Путешествие в США

Сценарий открытого урока английского языка

Окончание. Начало в № 1, 2004

Pupil 3: – What do you think of those lovely wooden trays?

Pupil 4: – They are biggish, and you are travelling by air.

Pupil 3: – And what about those carved figures?

Pupil 4: – Too heavy.

Pupil 3: – You are probably right. Still, it’s a pity.

Pupil 4: – These copper ashtrays look nice.

Pupil 3: – Yes, but no one smokes at home.

Pupil 4: – Why not buy one of those amber necklaces?

Pupil 3: – They are too expensive. Such a buy would make a big hole in my supply of dollars.

Pupil 4: – I suggest those linen napkins, then. They are light, of good quality, and the price is reasonable.

Guide: – Our tourist company decided to hold a competition to reveal one who can cope with shopping better. We want to find out the customer who knows more words on the topic «In the Department Store». You are to name not only the goods, but everything you can see there. You are welcome.

Pupils: – Scales, shopping card, salesman, buyer, purchaser, supermarket, the grocer’s, the greengrocer’s, foodstuffs, the fishmonger’s, dairy, stationery department, ready-made clothes department, perfumery department, headwear department, footwear department, haberdashery department, counter, the confectioner’s, butcher’s, the baker’s, and so on.

Guide: – I liked the competition very much and it’s hard to name the winner. That is why I’ll give the prospects to everybody. Thank you very much.

The blackboard: Reproductions of Andrew Wyeth’s pictures.

Teacher 1: – A painter of the «impressionist» school is now confined in a lunatic asylum. To all persons who visit him he says: «Look here, there’s the latest masterpiece of my composition». They look, and see nothing but an expanse of bare canvas. They ask: «What does this represent?»

«That? Why, that represents the passage of the Jews through the Red Sea».

«Beg pardon, but where is the sea?»

«It has been driven back».

«And where are the Jews?»

«They have crossed over».

«And the Egyptians?»

«Will be here soon. That’s the sort of painting I like: simple, suggestive and unpretentious».

Now we are at the Fine Arts Museum. Our guide will take you to the exhibition of modern American artist Andrew Wyeth.

Guide: – The best traditions of American realism are maintained by Andrew Wyeth, the most famous and the best liked living artist of America, who now determines the world level of contemporary American art. Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, and Edward Hopper were among the artists Andrew Wyeth admired most during his formative years, and it was their spirit that helped shape his highly personal and accomplished art. Like them he is fascinated by man and nature and paints them directly, with deep sympathy. His highly humanitarian art enjoys tremendous popularity with the American people, it is well known abroad and exercises a decisive influence over American artists. Andrew Wyeth was the first artist in the history of the United States to have an exhibition of his works staged in the White House.

Pupil 1: – Oh, look at this picture, it’s a masterpiece, I believe!

Pupil 2: – Masterpiece, you say? What makes you think so?

Pupil 1: – Because it conveys its meaning with such a great feeling.

Pupil 2: – It’s just exaggeration. The painting isn’t too bad, indeed, but I wouldn’t dub it a masterpiece.

Guide: – Andrew Wyeth’s most memorable paintings of the 1940s came in 1947 – 1948 just as he rounded the corner of his thirtieth year. A trio of paintings done in those years represents the high point of his early work: Wind from the Sea, Karl, and Christina’s World.

Pupil 1: – Who’s portrait is that?

Pupil 2: – Which do you mean, who painted the picture or who is painted in it?

Pupil 1: – Well, I’d like to know both.

Guide: – Wyeth avoids the kind of obvious drama or symbolism that still lingers in Christina’s World, where the woman seemingly strains or yearns for the mystery – shrouded house on the horizon.

Pupil 1: – This little portrait is of great value though it cost the Museum only a few hundred dollars.

Pupil 2: – How’s that?

Pupil 1: – The matter is that the picture was bought unrecognized and last year the experts found that it belonged to the brush of Wyeth.

Pupil 2: – It’s rather curious. I have several little oil pictures at home. Don’t you think I must take them to an expert?

