There are two things British kids do on Pancake Day; eat pancakes and have pancake races. A pancake race is just like a normal running race except you run with a pancake in a frying pan. While running you have to toss the pancake up into the air and catch it in the frying pan. If you drop the pancake you have to stop to pick up the pancake before you can carry on. The person to cross the finishing line wins.

Why not celebrate Pancake Day with some pancakes? Here is a recipe for pancakes for you to try.

Ingredients

125g flour

2 eggs

2 tablespoons of melted butter

300ml of milk

Preparation

Put the flour, eggs, melted butter and 100ml of milk in a blender and mix until smooth. Slowly add the rest of the milk. This makes a batter for your pancakes.

Heat up a frying pan on low heat and brush with a little butter or oil. Pour in enough batter to make a thin layer in the bottom of the frying pan.

Heat for 1 or 2 minutes until you can flip the pancake over and cook for about another 30 seconds. Of course you might need longer if the heat is too low or you pour too much mixture into the frying pan.

You can eat the pancakes with many fillings. My favorite is very simple; sugar and lemon juice.

Happy Pancake Day!

Level: A1.2 – A2 Mid to High basic

Expansion activities and lesson plan ideas

Celebrating Pancake Day / Shrove Tuesday in different countries

Do people celebrate Shrove Tuesday where you come from?

If your country doesn’t celebrate Shrove Tuesday, what are the festival days at this time of year?

Are there any special foods?

How do you prepare them?

Are there any special events?

Shrove Tuesday websites

(For intermediate learners and above)

Look at these four websites.

What are the similarities and differences in the way people celebrate Shrove Tuesday?

Have you been to any of these celebtrations? What do you remember about them?

If you could go only one of these place for Shrove Tuesday, which one would you go to?

Madeira:  http://www.madeira-web.com/PagesUK/carnaval-text.php

Russia: http://russiapedia.rt.com/of-russian-origin/maslenitsa/

USA (New Orleans): http://www.mardigras.com/

Brazil: http://www.rio-carnival.net/

Lent

Although these days most people don’t become vegetarians for the 40 days of Lent, many people still try to avoid eating some things. The things most people try to avoid eating and drinking are chocolate, coffee and alcohol.

What would you choose to give up for 40 days, and why?

How do you think you would feel about not eating your favorite food for 40 days?

Key Vocabulary

Proper – Correct or real

Avoid – If you avoid doing something you try hard not to do it.

Try to avoid Max today, he’s in a terrible mood. He’s been shouting at people all day.

Dairy – Product that come from milk are dairy products. For example, cheese, yoghurt, cream and milk

Keep – If food or drinks keeps it means that it stays fresh or useable for some time.

We should finish the wine tonight. It won’t keep. If you try it tomorrow it will taste terrible

Flour – The white powder we use to make bread and cakes.

Race – A competition to see who can go the fastest.

Finishing line – The place in a race track where the race ends.

Blender – A kitchen appliance for mixing ingredients together.

Pour –If you pour a liquid you make it go from one container into another container.

He poured the wine from the bottle to the glass.

Photo by Nathan Collins

If you have egg on your face is means that you are very embarrassed or look stupid because of something you did or said.

My brother said that the university entrance exam was really easy, so he didn’t need to do much review. But he had egg on his face when he got the results. He only got a D and he’ll have to re-sit the exam next year.

The marketing manager said, “We need to be more careful with names when we introduce products into foreign markets. The last product we tried to sell in Spain translated as “Doesn’t work” in Spanish. The newspapers loved it! We don’t want to have egg on our faces again.”

If you put all your eggs into one basket it means that you put all your time, money and effort into doing one thing. If that doesn’t work then you have no alternatives.

When you invest in the stockmarket it is best if you buy stocks (shares) in many different companies. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket by just buying stocks in one company. If that company has problems you could lose all your money.

If you are walking on eggshells you have to be very careful what you say or do because you are in a dangerous situation. We usually use this when talking about people and their feelings.

