President of a New Country

January 20th is the historic inauguration of the first African American president of the United States. Barack Obama will become the 44th president along with Joe Biden as vice president, and the ceremony will be watched in person by an estimated four million people in Washington, D.C. and perhaps a billion more people around the world on TV and over the Internet.

For a twist on Inauguration Day, when the new U.S. president and vice president are sworn in, have students become the "president" of a new, fictional country. To begin, give each student a copy of a CultureGrams World Edition country report, and have him or her read it before class.

Conduct an in-class discussion to help students draw connections between categories. Discuss how history or religion can impact economy, how land and climate might influence transportation, how general attitudes could affect visiting, etc.

Assign each student to create his or her own fictitious country of which he or she may choose to be the president. They must then write a CultureGrams report for that country. Inform students of the following rules:

Students need to follow the natural cause-and-effect principles in geography and history. Meaning, if a student creates a desert-like country, he or she cannot have an economy based on the production of tropical fruits. The student's CultureGrams report for his or her fictitious country should include all of the same categories and subcategories as an actual CultureGrams report.

• Have the students get together in smaller groups (about four to five per group) and have them analyze how their countries would get along. Which countries would trade with one another?
• What political problems might arise? Which country would hold most of the resources? What alliances would develop and why?

As an extension activity, have the Social Studies and Language Arts teachers form a panel to judge the students' CultureGrams reports based on writing and plausible connections between categories (i.e., plausible geography/history scenario). Post the winner on your school or library website.

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