Transport in London

Exploring Mars is going to be very exciting, but for now, it's easier to explore our own planet! In particular, London. We're going to follow Freddie as he explores all the different kinds of transport in London. HE starts out from his home on his bicycle. He leaves his bike at the station and gets on a train. Trains travel into London from all over the country. They are very important for people who live in the suburbs or outside London and travel into London for work.
The next party of Freddie's journey is on another kind of train called the Docklands Light Railway. These are computer-controlled trains with no drivers. For many people the journey by train takes them to a convenient Underground station. London Underground was the first in the world when it opened in 1863.
People use lots of other forms of transport in London. There is one kind of transport that isn't very good in London - and that's the car. They move very slowly because there is too much traffic. The buses and taxis travel more quickly because they have got special lanes on the road.

Maritime History

In England no town is more than 170 kilometres from the sea. So it's no surprise that Britain has a very important history of ships and the sea. The British Navy was the biggest navy in the world at one time. In Liverpool there is a great museum of maritime history. Young men had to climb the rigging to put up the sails. It was very dangerous.

Between 1830 and 1930 more than nine million people from all over Europe left from the port of Liverpool to start a new life in America or Australia. The most famous ship was probably the Titanic. It sank in 1912 and over 1.500 people drowned. It was the worst disaster in maritime history. You probably know about it from one of the most expensive films ever made - Titanic!
One of the most famous shipping companies is Cunard. The majority of people do travel around the world by plane but ships are still very important for moving goods. Here at the Southampton Container Terminal they unload more than one and a half million containers each year.

Horror Stories

People like to be scared. They love reading horror stories and watching horror movies. Some of the most famous horror stories were written by British writers. The first was published by Mary Shelley in 1818 - Frankenstein. Dracula contra Frankenstein was made by the Spanish director Jesús Franco in 1970. Count Dracula was a vampire created in 1897 by the Irish writer Bram Stoker.
Bram Stoker got the idea for Dracula while he was sitting in Highgate Cemetery in North London. Count Dracula the vampire was created. Dracula is so popular that visitors to London can go on a guided Dracula Tour. The tours usually take place just when it's getting dark...
The bedroom window was wide open and moonlight was shining into the room. Mina was on the balcony and a dark shape was leaning over her. It was Count Dracula. The vampire was not drink Mina's blood. He was making her drink his blood. The vampire turned his head. His eyes burned with a terrible red light. The vampire had already taken his meal of blood.

The Law

The most famous police station in Britain is New Scotland Yard in London. The police they've all got a blue light outside to show they are police stations. For most people the police are the face of the law. They can arrest people in the street, but they also give information. We visited a new police station in Lewisham, an area in south-east London. A suspected criminal is being charged with a crime. Next they take fingerprints to check the person's identity. They also take mouth swabs for analysis of DNA. Suspects can be kept in the cells at the police station for several hours. This suspect spent a whole night in the cells.
Next day he went to court. Here three magistrates listen to evidence from the police and witnesses. They then decide if the person is guilty or not guilty.
The evidence that the police collect from a crime scene is analysed in the laboratories like this. They can examine and analyse material from the crime scene to find out exactly what happened.
The police are the most obvious part of the law in Britain.

Supermarket

Supermarkets are an important part of daily life in Britain. The five biggest supermarkets sell 80% of all groceries - that's food and drink. Tesco is the biggest. It's got nearly 2.000 shops in GBritatin and is the third biggest supermarket in the world.

In the larger supermarkets you can buy just about anything. The very big supermarkets are usually on the edge of towns and most people drive to them. And while they are there with their car, customers can buy petrol too. There are many more supermarkets now than 20 years ago. People find it very convenient to do all their shopping in one place. Tesco online delivers over 100.000 orders each week in Britain and Sainsbury's delivers 30.000. It's becoming a very popular way to shop.

But not everyone likes supermarkets. So people without cars have less choice. As a result, the big supermarkets have started to open small shops in town and city centres. Many supermarkets are open 24 hours a day and seven days a week.