Janet finds it very difficult to talk to her husband about their relationship. He gets angry and upset very easily. She always feels that she is walking on eggshells when she tries to talk about a problem.

Listen to the article English Idioms Eggs

Of course flying across the whole world in one night is very tiring work, even for a magical team like Santa and the reindeers, so considerate families leave some refreshment for Santa and his crew. In our family we leave Santa a glass of brandy and a mince pie, and the reindeers get a carrot. Other families give Santa a glass of sherry or a glass of milk and a cookie.

On Christmas morning, of children usually get up very early to see what Santa left in their stockings. In our family our children get two kinds of presents; stocking presents and tree presents. The stocking presents are usually small toys, chocolate and for some reason a tangerine (nobody in the family seems to know why we do this, but it’s a tradition). These are presents that Santa brings. The tree presents are the presents that the family and friends give to each other, and they are usually bigger and more expensive. Again, traditions vary from family to family.

Christmas In Britain: Eating, drinking and playing

Christmas Dinner, which is actually at lunch time, lasts about two or three hours. This is what we typically eat and drink.

Aperitif: sherry or gin and tonic

Starter: Ham and melon with champagne for the first Christmas toast.

Just before starting the main course British families like to pull Christmas crackers. Inside the Christmas cracker is a paper hat, a toy and a joke. The jokes inside Christmas crackers are usually really bad: we love them.

Main course: Turkey with sage and onion stuffing, roast potatoes, carrots, Brussels sprouts with chestnuts, broccoli, roast parsnips and gravy. All this is washed down with wine.

Dessert: Christmas pudding with rum or brandy butter, white sauce or custard. The Christmas pudding is usually covered with half a glass of warm brandy and then set alight. The family and guests sing “We wish you a Merry Christmas” as the brandy burns.

Cheese and nuts: The cheese and nuts part of the meal usually last a long time. This is because everyone is rather full from eating the other courses. During the cheese and nuts course we drink port or a liqueur.

Of course after a whole afternoon of eating and drinking we are very tired. It’s time to go to the lounge and watch TV, play cards and perhaps have a snack! And that’s a typical British Christmas.

To read more about Christmas In Britain see the previous article Christmas In Britain Part 1: Advent.

Key vocabulary for Christmas in Britain

Continental Europe: Mainland Europe excluding Great Britain and The Republic of Ireland and other island nations.

Stocking

Chimney

Refreshment: A refreshment is a small amount of food and drink to make you feel better after you have been travelling.

Crew: The crew are the people who work on a boat or airplane. In this case they are Santa’s helpers.

Sherry: An alcoholic drink from Jerez in Spain.

Vary: If something varies then it changes or it is different for some reason.

Aperitif: An alcoholic drink that you have before a meal. An aperitif is usually stronger than wine.

Toast: “Let’s all toast the happy couple – Mary and David may you have a long and happy life together.”

Sage and onion stuffing: Stuffing is a mixture of bread crumbs and herbs put into a bird (especially turkey or chicken) when we cook it in an oven.

Brussels sprouts

Chestnuts

Parsnips: A white root vegetable that has a similar shape to a carrot.

Gravy: A brown sauce made from the juices of cooked meat.

Set alight: If you set something alight it means you set it on fire.

Courses: A meal with three courses might have a starter, a main course and a dessert course.

Port: A kind of strong alcoholic drink from the city of Oporto in Portugal.

Liqueur: A strong, sweet alcholic drink.

Advent

Advent is the time leading up to Christmas. It starts on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day. Like most British kids my children have an advent calendar. An advent calendar is a paper box with 25 doors in it: one door for each day of December up to Christmas Day. Behind each door is a present, usually a chocolate, but sometimes a toy. Children love their advent calendars, parents are not so sure. They want their kids to be happy, but the calendars can be expensive.

