Feedback on last lesson Wednesday, 15th January 2014

Last lesson, we finished what we had started on the previous lesson and it was very
interesting! On Tuesday, we started by talking about a new concept which is multiculturalism.
In order to introduce this new topic, the teacher bought us some pictures of some places
where she had already been, so that we could see how many different cultures can exist in the
same country.

First of all, on Tuesday, the teacher showed us some pictures of South Africa and we started
talking about this country which is very different from ours. We discovered that this country
has two different realities. On the one hand, there is the rich part, where tourists can stay and
where the white and rich people live, but on the other hand, there is also the poor part, which
is called Soweto and that`s where the black and poor people live. We also talked about a very
important personality who fought against Apartheid, who was Nelson Mandela (in South
Africa). In the rest of the world, there wasn`t Apartheid, but there was segregation, which
means that people from different cultures had very complicated relationships. The teacher
also told us about Rosa Parks, who was the first black woman giving birth to a bus boycott.
One day, when she got on the bus, she sat on the white people`s place, since the other seats Commented [LB1]: Simple past
were occupied and then she was arrested and the boycott started. Martin Luther King always
defended Rosa Parks and just like Mandela, he was an anti-apartheid activist in the USA. In
addition to this, we learnt that Africans are the Natives from South Africa and Zulu is a tribe of
South Africa natives. This tribe has lots of rituals where they can show their strength. To
summarise, we can say that in South Africa there are lots of different cultures, and although
everyone lives in the same country, they don`t have the same rights and duties. While there
are some people who live in amazing places, there are also some people who live in deep
poverty and they don`t even have a roof to sleep under.

After this, we travelled to Australia. I must say that this was my favourite country! Aborigenes
are the native people from Australia! This country has a huge variety of fauna and flora and,
fortunately, the government wants to preserve it. Because of this, the teacher showed us lots
of ads which were social service ads. These ads aim to make people aware of the environment
around them. There are two that I recall very well, which were the one which said to check
under our cars if there was any penguin and, the other one, asked people to step on the grass
and that was a way of saving money and the environment too. We also saw Urulu, which is the
most famous religious monument in Australia and we learnt a very interesting fact: Koalas
sleep almost 20 hours a day, because they are always stoned. These animals eat eucalyptus
leaves that are used to produce drugs and that`s why they are only awake for less than 4 hours
a day. Australia is a country that has people from all over the world and, because of that, they
have a very strict policy for immigrants: When Australia is lacking professionals in a certain
area, they ask people with the degree that they need to go to their country. Then, they choose
the younger ones, because they`ll love the country and they`ll want to stay there. People in
Australia are always happy and healthy, since everyone has the same rights and duties.

Then, we travelled to Scotland, which capital is Edinburgh and we saw some interesting
pictures. Firstly, the teacher showed us Lock Ness, and then we saw some men wearing the
traditional dressing code: the kilt. The kilt is a skirt made by tartan (belongs to tribes). We also
saw the traditional bag-piper and at the end we concluded that there are lots of people from
the UK living in Scotland.

The last place that we went to, on Tuesday, was Canada. At first, the teacher showed us three
different pictures, an Indian camping, Mexican people and a bag-piper and we couldn`t
understand which country it was. Then the teacher told us that it was Canada and she
explained that it was a Mosaic Society. A Mosaic Society is a society which has lots of different
races and cultures, but people respect each other all the time, just like the mosaics that have
different colours and shapes, but they always combine together. This is only possible, because
Canada also has a very strict policy for immigrants and everyone is respected and equal to
everyone. Thanks to this, people who go there always want to stay there and they can always
get a better life.

