Anna Olewińska‑Byliniak What Do You Know About the United Kingdom?

Geography

There are four countries in the United Kingdom (UK): England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. There are also the British Isles: Great Britain, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. Great Britain is the name of the island where you can find England, Scotland, and Wales.

The capitalcapitalcapital of the UK is London, a very beautiful city with Big Ben, red telephone boxestelephone boxes [telephone box]telephone boxes and the London Eye. There is also Buckingham Palace, where the king lives with his family.

Flag

The name of the flagflagflag of the United Kingdom is the Union Jack or the Union Flag. It’s made up ofmade up of [make up of]made up of the flags of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. When do we flyflyfly it? On Coronation DayCoronation DayCoronation Day or on king’s birthday.

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Ilustracja przestawia cztery flagi. Pierwsze trzy z lewej pokazane z ukosa, czwarta frontalnie. Od lewej widoczna jest niebieska flaga z białym x, z podpisem w języku angielskim: SCOTLAND, druga to biała flaga z czerwonym x, z podpisem w języku angielskim: IRELAND, a trzecia to czerwony krzyż na białym tle, z podpisem w języku angielskim: ENGLAND. Ostatnia flaga zawiera wszystkie elementy z trzech flag i jest to flaga Wielkiej Brytanii.

Symbols

British symbols are mostlymostlymostly flowers. The red rose is the symbol of England. Wales has two symbols, the leekleekleek (yes, this vegetable) and a yellow flower, the daffodildaffodildaffodil. The symbol of Scotland is the purple thistlethistlethistle. The green shamrockshamrockshamrock is the symbol of Ireland. Each symbol has its history. The English rose is a symbol of peacepeacepeace between two families. Welsh leeks and Scottish thistles helped win battlesbattles [battle]battles. What about the Irish shamrock? Saint Patrick used it to teach people about ChristianityChristianityChristianity.

Coinscoins [coin]Coins and Banknotesbanknotes [banknote]Banknotes

When you go to the UK, you need pound sterlingpound sterlingpound sterling in your wallet. Its symbol is £ or GBP (“Great Britain Pound”). Do you know that the British pound is the oldest means of paymentmeans of paymentmeans of payment in the world? There are many British coins. The smallest ones are penniespennies [penny]pennies – 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p. There are also coins with pounds, both £1 and £2. The £5, £10, £20 and £50 are banknotes.

Are you ready to go to the UK?

1 Źródło: Anna Olewińska‑Byliniak, licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.