Hello everyone all around the world,
This Summer course enhanced my American English vocabulary. Before I came here, I mostly knew British English, because it is taught at German schools. Now I came more aware of the differences in these types of English. In contrast to English classes, I learned a lot of slang by our care taking Tutors.
Some friends of mine have already been in the US. From them I heard a lot of stories and they created stereotypes in me. The majority of those stereotype have changed positively and some are still current. Biases are crucial for every country, although they are sometimes negative, you are able to explain them to people, who weren't in these countries.
Regarding culture, I have more learned than in any other trips. I think I will benefit in later business contacts with Americans. In addition I have found out that I don't have any problems in native English speaking countries. Inside there has created a feeling to come back and stay for longer in the US.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Our Language Course in detail
Hello everyone all around the world,
During my classes here, i got to know a complete new way of being taught. We hadn't have regular classes with four hours per day. Each day we experienced a new part of American culture, e. g., literature, religion and so on.
If you were not in a country, it will be very hard to understand how those locals think and feel. Vocabulary and grammar can be learned without being in the foreign country. In Germany a teacher stands in front of the classes and conducts his learning units. I didn't feel any teaching, it had be done really unconscious for me.
We also had "normal" classes, but they were more held like discussion. Everybody was free to say something and was often addressed directly. Our teachers helped us to overcome grammatical lacks, which they identified in our blogs. We learned out of this blogs and could keep in touch with friends all around the world. For me blogs are a new progressive way of improving writing.
I am getting more open-minded to the other culture. Later in the future, i will come aware of things I have learned here. In detail I have acquired a lot from the American history and life style.
During my classes here, i got to know a complete new way of being taught. We hadn't have regular classes with four hours per day. Each day we experienced a new part of American culture, e. g., literature, religion and so on.
If you were not in a country, it will be very hard to understand how those locals think and feel. Vocabulary and grammar can be learned without being in the foreign country. In Germany a teacher stands in front of the classes and conducts his learning units. I didn't feel any teaching, it had be done really unconscious for me.
We also had "normal" classes, but they were more held like discussion. Everybody was free to say something and was often addressed directly. Our teachers helped us to overcome grammatical lacks, which they identified in our blogs. We learned out of this blogs and could keep in touch with friends all around the world. For me blogs are a new progressive way of improving writing.
I am getting more open-minded to the other culture. Later in the future, i will come aware of things I have learned here. In detail I have acquired a lot from the American history and life style.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
The culture of music in America
Dear readers all around the world,
Our last days in Cincinnati have started and we are already preparing for our last destination in the US: New York.
Yesterday we spent the whole day travelling to Cleveland, visiting a museum and going back to Cincinnati. There, in Cleveland, we visited the Rock 'n Roll Hall of fame, which is really closely located to the Great Lake Erie.
The museum didn't meet my expectations, because I hoped to get more information about the life and motivations of all this music stars. During our walk through the exhibition, we could just view clothes of the musicians, their instruments, notes and some other things. For deeper research, there were possibilities to watch movies, for example, about the Woodstock festival, and to listen to music on music stations with touchscreen. In contrast to the Freedom Center, this exhibition didn't go under my skin. The atmosphere, shown there, is similar to normal museums.
It is a pity, that all music styles were mixed up and so you were confused by lots of stimuli. At the beginning of the exhibition, the visitor saw key periods of music history and the local center of it in the vitrine.
Music takes a high position in America. If we take a look to German, almost every announced music comes from North America. All past decades brought out new stars, who were the starters of something completely new. Furthermore, music can be seen as something holy. This is the reason, why musicians are ranked to get a place in this museum. Not understandable is the late admission of Metallica in the year 2009. Due to high occurence of Rock n' Roll stars, the Hall of Fame wants to give an overview of all artists. This means that a normal visitor won't find so much information about his favorite bands.
Rock n' Roll stars keep still famous despite their sometimes negative behaviors, because they have changed the music in it's core and they are often loved by girls. They stand under high pressure by record companies and work physically hard. Before these celebreties got popular, they were often outsiders or had a bad childhood, for instance Michael Jackson. This caused psychological problems for them. With being in the spotlight of the media, they didn't come along.
Our trip reminded me of listening to in the meantime forgotten bands like Queen, Doors and many more.
Our last days in Cincinnati have started and we are already preparing for our last destination in the US: New York.
Yesterday we spent the whole day travelling to Cleveland, visiting a museum and going back to Cincinnati. There, in Cleveland, we visited the Rock 'n Roll Hall of fame, which is really closely located to the Great Lake Erie.
