Thursday, the tenth of December
Classwork
Тема: Early History of America
1. Reading
Pre-reading task
T.: In order to learn new items we start to work with
lexical cards. (card #1) Here you can see some new words:
- a delegate – a representative
- a discussion – a conversation for and against
something
- a document – a paper that gives important
information
- to elect – to choose or select
- an opinion – a personal belief
- a representative – one who speaks or acts for
another
Reading
T.: Now we
are going to read the text.
The first people to reach North America were Asian
hunters and nomads. Following game along the Siberian coast, they crossed the
land bridge that connected the two continents about 30,000 to 34,000 years ago.
Once in Alaska, it took these first North Americans, the ancestors of Native
American tribes, thousands of years to work their way south to what is now the
United States. Evidence of early life in North America has been found at sites
throughout North and South America, indicating that life was probably already
well established in much of the Western Hemisphere by some time prior to 10,000
B.C.
Around that time the mammoth began to die out and the
bison took its place as a principal source of food and hides for these early
North Americans. Gradually, foraging and the first attempts at agriculture
appeared. Indians in what is now central Mexico led the way, cultivating corn,
squash and beans, perhaps as early as 8,000 B.C. Slowly, this knowledge spread
northward. By 3,000 B.C., a primitive type of corn was being grown in the river
valleys of New Mexico and Arizona. Then the first signs of irrigation began to appear, and by 300 B.C., signs of early
village life.
Indian customs and culture at the time were extraordinarily
diverse, as could be expected, given the expanse of the land and the many
different environments to which they had adapted. Some generalizations,
however, are possible. By all accounts, Indian society in North America was
closely tied to the land. Most tribes, particularly in the wooded eastern
region and the Midwest, combined aspects of hunting, gathering and the
cultivation of maize and other products for their food supplies. Indian life
was essentially clan-oriented and communal, with children allowed more freedom
and tolerance than was the European custom of the day. There was a good deal of
trade among various groups.
The first Europeans to reach North America were
Icelandic Vikings, led by Leif Ericson, in about the year 1000. In 1492, the
Italian navigator Christopher Columbus, acting on behalf of the Spanish crown,
sailed west from Europe and landed on one of the Bahama Islands. Columbus never
saw the mainland United States, but the first explorations of the continental
United States were launched from the Spanish possessions that he helped
establish. Within 40 years, Spanish adventurers had carved out a huge empire in
Central and South America. In 1513 a group of men under Juan Ponce de Leon
landed on the Florida coast near the present city of St. Augustine.
While the Spanish were pushing up from the south, the
northern portion of the present-day United States was slowly being revealed
through the journeys of men such as Giovanni da Verrazano. A Florentine who
sailed for the French, Verrazano made landfall in North Carolina in 1524, then
sailed north along the Atlantic coast past what is now New York harbor.
While – reading task
T.: While
reading the text, be ready to answer the question:
- Is America a land of opportunity?
Post – reading task
2. Writing
T.: You have got the cards with
the task. We have just read the text and now let’s complete the sentences.
(card #2)
Card #1
Read and
translate the words:
- a
delegate – a representative
- a
discussion – a conversation for and against something
- a
document – a paper that gives important information
- to elect
– to choose or select
- an
opinion – a personal belief
- a
representative – one who speaks or acts for another
Card #2.
Task: Fill
in the blanks with the right answers.
1. Mr.
John Adams became President of the USA in ….. .
2. France
was concerned that the USA would form an alliance with…. .
3. French
warships began to attack American ships sailing to England and seize their …. .
Between 1797 and
1800, the USA
and France carried on an …Лариса Кльована is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Лариса Кльована's Zoom Meeting
Time: Dec 10, 2020 01:15 PM Kiev
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