For young children the most important part of Christmas is Santa Claus or Father Christmas. Many stores will have a Santa Claus that children can visit. The children sit on Santa’s knee and tell him what they would like from Christmas. For some strange reason Santa usually sits in or near the toy department. Children can also write letters to Santa telling him what they would like for Christmas. If you would like to do the same his address is: Santa Claus, The North Pole.

Nativity plays

Of course Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus and we have many activities in advent that are an important part of that celebration. Most primary schools put on a nativity play. A nativity play tells the story of the birth of Jesus from when the Angel Gabriel first came to see Mary until the arrival of the three wise men. The school children dress up as Mary and Joseph, angels, shepherds and wise men and perform the play for the parents. A doll usually plays the part of baby Jesus. Something usually goes wrong; someone forgets their lines or cries or something on the stage falls down. But because they are our children it’s cute we and all say “ah”.

 Christmas carols

Christmas carols are another important part of Christmas. You will hear Christmas carol nearly everywhere during December. As well as hearing carols in shops and on the radio you might also have a visit from carolers. Carolers are groups of people, usually part of a church, who go from house to house singing Christmas carols for people. The idea is both to spread Christmas cheer and to collect money for charity. Everyone has the favorite carol or carols. Mine are Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Silent Night and Angels from the Realms of Glory.

If you would like to hear some typical Christmas carols that British people sing you should visit carols.org.uk

 Christmas cards

Christmas is a time when we make contact with people in our lives. British and Americans send Christmas cards to almost everyone they know. The idea is to keep in touch and let people know what you have been doing in the last year. I must admit that I am not very good at Christmas cards. I usually forget to buy any until it is too late, or if I buy some I forget to write or send them. My mother on the other hand usually has a list of over one hundred people to whom she sends cards. Most send her cards as well. She uses these are Christmas decorations.

How do you celebrate advent where you like? Why not let us know in the comments section?

In the next article in the series Christmas in Britain we will carry on from where we left off and talk about celebrating Christmas day.

Key Vocabulary for Christmas in Britain

Commercial – If something is commercial it means it is about business or it is about making money.

Christmas spirit – The feeling of happiness at Christmas time as well as wanting to be kind to other people.

Celebrate – If you celebrate something you have a special event to remember it.

We’re celebrating my grandmother’s 100th birthday this weekend.

The lead up to (run up to) – The period of time that comes just before an event.

The North Pole – The very top of the world. The opposite is the South Pole.

Primary school (Elementary school) – The school that children start to go to when they are 5 or 6 years old.

Play – A play is a story that is performed on a stage.

William Shakespeare wrote some of the most famous plays in history.

Dress up – If you dress up you put on clothes that you don’t normally wear in everyday life.

Lines – Your lines are the words that you speak in a play or a movie.

The stage – The place where a play is performed.

Christmas carols – The religious songs we sing at Christmas are called Christmas carols.

Spread Christmas cheer – Make more people feel that happiness of Christmas time.

Charity – A charity is an organisation that raises money to help people, and sometimes animals.

Oxfam is one of the most famous charities in the world.

Keep in touch – If you keep in touch with someone it means that you talk to them or write them from time to time.

Decorations – Things that you use to make something, usually a room, look special.

Most students and teacher find that games and activities are a good way to help both remember the new vocabulary and to understand how to use it. So in the spirit of fun here’s my first effort at crossword making.

The crossword is not interactive at the moment (sorry about that), but you can download the PDF file by clicking the link below.

change and trends crossword

1.     The lowest point in a trend or the bottom of a wave.

2.     To get bigger.

4.     The price of shares started to rise back to their original values. The staged a ——–.

9.     To become calm and predictable.

10.   To go up and down and up and down.

12.   Things got better, we can clearly see the ————– (11)

13.   A slow gentle change is a ——- change.

16.   To become smaller.

17.   A sudden fall.

18.   $10,000,000 is a ———– amount of money.

