- What can you say about the structure of the Constitution? Does it consist of articles?
- The US Constitution consists of Preamble, seven articles and twenty seven amend-ments. The first 10 amendments are known as «The Bill of Rights». Have you heard about it?
- Oh, yes. I have read about it. «The Bill of Rights» establishes the individual rights and freedoms to all people of the states, including freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of worship.
- You are right. For example, according to the fourth amendment «The right of the peo-ple to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated».
- Do these twenty seven amendments establish only rights and freedoms of people?
Ситуация: урок английского языка, тема «Конституция США». Изучение темы про-ходит на первоначальном этапе, т.е. этап ознакомления с Конституцией.
Участники: преподаватель и студент.
Реализация ситуации: студент задает преподавателю вопросы, преподаватель на них отвечает.
- Good morning. I suppose that you know at least something about the Constitution of the USA and today I am going to enlarge your knowledge. You will ask me questions and I will answer them. So, you may start.
- How could you characterize the US Constitution in general terms?
- I can say that in United States the Constitution is considered to be the basic law which prescribes the structure of national government and lists its rights and fields of author-ity. So, I can characterize it as the basic law of the United States of America.
- It was adopted after the War of Independence, wasnt it?
- Yes, it was. And I can add that it was adopted on the 17th of September 1787.
- I know that James Madison is considered to be a father of the Constitution, isnt he?
- Yes, he is. He is considered to be a father of the Constitution and he put forward its main principle which is "Private property is the backbone of liberty"