(At the following of what we did last time).

To vote: to go to the polls

Primaries: elections to choose candidates

Running mates: candidates running for President and Vice-President for the same party

To campaign: to express your policy and ask people to vote for you

Platforms: Party Policies

Tickets: The pair formed by the candidates for President and Vice-President.

We will continue the study of the American Presidential Elections afetr the fall break. Be ready!

Enjoy your vacation! 😉

 Kamala Harris On Tik Tok

We have learned that people generally like and welcome Harris’ presence on TikTok as she follows the trend easily. It is also easier for her to connect with people and for the citizens to understand better their leader in order to create trust. On top of that, people really enjoy/appreciate Harris’ presence on TikTok because it gives another version of her personality. Besides, she can be more herself on this platform than on TV shows.

On the other hand, her presence on TikTok can be seen as a form of propaganda because her content always includes nice effects and trending music. She wants to look nice and cool so that people will vote for her. Hence, some people will vote for her without even reading her program. However, we cannot blame her to use this strategy because it is not something personal, in fact, all the politics use social media for that same reason. It is not a choice it is a necessity to remain ahead in the electoral race.

Thanks to her content on TikTok, she gain momentum in reaction in the polls. It makes her closer to a young audience. Furthermore, this is also a way to defend her idea on a platform known for disinformation and fake news… To finish with, it has a real impact on her campaign because 18% of her voters are aged of 18 years old.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

Enjoy your break! 😉

 (At the following of what we did last time).

To vote: to go to the polls

Primaries: elections to choose candidates

Running mates: candidates running for President and Vice-President for the same party

To campaign: to express your policy and ask people to vote for you

Platforms: Party Policies

Tickets: The pair formed by the candidates for President and Vice-President.

We will continue the study of the American Presidential Elections afetr the fall break. Be ready!

Enjoy your vacation! 😉

Meta launches “teen accounts” for minors on Instagram

The document under study is an article from Le Monde, published on September 17^th, 2024. It deals with the reasons why Meta decided to change their regulations on Instagram.

Their goal is to protect young users aged from 13 to 17 years old from watching harmful contents. Indeed, they recently received many accusations that said that Meta was not protecting enough teenagers against the dangers of the Internet. The regulations will apply on Instagram only because this app is mostly used by teenagers.

This new feature started to be available on September 17^th in the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia. Then, at the end of the year, it will be available in France and in the rest of the European Union.

Teenagers will have automatically a private account. Minors under 13 will not be able to have an account. Minors who are allowed to have an account will not be able to see contents listed as sensitive by Meta. Moreover, the app filters offensive expression in private messages and in comments. Additionally, adults should be unable to contact minors if they are not following each other on Instagram. On top of that, notifications will be turned off between 10pm and 7am. To finish with, parents could put time limits in the app.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

 Meta Launches “teen accounts” for minors on Instagram

The document under study is an article from the English version of “Le Monde”, published on September 17^th 2024. It deals with the change of regulations that will happen on Instagram regarding teenage users.

Meta decided to change their regulations on Instagram to restrict users between 13 and 17 years old in order to protect them from harmful contents or images that are not nice to see and can be very shocking to watch at a young age. Indeed, beforehand, Meta was accused of not doing enough changes to secure minors on their platforms. The changes will be on Instagram mainly, because it is mainly used by teenagers.

This new feature will be available from September 17^th in several countries: the US, Canada, UK, Australia… then at the end of the year, it will be available in France and in the rest of the European Union.

On top of that, this new feature will make all the teen accounts automatically private. They will have the maximum protection against harmful videos, such as people fighting, nudity… Strangers will not be able to contact them if they are not following them. To finish with, the app will be blocked between 10pm and 7 am including the notifications.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

Unit 2: The Race to the White House, the American 2024 Presidential Elections.

Make America Vote Again

Axe: Citizenship and Virtual World

There are two main political parties: The Democratic Party: the Democrats, Democratic candidates.

The Republican Party: The Republicans, Republican candidates.

The Democrats are represented by a Donkey. Their color is blue.

The Republicans are represented by an Elephant. Their color is red.