On Wednesday, we continued our incredible journey and we travelled to New Zealand. This
time, the teacher showed us pictures of an active volcanic and thermal area and also some
geysers and lakes. After this, we talked about the Maori, the native people from New Zealand,
who create their own clothes and the teacher explained that this country has two different
parts: The South, where there are lots of farm lands and whose capital is Wellington, and also Commented [LB2]: Possession relative clause
the North where there is the volcanic area and the capital is Auckland. In New Zealand, there
are also some interesting species, among them, they have the Kea, a very dangerous species
that we can see everywhere, the Qiwi, which is in danger of extinction, and the MOA, which
was a typical bird from New Zealand, but nowadays, it is completely extinct. When we refer to
fauna and flora, we must say that, unlike Australia that only respects them, New Zealand, Commented [LB3]: Two things
actually cares about all the animals and plants that they have and that`s the reason why they
create such good living conditions for these beings all over the country. We also discovered
that the British were the first to arrive to New Zealand and the rest of the world arrived there
and nowadays it is considered a multicultural society.

After this stop, we went straight to England and we started by seeing some pictures from the
famous Stonehenge and also from some Roman statues and baths (the places where the
Romans went in order to take a bath). This means that England has been influenced by
different cultures all over the year. From here, we started to explore different parts of England
and we got to London, the most cosmopolitan city in the world. This means that we can see
lots of different people, from different countries all over the city. There`s an aspect about
London that I found very peculiar: the fact that, at local markets, for instance, people serve
themselves and put the money they have to pay for their groceries in a box. For me, this is an
example of civilization and, most of all, respect and education for the sellers and the other
buyers. The teacher also told us about the beefeaters and the ravens that protected the crown
jewels. Our next stop was Liverpool and we were able to see some pictures from the Beatles
Museum and then we moved to Wales. I really liked the pictures from Wales! I loved the
cottage (typical farm houses) and the green landscape. In Wales, the students have very strict
rules that they have to respect. Every day, they arrive at 8 o`clock and they go straight to the
gym where their tutors see who`s absent and then they only leave the school when they
completely finish their classes. They also have a very good behaviour. The capital of Wales is
Cardiff and there, there`s the Castle of Cardiff.
Just to finish our journey, the teacher took us to the United States of America! We saw some
pictures from very well-known places, such as The Walk of Fame and The Universal Studios in
Los Angeles. We also saw the hotels of Las Vegas and each one of them represented a different
country. After seeing this, the teacher showed us the other side of the USA. We saw the Brice
Canyon, which is a natural park and also Yellowstone, which is the most varied park of all. We
also saw some pictures from Alaska with lots of glaciers. I also enjoyed seeing the desert and a
rodeo that is very typical in the western USA, just like the buffalo. We then jumped to San
Francisco and we saw the famous bridge of San Francisco that is very similar to our 25th April
Bridge, since it was designed by the same architect. We discovered a very weird thing, which is
the fact that there are some stores that sell Christmas items all along the year and since dears
and moose are very typical in San Francisco, one owner called his/her store “Moose be
Christmas” instead of “Must be Christmas”. Last, but not least, we saw Alcatraz, which is a
prison in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for very dangerous prisoners. The USA is definitely an
amazing example of a multicultural society, since there is everything we can think of, from
beautiful glaciers to The Walk of Fame.

And this was the end of our trip along all these English Speaking countries! But before ending
the discussion on this topic, our teacher introduced some nice concepts that aimed to be used
in order to live in a multicultural society. These concepts were proposed by the USA. The first
one was called Melting Pot and it consisted of fusing all the different cultures together and
create a new one. This concept didn´t last longer, since the USA realized that people from
different cultures would lose their identities and they wouldn`t be happy at all. That is the
reason why they proposed another concept called Salad Bowl. This meant that people from
different cultures, with different traditions and habits, live together in society and are
accepted for what they are. Something different is when they also have a good relationship,
which is a concept known as interculturalism.

Before the end of the class, we read a little poem about our society and we realized that we
must be thankful for being different from everyone but we always have to fight for our rights
and also accomplish our duties. It doesn`t matter our race, culture, genre, beliefs, religion,
political opinions, sexual orientation, we all have to be accepted for what we are and we
always have to be respected by everyone!

VG, but, Sara, again you can’t have read your text back before sending it to me...

Excellent