(At the following of what we did last time)

Many years later, Aboriginals asked for an apology to the Canadian government for them to recognize their wrongdoings. In fact, they were accused of having committed a cultural genocide. Before that acknowledgement everything that happened to the Aboriginals was denied and silenced. Moreover, the apology was followed by the creation of a Truth and Reconciliation Committee in order to include the Indigenous peoples in the Canadian society for everyone to live together peacefully and harmoniously. The Aboriginals were overjoyed and moved when they heard the apology as they were finally heard and respected. To finish with, Canada is the only Wester country to have created a Truth and Reconciliation commission in order to recognized their past wrongdoings.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

Be ready for the Final Task: Thursday, December 7th

Promote your Province

You work for the Canadian Immigrant Fair website and you are asked to promote your province / territory to encourage potential immigrants to settle in your area. 

You will need to work in pair (Be ready for 6 to 7min of presentation):

Þ    Choose a province or a territory.

Þ    Present briefly your province / territory (history, geography, economy…).

Þ    Explain what makes it attractive to young immigrants.

Þ    Use visual aids (PowerPoint, videos, pictures, maps…) to make your presentation livelier and more dynamic.

 (At the following of what we did last time)

Many years later, the Canadian government led by Justin Trudeau acknowledged the cultural genocide over the Indigenous people. In fact, before this declaration by Justice Murray Sinclair, no one ever mentioned about the terrible past Aboriginals had to go through. Hence, Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister, apologized in the name of Canada. Aboriginals were very touched/moved. Indeed, they were finally heard and recognized. It is interesting to note that Canada is the only Western country to officially apologize to peoples from the First Nations. On top of that, they created the Truth and Reconciliation Committee in order to connect with the two groups to live in harmony and peacefully together.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

Be ready for the Final Task: Thursday, December 7th

Promote your Province

You work for the Canadian Immigrant Fair website and you are asked to promote your province / territory to encourage potential immigrants to settle in your area. 

You will need to work in pair (Be ready for 6 to 7min of presentation):

Þ    Choose a province or a territory.

Þ    Present briefly your province / territory (history, geography, economy…).

Þ    Explain what makes it attractive to young immigrants.

Þ    Use visual aids (PowerPoint, videos, pictures, maps…) to make your presentation livelier and more dynamic.

Unit 2: New York and other Big Cities

Axe: The City, The neighborhood and the village  

What makes a big City?

A big city is a popular town, such as New York, Los Angeles, Paris… Usually, big cities have an international influence and a sort of soft power. A big city usually has a political organization. Most of the time tourism is an important economic factor for a city, around 10% of the GDP (Gross domestic Product). Moreover, in big cities, tourism generates a lot of job opportunities for its inhabitants but also for immigrants who chose to live there.

Besides, in  a big city there are a lot of inhabitants, on top of that many celebrities live there.

A big city has international, political, cultural and economic influences. It also has an international connection. Its mythical reputation and rich entertainment explain its attractiveness and its touristic aspects.

In addition, many ethnic groups live together in big cities.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

Synthesis Method

Wikipedia

Key Questions examples:

-Wikipedia is an international website of free knowledge, how can it teach us about fighting against disinformation and bias problems?

-How did Wikipedia adapt to fight disinformation and diminish bias?

-How did Wikipedia go from one of the most criticized encyclopedia to one of the most reliable and most used?

-How did Wikipedia manage disinformation bias problems?

Key Question selected: How did Wikipedia go from one of the most criticized encyclopedia to one of the most reliable and most used?

Possible outline :

I.                    People’s opinions about Wiki

II.                 The uprising of Wikipedia’s reliability

III.               A collaborative platform

 (At the follwoig of what we di last time)

In Singapore They made it illegal to spread fake news. Meaning if anyone did spread false information they could be prosecuted. According to them, it is a question of security in order to act for the safety of the public.