The candidates:

For the Democratic Party:

President: Kamala Harris, 59. She was Senator for her home state California. She used to be Attorney General of California for 6 years. She has been the VP for Biden since 2021. She had already campaigned for the Presidential nomination in 2020.

 Vice-President: Tim Walz, 60. He is a former high school teacher and a former football coach. For 12 years he was a representative in Congress for Minnesota. Now, he is Governor for the same state.

For the Republican Party:

President: Donald Trump, 78. He was President from 2017 to 2021. He is originally a businessman, he never was in the political field before his election.

Vice President: JD Vance, 40. A Senator in Ohio since 2022. He was against Trump’s policies before Trump asked him to be his VP. He went to a law school and he used to work in finance.

The Election is held every 4 years. The traditional date is the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November.

The Voting Process:

In each state, citizens vote for a ticket è the popular vote

Each state has a fixed number of votes in the Electoral College.

Nationally the Electoral College votes for the President è the official winner.

Therefore, what is paradoxical is that a candidate can be elected without winning the popular vote.

The Timeline

-15 January 2024: The Primaries Began

-15-18 July 2024: The Republican Convention

19-22 August 2024: the Democratic Convention

-5 November 2024: Election Day

17 December 2024: The Electoral College meets

20 January 2025: Inauguration Day

 Homework: Learn the lesson.

 Presidential Ad Campaigns

Trump: Make America Great Again – Harris: We are not going back!

The documents under study are two ad campaigns: one from Donald Trump, the second one is from Kamala Harris.

Trump’s ad campaign tone is aggressive and combative. His video looks like a trailer for a movie. In fact, he is depicted as a hero who will save the country from the Democrats, the terrorists and any form of invasions.

Additionally, he is mocking Biden by highlighting his physical and mental weaknesses that weakened the country. As a result, the country is in decline because of Biden’s actions. On top of that, according to Trump, Biden put the country at risk: no one is safe in their home because of his bad decisions for the country. He wants to bring back a better economic situation. Furthermore, he is also sending a message to the rest of the world, saying that America has a strong military system and they are ready to defend themselves against anyone.

However/on the contrary to Trump, Harris’ ad campaign seems friendlier. Indeed, we can hear her speak directly to the people. She seems very engaged to the people: we see her exchanging with people, shaking their hands, posing for pictures. She seems very close to the citizens. In addition, in her video, everyone is smiling, looks joyful and happy, there is a good atmosphere. Everyone is welcome to join her. Moreover, the background music is a song from the famous African American singer Beyoncé entitled “Freedom”. This song emphasizes Harris’ message that she wants everyone to be free and live on equal footing.

 Homework: Learn the lesson.

 (At the following of what we did last time)

Timeline:

January 15^th 2024: The Primaries began.

July 15-18^th 2024: The Republican Convention

August 19-22th 2024: The Democratic Convention

November 5^th 2024: Election Day

December 17^th 2024: The Electoral College will meet to vote for the winner.

January 20^th 2025: Inauguration Day

-To vote: To go to the polls

-Primaries: Elections to choose a candidate.

-Running mates: candidates running for President and VP for the same party

-To campaign: To express your policies and ask people to vote for you.

-Platforms: Party Policies

-Tickets: the pair formed by the candidates for President and VP.

_________________________________________ 

Who is Kamala Harris?

The document under study is an extract from an article published on the US Government Website on July 24^th, 2024.

It is about how Kamala Harris turned from Vice-President to presidential candidate.

We have learned that Harris was born in 1964 in California from immigrant parents. Indeed, her father was Jamaican and her mother was Indian. She has a sister. Unfortunately, her parents divorced when she was young and she was mainly raised by her mother.

She was chosen over Biden as the new Democratic candidate because people started to worry about Biden’s mental and physical health and capacity to serve the country for four more years. Therefore, on July 21^st 2024, Biden officially announced his withdrawal from the race, that was when Harris started her campaign. She officially was nominated during the Democratic Convention on August 19-22^nd.

Nevertheless, Harris will be facing several challenges in the race to the white house: she is a woman and a person of color. On top of that, she started her campaign only 4 months before Election Day, it is a very short period of time.

In order to have more chance to win, she would have to choose a white and old man as a running mate, someone who would have more experience than her. Eventually she chose Tim Walz. 

