Multicultural societies

During the time I have studied International English this year, I have read about both multicultural USA and multicultural Britain, and in this text I will write a little about them both.

The USA has looked upon multiculturalism more as a source of strength and renewal than of conflict. This is contrary to many other countries. Through much of the American history, immigrants accepted that when they came to the country they had to pledge allegiance. But today, many hyphenated Americans, especially Mexican-Americans, are not assimilating. Many put their own traditions, values and languages above integration into the US society. Hispanics can, for instance, vote in Spanish and take their driver's license exam in Spanish.

The US Census Bureau estimates for 2005 show that about 33 percent of the total US population is part of a racial or ethnic minority group.

In Britain, the immigrants have historically come from Ireland, India, Pakistan and the Caribbean. This is no longer the case. Today, the immigrants are often younger and come from countries outside the Commonwealth, like for instance Eastern Europe. New figures also show that immigration is increasingly motivated by economic factors, more so than by family grounds which used to be more common in the past. Britain has a policy of multiculturalism: they're allowing people of different cultures to settle without expecting them to integrate into society. Britain is now one of the most culturally diverse societies in the world.

 

I took the picture here 

Narnia

Today, we watched Narnia during English class. Narnia was written by C.S. Lewis between 1949 and 1954. The movie is about four siblings who are sent away from their mother because there is a war where they live. They are going to live in a big house with a professor and a woman. In the house, Lucy, the youngest of them, finds a big closet. She hides in there while playing hide and seek, and she experiences something strange. Inside the closet there is a whole world, Narnia. Then she brings her brothers and sister to Narnia where they fight the witch and finally they become kings and queens of Narnia.

C.S. Lewis was an Irish-born British novelist, academic and essayist, among others. Lewis was good friends with J.R.R. Tolkien. They both taught at Oxford and they were both interested in literature and wrote fictional books. But Tolkien didn't think highly of Narnia. He didn't like the obvious Christian symbols, like the king being a lion - because this was a symbol for Christ who sacrificed his life but then he came back for a final battle against the evil. He also thought there were too many conflicting elements like for instance witches and talking animals that would confuse and overwhelm the children.
But despite this, they were good friends. And even though Tolkien didn't like the Narnia books, a lot of other people did and the books got very popular.  

I took the picture here 

December

Here in Norway, December is a cold month. We usually have a lot of snow during the winter in Norway, and this year we have a lot of snow already. To be honest, I really don’t like when it’s very cold outside and I don’t like a lot of snow either. But there is one thing that I like doing in the winter, when the cold doesn’t matter and the snow is needed: downhill skiing.

You see, my favorite thing to do in December is downhill skiing. I love to go to the mountains with my family and friends and go skiing. I am also very lucky because there is a downhill slope only 5 minutes from where I live. When the first snow falls after fall I have waited a whole year and I can’t wait to put my skis on. Even though I have to admit that it can be a little cold to go downhill skiing some times, especially in the lift. But that is the only time I think it is OK that it's a little cold outside, because I have so much fun that I almost don't notice.

I think downhill skiing is very social, because I never go skiing alone. For me, downhill skiing is about spending time with family and friends and having a good time.

I took the pictures from here and here 

English in South-East Asia

Today, we read three texts in our book “Worldwide”. I worked with Nooshin, and we chose to read the texts and then do the tasks.  The texts were called: “English in South-East Asia”, “The triumpf of Japanese English” and “Manga and anime”. They were all texts about English in South-East Asia and the last text was about Japanese comics and animated TV-shows.

From the first text I learned that after World War 2, some westerners looked upon Japan as a "boy of twelve", because they saw them as immature, childlike and dependent on America. They thought that the Japanese would easily accept Western systems and concepts, and become America's junior partner in Asia. But it didn't turn out like that: the Japanese have developed a lot and they have had a huge economic growth since World War 2. Japan have also become big on manga and anime. Manga are Japanese comics and anime are Japanese animated series, and they have both become very popular around the world.

I also read that Japanese people often understand English better than native English speakers, because they study English grammar very thoroughly. This is good, because it is very important for people in South-East Asia to know English. A lot of technology and things on the internet is in English, so mastery of English is becoming a key to success in South-East Asia, and especially India. In India, it is also much easier to get a job if you are good at English. Working at call centres is for example a common job for English speakers in India. Call centres are customer’s service for international companies. A criterion to get hired at a call centre is that one must have good English skills. The employers are required to have a neutral English accent, so the customers cannot guess that they are from India.

I think this was a very good way to spend the English-day. It is easy to learn when you can decide for yourself what you want to do and how you learn best. By reading all the texts and answering the tasks I learned a lot and hopefully I will remember some of it for a while.

Kite Runner - the movie

Last Friday we watched the kite runner at school. It was really nice to see the movie after we had read the book. We didn't see the entire movie, but I enjoyed the part we saw. As it usually is, the book and the movie were a little different from each other. In the movie, you don't see the characters minds and their thoughts, but in the book we could read Amir’s thoughts almost all the time.
One of the tasks we had regarding the book was to write about five specific paragraphs from it, and link them to different topics, like for instance conflict or relationship. Then, we were supposed to explain why we chose them. While we watched the movie we were asked to try to see how one of these paragraphs was interpreted in the movie. The paragraph I chose to look for in the movie was linked to conflict, and here it is:

“Sometimes I look out this window and I see him playing around on the street with the neighborhood boys. I see how they push him around, take his toys from him, give him a shove here, a whack there. And, you know, he never fights back. Never.. he just … drops his head and… “So he’s not violent,” Rahim Khan said.” “That’s not what I mean, Rahim, and you know it,” Baba shot back. “There is something missing in that boy”.

In this paragraph Amir is listening to a conversation about him between his father and a friend, Rahim Khan. This paragraph from the book is very similar in the movie. The conversation and what they say is almost identical to what it says in the book. We see Amir outside the room, listening, and everything is actually almost like I pictured it while reading the book! I often experience that when I am reading a book, I picture everything I read in my mind. And then, if I watch the movie after reading, everything is so very different from what I pictured. But in this case, with this paragraph, it was very close.

So far I really liked the movie, and I'm looking forward to see the rest!

I took the picture here

Advice to fellow students!

At school, our teacher gave us a link to this article, and I thought I would write a very short entry about it here! The text is about use of facebook while studying. "Students who use facebook while studying for exams score significantly lower grades than those who do not," according to this study. It also says that three quarters of the students who used facebook while studying didn't believe it had a negative impact on their studies. I think a lot of students all over the world can identify with this. Many are probably convinced that using facebook while studying is not a negative thing, but after reading this article it may change a few views... So, no more facebook people! :)

I got the picture here

The Kite Runner

As i mentioned earlier, we are reading The Kite Runner in class. I really like the book so far, and I am glad we're reading it. The story is very touching and well written. It is also very credible, and I actually thought it was based on a true story at first. I think my favorite paragraph of the book so far is the very first one. When I read it for the first time, I didn't quite understand what it meant or what he was talking about. But when I read it again after reading the rest of the book, it all made sense. I think that it is a very well written paragraph; it is revealing something, but not at all too much! Here it comes:

"I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975. I remember the precise moment, crouching behind a crumbling mud wall, peeking into the alley near the frozen creek. That was a long time ago, but it's wrong what they say about the past, I've learned, about how you can bury it. Because the past claws its way out. Looking back now, I realize I have been peeking into that deserted alley for the last twenty-six years."