The Reverse Underground – 12 Years a Slave (2013)

The document under study is a trailer for the movie entitled “12 years a Slave”, released in 2013. It is about the real story of Solomon Northup, who was born a free black man in the North. However in 1841, he was kidnapped by slave catchers to be sent to the South to be sold as a slave. In fact, at first, he was living in New York with his wife and kids and was a famous violin player. Then, he was sent against his will in Georgia. Unfortunately, he was a victim of the reverse underground as he never was a slave before. On top of that, the trailer seems to show us that he is smarter than his slave owner.

Throughout the trailer, he is called by his name “Solomon”…

(We will continue the study of the trailer newt Tuesday)

Homework: Learn the lesson.

The benefits of studying abroad.

The document under study is a video from CNN Student News, published in 2014. It is an interview of former First Lady, Michelle Obama speaking about the benefits of studying abroad.

She was at the time in China. She was interviewed by two American exchanged students: one of them studied in Japan, and the other one was in Ghana at the time.

According to Michelle, her words of advice on studying abroad are, first to be open-minded it is important not to have preconceived ideas about the country. Moreover, one should respect the culture and the people of the host country. Besides, one should not be afraid of making mistakes to learn better. Furthermore, one should be aware that it won’t be easy because there will be challenges.

The first country Michelle visited was France. She was a student in high school, a Sophomore, she was around 15 years old. At first, she did not feel at ease to ask her father to pay for this trip. However, her father encouraged her to go on this trip because he wanted her to have all the opportunities he could not have. It was a one-week trip. They stayed at a youth hostel.

To study abroad, students often have to take a student loan of $27 000 to add to their normal student loans in their home country (USA).

Homework: Learn the lesson.

International students and their host countries

The document under study is an article from Keystone Academic Courses, published in January 2019. The document deals with how international students contribute to their host countries. Indeed, international students have an impact on the economy, the social life on campus and the soft power of their host countries.

For the economic part, we have learned that in 2016 the students have generated 39 billion dollars to the US economy through tuition fees, clothing, food, transportation and living expensive. Moreover, they also have a positive impact on the social life on campus, as for example, they develop the social and cultural diversity. Furthermore, they enrich the diversity of the host country. On top of that, these students are more able to adapt to a new life style.

To finish with, these students also have an impact on the soft power of the host countries. In fact, some exchange students won prices in their host countries representing their home countries in the countries they study in. They are like informal ambassadors. There is also the creation of international partnerships. Besides, by staying in their host countries after having graduated, they contribute to the local skilled workforce development.

Homework: Learn the lesson. 

Those who Diced with Death: The Life of Harriet Tubman

The document under study is a video about the life of Harriet Tubman, a former slave who became an abolitionist later. This video is from TED-ed and was posted in 2018.

We have learned that Harriet Tubman was born in the 1820s in Georgia under the name of Araminta Ross. She had 8 siblings. Her two elder sisters were sold to other slave owners. Unfortunately, other members of her family were sold, only her two brothers stayed with her and her father. No slave owners wanted to buy her because she was suffering from narcolepsy. She ended up working with her father who taught her to lumber. She married a free black man called John Tubman in 1844. She then decided to change her name and be called Harriet Tubman (Harriet was the name of her mother).

As she was growing up, she would encounter free black men and she would overhear them speaking about a secret way to freedom.

Once, she tried to escape North with her brothers. However, they got lost therefore they went back to their plantation. Then, she had a dream about a road that led to freedom. It encouraged her to escape alone by following the North Star. She successfully ended up in Pennsylvania in 1849. She then went back 13 times to the South to help escape other slaves (300 over 10 years). She became an active member of the Underground Railroad as she had been a conductor. She was even nicknamed “The Black Moses”.

She was not only an abolitionist, indeed she also was a nurse, a spy and a scout in the Union army during the Civil War.

On top of that, after the Civil War she raised funds to make hospitals and schools for black people. Besides, she fought for women’s right to vote in the 1870s.

To conclude, Tubman is seen as a hero as she embodied the Underground Railroad to end slavery. She fought for women’s and black people’s rights throughout her life. She died in 1913.

To pay tribute to her life and legacy, in 2016 a project was put in place to have her on a twenty-dollar bill, so everybody can remember her and her actions in their daily lives.

 Homework: Learn the lesson.