1.     A state of chaos and panic.

3.     Another way to say fell or dropped a little.

5.     To cut back dramatically and by a large amount.

6.     Worries about debt default caused the Euro to ——- (fall dramatically) on the markets.

7.     Stopped getting worse, ——– out.

8.     To rise up quickly. This verb also describes flying quickly.

11.   The highest level. Also the top of a mountain.

14.   The president not only fired the head of marketing he —- (got rid off) the whole department.

15.   To jump or rise.

16.   A small change can also be called a —— change.

The Golden Pavilion (Kinkaku-Ji)

This three-story building gained UNESCO World Heritage status in 1994. Although it looks old it is actually a replica of the 14th century original, which was accidentally burned down in 1950. It is probably the most well recognized image of Kyoto. The original purpose of the building was as a retirement home for Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. It was converted into a Zen temple after his death. As well as the splendid gold leaf covered building you can also enjoy the mirror lake, the surrounding gardens and a tea house.

Ryoan-Ji

The Ryoan-Ji temple houses Japan’s most famous rock garden. The origins of the garden and the meaning of its design are a mystery. Some people believe that the 15 rocks represent a tiger carrying its cub across a stream. Others believe that the rocks are islands in an ocean. An interesting feature of the design is that from wherever you view the garden one of the rocks is always hidden from view.

The Goin district

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3902.html

This is the city’s most famous geisha district. The old wooden buildings, tea houses and fabulous restaurants and charming shops make the Goin district a must on every tourist agenda. The wooden merchant’s houses are a particular attraction for visitors. These houses have a style of architecture unique to Kyoto. The style came about because merchants were taxed on the size of their storefront. In order to reduce their tax bills the merchants build shops with narrow fronts but extended the building back a long way.

One of the best times to visit the Goin district is in July when you can see the Gion Matsuri festival. This is Japan’s most famous festival and includes a procession of enormous beautifully decorated floats.

The Silver Pavilion (Ginkaku-Ji)

Although it is called the Silver Pavilion was never covered with silver, even though that was the original plan. It was built by shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa as his retirement villa and it is modeled after his grandfather’s retirement villa, the Golden Pavilion. Again like his grandfather’s Golden Pavilion it became a Zen temple after he died.

The grounds of the Silver Pavilion are an outstanding example of Japanese landscape gardening. The sand garden and moss garden are of particular interest to visitors.

Kyoto International Manga Museum

http://www.kyotomm.jp/english/

Kyoto isn’t all about ancient culture; modern culture has its place here, too. In November 2006 the Kyoto International Manga Museum opened. This is one of the world’s largest collections of manga related materials. Of course most of the collection is Japanese however there is plenty of manga in other languages on display. The big draw for manga aficionados is the Wall of Manga; 140 meters of shelving containing 50,000 manga books!

What about where you live?

What are the top five places that you would recommend a visitor to your country, region or city visit?

Why should they go there and what should they do once they get there?

Staying in Kyoto

http://www.kyoto-okoshiyasu.com/en/stay/

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g298564-c2-Kyoto_Kyoto_Prefecture_Kinki-Hotels.html

Official Kyoto travel guide

http://www.kyoto.travel/

Listen to Top 5 Things To See In Kyoto

Keyword vocabulary

Capital – Or capital city is the official first city of a country or territory. For example Paris is the capital of France.

Three-story building – A building with three floors.

UNESCO World Heritage status – When the United Nations says a place is important for the world’s culture and history it has this status.

Replica – A copy of the original.

I thought I’d got a bargain when I bought this watch, but in fact it is a very good replica so it’s not worth very much at all.

Retirement – The time  you stop working when you reach your old age.

Gold leaf – A very thin sheet of gold.

The devotees put gold leaf on the statue of the Buddha.

Mystery – A mystery is something that we don’t know or understand.

Feature – An interesting or important part of something.

Hidden from view – Cannot be seen.

Agenda – If something is on your agenda it means that you plan to do it.

Merchant – A person who buys something and then sells it to another person for a profit.

Architecture – The form or shape of a building.

Extend – If you extend something you make it bigger or longer.