Homework: Learn the lesson.

 US Presidential Elections Explained, The Telegraph

Unit 2: The Race to the White House, The 2024 American Presidential Elections -- Make America Vote Again!

Theme 2 Representations

Topic 1: Every Voice Counts

The two main parties are the Democratic Party (the Democrats). Its color is blue and its emblem is a donkey. For the Republican Party (The Republicans), its color is red and its emblem is an elephant.

This Year’s Candidates:

For the Democrats: Kamala Harris as president, she is 59 years old.

She is currently Vice-President for Joe Biden since 2021. She is the first woman in this role.

She was Senator for her home state: California from 2017 to 2021.

She used to be Attorney General of the state for six years. She campaigned for the presidential Elections in 2020.

Tim Walz as Vice-President, he is 60 years old.

A former high school social studies teacher.

He was a former American football coach in Nebraska.

He has been Governor for the state of Minnesota for 12 years. Minnesota is his wife’s home state.

For the Republicans: Donald Trump for President. He is 78 years old. HE used to be president from 2017 to 2021. He was a rich businessman. He lost the election against Joe Biden in 2020 and contested the results.

John David (JD) Vance, Vice-President. He is 40 years old.

He had a difficult childhood in Ohio. He used to work in finance. He went to law school. In 2016 he published a successful memoir. It interesting to note that he used to criticize Trump before accepting his support to be elected as a Republican Senator in Ohio in 2022.

The Election:

It takes place every 4 years.

The traditional date is the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November (This year it will be on November 5^th)

The Voting Process:

In each state Citizens vote for a ticket. è the popular vote

Each state has a fixed number of votes in the Electoral College.

Nationally, the Electoral College votes for the President è The official winner.

What is paradoxical is that a candidate can receive more votes from the citizens, however, in the end, lose the elections because the states they won have fewer Electoral College votes.

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

Homework: Learn the lesson.

 (At the follwing of what we did last time)

However, this post had consequences on her private life: her private information became public. She sacrificed her privacy to teach her students about Internet safety.

We can say that her action was effective at the moment as it was shared and liked million times. Celebrities, influencers and the media talked about her post, therefore she proved her point. Eventually, in the long run people would forget about her post and would go back to their usual habits.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

This is Progress?

Cleaning up the Seine River?

The document under study is an extract from a news report taken from Australian News published in August 2024. It is about Tyler Mislawchuck, a Canadian Triathlete who went sick after swimming in the Seine River during the Games. In fact, he threw up around 10 times after a race in the river. He explains that it can happen, but it is not usual.

It is interesting to note that other triathletes had a similar issue: a Belgian triathlete had to give up after a race in the Seine because she was infected by E.coli bacteria. Moreover, a Swiss triathlete was also hospitalized and had to withdraw from the competition.

Eventually, the city invested $2.3 billion to clean the river up, however, nature cannot be controlled because when it is raining the river gets dirty with wastewater and there are more bacteria coming in the river. Therefore, a vicious circle is formed, it is impossible to wipe out all the bacteria.

The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, swam herself in the river to promote and reassure the public about the safety of the river. According to her, it is not only for the Games, but also for the planet and the Oceans.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

Be ready for an Oral Comprehension Evaluation on the theme of the chapter on Tuesday, October 8th.

My Sister’s Keeper (Trailer)

The document under study is trailer for the movie entitled “My Sister’s Keeper” released in 2009, directed by Nick Cassavetes. We have learned about the impacts of being a savior sibling on Anna’s life: it is a full-time occupation, as she needs to accompany her sister to the hospital when needed to. She has already donated a lot to her sister, now she will have to donate one kidney to her sister. However, living with only one kidney will lead to a difficult life and may downgrade her immune system.

Therefore, Anna decides to hire a lawyer to sue/prosecute her parents in order to have the full rights over her own body. As a result, it will be a way to stop being a savior sibling.

On the announcement, her parents were shocked: in fact, her mother was strongly against and did not understand why Anna decided to sue them. On the other hand, the father seemed to sympathize with Anna because he is aware that they created her genetically to save their daughter Kate.

Eventually, Kate would like to be healed but she does not want to see her family broken because of her.

Homework: Learn the lesson.