What Makes a Person British ? in the Box Draw a Picture of a Typical British Person

Being British

Name ______

Tutorial Programme

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Tutorial Programme

Topic / Student Comment
1 / Being British
2 / Democracy
3 / The Law
4 / Mutual Respect
5 / Toleration of different ethnicity

Tutorial 1

What makes a person British ? In the box draw a picture of a typical British person.

Discuss this in your group and explain why you have drawn the person above. Compare you drawings with the rest of your group – are there any major differences.

What do we think of as being typically British ? See if you can fill in the gaps below

British Favourites / My Ideas
Drink
Food
TV Programme
Weekend Pass Time
Sport
Religion

According to a recent survey these things came out as the most popular British Favourites. How do they compare with yours? Discuss in your group.

British Favourites
Drink / Tea (Closely followed by Coffee)
Food / Chicken Tikka Masalla (closely followed by Fish and Chips and Roast Beef Dinner)
TV Programme / Coronation Street (Closely followed by Eastenders)
Weekend Pass Time / Walking in the Countryside
Sport / Football (although in Wales Rugby was more popular)
Religion / Christian

What do people say about being British ? Have a look at what some people have said about being British and see if you can come up with your favourite saying.

Tutorial 2 – Democracy

What is it ?

“By the people, of the people, for the people”. This saying sums up what democracy is. It is where the people of any one nation decides who rule them. In Britain we are very proud of our democracy as it is very much part of our history.

In Britain we have several political parties. These are groups who stand for a set of principles which they believe would benefit the country. From these principles they agree on certain policies which they would like to put into place if they are in Government. Government is the term which we give to the party who has won the most votes in a General Election.

General Election: This is held every 5 years where everyone who is over the age of 18 can vote and decide who they want to represent them in parliament.

Parliament: This is held in a large building in London called the Palace of Westminister. It consists of the House of Commons which is where M.P.s (Members of Parliament) are elected to sit and make decisions. It also contains the House of Lords which contains people who have been nominated to review all of the decisions made by the House of Commons. The Queen also reviews all of the laws which are passed by these two houses and she meets with the Prime Minster regularly to talk about current issues in the country.

Political Parties

See if you can guess these parties from the emblems.

Can you also guess whose policies these quotes belong to ?

Policy / Party
Put the public first
Be more environmentally friendly
Restore public services
Lowering of university tuition fees
A mansion tax on wealthy property owners
End rid off energy prices
Help people get on the housing ladder
An exit from the European Union
Tougher stance on immigration
Abolish inheritance tax
Scrap the target of 50% of school leavers going to university
Maintaining the cuts-reduce the deficit
Lower taxes
Deliver the best schools
A referendum on Europe
A fair, free and open society
More democracy and choice
A strong and sustainable economy

Think ?

Who would you vote for and why ?

Can you name the leaders of each of the political parties ?

Tutorial 3 – The Law

Many British laws can be traced back to the Magna Carta or the Great Charter

Many countries legal systems are based on the British legal system

In this country we have a unique system of Law Courts. Most minor offences are heard in the Magistrates Court. This is where 3 Magistrates will listen to the case and make a decision. They are not solicitors or barristers but have had a lot of training on how to deal with the cases they hear and there is a Barrister on hand to advise. More serious cases are tried in the Crown Court. This is where a case is presented in front of jury (12 people) who decide if the person is innocent or guilty. The sentence is then given by a Judge.

What do you know about the Law? Take the quiz below and test your knowledge.

How old do you have to be to be held criminally responsible?
How old do you have to be to get a custodial sentence for a crime?
How old do you have to be to join the armed services?
How old do you have to be to gamble?
How old do you have to be to vote?
How old do you have to be to be entitled to the national minimum wage?
What is the person in charge of a court called?
What is the person who defends or prosecutes a legal case called?
The group of people that decides if a person is innocent or guilty is called what?
Where are less serious offences such as driving offences heard?
Where are serious offences like murder heard?

The Magistrates’ Court Please watch the video below

The Crown Court Please watch the video below

Tutorial 4 – Mutual Respect

Discuss: What do we mean by mutual respect

I think …

•Mutual Respect is a key British value

•In Britain we have a tradition of mutual respect

•Mutual respect is when two people may not agree on everything but they don't get upset over little things but are willing to work things out because they care for the other.

•What examples of mutual respect can you think of from your own life?

•Can you think of any examples of when you haven’t been respected? What did you do about it?

•What should you do if you are not being treated with respect and fairly?

Tutorial 5 – People of Other Ethnicity

The British (serves 60 million)

Take some Picts, Celts and Silures
And let them settle,
Then overrun them with Roman conquerors.
Remove the Romans after approximately 400 years
Add lots of Norman French to some
Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Vikings, then stir vigorously.

Mix some hot Chileans, cool Jamaicans, Dominicans,
Trinidadians and Bajans with some Ethiopians, Chinese,
Vietnamese and Sudanese.
Then take a blend of Somalians, Sri Lankans, Nigerians
And Pakistanis,
Combine with some Guyanese
And turn up the heat.
Sprinkle some fresh Indians, Malaysians, Bosnians,
Iraqis and Bangladeshis together with some
Afghans, Spanish, Turkish, Kurdish, Japanese
And Palestinians
Then add to the melting pot.
Leave the ingredients to simmer.
As they mix and blend allow their languages to flourish
Binding them together with English.
Allow time to be cool.
Add some unity, understanding, and respect for the future,
Serve with justice
And enjoy.
Note:All the ingredients are equally important. Treating one ingredient better than another will leave a bitter unpleasant taste.

Warning:An unequal spread of justice will damage the people and cause pain. Give justice and equality to all.

•Benjamin Zephaniah is a poet you may have heard have

•Benjamin Zephaniah wrote a famous poem about the British

•What point was Zephaniah trying to make about the British? What point was he trying to make about tolerance of different faiths and beliefs?

Tolerance

1.What different faiths and beliefs can you think of?

2.What examples from around the world can you think of where toleration of different faiths and beliefs has been ignored or abused?

3.How can we be more tolerant of different faiths and beliefs other than your own?