Procession – A procession is a group or line of people going in one direction.

Float – A float is a moving stage.You can see many floats at festival like Mardi Gras in New Orleans or Carnival in Rio de Janeiro.

Modeled after – It something is modeled after something it follows the same or similar design.

Grounds – The land belonging to a building are its grounds.

Moss

Manga – A style of Japanese cartoon.

Aficionados – Someone who really likes and know a lot about a particular subject.

Top 5 things to see in Kyoto

The Japanese government ordered an audit of family registries after they found the body of a man they had thought was the oldest man in Tokyo. They had gone to his home to congratulate him on his 111th birthday. When they got there they found only his mummified remains. The family is being charged with fraud for claiming his pension checks for 30 years.

The audit found that several hundred of the missing would be over 150 years old if they were still alive. The Japanese Ministry of Justice believes that there are three possible causes for the discrepancy in the population figures. Many people might have died just after World War 2 and their deaths were not reported in chaotic time after that, others might have emigrated and not told the authorities, or the families just didn’t report their deaths.

According to official figures Japan has over 40,000 centenarians, but the discovery of all these missing people casts doubt on the figure. The government continues to investigate the issue as there is now a concern that dishonest relatives are exploiting the welfare system.

Listen to the article Japan Loses 230,000 Citizens

Vocabulary for Japan Loses 230,000 Citizens

Citizen – A person who belongs to a country is a citizen of that country.

Audit – When a independent person checks the truth of facts about an organisation we say they do an  audit of  the organisation. We usually use audit when we are talking about company financial accounts.

The annual audit uncovered some serious problems with the bank’s accounts

Mummified – When a dead body is dried so that it does not go bad it is mummified. The most famous examples are the mummies of ancient Eygpt.

Fraud – Stealing money by lying is called fraud.

Bernard Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison for the world’s biggest fraud.

Pension check / cheque – The regular money people get when they are old and stop working.

Discrepancy – If something is different from what we expected or what was written down then there is a discrepancy.

I’ve discovered a discrepancy in the cash till. According to the sales receipts we should have $950, but there’s only $840. You didn’t borrow any cash, did you?

Emigrate – If you go and live in another country and become a citizen we say that you emigrate to that country.

I hate the weather here! I want to emigrate to Australia.

The authorities – The government and government officials.

Centenarian – A person who is 100 years old or older is called a centenarian.

Cast doubt on – If you cast doubt on something or someone you say that something about it or them might not be true.

I don’t want to cast doubt on your honesty, but yesterday you said you hadn’t got any money, yet today you are drinking champagne!

Exploit – If you use someone in a way that is unfair or dishonest you exploit them.

Bernard Madoff exploited people’s greed to get them to invest in his company.

Remember, remember the 5th of November,

Gunpowder, treason and plot.

I know of no reason,

Why the gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot

Every November 5th in gardens, parks and village greens all across Britain you will see, hear and smell the celebration of Guy Fawkes Night, or as it is also called, Bonfire Night. What’s it all about?

The celebration goes back to the early morning of November 5th 1605. This was when Guy Fawkes was caught in the act of preparing to blow up the Houses of Parliament.

The story started when James I, the new king of England, made a law placing heavy fines on people who did not attend Protestant church services. Catholics in England were very upset about this and other laws that discriminated against them. A man called Robert Catesby plotted to kill James and as many of the Members of Parliament as possible. The plan was to set off 800KG of gunpowder in a cellar they had rented under the Houses of Parliament. Guy Fawkes was put in charge of the explosives as he had fought for the Spanish in the Netherlands for many years and was an explosives expert.

Some of the plotters were worried that some Catholic Members of Parliament would be killed by the explosion, so they sent letters to warn them to stay away. Unfortunately for the plotters, this act tipped the authorities off and they organised a search of the building. In the early hours of November 5th they discovered Guy Fawkes and the gunpowder. Although he resisted several days of torture he eventually gave the names of the other plotters. Those who did not die in the fighting that followed were arrested, put on trial and then executed for treason.

