. Take the second last letter of the surname of the person who talks about minority languages. _

7. Take the last letter of the surname of the person who thinks the design of Scottish sausages is more useful. _

8. Take the fourth letter of the name of the place where the person lives who thinks that the weather in Scotland is very changeable. _

The 8 letters form the Scottish word for a traditional apartment building. Now read the last reading by Matt Jackson and find out what the word is. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.



How is living in England different from living in Scotland?Answers from Quora.com „How is living in England different from living in Scotland?”

Bob Mould, studied English

I think the Northern English and Welsh are closer to the Scots (I don’t mean geographically) than the people down south. I’m sure that most Scots and Welsh people will agree. We feel alienated by London (and the Home Counties). It’s like two different countries.

Robert Anderson lives in The United Kingdom

1. England has more immigrants from all over the world.2. Many more major attractions in England.3. Much better transport network in England though the roads in Scotland are generally quieter.4. Water quality in Scotland better.5. Wetter and colder in Scotland.6. You can travel 100 miles between MacDonald’s restaraunts in Scotland.7. The North of England is mile after mile after mile of red brick housing not prevalent in

Scotland.8. Free prescriptions from the doctor for everybody in Scotland as opposed to England where

only about 80% of prescriptions are free.9. Workers in South East England command highest salaries.10. Life expectancy in England higher than in Scotland.

Debby Wasserman, former Finance industry

I'm half Scot, mixed in with Welsh, Irish and English.

I cannot compare the two to be honest. People tend to think of London when they think of England, which is ridiculous, it may well be the capital city but England is far more than London and the South East. I live in a tiny village in Wiltshire which could be interchangeable with a tiny village in Scotland. All you need to do is change the dialect!

England is overcrowded compared to Scotland.

The Scots have square sausages, much more sensible, to have 4 sides rather than our rolling around things.

And of course, they have the haggis bird. It rather conveniently pushes itself in a wrapping to be cooked.



Real Scotsmen can wear skirts.

David Aitken lives in Scotland (1994-present)

Good Scotch whisky is available just about everywhere. TV channels are a bit different. The tap water is much better. Scottish English is a bit different. A lot of people speak Scots too. Some people can speak Gaelic. Chip shops serve some things here which lots of other nations don’t seem to think should be

deep fried. Mars bars, pizzas, sausages, black pudding. The law’s a bit different. I don’t feel capable of going into detail, but marriage law,

inheritance law, Scotland doesn’t have Sunday trading laws, but does have a law only allowing shops to sell alcohol between 10:00 and 22:00, oh, and trespassing laws. We don’t really have those. Oh, and wild camping is allowed here. That’s all I can think of off the top of my head.

Money’s a wee bit different. Scotland has 3 banks allowed to print their own banknotes. There are lots of hills. Free prescriptions! Windows on the first floor and above must open in such a way that they can be cleaned from

the inside.

Alasdair MacDonald lives in Leith, Scotland

I’m Scottish and I live here, but I’ve also lived in England so I can give a comparison. The People are Friendly This might seem the norm with most people, but in Scotland people are more open to

conversation and general small talk than in England. The majority of people will be polite and willing to help in a situation that people are more generally going to ignore and walk by.

The water quality In most places, the drinking water quality is just a lot better than it is in England, as their

water tends to be harder. This doesn’t seem like a massive difference but you notice it right away.

Niche food Differences In Scotland, we have some niche little foods. Like cream buns, we have brown sauce (broon

sauce) we have the Scottish roll, we don’t call them baps or bread cakes. There’s a lot of examples, like Scotch pie, Lorne sausage, potato scone, etc.

Weather You might not think the weather’s that different, and you’d be right most of the time, but

Scottish weather can change and you can have 3 seasons in a day so it’s hard to dress for if you’re out all day.

Politics Our politics is a little different. The returning theme in Scotland is independence so most

likely hear that a lot of the time.



Numa Khan: Have lived in Scotland most of my life.

I've lived in both places, and in my experience, I've found there aren't too many differences, and nothing that you couldn't cope with.

