January 2005
An enewsletter for CultureGrams™ subscribers
This month's Culture Matters enewsletter will help teachers, librarians, administrators, and students stay informed about the world's cultures, while providing classroom resources and giving tips for using CultureGrams. Check out our online archive for access to past issues.
Regional Focus
This month: South America
Next month: The Middle East
In this issue:
- Notes for CultureGrams Users
- Did You Know?
- Holiday Focus/Upcoming World Holidays
- Teaching Idea: Ruler of a New Country
- South America Quiz
- Cultural Wisdom: South American Proverbs
- In the News: Pensions for Torture Victims in Chile
- Email Service Information
1. Notes for CultureGrams Users
Remember that the CultureGrams database provides access to a searchable list of more than 4,000 words in our Glossary of Cultural Terms. The terms can be sorted by the CultureGrams country report in which they appear or by the initial letter of each word. If you have a specific word in mind, you can also type all or part of the word into the search box, and you'll get a list of matching results.
Here's a search tip: You don't have to worry about typing diacritical marks such as ñ or ö into the search box--just type in the words without any special characters. Check out the searchable and sortable database here.
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2. Did You Know? Tidbits from CultureGrams
- Brazil is the largest country in South America and the fifth largest country in the world. At 3,286,488 square miles (8,511,965 square kilometers) it is more than twice the size of India and larger than the United States, if you don't include Alaska. Brazil also has the world's fifth largest population (184,101,109) and eighth largest economy (US$1.375 trillion).
- Although most South Americans speak either Spanish or Portuguese, people in Guyana speak English, people in Suriname speak Dutch and English, and people in French Guiana speak--you guessed it--French.
- Argentines eat more beef per capita than any other people in the world. This is partly because the country is a major producer of beef, so local prices are usually low enough to allow most people to eat beef every day.
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3. World Holidays
Holiday Focus: Children's Day in Uruguay
Uruguay has a long history of keeping church and state separate. For this reason, some religious holidays also have an alternative, nonreligious holiday on the same day. For example, Christmas (25 December) is also known as Family Day. Children's Day is then celebrated on 6 January, the same day as a Catholic holiday called Epiphany (celebrating the visit of the three wise men who gave gifts to the baby Jesus). On Children's Day, Uruguayan children may receive a few more gifts, in addition to what they received at Christmas.
Some January World Holidays:
Greece – St. Basil's Day (a day of gift-giving) – 1 Jan.
Haiti – New Year's and Independence Days – 1 Jan.
Taiwan – The Republic of China's Founding Day – 1 Jan.
Armenia – Christmas – 6 Jan.
Bolivia – Three Kings' Day (children receive gifts) – 6 Jan. (This holiday is also celebrated in much of Latin America and European nations. It may be called Epiphany or Feast of the Magi.)
Ethiopia – Christmas – 7 Jan. (Christmas is also celebrated on this day in Orthodox Christian European nations.)
Japan – Adults' Day (all who turn 20 during the year are honored as coming of age) – 15 Jan.
Mexico – Día de San Antonio (St. Anthony's Day, children honor the patron saint of domestic animals by having pets blessed by a priest) – 17 Jan.
United States – Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday – 17 Jan.
Lesotho – Army Day – 20 Jan.
Australia – Australia Day (commemorates arrival of European settlers) – 26 Jan.
Rwanda – Democracy Day – 28 Jan.
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4. Teaching Idea: Ruler of a New Country
Note: this activity can be adapted for use with any world region.
Summary: Students will create a fictional country using sound geographical, historical, and cultural principles and write a CultureGrams country report for that country.
Curriculum standards: Conforms to the National Council for the Social Studies' curriculum standards for: Culture (I. c.): Apply an understanding of culture as an integrated whole that explains the functions and interactions of language, literature, the arts, traditions, beliefs and values, and behavior patterns; People, Places, and Environments (III. e.): Describe, differentiate, and explain the relationships among various regional and global patterns of geographic phenomena such as landforms, soils, climate, vegetation, natural resources, and population; and Global Connections (IX. b.): Explain conditions and motivations that contribute to conflict, cooperation, and interdependence among groups, societies, and nations.
Conforms to the National Center for History in the Schools's curriculum standards for History (Era 9 standard 2): The search for community, stability, and peace in an interdependent world.
Materials: CultureGrams World Edition; outside research may be necessary
Instructions:
1. Give each student a copy of a CultureGrams country report and have him or her read it before class.
2. Conduct an in-class discussion to help students draw connections between categories. Discuss how history or religion impact economy, how land and climate impact transportation, how general attitudes affect visiting, etc.
3. Assign each student to create his or her own fictitious country of which he or she may choose to be the ruler. Inform students of the following rules:
a. 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.
b. The student's CultureGram for his or her fictitious country should include all of the same categories and subcategories as an actual CultureGram.
Follow-up:
1. Have the students get together in smaller groups (about 4-5 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?
2. Have the social studies and language arts teachers form a panel to judge the students' CultureGrams based on writing and plausible connections between categories (i.e., plausible geography/history scenario). Post the winner on the school web site.
How do you use CultureGrams? Submit your teaching ideas using CultureGrams today!
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5. South America Quiz
1. Which country has the highest waterfall in the world?
2. In which two countries was the ancient Inca Empire centered?
3. What herbal tea is popular in South American countries such as Argentina and Bolivia?
4. What is the highest navigable body of water in the world?
5. Which country is named after Christopher Columbus?
Answers: 1) Venezuela (Angel Falls is 3,212 feet or 979 meters high); 2) Peru and Ecuador; 3) Mate (MAH-tay); 4) Lake Titicaca (12,500 feet, or 3,810 meters) is shared equally by Bolivia and Peru; 5) Colombia (note the difference in spelling).
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6. Cultural Wisdom: South American Proverbs
Note: You could write one of these on the blackboard every week, discuss how proverbs reflect cultural values, or ask students to find an English proverbial equivalent.
"Blood is inherited and virtue is acquired." (Venezuela)
"Better alone than in bad company." (Brazil)
"Better to lose a minute in your life than your life in a minute." (Uruguay)
"Hands that give also receive." (Ecuador)
"Contrary breeze ah mek crow and eagle light on one line (in English Creole)." In English it literally means "Strong winds may force a crow and an eagle to land in the same place," or figuratively, "When there is trouble, sometimes enemies must work together." (Guyana)
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7. In the News: Chile Approves Pensions for Torture Victims
On November 29, Chilean president Ricardo Lagos announced that the government had concluded that torture had been a state policy under the military regime of Augusto Pinochet and that victims of torture should receive a lifetime pension. The pension is equal to about $190 a month--or roughly the Chilean minimum wage. The move is one of several that Chile has made in recent years in attempts to heal the wounds of its past.
Pinochet was backed by the United States and the Chilean military when he overthrew socialist president Salvador Allende in 1973. He dissolved congress, suspended the constitution, and banned all political parties. During his dictatorship--which lasted until 1990--more than 3,000 Chileans disappeared or were executed, and thousands more suffered repeated torture. After he allowed the presidency to be transferred to an elected leader, Pinochet still maintained control of the military and occupied a seat in the senate until 2002. Because of Pinochet's poor health, it is unclear whether he will ever be prosecuted for his crimes, but Chileans are seeking other ways to compensate his victims and their families.
To read more about Chile's geography and people, access the CultureGrams report for Chile.
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8. Email Service Information
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Cordially,
Your ProQuest K-12 Team
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