Guide: – The charged and ominous atmosphere that characterizes Wyeth’s early work begins to subside in the early 1950s. Landscapes such as the magnificent Snow Fluries take on a new breadth and abstract simplicity. Human figures soften and draw into themselves, and the overt anxiousness seen in his self-portrait gives way to a different kind of compassionate and emphatic drama, one best understood by contrasting two of the temperas of Christina Olson, one painted in 1947 and the other in 1952. In the earlier picture, Christina Olson, a bony, angular figure is but one of the elements contributing to the overall mood. Five years later, in Miss Olson, the figure has become soft in her volumes and natural in her setting, her humanness now dominating the composition and establishing the tone of the entire work. Lost in herself and her tender affection for the kitten, she radiates warmth and dignity. We share the artist’s devotion to her, and in her anonymity and self-reflection we sense our common humanity.

Music. Lisa Minelli «New York, New York».

Teacher 2: – Tourists like to use different kinds of excursions taking them round this or that big city. It’s really cool to sit in comfort at the bus window, to the main places of interest and to listen to your guide giving you some useful information. Try not to miss such unforgettable trips wherever you travel and whatever you have to do in any part of the world, especially in New York.

Pupil 1: – Is this the Sightseeing Bureal? Can you put us down for a tour of the city?

Pupil 2: – Certainly we can. But the next excursion leaves in an hour. Will the time suit you?

Pupil 1: – Well, how long does the round last?

Pupil 2: – Two hours.

Pupil 1: – It perfectly suits us. Where can we buy a guide-book?

Pupil 2: – Here it is.

Guide: – Hallo, ladies and gentlemen. We welcome you to New York. New York is an unofficial capital of the United States. It has the largest population and the greatest number of immigrants, the most important banks, the tallest buildings, the best department stores, the most superb museums and art galleries, and the widest range of restaurants. New York is known by many different names. One of them is the Big Apple. We start from the entrance to New York Harbour, where you can see a great statue called the Statue of Liberty. It is 46 metres high – not counting the pedestal it stands on. The pedestal itself is also about 46 metres. This statue was designed by Bartholdy, a French sculptor, who worked ten years at it. The statue was taken to pieces and shipped across the Atlantic as a gift from the French Government to the United States, which was known at that time for its democratic ideals.

To the left of us you can see New York’s theatre district which is often referred to as «Broadway», but most of the theatres are actually located on the side streets near Times Square. They are active year-round with top-stars performing in various plays.

It is easy to find one’s way in New York. Avenues, except Broadway, run north and south; streets run east and west and are numbered. The buildings numbers get higher as you move away from the Fifth Avenue and towards the rivers.

Now we are coming to the Wall Street district – the heart of America’s business and culture and the city of sky-scrapers. The first sky-scraper was put up in 1888. It had only thirteen stories, but the next had 22, the Empire State building 102. Manhattan solved the space problem by building up. But although the population of New York has stabilized, the city continues to construct and distract itself.

Pupil 1: – This fountain has a rather large stone basin.

Pupil 3: – Yes, and there is a very interesting belief about it.

Pupil 1: – You say a belief? What is it about?

Pupil 3: – They say if a visitor comes to this fountain at midnight and drops a coin into the water, he is sure to return to this city at some future time.

Pupil 1: – Oh, fine! And how much is the traveller to drop into it?

Pupil 3: – Well, I don’t know that.

Guide: – We’ve just passed 116 Street where the campus of Columbia University, the biggest educational establishment of New York, is and near it the houses of Harlem are. There is not one Harlem but three: Spanish, Italian and Negro Harlem. Negro Harlem is the most overcrowded and its shabby houses contrast with affluent houses on Sugar Hill to the north, where the most prosperous people live.

We are now going along the Madison Avenue. You can see advertisements everywhere. There is no getting away from them. Advertisements fill newspapers and cover the walls, they are on menu cards and match-boxes, they are shouted through loud speakers and shown in the cinemas.

We have just turned left and you can see St. Patrick’s Cathedral. And now we are at the Central Park. If you stop a passing New Yorker and ask where he or she comes from, the chances are that they’ll answer, «I’m Irish – or French». In New York five people of every eight are, effectively, foreigners or children of foreigners. Everyday 67 foreign-language papers are published here.