1. The way people speak. Now I feel this is fairly self explanatory. There's a huge range of accents in both England and Scotland, so accents alone aren't the only difference, (although there is a clear “Scottish accent” vs “English accent”). Simply speaking, there are differences in phrasing between Scottish people and English people. Obviously slang is different per region, but sometimes it feels like two different languages altogether. (For example, something many people say in England is the phrase “oh my days”, which is something that I've never heard used in Scotland, whilst we may say neeps and tatties which is something they wouldn't say).

2. The way people act. This answer may be a little bit biased, since I've only been in big cities in England, but I find that people in Scotland tend to be friendlier. That doesn't mean you won't ever find nice people in England, or that everyone is an angel in Scotland, but I've found that people are more willing to smile and be nice to strangers in Scotland. Living there now, I've managed to strike up conversations with people everywhere. In supermarkets, on buses, in shopping centres even in the street when on walks with family! This isn't something I've ever experienced in England. People seem more closed off and always in a rush.

3. The difference in how notes look. This is probably the most frustrating thing on this list! Every single time I go to England, and I happen to use Scottish notes, the person selling the product has to double check they're allowed to take it. It's incredibly annoying at times because some places, (especially markets and things like that), will flat out refuse to sell you anything with Scottish notes. My family has taken to withdrawing English notes from the bank, rather than Scottish ones, any time we're going down. I understand why they have to check, but no one in Scotland has ever not taken my English notes, or even had a problem with me using them.

All in all, I think both places are great. I really enjoy my time in England when I'm down, and I love living in Scotland. I'm so fortunate to have been able to experience the two different places, (although of course I'm partial to Scotland living there most of my life!).

I will say though, since you haven't specified, if you are planning on moving to Scotland from England, (or vice versa), there are a few bigger differences. Whilst the main basis of them are very similar, there are subtle differences between our NHS policies; education curriculums; laws and political parties. If you're making a serious decision to move, they're worth looking into.



Task 2b: READING AND VOCABULARY Living in England, Living in Scotland

How is living in England different from living in Scotland?Answer by Matt Jackson

1. Northern English cities like Manchester or Newcastle aren’t unlike Scottish ones and the landscapes are hillier and wilder in both places than in the South of England, though Scotland is more mountainous and less populated outside of the “Central Belt”, the area around Glasgow and Edinburgh where most people live. But there are differences. Not many compared to Scotland versus Spain, the country I work in, but they exist. The biggest difference and the most noticeable, is probably the style of the houses. English friends visiting Glasgow always notice the tenements, something that doesn’t exist in England.

2. In England or America, the word “tenement” makes people think of an old-fashioned slum – somewhere poor and overcrowded with bad facilities and people living in cramped conditions. But in Scotland “tenement” just means a type of traditional apartment building. It’s as common in middle-class neighbourhoods like the West End of Glasgow as it is in poorer parts of the city. It’s just how we live here.

3. Tenements are 3-5 storeys high and generally have 2 flats on every floor, arranged around a common stair in the hall. Tenement’s usually have a “backcourt”, a kind of community garden at the back, which has space to take out your rubbish or hang out your washing when it’s not raining and also green areas for children to play. Tenements can look plain and boring or they can be beautiful with stained class, classical columns and towers like a castle. Here in Glasgow, they are usually red because that is the colour of the local stone. We don’t use brick as much as in England. Buildings here are very solid because of the bad weather. It’s not as cold as people think, but it rains a lot and you need to keep the water out. In Spain, I feel cold when I’m inside more in winter because the houses aren’t designed to stay warm (even though Seville is hotter than Glasgow all year round), they’re designed to keep cool in summer. Here, on the other hand, I’ve got central heating and carpets. People don’t usually have fireplaces and coal fires any more but I did when I was young and I lived in the countryside.

4. My own flat has a hall with four rooms and a cupboard that come off it. Next to the long, narrow bathroom with a shower and a toilet, is a large kitchen at the back that looks out onto the backcourt. It has space for me to invite maybe 6 friends round for dinner. The living room has a lot of light because it has the biggest windows and it looks out onto the main road which can be quite noisy but I have double glazed windows so it’s not too bad. It’s the most spacious room. One of the reasons why the rooms are so big is that when they were built, large families would live here, in 5 rooms. Now, in the 21st century, it’s just me.