One of the limits is that governments can have the power to judge if the information given is right or wrong and they can also ask to correct it. Besides, they can also contact the tech companies to ask them to block accounts that are spreading wrong information.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

 Truth and Reconciliation is Canada

The document under study is a video that introduces what were the Residential schools by a survivor. The name of this survivor is Chief Robert Joseph. He is an Aboriginal who, as a child, went to a Residential School.

Residential schools were an institution made by the Canadian government 100 years ago for Indigenous children. The goal was to erase the Indigenous culture to make them assimilate to the Canadian one. We count over 150,000 Aboriginal children who attended these schools. The last school closed in 1996.

In these schools, boys and girls were segregated. On top of that, they were forced to convert to Christianism. Moreover, they suffered physical abuses such as the fact that they tried to change the color of their skin, their hair was cut and burnt. It was a traumatic experience for them. As a consequence, they did not learn any social skills, therefore a large proportion of them sank into addiction such as alcoholism and violence when they became adults.

(We will continue the study of the video on Thursday. be ready!)

Homework: Learn the lesson.

 Tensions between the Aboriginals and the Canadian Government

The document under study is an article from the British newspaper The Guardian written by L. Cecco published in 2019. It deals with a conflict of appropriation of lands between the Canadian government and the Indigenous peoples.

The conflict started during the colonial times and still have an impact today. In fact, the Canadian government wants to build pipelines on the Aboriginals’ lands without asking them as these lands belong to the Aboriginals. However, for the Canadian government, these lands belong to them. This creates a disagreement between the Canadian and the Aboriginals, as a result the aboriginals started to protest against the Canadian government. They are denouncing the lack of understanding and acknowledgment of the Canadian government over the Indigenous’ situation.

On top of that, the Canadian government is taking advantage over the Aboriginals while the latter want to protect their rights and lands.

To conclude, we can think that a peaceful treaty should be put in place between the two parties to ease the tensions and respect the Aboriginals’ rights. Moreover, the Canadian government should acknowledge their wrongdoings and respect Aboriginals’ rights in the future.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

 Tensions between the Indigenous peoples and the Canadian Government.

The document under study is an article from The Guardian, a British newspaper, written by L. Cecco, published in 2019. It is about tensions between the Indigenous and the Canadian government. In fact, the Canadian government want to build a pipeline on the Indigenous’ territory without their will/consent. As a result, Aboriginals are protesting against the Canadian government to stop their unfair invasion. Indeed, they want to protect their lands and denounce the fact that the Canadian government is not respecting the Aboriginals’ rights.

Therefore, either Canada change and respect Aboriginals rights and the relationship between them will be better or, the Canadian government won’t change the situation and continue to step over the Indigenous peoples, the tensions between them will worsen.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

 Celebrities refusing to take selfies with their fans

The document under study is news report about the reasons why some celebrities refuse to take selfies with their fans.

The first one that is mentioned is the famous British actress, Emma Watson, who refuses to take selfies with fans because she does not want to be tracked. In fact, if someone takes a picture with her, people can know her location, what she is wearing who she is with… Therefore she prefers to stay safe and refuse to take any selfies with her fans.

The second one is Chris Pratt, an American actor. He refuses to be taken in picture with fans because he wants to feel normal. Indeed, according to him, when you take a selfie, you are not enjoying the moment, on the contrary, you still it just to brag/boast about it later.

The third celebrity is Jennifer Lawrence, an American actress. Even if she loves meeting her fans, she does not like to have a camera on her face when she does not have make up on in order to avoid negative comments on her looks in the tabloids.

Homwork: Learn the lesson.

 (At the following of what we did last time)

In reality, Queen Elisabeth was played by  an actress Debra Stephenson. The goal of this video was to warn people and make them aware that deep fake technology was more commonly used than they would think. Moreover, to show that we can no longer trust our eyes. On top of that, we should be concerned about this technology as it makes us believe anything and it could be a social threat. However, it is not necessarily the case for sharing of the news. Nevertheless, the main problem would be the use of deep fakes in created videos in which we would see famous people acting and saying things they would have never done or said. In fact, their image would be used against their will .To conclude, to handle deep fakes governments should put in place policies, rules and regulations to control them. As individuals, there is nothing we can do except using our judgement as we have no power to stop them.

