Materiały do pobrania

Fun Facts

• Polish words in English

  Many words in the English language come from other languages – and some of them were borrowed from Polish! One such word is SPRUCE (świerk) which entered the English language from the Polish name of Prussia or Prusy – which is part of Poland today. How did it happen? When merchants from Prussia who sold lumber in England were asked where the type of wood had come from, they said: z Prus – which means from Prussia. It sounded like spruce in English and eventually became the English name of this particular tree. Other English words of Polish origin include: babka, bigos, kielbasa, konik, ogonek and, of course, pierogi.

• Brooklyn Bridge

  The Brooklyn Bridge, which connects Manhattan and Brooklyn, is one of the most famous tourist attractions in New York and the USA. It is a little more than a mile long and it takes about 30 to 45 minutes to cross it on foot, depending on how fast you walk! The bridge is one of the most famous tourist attractions in New York and the USA. It was built in the years 1869–83 and first it was called the East River Bridge because it spans the East River. In 1884 twenty-one elephants walked across the bridge to prove that it was safe!

• Australia - the outback

  The outback is the flat and hot centre of Australia, which is a very hard place to live. It covers almost 70% of the continent but has very few inhabitants. The children who live there usually do not go to school but they learn from home using the Internet and the Schools of the Air. They only meet other children from their ‘class’ once a year when they spend a week together.

• How Canada got its name

  The name Canada comes from a misunderstanding by Jacques Cartier, a 16th century French explorer. When Cartier was visiting the New World, the native people wanted to invite him to visit their village. The word for ‘village’ in their language was ‘kanata’. Cartier thought they were talking about the whole country and when he returned to Europe he referred to the new land as ‘Canada.’ And this is how Canada got its name!

• St Patrick's Day

  On March 17th Irish people celebrate St Patrick’s day. St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, however, he was not actually Irish. He was the son of Romans who lived in Britain in the 5th Century AD, and legend says he was kidnapped and taken as a slave to the Emerald Isle. Saint Patrick’s Day is Ireland’s official national holiday. Legend has it that in the 5th century AD St. Patrick killed all Ireland’s snakes and there are no native snakes there to this day. This has become such a popular myth that it is believed by almost everyone. It is also completely untrue because Ireland never had any snakes!

• Canada

  Canada is the second largest country in the world and is situated in the north of North America. It borders the United States and is surrounded by the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic oceans. Canada is a huge country but its population is rather small – about 36 million, with only 3 people living per square kilometre! Almost 50% of the people in Canada were born in other countries and 81% of all Canadians live in cities. The biggest Canadian cities include Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Ottawa – the capital of Canada. Interestingly, Montreal is the world’s second largest French speaking city after Paris.