Look right. We are passing the Coliseum. In a moment you will see the Grant’s Tomb. New-York defies description. You can say anything about it and always be right; if you listen to different people, talking about it, they could each be describing a different town. For some, it’s a centre of art, music and theatre; for others, a city of finance and politics. For manufacturers, it’s a bottomless market, for safe-crackers, Ali Baba’s cave.

Now we are crossing George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River. It’s interesting to know that Manhattan Island – the central part of New York – was bought from the local Indians for 24 dollars by the Dutch. The Americans say that this was the best business deal ever made in New York. For many times New York was recaptured by the Dutch and English. New Amsterdam was the first name of the city. After the English had taken over the city in 1626 it was renamed New York after the Duke of York who was Commander of the English Army. Now New York is a great seaport, the leading textile and the centre of American money business.

New York is not a city; it is a muddle of parallel worlds, many cities which crowd together in one place. There are business cities which die each day at five o’clock, neon pleasure cities where bars and cinemas shelter noisy crowds, middle class cities with elegant street lighting and neatly painted doors, and sad cities where no trees grow. New York is all of these and more.

Our tour has finished. I hope very much that you have enjoyed this tour of New York. Thank you and goodbye.

Pupil 1: – What impressed you most of all?

Pupil 3: – You know, there were so many interesting things to see that I can hardly tell what was the most impressive.

Pupil 1: – Well, how did you like…

Pupil 3: – Oh, that’s marvellous beyond any words! A surely impressive…

Video: Michael Jackson (live concert).

Music: «Heal the World» (karaoke).

Teacher 1: – Yesterday we were lucky to spend a most wonderful evening with Michael Jackson. We were at his concert and even sang a song with him. We made a video. Would you care to listen to it.

(The pupils sing the song «Heal the World»).

There’s a place in your heart

And I know that it is love

And this place could be much brighter than tomorrow

And if you really try

You’ll find there’s no need to cry

In this place you’ll feel there’s no hurt or sorrow

There are ways to get there

If you care enough for the living

Make a little space, make a better place

Heal the world, make it a better place

For you and for me and the entire human race

There are people dying if you care enough for the living

Make a better place for you and for me

If you want to know why there’s a love that cannot lie

Love is strong, it only cares of joyful giving

If we try we shall see in this bliss we cannot feel

Fear or dread we stop existing and start living

Then it feels that always love’s enough for us growing

So make a better world, make a better world…

And the dream we were conceived in

Will reveal a joyful face

And the world we once believed in

Will shine again in grace

Then why do we keep strangling life

Would this earth crucify it’s soul

Though it’s pain to see this world

Is heavenly be god’s glow

We could fly so high let our spirits never die

In my heart I feel you are all my brothers

Create a world with no fear, together we cry happy tears

See the nations turn their swords into Plowshares

We could really get there

If you cared enough for the living

Make a little space – to make a better place…

Teacher 2: – It was really well done. And I have some more problems for you to solve, when you’ll come back home after this imaginary trip to America. The tests are not devoted to the States only, and it means that sooner or later we’ll have another good job to do in one of the parts of our beautiful and amazing planet.

Test Questions:

1. What countries made early settlements in America?

2. What was the first English colony in America?

3. Who were the Pilgrim Fathers?

4. What were the thirteen English colonies that were established by the time of the War of Independence?

5. Who was the first American president?

6. What does the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbour commemorate?

7. When does the American president take office and how long is his term?

8. What is the name given to the official residence of the President of the USA in Washington?

9. What is the national flag of the USA called?

10. What kind of music first developed in New Orleans?

11. On what river is the capital of the United States situated?

12. What is the largest river in the USA?

13. Which is the largest state in the USA? Which is the smallest one?

14. What animal is the symbol of the US government?

15. What is the nickname of the US government?

16. What is the Day of National Independence in the USA?

17. What is the oldest university in the USA?

18. What are the most popular team sports in the United States?

19. What is the name of a very popular musical instrument in the United States?

20. What monument in Washington is called «the Pencil»?

21. In what country was the Statue of Liberty made?

22. When did New York get its name?

Music: The Beatles «Back to USSR».

Teacher 1: – So our imaginary trip to the USA is over. We enjoyed it very much and we hope so did you. We think all of the knowledge the pupils have got during this trip will help them in their future real travellings.

Thank you for your coming and listening to us. Our trip is over.