A Warning to American Lawmakers

The document under study is an article from The Verge, posted on their website in December 2019. It deals with the complexity of making laws regarding the circulation of the information on the internet. With the example of the Youtube CEO, we can read that it is complicated for her to manage/handle censorship while letting people expressing themselves openly.

(We will study the rest of the text on Tuesday. Be ready!) 

Homework: Learn the lesson.

 Aboriginal Peoples Fact Sheet

The document under study is a chart that compares the social condition of Aboriginal people and non-Aboriginal people in Canada. We can notice huge differences and an unbalance between the two groups. We see that Aboriginals are heavy drinkers and smoke a lot, certainly because they are poorer and many of them are unemployed. In addition, there are more Aboriginal people in prison because of the fact that they are less employed and use their free time to do illegal things. For some for them, it is a desperate act. On top of that, they cannot afford to go to the university to get a correct education. Besides, they are the ones who are the most victims of violent crimes as they are discriminated against because of their looks and traditions.

Even though Canada is seen as a tolerant and welcoming country towards immigrants, they are hypocrite to the people from the First Nations as they were already there when the European colonizers came to Canada. Indeed, they did not respect their traditions and cultures. They neglecting them and we can still see the impact nowadays.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

 (At the following of what we did last time)

On top of that, these selfies can be very lucrative because they can have a bigger visibility and earn some money through sponsorships and have more followers and likes. In addition, the social networking sites get more popular because these selfies serve as advertisement for them. They also earn money thanks to these users. So far, over 200 selfie-related deaths have been reported, and 5 of them in the US this month.

People have a vicious reaction towards this type of selfies. In fact, they say the people who take this type of selfies are narcissistic and stupid.

To conclude, the aim of the recording is to warn about/raise awareness about/ make people aware of the negative impact of this addiction, which is a drawback of narcissism. In fact, people are risking their lives just to take the perfect picture, in order to gain a lot of followers and money for some. Moreover, these people are looking for a form of validation from their entourage. To finish with, it is in our human nature to want to be liked and appreciated, but we still have to be careful how we look for it.

Homework: Learn the lesson. Be ready for the Final Task on Friday.

 (At the following of what we did last time)

On top of that, these selfies are lucrative because they can help to gain followers and likes quickly on the social media platforms such as Instagram. Besides, they can also have sponsorship to raise money thanks to their dangerous positions. In addition, these selfies serve as advertisement for the social networking sites. So far, 200 selfies related death have been reported and 5 in the US in a month. Moreover, people react negatively to these deaths from selfies, in fact, they think these selfies are stupid and the people who try to take them are too narcissistic.

To conclude, the aim of this recording is to denounce/ warn about the dangers of  selfie obsession: the urge ( = a strong need) to always want to take the best picture. Indeed, people are not aware of the dangers of this obsession. This report can raise awareness of the drawbacks of this addiction. Furthermore, people put themselves in danger just for people to like them. It shows a part of our human nature meaning the desire to be validated by our entourage. It also highlights the notion of narcissism.

Homework: Learn the lesson. Be ready for the Final Task on Friday.

 An Attractive Country

The document under study is a video from Citizenship and immigration Canada published in 2015. It is about the process of becoming a Canadian citizen. The video gives an image of Canada as a welcoming country ready to accept immigrants from everywhere in the world without paying too much attention to their personal situations.

People are motivated to go to Canada because in their home countries there could be difficult situations such as war or poverty. Besides, Canada really helps immigrants to settle and to be successful in the country. The immigrants feel welcome in the country as if they were joining a family as they are greatly accompanied in their process of becoming a Canadian citizen. Their hopes are to live a better life and build a prosperous future.