Soap Opera

The most popular British soap operas are Eastenders and Coronation Street. These are popular dramas about the lives of ordinary people. Many people are addicted to soap operas. The soap opera contain previews of the next week's shows, so that fans can find out what's going to happen next. Soap operas have got information about the actors and stories from future episodes.

Eastenders is set in the east end of London and has been broadcast since 1985. It was first broadcast in 1960. Then there's also Emmerdale which takes place in a village in the Yorkshire countryside. It started in 1972 and is on TV every evening from Monday to Friday.

Scotland

There are four main regions in Britatin. Scotland is in the north of the Britain. Its famous for this lakes. There are a lot of plants and nature. The majory people of Scotland live in Glasgow and Edinburgh. There are a lot of historic buildings. There are a party's in Scotland, too. There are a rare instruments. Scottish people have got a traditional sports. Glasgow it's a good city, because there are a lot of architects. The Scottish wiscky it's a good wiscky. The tourists enjoy with the fishing and the castles.

Observation

Ferran Illa : He talks about Food in Briatin. He was nervious, but I really like it.
Jordi Marias : He talks about Animals. He is very good.
Júlia Masó : He is good and interesting.
Francesc Rigau : He was a good. He didn't read and he is very interesting.
Ferran Veciana : He talks about Animals. He was nervious, but it's good.
Ivet Sànchez : He is a very good presentation, there is excellent.

The Weather

The weather is a very popular topic of conversation in Britain. That's because the weather changes a lot. When the weather is good, people complain that it's too hot. When it rains, they say it's too wet. When it isn't sunny, they say it's too cold.

The seasons in Britain are fairly clear. Winter lasts from December to February. Spring is from March to May. The summer months are June, July and August. Then the autumn September, October and November.

It's not surprising that Britain has got one of the most important weather centres in the world. Two huge supercomputers analyse information from many sources including satellites. This is very different from some of the early weather forecasts. This is the first one published in The Times in 1879. Scientists at the Met Office make weather forecasts for the public and for special purposes miltray, shipping, airlines and many others. The computers can predict the tropical storms and hurricanes that cause so much damage around the world. The trouble is weather changes very quickly and so nobodyever believes the weather forecast.

Reading

British people read a lot. They read books, newspapers and magazines. And of course they read text messages on their mobile phones. A quarter of the population reads more than 20 books each year.

In this library you can borrow books but you can also buy a cup of coffee, look at an art exhibition, sit in a quiet study area or connect to the Internet. You can also borrow CDs, videos and DVDs of films and television programmes. There are often reference rooms where you can go to look something up or go to study. Libraries are very important in schools and universities both for study and for reading for pleasure.

The British Library is one of the world's greatest libraries. The Queen opened its new building in 1998. People predicted that radio, then television, then the Internet would kill reading, but it is still a very popular activity.

British sports

At the weekend in Britain, millions of people take part in some kind of sporting activity. Even more people spend part of the weekend watching sport. From August to April football is everywhere. The top level of the game is professional football in the Premiership. The players train every morning. Football is played in schools and as a leisure activity. Both girls and boys play.

Cricket is the main summer sport in Britain. Local teams play in towns and villages every Saturday and Sunday from April to September.

Tennis is another popular sport, especially in the summer after the famous Wimbledon championships.

Animals

People love animals. But some of the world's animals are in danger of extinction. In some parts of the world people collect rhino horn for use in medicine. Others carve ornaments for tourists from ivory from elephant tusks. Shark's fin soup is a favourite in many restaurants. Chimpanzee and whale meat are popular with some people.

Another big problem is the destruction of the rainforests. The number of animals in some species is now very small and they may not exist at all for much longer. The Worldwide Fund for Nature is an international organization. It started in Britain in 1961 and has now got a global network in 90 countries. There are a number of projects in Britain which deal with endangered species. The animals are then put back into their natural wild habitat.

Animals born in Britain are now back in the Congo and Gabon in Africa. These Asian wild horses are another success story. They live in China and Mongolia. Now, every year several go back to the grasslands of Asia. This is an African black rhino. There are only 3.000 wild rhinos and 200 in zoos. Lessons learnt from animals in Britain are very valuable in helping to maintain the numbers of rhinos in the world.