Those who diced with Death: Harriet Beecher Stowe

Harriet Beecher Stowe was a white woman who was one of the best known abolitionists and a novelist. When she was a young mother in the 19^th century, she lost her son, Charlie because of cholera.

Through her pain, she felt connected with the slave mothers who also lost their children due to slavery. That was how she wrote her famous novel entitled “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”.

Her book changed the minds of Americans because she humanized the victims of slavery by giving them emotions in her book. In fact, she used emotion energy of the loss of her son to give that emotion to the slaves she depicted in her book.

She wrote this book after the loss of her son. She had thought about it before, but this sad event made her finally write it. As she was writing it, she felt inspired as if someone else was writing it.

Eventually, her book was successful as there were 245,000 copies sold. It made people aware that slavery was not right and it encouraged people to put an end to slavery.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

Those who diced with death: Harriet Beecher Stowe

Harriet Beecher Stowe was a white woman who was a famous abolitionist and author in the 19^th century. She wrote a famous novel entitled “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”.

She was also a mother, but she lost her son who died of cholera at a young age. After this sad event, she connected the death of her child with the slave mothers’ experiences who lost their children because of slavery. This is the event that made her become an abolitionist. In her book, she humanized the slaves she depicted by giving them emotions.

Her words impacted the image of slavery in the USA in the 19^th century to shed light on the fact that it was an unfair system. Her book became very famous, in fact 245,000 copies were sold back then. Her work is a continuation of the struggle led by previous abolitionist authors such as Frederick Douglass. Hence, her book contributed in changing the minds of Americans to put an end to slavery and give back human rights to the enslaved.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

A Win-win Experience

The document under study is a video from an Australian organization that organizes student exchanges in the USA.

We have learned that the USA is a popular exchange destination. In fact, it has a political and cultural force. Besides, it has the world’s largest economy.

Exchange students can go there for a stay of 5 to 10 months. The departure dates are in January and in August each year. The visa requirements are strict the exchange students should have a passport with a J1-Student visa. Then, they will need to upload their applications on the website of the organization.

Once there, the exchange students will live in host families. The host families from all backgrounds, have interviews and criminal backgrounds checked and homes and references checked.

The exchange students will go to the local high schools and they will be enrolled as Freshmen, or Sophomores, Juniors or Seniors. The subjects they will be able to study will be science, mathematics, PE (physical education), English, social sciences… On top of that, they will be able to do a lot of extracurricular activities such as American football, cheerleading, drama, music bands, debating, sports in general… to be able to make friends easily.

Students should be aged between 15 and 18 years old, no gap year students will be accepted as you need to have completed 11 years of schooling.

It is possible to have financial help through a scholarship or if you enroll early you can enjoy an early bird discount.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

Theme 1: Knowledge, Creation, Innovation.

Topic 1: Producing and sharing knowledge

Unit 4: Enriching exchanges

To what extent is the power of education?

Enriching Exchanges: to what extent can studying abroad be a life changing experience?

The document under study is an extract from a web article “Student International”, published in May 2018. It is about the amount of international population in different countries hosting them.

In fact, studying abroad nowadays is easier thanks to the Internet and the growth of the development of the means of transport. For example, in 2001 there were 2.1 million international students, then in 2017, there were 4.6 million international students.

The motivation factors are generally the fact that there is a higher quality of education in the host countries, a better job prospects as well. Moreover, international students long to improve themselves and to discover new cultures.

There are 16 main host countries which host students every year. The main ones are the US and the UK, followed by Canada, Australia, China and New Zealand.

Recently, Canada overtook the UK because of political reasons with the Brexit. On top of that, in Canada students are sure to find a high quality education, a welcoming environment, and it will be easier to find a good job there.

To finish with, Australia has a high number of international students because the visa policies are easy for international students. Furthermore, there is an increase of students coming from India as the Indian school system and the Australian are similar.

To conclude, we can see that the majority of students usually go to English speaking countries because is English is eventually the international language.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

Take the follwing quizz to see in which country you could study later:

Quizz to study abroad

Underground (TV Series)

The document under study is a trailer for the first season for a TV show entitled “Underground”, released in 2017. In this TV show, we are following two main characters: Noah and Rosalee, they are both slaves in the Macon plantation in Georgia. Noah works on the plantation and Rosalee is a house slave. Their goal is to escape from their condition as slaves through the Underground Railroad. It seems like they are helped by other slaves and station masters. We can see them making a plan to escape. Trying to flee is at the risk of their lives because slave catchers could be very violent. Moreover, the slaves who would stay in the plantation do not agree with the runaway slaves because their slave master would go mad and become more violent with them.