5. My bedroom is smaller and darker so I don’t spend a lot of time in there in the day- the other rooms are more spacious. It’s got curtains – not blinds like I have in Spain – and a double-bed and drawers and a wardrobe for my clothes. I also keep my guitar in there. We don’t have many problems with noise in the building but I try not to play my guitar too loudly so my neighbours don’t complain.



6. I live in the suburbs, away from the city centre (we just say “town” for the city centre) so the neighbourhood is quiet, but there’s a bit of traffic because I live on a main road.

Exercise 1: Read the text and write the numbers of the paragraphs next to the pictures that show the thing they talk about. Then label the rooms in the plan of the flat.



Exercise 2: Answer these questions about the text, choosing the correct answer, True or False. Talk about the answer with your partner first, but don’t write anything.

a) Matt thinks that Scotland is very different to the North of England. True/False

b) Not many people live where Matt lives.True/False

c) Matt doesn’t live in Scotland all the year.True/False

d) In Scotland, a tenement is a bad place to live.True/False

e) Tenements can look uninteresting.True/False

f) Everyone has their own garden in a tenement.True/False

g) Seville is colder than Glasgow in the winter. True/Falseh) In the past, people live in more crowded conditions than now.

True/Falsei) Matt doesn’t care if neighbours can hear his guitar playing.

True/Falsej) Matt lives right in the middle of the city.

True/False

Exercise 3: Find words in the text that mean the same as the following words and expressions

Two words for countryside that isn’t flat (para 1) __________, __________

Where lots of people live (1) __________ Easy to see (1) __________ A poor part of a city (2) __________ When there are too many people (2) __________ When there isn’t enough space (2) __________ Two words for the different levels of a building (3) __________,

__________ Not visually interesting, without decoration (3) __________



Two things that buildings are made out of (3) __________, __________

Coloured glass (3) __________ The place where you have a fire (3) __________ When a window faces in the direction of something (4) __________ Opposite of wide (4) __________ Big, with lots of room (4) __________ Two things that block the light at a window (5) __________,

__________ A residential part of a city __________

Exercise 4: Now do the True/False activity again and this time write the answers.



Task 3: WRITING A Letter

You are going to organise a house swap with a person living in the UK. This person is going to come and stay in your house for a week either at Christmas or next summer. You are going to write them an email where you introduce yourself, describe your house, explaining things that you think will be different or unusual compared to houses in the UK and then finally tell the person about your neighbourhood and a couple of things that you can do there.

Write about 100 words



THE DIS-UNITED KINGDOM: ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND Teachers’ Notes

Task 1: INTRODUCTION – Houses in England and Scotland

Before showing students the photos, this could be a good chance to check students’ understanding of comparatives. As a game/warmer give students 1-2 minutes to write as many adjectives down to describe the buildings/streets in the picture as possible. Then the teacher can elicit the best examples and put them in a column in the middle of the board until there are around 10. Number the adjectives. Then divide the class into two teams and clap the number of the adjective and representatives from the two teams run to the board to write the comparative form.

Students then make sentences to compare the two pictures, orally with their partner. Class feedback.

Students then do the discussion questions below the pictures in pairs. The teacher then asks the class which picture they think is Scotland and

which is England. The teacher doesn’t reveal the answer yet but writes it down the number of people who think it is England/Scotland on the board. (This subject will be returned to later as a comprehension check on the reading). The teacher asks how old they think the buildings are before telling them that the ones in the top photo (Glasgow tenement) are 120 years old and the houses in the other photo nearly 140 years old. Teacher tells class that the UK has the oldest and the smallest houses on average in Europe and asks the students how old their houses are.

Teacher then elicits what students think are the differences between living in England and Scotland

Task 2: READING

The teacher gives the students the answers from quora.com to students (except the one by Matt Jackson). This can be done either by giving copies to each pair or by cutting them up and putting them up on different parts of the classroom to encourage students to move around and read them. The teacher gives students the question sheet and explains that this is a race to find the answers to the questions in the texts. For each answer, they need a letter from the name of the person whose answer matches the question and that this will spell out the name of a type of traditional Scottish house. This is to be done as a race with pairs competing to finish first.

