Pre-class worksheet 2

Task 1. You are going to watch a video and learn about the voting system in the UK. What words or phrases spring to mind when you hear the word 'election'?

Task 2. Match the words on the left to their definitions on the right.

1. a constituency

a. one of the official areas of a country that elects someone to represent it in a parliament or legislature

2. a general election

b. the period of time just before it

3. first-past-the-post

c. to vote in an election

4. the run-up to an election

d. an election in which all the voters in a country elect the government

5. to cast a vote

e. a type of electoral system for choosing members of parliament or other representatives in which the candidate who gets most votes wins.

Task 3. Read the statements below. Do you think they are true or false?

1. On Election Day, people vote for a prime minister and members of Parliament.

2. The number of seats each party gets in Parliament depends on the share of votes each party gets on election day.

3. Members of Parliament (MPs) represent their constituencies in the House of Commons.

Task 4. Watch the video to find out if your ideas about the statements above were correct. Then watch it again and note down the answers to the questions given after the video.

1. How many constituencies and MPs are there in the UK?
2. What can a member of Parliament do?
3. What is the difference between a safe and marginal seat?
4. What happened in the 2015 general election?
5. How can a candidate become prime minister?