It takes three years to become a Canadian citizen. The candidates have to learn about the geography and the history of Canada, but also the languages and its culture. In fact, eventually, they will have to take a citizenship test to validate their citizenship. The Canadian government is helping them a lot to succeed in the test for immigrants to feel welcome. On top of that, there are also security and health checks.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

 Deadly Selfies

The document under study is a news report on NPR (American radio) in which we can hear two people in an interview about deadly selfies. We have learned that selfie lovers mostly like to take pictures with bears. This is very dangerous because this wild animal can kill. One example of how people die while taking a selfie: at the Grand Canyon, when some tourists want to take the panoramic view of the place, they step back to the edge without paying attention and that is how they fall to their deaths.

Homework Learn the Lesson.

 A Very Attractive Country

The document under study is video from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, published in 2015. It is about the reasons why people are immigrating to Canada. We can see a lot of diversity with people from several ethnic groups and religions living together in Canada. Therefore, it promotes a positive image of the multiculturalism of Canada. In fact, it is an open-minded country has always welcomed immigrants from the beginning. It is stuck in its roots.

At first, people came from Europe and in the last centuries, there have been more people coming from Asia, Middle East and Africa. Indeed, they think Canada is a safe place to live in as these people were fleeing wars and conflicts in their home countries. Their goals are also to live in peace and have a better and prosperous future.

On top of that, the Canadian government helps a lot the new immigrants to settle and integrate the country easily. For immigrants to be accepted, they need to learn about the Canadian geography, history and languages. Besides, they need to learn the rights and the responsibilities to become a Canadian citizens. Moreover, they have to undergo security and health checks as well. Eventually, they will have to take a citizen test to check their knowledge and validate their candidacy to become citizen.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

 (At the following of what we did last time)

The other solution to stop the spread deep fakes could be to put the responsibility of what is posted on the social media platform on the leaders of these platforms. In fact, they should be able to sort everything out and control what their users are posting. In addition, on one hand, individuals should be more educated and more cautious about the content they see. On the other hand, they could be misled by the liar’s dividend, which is when someone says that a real video is fake, causing confusion in the public. It is interesting to know that the first goal of AI was created for machine learning purposes, not for the general public to use it. However, nowadays everybody can have access to AI and use it with bad intentions targeting politicians and famous people and can even have an impact on the national security.

Deep fake on the Queen

The document under study is an article from The Guardian, published in December 2020. It is about a deep fake which portrayed the Queen pronouncing her Christmas message broadcast on Channel 4.

The video was controversial because most people did not really like it because the use of the image of the Queen is not really respected. It also started a debate on the impact of deep fake technology and its consequences.

(We will continue the study of the text next week. Answer the rest of the questions Be ready!)

Homework: Learn the lessons.

 (At the following of what we did last time)

In order to solve this problem, technology companies, educational institutions and users should be more aware of the dangers of fake news and act on it. Moreover, the government should give the keys to people in order to check what is true or what is false. They could also work with journalists to rebuild trust. For the past decades, traditional media has changed the way they share the news. Indeed, it has become easier to access it through the internet. On top of that, the young people are checking their news online, especially through their mobile devices. In fact, it has become the new trend. To conclude, we should select the news we are interested in to avoid being overwhelmed. To do so, we should sign up for some news alerts to personalize the news we want to get.

The Impact of Deep Fakes 

The document under study is a recording NPR, an American radio station, published in 2019. It deals with a new source of fake news: deep fakes.

Deep fakes consist in reproducing familiar faces and the voices in a video or in an audio to create convincing contents that never took place. Artificial intelligence is mainly used to create deep fakes. The emergence of such technology can have an impact on our society on how we trust the news we receive. On top of that, this technology is becoming a national security concern. Indeed, the main problem of this technology is the fact that we can use a celebrity or any person with influence and make them say what we want. Moreover, as we know, the technology will progress, in the future it will be hard to distinguish real videos from fake ones. If we continue to use this technology without any legislation, we could go in the direction of a future where no videos can be trusted.

