SCHOOL-LEAVING AGE
Children have to stay at school until the age of 16. There is no upper age limit.

ALCOHOL
You have to be 18 to buy alcohol in a shop or a pub, but if you are 16 and you are having a meal in a pub, you can drink beer or wine with it.

PROSECUTION
In Scotland, you can be prosecuted for a crime at the age of 8. In England and Wales, the age is 10. You can't be sent to prison until you are 21.

Florence Leonardo was born on April 15, 1452, in the small И Tuscan town of Vinci, near  Florence. He was the son of a  wealthy Florentine notary and a peasant woman. In the mid-1460s the family settled in Florence, where Leonardo was given the best education that Florence, the intellectual and artistic center of Italy, could offer. He rapidly advanced socially and intellectually. He was handsome, persuasive in conversation, and a fine musician and improviser. About 1466 he was apprenticed as a garzone (studio boy) to Andrea del Verrocchio, the leading Florentine painter and sculptor of his day. In Verrocchio's workshop Leonardo was introduced to many activities, from the painting of altarpieces and panel pictures to the creation of large sculptural projects in marble and bronze. In 1472 he was entered in the painter's guild of Florence, and in 1476 he is still mentioned as Verrocchio's assistant. In Verrocchio's Baptism of Christ (circa 1470, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence), the kneeling angel at the left of the painting is by Leonardo.

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, bom in Barranquilla, Colombia on February 2 1977, known simply as Shakira, is an internationally famous singer.
Shakira was born to a Lebanese father and a Colombian-Italian mother, and moved to Bogota at the age of thirteen. She released her first album, Magia (Magic), one year later, on the Sony label. The album was only moderately successful, and Peligro (Danger), her second album, was no better received.

Shakira turned to acting and played a role in a Colombian telenovela ("El Oasis"), but re¬turned to the music business in 1995 with the album Pies descalzos (Barefeet), which established her commercial success. The hit "Es-toy aqui" became known internationally. The Remixes was created and featured remixes from the songs on Pies descalzos.
Following this, Shakira met Emilio Estefan, Jr., who would become the executive producer of her next album. Donde estan los ladrones? (Where are the thieves?) was a huge production which cost over US$3 million. It was a huge hit which gained wide critical acclaim1 and which many consider to be her best album ever.

Windsor Castle is English history in a nutshell, and what a majestic nutshell it is! The site has been the official residence of kings and queens from William the Conqueror to the present day. Royals have been born, married and buried in the castle.
Windsor Castle began its life as a wooden fort built by William the Conqueror in the 11th century, and later kings and queens had a hand in its evolution. Henry II pulled down the wooden buildings and rebuilt it in stone. George IV turned it into a palace. In 1917, King George V chose the castle's name as the Royal Family's, replacing the old one, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. From that time, the name of the monarchy would be the House of Windsor.

• Los Angeles is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States. The Los Angeles area, which includes the city itself and its suburbs, has a population of 13.6 million.
• Los Angeles's nicknames are LA and the City of Angels. Some people also call it 'La-La Land' because they think the city is full of strange and crazy people.
  
• The inhabitants of Los Angeles are called Angelenos.

Two bats are hanging in their cave. One turns to the other and says:
-    Oh, I'm really thirsty for some fresh blood.
The other bat is amazed and says:
-    Well, it's a bit late. Daylight is almost here, and we can't be exposed to any light - you know we'll die.
-    Yeah, I know, - says the first bat, - but I'm really starving for it.
So he flies out of the cave and returns five minutes later with blood dripping from his mouth.
-    You are lucky thing. Where'd you find blood that quick? - asked the second bat.
-    You see that tree over there in the distance? - mumbled the bat, his mouth full of blood.

-Yeah, I think I do!
-Well, I didn't.

The second part of the introduction to Millie.

Multi-sensory approach

All children are different and learn in different ways. This is why it’s important to engage all the senses and use a variety of techniques. We encourage teachers to use sounds, music, pictures and other visual aids (including real objects that the children can touch and smell). It’s also important to make use of the children’s natural need to move around and incorporate physical movements and mime into any language work. The more opportunities a teacher has to combine the different senses, the better.

Making this important link between listening, speaking and movement, we regularly introduce “action stories”. Here the language which children hear is supported with actions to aid memorisation and to make the activity more enjoyable. The teacher introduces the movements and the children join in. (E.g. PB: U8, L3, pp. 84–85.)

The book and the authors

This is the first book of the Millie series for primary grades. It’s part of the New Millennium English textbook series, which has been designed specifically for secondary schools in Russia. Millie–2 is intended for the second class (first year of study of English), for pupils aged 7–8. These three books have been written by a team of experienced teachers of English working in schools in different regions of Russia (Moscow, Nizhni Novgorod, Omsk, Sochi, St Petersburg and Tula).

Our credo

The book represents an innovative approach to language learning, which is truly child-centred. Our emphasis is on fostering positive attitudes to language learning. This means that the units have been created for children to enjoy English and have fun in the classroom, while participating in a variety of activities and games that engage their imagination and curiosity.

This new approach is success-oriented and caters for all learners of all abilities.

Structure and syllabus

The syllabus is topic-based and allows for a natural introduction of new language arising from topics that have been carefully selected to reflect children’s interests at this age. The book contains ten units. Each unit covers six lessons. The first five lessons aim at developing children’s ability to communicate effectively, by using modern English and developing language skills. The last lesson in every unit is devoted to revision of the unit material, together with an episode of a special story, “The Upside-Down World”. All the units have been developed with careful attention to systematic revision and recycling of key language. An additional lesson after every second unit is devoted to a progress check, where children are encouraged to evaluate their own progress.

Article introduces a noun and indicates how specific the noun is.
English has two articles: the definite article "the" and the indefinite article "a" (or "an").

INDEFINITE ARTICLE (A, AN)

Use a (or an) only before singular count nouns.

A (or an) means, approximately, "one." "I saw a cat" and "i saw one cat" describe the same event, but "I saw one cat" emphasizes that there was only one cat, not two.

Use the indefinite article to introduce...

1. Nonspecific, unknown nouns:

• He entered a brown building. 
• There is an apple on the tree.

2. One of a general group:

• A computer can do many things.

Previous lesson on pronunciation here.

Topic: "R" as a vowel sound. Level: All levels, though some vocabulary in the explanations and exercises will challenge beginners.