TESOL Методика преподавания английского языка носителям разных языков

Этот вопрос корнями уходит в ранее христианство.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Week-day_names#Starting_Sunday

Поскольку UK/USA исторически с христианством очень сильно связаны – Рождество чуть ли не самый главный праздник всех времён и народов, то традиция считать именно воскресенье первым днём недели более правильная.

Starting Sunday

For the majority of the Abrahamic religions the first day of the week is Sunday. The Sabbath, Saturday, when God rested from his creation week, made the following day, Sunday, the first day of the week. Saturdays were sanctified for celebration and rest. After the week was adopted in Early Christian Europe, Sunday remained the first day of the week, but also gradually displaced Saturday as the day of celebration and rest, being considered the Lord’s Day.

Вообще неделя начинается в английском с воскресенья (Sunday is the first day of the week), а вот рабочая неделя может начинаться с любого дня, чаще – с понедельника. По стандартам ISO – официально понедельник первый день рабочей недели.

А вот что до стишков для заучивания последовательности дней недели, то классический Соломон Гранди лучше всего подходит:

    Solomon Grundy,
    Born on a Monday,
    Christened on Tuesday,
    Married on Wednesday,
    Took ill on Thursday,
    Grew worse on Friday,
    Died on Saturday,
    Buried on Sunday.
    That was the end of
    Solomon Grundy.

"Solomon Grundy" is a 19th century children’s nursery rhyme, and was presented by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps in 1842. The poem is essentially a riddle in which the life of Solomon Grundy appears to take place in the process of a single week, the answer being that each day’s events represent the seven ages of man.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_Grundy