The commitment to the abolitionist cause is portrayed by a couple of white people working with a free black man risking their lives by hiding slaves in their house secretly.

The reasons why the slaves wanted to escape from slavery were because they found the situation unfair as they were forced to work for free, they were dehumanized and they wanted to fight for their rights.

They must have been scared because if the slave catchers would catch them, then they could be sent to jail, tortured or even killed.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

Colson Whitehead: The Underground Railroad

1.     When did the resistance become more organized?

The resistance became more organized in the  1840s.

2.     How did the network of people help the slaves to escape?

They helped :

a.     By crossing rivers

b.     By hiding the runaway slaves

c.      By giving them passage on wagons

d.     By giving them money

e.      By giving them passage on ships

3.     It was a social network of people helping out slaves to runaway.  Moreover, it was also a magnificent network of technology and transportation to help the slaves escape north.

4.

It was a metaphoric network on which slaves would disappear as their masters would never see them again.

5.Since some people think, even today, that the Underground railroad was a real road underground, it gave him the idea to write a novel about an actual network beneath/under the earth of America where slaves would use it to go to the North.

To conclude, at the time America was the land of the free for the white people, however, for the slaves, it was a place of oppression, that was the reason why they wanted to leave America. In fact, at the time for European immigrants  America was a place where they could pursue their dreams. Meanwhile, for the slaves it was not a safe place for them to stay because of the way they were treated, they were dehumanized. America was the land of the free and the dream for white people, however, it was the home of the oppressed who wanted to flee the country.

 Homework: Learn the lesson.

Colson Whitehead: The Underground Railroad

The resistence became more organized in the 1840s.

2.     How did the network of people help the slaves to escape?

They helped :

a.      By hiding them in their homes.

b.     By giving them money

c.      By helping them crossing rivers

d.     By giving them passage in the back of their wagons

e.      By giving them passage on ships

3.     What definition does Colson Whitehead give for the Underground Railroad?

It was a social network of people helping out.

4.     Was the Underground Railroad an actual or metaphoric network?

It was a metaphoric network: people would say for the fugitive slaves who successfully escaped that they had disappeared on the Underground Railroad.

5.Even nowadays, some people still think that the Underground Railroad was a literal road underground. It gave him the idea to write a novel in which the slaves would escape north using an actual network beneath the earth.

As a conclusion, the USA is a country full of contradiction, on the one hand it is the birth place of modern democracy, but on the other hand, it is a country that legitimized slavery for almost 2 centuries. To finish with, in a country that call its inhabitants dreamers, it is sad that some of them were actually living a nightmare. 

Homework: Learn the lesson.

Synthesis: Wikipedia

ð  The opposite of bias: neutral and objective.

Issue/key question: To what extent can Wikipedia be neutral and give reliable information?

Outline:

I. The goals of Wiki.

II. How does it work? (pros and cos)

III. A collaborative platform: comparaison with other social media platforms 

Homework: you wll have to make a synthesis with the documents you received in class. Monday, January 20th. Compare and contrast the two texts following the method we saw in class. You will have to write a complete synthesis in 250 words (Introduction, key question, development in 2 our 3 parts and conclusion). Do not forget to skip lines.

 (At the following of what we did last time)

Eventually, the Canadian government acknowledged to have committed a cultural genocide through these schools. Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister, even made amends to the Aboriginal community. The latter were very happy and moved about this apology. Moreover, they also felt relieved now that their situation have been legitimized, they know it will never happen again. As a result, there was the creation of the truth and Reconciliation commission to better assimilate Aboriginal peoples into the Canadian society.

To conclude, even if the Canadian government is trying to help Aboriginal community there are still conflicts between these peoples and the rest of Canada.

Homework: learn the lesson.

Be ready for the Final Task: 

Friday, January 14th: Promote your Province!

 (At the following of what we did last time)

The station masters were in charge of keeping the runaway slaves safe and hide them in their houses called “stations”: they were safe houses for the fugitive slaves.