Ever since there have been celebrations every November 5th to remember the day that the King and Parliament escaped death. People celebrate by building bonfires, setting off fireworks and burning the “guy”. The “guy” is an effigy of Guy Fawkes. It is usually made by children who make the “guy” a few days before and carry it around the streets asking for money: “A penny for the Guy” is the usual cry.

To find out more about the Gunpowder Plot have a look at the wikipedia entry or for a simpler version try Spartacus Schoolnet.

Key Vocabulary The Gunpowder Plot

Gunpowder – A kind of black powder that is used to make explosive and fireworks

Village green – An area of grass usually in the centre of a village

Celebration – A happy event that we have because something good has happened

We had a big celebration when we past our final exams at university.

Blow up - If something blows up it is destroyed or badly damaged in an explosion

Terrorists tried to blow up the police station yesterday.

Discriminate- If you discriminate against someone you threat them less fairly than another person or groups of people

She felt that she didn’t get the job because the company discriminated against women.

Plot- If you plot against someone or plot to do something it means that you have secret plans to do something bad to them

Tip sb. Off  - If you tip somebody off you secretly give them information or a warning

The police were tipped off about the bank robbery, so they caught the robbers as soon as they entered the building.

Torture – Torture is the act of deliberate causing someone pain

Eventually – In the end

Treason – A crime against your country

Effigy – An ugly figure that is supposed to represent another person

The protesters burned an effigy of the president in the town square.

The survey may be very worrying for chief executives of FTSE 100 companies (the largest companies on the London stock exchange). The public believe they should be paid an average of £118,000 per year. This is a drop of 94% compared to their actual average pay! Another worrying finding for bosses is that the British public believes that Premier League footballers should earn an average of £365,000 per year: more than three times as much as business leaders.

The survey asked about what the public believes 15 different professions should pay. (They weren’t told what the actual average pay was.) Results showed that most believed the prime minister, secondary school head teachers and train drivers should be paid less. However, they also believed care assistants and call centre workers should earn more.

The table below shows that actual pay and estimated pay of the 15 professions. Do you think you would find similar results where you live? What does the difference in actual pay and what people think is a fair salary for a job say about a country’s values? Which people in society do you think should earn more or earn less than they actually do?

Listen to the article How Much Do You Think Your Boss Should Earn?

Key Vocabulary

Survey (n.) – When you try to find out information about several people or things you do a survey.

Earn  – When you get money for work that you do you earn money.

Reveal – Reveal means to show something that couldn’t be seen before, or was hidden before.

The blood tests revealed that he had been taking banned drugs to improve his athletic abilities.

The general public – When we say the general public we mean most people, not the politicians, big business people or famous people.

Chief executive – The Chief Executive is the name we give to the boss of a large company. Often you will notice that the person is called the CEO. This stands for Chief Executive Officer.

Stock exchange – The place where you buy and sell stock and shares. For example the NASDAQ.

Premier League footballer – A football player in the English Premier League.

Profession – Your profession is your job. When we use profession we mean a job that needs training and skill to do properly.

Prime minister – The leader of the government in many countries is call the Prime minister.

Secondary school head teacher – A secondary school in Britain is the school you go to after the age of 13. Head teacher is British English for the school principal (American English).

Care assistant – A person who helps to look after old or longterm sick people.

Call centre – A call centre is a place you call when you want to talk to someone in a company about a problem or a complaint.

Values – Your values are the things, thought and behavior that you think are important to lead a good and honest life.

What is more important for a happy marriage, that the couple share similar values or share similar interests?

Bond trader – A person who buys and sells the debts of countries and companies.

Social worker – A person who is trained to help people with personal or family problems.

Technician – Someone with practical technical skills but who is not as highly qualified as a scientist or engineer.

Hospital porter – A person who help move sick people around a hospital. For example from their hospital bed to the X-ray department.