The teacher then gives them the answer by Matt Jackson and tells students to check that they have the right word before class feedback. The teacher then asks them which picture is Scotland and which is England in order to check overall comprehension and find out who was right before, asking



them reasons why they think that. The class can also check which of their ideas between England and Scotland were mentioned In the texts.

Students then read the text again and match the pictures to each paragraph. When they have done this and it has been corrected they can also label the plan of the flat with the names of each room.

Students then do the comprehension questions in pairs as a speaking activity without writing down the answers. This is followed by doing the vocabulary exercise. Students then do the comprehension questions again, this time writing down their answers before final class feedback.

Task 3: WRITING

The teacher introduces the idea of a “house swap”. The students are going to go and live in someone’s house in the UK while that person is going to stay in their house, as a sort of holiday. The teacher gives students the question and lets them read it.

You are going to organise a house swap with a person living in the UK. This person is going to come and stay in your house for a week. You are going to write them an email in which you introduce yourself, describe your house, explain things that you thing will be different or unusual compared to houses in the UK and then finally tell the person about your neighbourhood and a couple of things that you can do there.

The teacher asks the students how many things they have to talk about in the letter (3 main things – introduction house and how it is different, and their neighbourhood and what they can do there). Students are then to look at the spider diagram. The teacher gives them 5 minutes to think of as many ideas as possible and write them around the circles.

Speed writing The teacher gives students 5 minutes to write a letter on a separate piece

of paper, writing as quickly as possible without stopping. The teacher tells students not to worry about making mistakes or vocabulary they don’t know – if they don’t know a word they can leave it blank or write it in Polish. If the 5 minutes is up and nobody has finished, the teacher can give the class another 5 minutes. The important thing is that students write quickly to generate ideas.

Students then make sure that their papers have names on top of them and then make them into paper planes. They throw them to a student on the other side of the room until every student has someone else’s writing.

The students look at the writing they have been given and then put a star or a smiley face next to the parts they find most interesting or where they think the English is particularly good and put question marks next to parts where they think there is a mistake or where they are unsure about meaning. If there is any vocabulary missing they can write it on the paper if they know what it is. Students then think of three things in the letter that they would like more information about and write three questions in



English at the bottom of the page. They then return the paper to the original owner.

The teacher then goes over any vocabulary that the class needs based on the first version.

Students then write an improved version of the letter for homework, expanding on the most interesting parts of the original letter, answering the questions and adding any new vocabulary and correcting any mistakes.

Answer Key

Task 2b: READING AND VOCABULARY Living in England, Living in ScotlandExercise 1

Pictures:2, 65, 31, 4

Exercise 2

k) Matt thinks that Scotland is very different to the North of England. True/False

l) Not many people live where Matt lives.True/False

m) Matt doesn’t live in Scotland all the year.True/False

n) In Scotland, a tenement is a bad place to live.True/False

o) Tenements can look uninteresting.True/False

p) Everyone has their own garden in a tenement.True/False

q) Seville is colder than Glasgow in the winter. True/Falser) In the past, people live in more crowded conditions than now.

True/Falses) Matt doesn’t care if neighbours can hear his guitar playing.

True/False



t) Matt lives right in the middle of the city.True/False

Exercise 3

Two words for countryside that isn’t flat (para 1) hilly, mountainous

Where lots of people live (1) populated Easy to see (1) noticeable A poor part of a city (2) slum When there are too many people (2) overcrowded When there isn’t enough space (2) cramped Two words for the different levels of a building (3) storey, floor Not visually interesting, without decoration (3) plain Two things that buildings are made out of (3) brick, stone Coloured glass (3) stained glass The place where you have a fire (3) fireplace When a window faces in the direction of something (4) looks onto Opposite of wide (4) narrow Big, with lots of room (4) spacious Two things that block the light at a window (5) curtain, blind A residential part of a city suburb



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