The fugitive slaves would mainly go to the Northern states as they were free states, up to Canada.

Everyone was transported on the Underground Railroad: men, women and even infants!

Slave masters would hire slave catchers or bounty hunters to catch the runaway slaves. 

In order not to be easily caught by the slave catchers, the fugitive slaves would avoid the popular road watched over by the bounty hunters.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

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

Eventually, the Canadian government acknowledged the cultural genocide they committed through  the Residential schools. In fact, in the House of Commons and the presence of other Representatives of the government, the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, gave an apology speech to make amends. As a result, the government created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to better assimilate the Indigenous people in the Canadian society. The Aboriginal community was very moved by these apologies and happy to finally be legitimized regarding all what they had to go through/endure.

To conclude, even though the Canadian government is trying to do better for the Aboriginal community, there are still conflicts between these peoples and the rest of Canada. In fact, their rights and lands are still not completely respected nowadays.  

 Homework: learn the lesson.

Be ready for the Final Task: 

Friday, January 14th: Promote your Province!

Unit 3: The Secret Road to Freedom

How did a chain of diverse people save thousands of slaves from the Deep South?

Axe: Diversity and Inclusion

Dawn of Days: Story of the Underground Railroad

The document under study is video about the Underground Railroad and how it was organized. It took place in the 19^th  century in the USA. The Underground Railroad was a secret road on which abolitionists would help runaway slaves to flee from the slave states of the South to go to the free states of the North. It was not a real railroad, it is used as a metaphor to illustrate the secret road to freedom for the fugitive slaves.

(We will continue the study of the video on Friday. Be ready!)

Homework: Learn the lesson.

Unit 3: The Secret Road to Freedom

How did a chain of diverse people save thousands of slaves from the Deep South?

Axe: Diversity and Inclusion

Dawn of Days: Story of the Underground Railroad

The document under study is video about the Underground Railroad. It took place in the 19^th century in the USA. It was a network of abolitionists working together in order to save slaves by helping them escape from the slave states of the South to the free states of the North. The Underground Railroad was not a real railroad, it was a metaphor to illustrate the secret road to freedom.

(We will continue the study of the video on Friday. Be ready!)

Homework: Learn the lesson.

 Truth and Reconciliation is Canada

The document under study is a video from CBC, a Canadian Channel, published in 2017.  It deals with how the Truth and Reconciliation commission was created in Canada.

The narrator of the video is Chief Robert Joseph who belongs to the Aboriginal community. He shares his experience in a Residential school in Canada. The first time he went there was when he was 6 years old.

Residential schools were schools to teach aboriginal children how to assimilate to the Canadian society. The goal was to integrate them, educate them and convert them to Christianism. However, these children were victims of physical violence as people there cut their hair, they were covered in some sort of white liquid and they were also beaten up. On a psychological level, they were segregated as they were not allowed to communicate between boys and girls. As a result, most of the Aboriginals were broken up: they did not have the opportunity to learn any social skills. On top of that, they developed addictions to alcoholism and to violence. Besides, their Aboriginal possessions were taken away as the very goal was to erase their Indigenous identity. These schools had been running for 100 years. The last one closed in 1996.

(We will continue the study of the video on Friday. Be ready!)

Homework: Learn the lesson.

Deep Fake on the Queen (2020)

The document under study is an article from The Guardian published in December 2020. The article deals with Channel 4 deep fake video on the Queen. It was a controversial video as it depicted the Queen in a different version of her usual Christmas speech. In fact, people are very respectful of the Royal family. As a result, this video was considered as being disrespectful. Moreover, it raised the debate on deep fakes. The role of the Queen was played by an actress called Debra Stephenson. The goal of the video was to strongly warn people against the threat of fake news in our digital era. Indeed, now we cannot trust what we see with our own eyes. On top of that, in the future deep fakes will be more common. The main problem of deep fakes is that people could use someone else’s identity to create a deep fake and make a video without their consent.

In order to use the technology of the deep fakes properly, they should be handled by adding disclaimers or remarks before sharing or broadcasting them.

Homework: Learn the lesson.

May this New Year bring you new opportunities to learn and grow! 

A new chapter unfolds, a new story to be told. We say hello to the new, we say goodbye to the old! 

Have a truly remarkable joyful and successful new year! 💫

Kindest regards,

Mrs. Wagnac