Fish and furs

Заняття 16. Особливості мови в Канаді

Canadian English

Task I. Discuss with your partner all the information you know about Canada. Focus your attention on the following

1. Geographical position, population.

2. It's territory, territorial division, capital.

3. Political system.

4. Official 1anguagege or languages, national emblems.

Be ready to deliver this information before the class, using the map.

Task II. What do you know about the history of Canada? Is the information you posses confirmed by the facts given in the text "Fish and Furs"? Read the text and answer the questions:

1. How did the First Nations live?

2. What was John Cabot hoping to find when he sailed to Nova Scotia?

3. How did the fur trade start?

Fish and furs

The early history of Canada is a story of fish and fur. The Vikings sailed open boats across the Atlantic to Newfoundland around 1.000 AD. They did not settle permanently. Some were probably killed by the Native peoples, others returned home.

The explorer John Cabot landed on the shores of Nova Scotia in 1497. He was hoping to find a westerly route to China. He did not reach the East, but he returned to England with tales of seas "alive with codfish." This disappointed the King, but thrilled English fishermen, who were soon fishing from the rocky shores of Newfoundland. They built shore settlements to dry their huge catches. Not to be outdone by the English,King Francis I of France sent Jacques Carrier to the New World. He sailed up the wide Saint Lawrence River and was convinced that he had found a route to the Orient. The King was most disappointed to hear that all Carrier had found was the Iroquois village of Hochelaga, present day Montreal. The Natives however, were eager to trade beaver furs for tools and weapons. The fur trade had begun and with it the history of Canada.

Carrier claimed the land for France and returned with the furs, which were ideal for making felt for hats.

Soon there was great demand. By 1608, Samuel de Champlain had established colonies for France in Acadia (today's Nova Scotia), Quebec, and Montreal, which became the centre of the fur trade. European orders for fur were soon exceeding supply. French adventurers, called Voyageurs, began to lay their own traps and as demand increased, travelled further and further into the wilderness to find the animals. When they needed to move between rivers, they carried their canoes and their cargoes on their backs. They married into the Native tribes and created the mixed-race culture of the Métis.

Task III. 1.What do you know about the first English speaking settlers to Canada? Where did they come from?

2. What did the development of Anglophone and Francophone settlements result in?

3.Do you think of Canada and the USA as very similar to each other? Compare your own ideas with the information in the texts.

Maggie Fraser is 30 and she lives in Toronto. She tells:

"Just because people are free to cross the border does not mean that Canada and the USA behave as one country. There are many differences between us. Guns are very common in the states; in Canada they are tightly controlled. Canada has a state health system that cares for everyone; in America most health care is private. The border is not as invisible as it seems."

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16