I agree with this unit, because I like animals.

British Houses

Well, 90 % of the population live in towns. There are lots of different kinds of houses. This is the kind of house you find in British towns. Terraced houses are joined together. These are semi-detached houses. There are as many semi-detached houses in Britain as terraced houses. Sixty per cent of the population live in terraced or semi-detached houses. Some detached houses are very large but others can be quite small. Lots of people live in flats, especially in big towns and cities.

Houses in different parts of Britain can look very different. There are lots of regional variations because builders use local materials. Some houses are very modern and some are hundreds of years old. These are traditional thatched cottages. Cottage is the name for a small house in the country.

British people spend a lot of time and money on their homes and gardens. There are large DIY stores and garden centres near every town. British people are always trying to make their home into a castle.

I like this unit because I funny with the British houses.

Shopping

People in Britain really likes shopping. In a recent survey 56% of women between the ages of 16 and 40 described shopping as their main hobby.

Traditional, local shops exist in some areas. They sell different things like food, medicines and cosmetics, clothes and books. But in most high streets in Britain the same shop names appear all the time.

There are lots of big out-of-town shopping centres where there are many shops in a large indoor area. This is Bluewater near London. It's the largest shopping complex in Europe with over 330 different shops and three big department stores. There are also 40 bars and restaurants and a thirteen-screen cinema. For a lot of people "going shopping" doesn't mean they are going to buy anything. Shopping centres are open late most nights of the week and from 11 o'clock until five o'clock on Sundays.

I like this unit, because I like shopping and Bluewater.

School in Britain

For most students in Britain, the school day starts between eighty thirty and nine o'clock. People travel to school using many different kinds of transport. They cycle, they walk and they come in cars. The school day starts with registration where the teacher checks everybody in school. Students move to another classroom for the next lesson.

After two or three lessons there is a break. This is fifteen minutes when students go out into the playground to have fun after all that concentration! There's always the lunch break to look forward to. There's usually time to play games, talk with friends, read a book or catch up with some homework.

After lunch it's back to the classroom. The main subjects in the school timetable are English, maths and science. Then there's French or Spanish, history and geography. Students also study art, music and PE. The final bell goes at three thirty to mark the end of school. School lasts for seven hours and nearly five hours are lessons. But that's not the end of the school day. Students have homework every day.

I disagree with this unit, because I don't exciting with school and subjects.

Food in Britain

Most schools in Britain provide hot meals and salads every day but may students prefer to take their own lunch to school. This is a "packed lunch". Sarah and her dad make her packed lunch every morning before she goes to school. Sarah eats her lunch with friends in the school cafeteria.

A lot of chocolate, crisps, fatty foods and cola isn't good for people. This is part of an advertisement on British TV. They want people to eat five pieces of fruit and vegetables every day.

One school in England helps students to eat healthy food with the Green Machine. Green Machines have got lots of interesting snacks. There are cereal bars, organic crisps and yogurts. There are fruit juices, mineral water and smoothies. These students are enjoying their food and it's good for them too.

I don't like this unit, because I disagree the food in Britain.

The Royal Family

This is the British Royal Family. This is Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth the Second. The Queen's husband is the Duke of Edinburgh. Their oldest son is Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales. His two sons are Prince William and Prince Harry. The Queen lives in a palace in London, in Buckingham Palace. The Royal Family's have got a castle in the town of Windsor.

Princes William and Prince Harry are the Queen's grandchildren. They are the sons of Princess Diana and Prince Charles. William and Harry are in Majorca on holiday with the Spanish Royal Family. Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry like to ride horses.

Princes William and Harry live here in Clarence House. They don't live in Buckingham Palace. This is Prince William just before he went to university at St Andrew's in Scotland. Prince Harry wants to be a soldier in the army. It is difficult for the Royal Family to have private lives. Newspapers and television want stories about them.

I don't like this unit, because I don't like the Prince's and the Royal Family.