Even though it is such a small word and it is used so often, “the” can cause many problems for people learning English. This article looks at when you should or shouldn’t use “the” and finishes with a short exercise to help you practice.

Before we start explaining the rules we had better review some key terms: count noun, non-count noun (also called countable noun and non-countable noun), definite noun, indefinite nouns and generic noun.

Count nouns: Normally, if you can easily count individual things then they are count nouns. A Cup is an example of count noun because you can say one cup, two cups, three cups etc…

Non-count nouns: If you can’t count something or if it is very difficult to count something then it is usually a non-count noun. Water is a non-count noun because you can’t say one water, two waters etc. Rice is also a non-count noun; this is because although we could count individual grains of rice it isn’t a practical thing to do.

Definite nouns: If you are thinking about a specific thing or you assume the listener knows which thing you are talking about then this is a definite noun.

Indefinite nouns: these are actual things but are not individually identified.

Generic noun: When you are talking about things in general rather than a particular thing then that thing is a generic noun. A generic noun therefore is a symbol for a whole group of things. For example: “Wheat is used to make bread”. This is using wheat as a generic noun. For an opposite example look at this sentence “The wheat in this bread is from my uncle’s farm”. In this case we know which wheat you are talking about; the wheat from my uncle’s farm, so here wheat is a definite noun.

You can use “the” when you are using a definite noun. The noun can be singular, plural, count noun or non-count noun.

“Thanks for the dollar you gave me, Daddy!”

The boy used the forty dollars he earned from his newspaper round to buy a new computer game.

He used the money to buy his grandma a birthday present.

When you are making generalizations, don’t use ‘the’ with plural count nouns or non-count nouns.  However, you do use ‘the’ with singular count nouns.

The mangoes are a very popular fruit across the whole world. (Incorrect)

Mangoes are a very popular fruit all across the world. (Correct)

The mango is a very popular fruit all across the world. (Correct)

The cheddar is a kind of cheese that originally comes from South West England. (Incorrect)

Cheddar is a kind of cheese that originally comes from South West England. (Correct)

The globalization means that more and more people are learning English. (Incorrect)

Globalization means that more and more people are learning English. (Correct)

You use “the” when you are talking about a define noun, while “a” is used for an indefinite noun. Compare the following sentences.

He gave me a pen. (We don’t know which pen)

He gave me the pen. (We know which pen)

An important thing to remember is that we use “the” for the second mention of an indefinite noun.

At the end of the street we could see some men. The men were trying to move a car. The car had broken down in the middle of the street.

Notice that the first time we mention men we say “some men”. The second time we mention men we say “the men”. The first time we mention car we say “a car”. The next time we say “the car”.

However, when we don’t use “the” when the second mentioned noun is a generic noun.

How tall does an oak tree grow? An oak tree can grow to about 100 feet tall.

Just to confuse matters you can sometimes use “the” with a single generic noun (but not a plural form of a generic noun nor a generic non-count noun). It is often used with the following but remember if you do want to use a plural form don’t use “the”:

Inventions

The mobile phone has changed the way we communicate in the twenty-first century.

OR

Mobile phones have changed the way we communicate in the twenty-first century.

Species of animal

The cheetah is the fastest land animal.

OR

Cheetahs are the fastest land animals.

Musical instruments

My daughters are learning how to play the piano.

When referring to something that is unique

The Queen, the human race

Listen to The Definite Article

Summary

Exercises for The Definite Article are coming soon.

Keywords for The Definite Article

Grains of rice – Single piece of rice is called a grain.

In general – We use in general when we are talking about most people or most things, rather than a specific one.

Wheat

Newspaper round – When you deliver newspapers to many different houses we say you are doing your newspaper round.

Make generalizations – When you make generalizations you are not talking about individual things or events.

Globalization – Globalization is the idea that the world is becoming more connected through trade, culture and communication.

Cheetah – A kind of big cat from Africa. It is the fastest animal on land.

Unique – If something us unique it means that there is only one example of it.