However, deep fakes can be created and shared all around the world therefore, it is harder to find the authors of the false information. That is the reason why the management of the problem is raised in every government now. Nevertheless, prosecuting someone from another country would be difficult.  

Fighting Disinformation

The document under study is an article from Brooking.edu, published in December 2017. It deals with the fight of disinformation in journalism. We have learned that nowadays, journalism has developed all over the world reaching more and more readers. Besides, everyone can have access to it and share any piece of news. However, it is also how false information or hoaxes have increased. As a result, less and less people are trusting newspapers or traditional media.

(We will continue the study of the document tomorrow. Be ready!)

 An Open-Minded Country…

The document under study is an extract from article published in 2014. It is about the reasons why Canada is considered the most tolerant country in the world.

We have learned that, in the last 20 years, 1% of the Canadian population was immigrants. Moreover, in 2012 there were 258,000 new immigrants in Canada. Finally, 5 million of them settled in Canada. Additionally, there are three political parties that are all pro-immigration. Besides, Canada is bordered by three oceans, therefore they serve as natural borders against the coming of a large amount of refugees. Hence, it is a way to control immigration from only one land border with the USA. On top of that, Canada is a liberal country, welcoming and tolerant regarding the differences and the different political parties encourage immigration.

To finish with, their Constitution was drafted in 1867 by the French and the British, it therefore set the roots for multiculturalism. This notion has been engraved / enshrined in the values of the Canadian people since the beginning.

Canada is the most tolerant country in the world as many people from different cultures rub shoulders together. Plus, its geography is seen as a tool to cultivate their tolerance. As they are a bit isolated, they are not threatened or influenced by anyone.

To conclude, the author seems very enthusiastic and he keeps trying to prove that Canada has done better in many fields than a lot of developed countries. Even more so, he is not objective as he uses the pronoun “we”, he himself is Canadian.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

 Is Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder?

Text A

The document under study is an extract from an article taken from the Telegraph, a British newspaper, published in 2014. It deals with the reason why young people are taking selfies and the consequences by posting them online.

In this article, beauty is defined by other social media users through their likes and shares. Therefore, we can say that here, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The journalist denounces that social media creates a negative body image and results in a lack of self-confidence.

Text B

The document under study is an extract from a song entitled “A book and a cover”, by Suzanne Vega, released in 1987. It deals with people judging other’s appearance. The singer is denouncing the fact that we should not judge people by their physical appearance but by the content of their character. In fact, according to her, physical beauty can be a lie as real beauty is related to what is inside yourself, your real personality and your behavior.

Text C

This text under study is an extract from a poem entitled “Endymion”, written by John Keats, a famous British poet, in 1818. He defines beauty as good feelings, something which is relaxing and soothing. Beauty contributes to your well-being. He denounces nothing, on the contrary he promotes the good effects of beauty.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

 Is Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder?

Text A

The document under study is an extract from a British newspaper, The Telegraph, published in 2014. It deals with the need of young people who want to attract attention by posting pictures of themselves online.

In this document, beauty is defined by getting likes and shares on one’s social media account. Therefore, here we can say that beauty is surely in the eye of the beholder.

The journalist denounces that to measure yourself image through likes and shares is eventually not a good thing/ not healthy. It can result to a lack of self-confidence.

Text B

The document under study is an extract from a song entitled “A book and a Cover” performed by Suzanne Vega, released in 1987. It deals with the fact that you cannot judge someone by their physical appearance but you can know who they really are by judging their character. In fact, for her, pictures are not the reality. Physical appearance is only an illusion, but the words you choose are the best tools to express your personality, your true beauty. She denounces the fact that you should not jump into conclusion when you see someone at first, you should take the time to get to know them before judging.

