Currency

UK Culture: Currency

The pound sterling is the oldest currency in the world that is still in use. What do you know about the money used in the UK?

Video courtesy of Barrington Berkeley

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Exercise

Task

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Exercise

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Task 2

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Exercise

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Transcript

Currency

Although the UK is in the European Union, it has taken the decision at the moment not to adopt the Euro as its currency. Instead it retains pound sterling.

A pound consists of 100 pence. The word ‘pence’ being very often shortened to the letter ‘p’ in both the written and in conversational form.

The following coins are in regular circulation:

  • 1p
  • 2p
  • 5p
  • 10p
  • 20p
  • 50p
  • £1
  • £2

The following notes are also used:

  • £5
  • £10
  • £20
  • £50

These notes are usually issued in the name of the Bank of England and the notes and coins are accepted throughout the UK. You may occasionally find some bank notes bearing the names of Banks in Scotland or Northern Ireland, like the Scottish notes shown here. These are still legal tender throughout the UK but some traders, because they are not familiar with them, may be reluctant to accept them outside of the country in which they were issued. If you do have any difficulties though, any Bank will replace them without charge.

Discussion
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Comments

Hello
I think the currency is important for country's identity, because the ratio of that currency with another valuable currency shows how economy of that country is efficient.
Globalization has a positive features, for example people from different countries begin to think in a similar way and they are ready  to solve some essential global problems together, but in the case of Euro the crisis shows that  economists and politicians made a unfair decision.
But I believe , in our beautiful planet there are a lot of skilled economists and they will solve this problem sooner.
Best wishes

Don't succeed to have the videos. How should I get them please ?.

Hello Therese Louet,

Sorry to hear you are having trouble with the video. I've written a checklist of questions, below, to see if we can help. Let us know as much information as you can.

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Stephen Jones
The LearnEnglish Team

Today I am very ,because I started learning I enjoyed . I want to continue with this .

Thank you

No I dont think it was a positive move..!!

Like Adla, I was unable to access the videos.  Is this a fixable problem?
Katie

Just install Adobe Flash Player to see this video.

Hello katiememe26,

We are trying to solve the problem for users in China, but I'm afraid they are still unavailable there at the moment.

Regards,

Stephen Jones

The LearnEnglish Team

Ok for students as it's not too fast! It's clear

I'm afraid all the topics that have video are not working please find a solution about them.thank you very much for these series of English i really my English is much better now   

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