1.
Great Britain has several different names. Some people say “Britain”, or “the United kingdom”, or just “UK”. There are four different countries in the United kingdom: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

2.
Everybody from Britain is British, but only people from England are English. People from Scotland are Scottish, people from Wales are Welsh, and people from Northern Ireland are Irish. Don’t call a Scottish or Welsh person English!

3.
Some fifty-six million people live in Britain, many of them in big industrial cities like London or Liverpool. But Britain is also an open country, with hills and forests, rivers and lakes.

4.
Everybody in England speaks English. But in some parts of Scotland and Wales people also speak an old language. Welsh people like theirs very much and you can see road signs in Welsh all over Wales. Everybody speaks English, but they do not speak it in the same way. When a Welsh person speaks English everybody knows where he comes from!

5.
Many people think that the weather is cold and wet in Britain all the year round. But it isn’t true. It sometimes rains and even snows, but every year there are weeks of beautiful sunny weather when the British put on their bikinis and go out to sunbathe.