Text C

The document under study is a poem by the famous British poet John Keats, entitled “Endymion”, published in 1818. Keats defines beauty as a feeling and he compares it to joy and a sense of a soothing/relaxing sleep. For him, beauty contributes to your well-being. He denounces nothing, he rather promotes beauty and its good effects.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

Welcome to Canada

The document under study is a video shown during the ceremony of citizenship in Canada. It gives a positive image of Canada with many good aspects such as breathtaking/stunning landscapes home to a range of wild animals. It is also a very modern country developing new technologies and trying to be ecological. Moreover, this nation is still connected to its First Nations’ roots and has also embraced its European heritage. On top of that, it is a multicultural country: it is very peaceful and tolerant towards different communities and ways of life. Besides, it depicts a dynamic country where you can practice a lot of sports and activities such as hockey, track running, ice-skating, soccer…

The purpose of this video is to highlight how everyone is accepted in Canada and can find their place to prosper. Through this video, they wanted to show the newly naturalized citizens what type of community they will join and the rich background and history of Canada. To conclude, we can say that this video is very subjective as it only shows the positive sides of Canada. In fact, it is a romanticized version of the country in which not everything is said.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

 Welcome to Canada

The document under study is a video usually broadcast during the citizenship ceremony to welcome the newly citizens.

Canada is shown as a multicultural country that is also connected to its roots. Moreover, we can see its many famous sports such as soccer, hockey and ice-skating.

Through the music of the video, it gives us an idea of Canada as being a peaceful and tolerant country. Besides, the different impressive/ stunning/breathtaking landscapes and the different wild animals are in contrast with the big cities. Moreover, the strong economy of the country is also shown through the new technologies and the agriculture.

This video is to make the country more attractive. A good image of the country is depicted to make it seems like it is the perfect country to live in. The message is that everyone can have their place in this country. It is to welcome the new immigrants to show them what they are joining. Furthermore, the new naturalized citizens seem to be proud to become Canadian as we can see them holding Canadian flags.

To conclude, we only see the positive aspects of the country, which make the video subjective. In fact, it is a romanticized presentation of the country. At the same time, it is also well promoted.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

 Fake News, a Case Study

The document under study is an extract from an article published in 2009 on history.com. It deals with the very first fake news spread in America. On October 30^th, 1938 Orson Welles created a radio play about an alien invasion in the USA. A radio play is an audio theater played by real actors. Indeed, this one was very realistic due to the great actors and the sophisticated sound effects. On top of that, the mentioning of a professor brought a realistic scientific proof. Most listeners believed in the story and panicked. Indeed, many of them even asked for gas masks because they thought that they were all going to die. Some even tried to flee the country. As a consequence, Welles had to go back on air to calm people down and explain that it was only fiction. After this event, Welles thought that it would ruin his career. However, it was the opposite as he was offered a contract at Hollywood studio. He would later on direct some of the most famous American movies. To conclude, this event is still considered as one of the greatest hoaxes in America.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

Behind Fake News

The document under study is an infographic about how to spot fake news. It is made to raise awareness on the dangers of the spread of fake news, made by the IFLA.

We have learned that a source is where the information comes from. It can be a newspaper, social media, the radio, a TV channel, a website…

To distinguish between fake and real news we need to take into account two categories: the objective elements when we do some research to check the sources, dates, authors… and the subjective elements such as your personal biases or feelings to judge if the information is true or false.

The second document is also an infographic about how fake news has become a problem nowadays. We have learned that fake news mainly comes from social media, which people are consulting four times more than traditional news websites.

The document also warns us about the decrease of people’s trust in traditional mass media and the consequence is that  people are turning to alternative sources for their news.

When we compare and contrast the two documents, we noticed that the first document teaches how to spot fake news and how to avoid its spread. And the second document is explaining how fake news has spread quickly and how social media is a main source for fake news to go viral.

Homework: learn the lesson.