The Commonwealth is an association of independent sovereign states, almost all of which are former territories of the British Empire.

Double-click on any word to see its definition from Cambridge Dictionaries Online

magazine article: "March 11th is Commonwealth Day, and 2002 was a big year for the commonwealth. The official Head of the Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth II, celebrated her jubilee in May, the Commonwealth Games were held in Britain that summer, and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting was held in Australia that year. But what exactly is the Commonwealth?" Read article

magazine article: Australia. Waltzing Matilda - Most countries have a unique piece of music that means something special to its people. Read article

magazine article: Canada. "Like most people I suppose, I know the USA from watching American films. I think my view of Canada is nearly the same, the only problem is that you can’t see much of Canada in American films." Read article

magazine article: India. Question: Where do pyjamas, yoga, curry, gurus and Bollywood films, come from? Read article

magazine article: Kenya: Diversity is the key. "Recently a competition was held in Kenya to design a “national dress”. Unlike countries in west Africa, Kenya does not have a distinctive costume that people all over the world recognise instantly as Kenyan, and many people feel that it should." Read article

magazine article: New Zealand. Tucked away in the Pacific Ocean, here the sun seems to slip more slowly across the sky, perhaps thanks to Maui, a legendary Maori demi-god, whose magic fishing net caught the sun. Read article

magazine article: Nigeria. "I don’t think that coincidences have any special meaning most of the time – but in this case it is an example of the power of music to tell you things that are impossible to find out any other way". Read article

magazine article: Papua New Guinea. Why New Guinea? One of the first Europeans to arrive in the 16th century from Portugal thought the country resembled Guinea in West Africa. Read article

magazine article: South Africa. "South Africa Freedom Day may not mean all that much to many, particularly younger, people. A whole generation is growing up who never knew Apartheid. And cynics abound" Read article

word game: Australian English. Learn how Australian people say words from British English. Play game

word game: Canadian English. Match words in Canadian English to their equivalents in British English. Play game

word game: Indian and Pakistani English. Match British English words and phrases to their equivalents in Indian and Pakistani English. Play game

word games: Kenyan wildlife. Read information about different animals and select which animal is being described. Play game (1) and game (2)

word games: Kenyan wildlife. Four different jigsaw puzzles with information about different animals. Play puzzle (1), puzzle (2), puzzle (3) and puzzle (4)

word game: New Zealand English. Match words and expressions in British English to their New Zealand English equivalents. Play game

word game: South African English: Match words and phrases in South African English with their equivalents in British English. Play game

word games: Tok Pisin. Match English words and phrases to their equivalents in the Tok Pisin language of Papua New Guinea: Play game (1) and game (2)

word game: West African and Jamaican English. Discover differences between British English and West African (and also Jamaican) English. Play game

poem: Australia - Mulga Bill's Bicycle - a funny ballad by one of Australia’s favourite poets, ‘Banjo’ Paterson Read poem

story: Australia -The Dreamtime is the central, unifying theme in Australian Aboriginal mythology. It describes the process of the world being called into being. The Australian Aboriginal culture is based on nature in every aspect. Most of their mythological heroes are animals common in Australia. Read story

poem: Canada. Sir Charles George Douglas Roberts was the first Canadian to be knighted for his work as a writer. According to one source: "Those of his poetical compositions that are distinctively Canadian are regarded as being specially excellent”. Read poem

poem: India. Tagore, the author of this poem, once said "To study a banyan tree, you not only must know its main stem in its own soil, but also must trace the growth of its greatness in the further soil, for then you can know the true nature of its vitality". Read poem

story: New Zealand. Dame Ngaio Marsh, one of New Zealand’s most remarkable and charismatic women, was world-renowned as a leading crime fiction writer. In this activity, compare the plots of some of her different crime stories. Read story

story: Nigeria - A Visitor to the Star. Anna Winter pulled on her Gucci sunglasses and sprayed herself with the extra-strength mosquito repellent she had bought in the airport. Anna thought her job was very difficult, and she told everybody about this. How could she be a front-line, award-winning, adventurous journalist if she had to stay in bad hotels and eat bad food? Read story

story: Papua New Guinea. This folk story involves a masalai (a large  ugly cannibal, similar to an ogre). Read story

story: South Africa - Coetzee's novels. Read synopses of some of the novels of Nobel prize winning writer, South African J.M. Coetzee, and then compare them. Read stories

cartoon: Australia. "What do you get if you cross a kangaroo with a sheep?" See cartoon

cartoon: Canada. "What animal is that?" "It's a moose from Canada." "A moose? Och! They must ..." See cartoon

cartoon: India. "Pleased to meet you." "Charmed ..." See cartoon

cartoon: Kenya. "I can boast citizenship of an east African country." "Can ya?" No, ... " See cartoon

cartoon: New Zealand. "This is the key we New Zealanders have been searching for!" See cartoon

cartoon: Nigeria. "What's thick, black, floats on water, and uses lots of bad words?". See cartoon

cartoon: Papua New Guinea. "What language do you think he speaks?" "Pidgin". See cartoon

cartoon: South Africa. "Do the tours include safaris? " See cartoon

trivia: Numbers: average deaths per year in Australia caused by: horses: 21; bees: 10; snakes: 1.6; sharks: 1.25; dogs: 0.65 See more Australia trivia

trivia: Number. 800: the number of shops and restaurants in the West Edmonton Mall, in Alberta, Canada. It is the largest shopping centre in the world and also has a dolphin show and the world's largest indoor lake with four working submarines. See more Canada trivia

trivia: Proverbs: The cobra will bite you whether you call it cobra or Mr. Cobra. See more India trivia

trivia: Proverb: All cassavas have the same skins but not all taste the same. See more Kenya trivia

trivia: Numbers: Nearly 40% of the population of New Zealand has no religious affiliation. See more New Zealand trivia

trivia: Wordplay: UBURUBU (a town in Nigeria) is a palindrome (a word or group of words that is the same whether you read it forwards from the beginning or backwards from the end). See more Nigeria trivia

trivia: Thing: the Hooded pitohui is a jay-sized endemic New Guinean songbird which is the first documented poisonous bird. See more Papua New Guinea trivia

trivia: Number: 2: the number drops of black mamba venom that can kill a person south africa trivia

poll: Canada. "What do you most associate with Canada?" See results

history: India. Bhopal massacre | Black Hole of Calcutta

history: South Africa. Mandela trial | Mandela released | Apartheid repeal

history: Uganda. Amin coup | Operation Entebbe

links: Wikipedia: Commonwealth of Nations See more links

links: Wikipedia: Australia See more links

links: Wikipedia: Canada See more links

links: The World Fact Book: India See more links

links:  Wikipedia: Kenya See more links

links: Wikipedia: New Zealand See more links

links: Wikipedia: Nigeria See more links

links: Wikipedia: Papua New Guinea See more links

links: Wikipedia: South Africa See more links

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