The museum didn't meet my expectations, because I hoped to get more information about the life and motivations of all this music stars. During our walk through the exhibition, we could just view clothes of the musicians, their instruments, notes and some other things. For deeper research, there were possibilities to watch movies, for example, about the Woodstock festival, and to listen to music on music stations with touchscreen. In contrast to the Freedom Center, this exhibition didn't go under my skin. The atmosphere, shown there, is similar to normal museums.
It is a pity, that all music styles were mixed up and so you were confused by lots of stimuli. At the beginning of the exhibition, the visitor saw key periods of music history and the local center of it in the vitrine.
Music takes a high position in America. If we take a look to German, almost every announced music comes from North America. All past decades brought out new stars, who were the starters of something completely new. Furthermore, music can be seen as something holy. This is the reason, why musicians are ranked to get a place in this museum. Not understandable is the late admission of Metallica in the year 2009. Due to high occurence of Rock n' Roll stars, the Hall of Fame wants to give an overview of all artists. This means that a normal visitor won't find so much information about his favorite bands.
Rock n' Roll stars keep still famous despite their sometimes negative behaviors, because they have changed the music in it's core and they are often loved by girls. They stand under high pressure by record companies and work physically hard. Before these celebreties got popular, they were often outsiders or had a bad childhood, for instance Michael Jackson. This caused psychological problems for them. With being in the spotlight of the media, they didn't come along.
Our trip reminded me of listening to in the meantime forgotten bands like Queen, Doors and many more.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Religion in America
Unfortunately my blog-writing crashed after one hour writing. I will repeat my main points that i I wrote down.
On our last days we visited the most widespread religous groups here in the Cincinnati area. We tried to get a better insight of the prejudices in America, which are caused by mistreatment of children by Catholic priests and sects like Scientology.
On Sunday we went at 10 o'clock to the Crossroads Community Church. It is really modern church of Baptists. When you come in that house, you feel like to be in a concert hall. In the entrance hall you can get for example coffee free of charge and there is wifi available. No crosses can be found in the entrance. During the god service we sat comfortably with at least 4000 spectators. The seats had even cup holders. The stage in front of us was equipped with lots of instruments. These instruments were played by a really good band, which awoke goose bumps in me. Here you can see that good music influences people to pay more attention to parallel things. People were stunned by a wide variety of stimuli in form of pictures and quotations from the bible. Feelings like this, humans normally sense at a concert. In between the music in speeches experienced Baptists advertised engagement and gave a review what was done so far. At the end a new converted Baptist told his story how Crossroads affected his life and led him to participate in a social project in India. All speaking was nicely accompanied by jokes.
Today we went to the mosque next to Cincinnati. Inside it isn't so well furnished in contrast to the "concert hall". During god services men sit cloth together on carpet, while women stand behind on floor up. It is like this in order to avoid misfeelings of the women. They live there religion more active in praying together.
In common both religions unite people even in the spare time. In the mosque you can play basketball and badminton, although the islamic education in the room next to the mosque stands in the spotlight. The Christians also meet during the week in workgroups to discuss interesting topics.
The Islamic religion claims total commitment. Even if you are not in the mosque you show your religion publicly. Your daily life is almost completely commited and ruled by the guidelines which are written in the coran, e.g. praying and clothing. On the other hand, the Christians are more liberal for any kind of engagement. Once a week they normally met. If you like to, there is participance possible in seperate groups, which are dedicated to different issues, for example a father-group. In addition to this you can feel free to engage in a lot of social projects in and outside the US.
Islamic followers need a inner strength for following the guidelines in the Coran. If they don't
do so say have to have fear harsh punishments.
In my point of view, we left out another important religous group "Afro American Baptists". The make out a high percentage of inhabitants all over the US and will likely have a lot of members.
On our last days we visited the most widespread religous groups here in the Cincinnati area. We tried to get a better insight of the prejudices in America, which are caused by mistreatment of children by Catholic priests and sects like Scientology.
On Sunday we went at 10 o'clock to the Crossroads Community Church. It is really modern church of Baptists. When you come in that house, you feel like to be in a concert hall. In the entrance hall you can get for example coffee free of charge and there is wifi available. No crosses can be found in the entrance. During the god service we sat comfortably with at least 4000 spectators. The seats had even cup holders. The stage in front of us was equipped with lots of instruments. These instruments were played by a really good band, which awoke goose bumps in me. Here you can see that good music influences people to pay more attention to parallel things. People were stunned by a wide variety of stimuli in form of pictures and quotations from the bible. Feelings like this, humans normally sense at a concert. In between the music in speeches experienced Baptists advertised engagement and gave a review what was done so far. At the end a new converted Baptist told his story how Crossroads affected his life and led him to participate in a social project in India. All speaking was nicely accompanied by jokes.
Today we went to the mosque next to Cincinnati. Inside it isn't so well furnished in contrast to the "concert hall". During god services men sit cloth together on carpet, while women stand behind on floor up. It is like this in order to avoid misfeelings of the women. They live there religion more active in praying together.
In common both religions unite people even in the spare time. In the mosque you can play basketball and badminton, although the islamic education in the room next to the mosque stands in the spotlight. The Christians also meet during the week in workgroups to discuss interesting topics.
The Islamic religion claims total commitment. Even if you are not in the mosque you show your religion publicly. Your daily life is almost completely commited and ruled by the guidelines which are written in the coran, e.g. praying and clothing. On the other hand, the Christians are more liberal for any kind of engagement. Once a week they normally met. If you like to, there is participance possible in seperate groups, which are dedicated to different issues, for example a father-group. In addition to this you can feel free to engage in a lot of social projects in and outside the US.
Islamic followers need a inner strength for following the guidelines in the Coran. If they don't
do so say have to have fear harsh punishments.
In my point of view, we left out another important religous group "Afro American Baptists". The make out a high percentage of inhabitants all over the US and will likely have a lot of members.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Medical care in America
On Friday we visited a high-tech genetics laboratory. This facility provides a lot of different services: paternity tests, seeking for genetic failures and so on. It costs a fortune (1000$ and more) to obtain this kind of tests. Here you can see that this kind of services depend on a good insurance company. In case of a unnormal behaviour many often parents go to children hospitals to check there children regarding genetics.
Isn't it true that genetics stands in conflict with ethnical beliefs? The genetic science (especially in the US) is already so far to forecast you if you child will have a genetical defect or to check any kinds of cancers. This means that you can abort a child why you think it will have a hard life. I think that the mankind intervenes to much in the nature. Isn't it a step for borning just perfect children?
On the other side people go normally to a pharmacy (e.g. Walgreens) when they have acute weak illnesses. You don't need a prescreption for that. Here you can find medicine, but the no-name product insist of inactive ingredients. But this packages are close together with the brand, they are cheaper, and have almost the same design. If you need any help in finding painkillers (100 kinds) and cold and flue-medicine(500 kinds)-----swin flu----, you need to ask a pharmacist. Because of robbery contraceptives and razor-blades are locked inside the shop. If you want to buy nicotine patches, the cashier can provide it to you. besides this a pharmacy offers a wider range of products than in Germany, for example motor oil, milk and many other.
I see a danger in this pharmacy-business. Nobody controlls any use and buying of medicine somebody shouldn't take. Especially poorer people who cannot afford a treat by a doctor use thsi kind of products.
From my point it depends on the amylum of the disease of more or less peronal autonomy in deciding what kind of treatment should be taken by someone. If you are used to illnesses and you know this medicine will help, why should you go to the doctor? Some doctors just want to make money with you even if no treatment and medicine is necessary. However, a doctor can find out better what's wrong with you, otherwise you could harm yourself. Health is gift, a person can't get back.
Isn't it true that genetics stands in conflict with ethnical beliefs? The genetic science (especially in the US) is already so far to forecast you if you child will have a genetical defect or to check any kinds of cancers. This means that you can abort a child why you think it will have a hard life. I think that the mankind intervenes to much in the nature. Isn't it a step for borning just perfect children?
On the other side people go normally to a pharmacy (e.g. Walgreens) when they have acute weak illnesses. You don't need a prescreption for that. Here you can find medicine, but the no-name product insist of inactive ingredients. But this packages are close together with the brand, they are cheaper, and have almost the same design. If you need any help in finding painkillers (100 kinds) and cold and flue-medicine(500 kinds)-----swin flu----, you need to ask a pharmacist. Because of robbery contraceptives and razor-blades are locked inside the shop. If you want to buy nicotine patches, the cashier can provide it to you. besides this a pharmacy offers a wider range of products than in Germany, for example motor oil, milk and many other.
I see a danger in this pharmacy-business. Nobody controlls any use and buying of medicine somebody shouldn't take. Especially poorer people who cannot afford a treat by a doctor use thsi kind of products.
From my point it depends on the amylum of the disease of more or less peronal autonomy in deciding what kind of treatment should be taken by someone. If you are used to illnesses and you know this medicine will help, why should you go to the doctor? Some doctors just want to make money with you even if no treatment and medicine is necessary. However, a doctor can find out better what's wrong with you, otherwise you could harm yourself. Health is gift, a person can't get back.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Hey people all around the world,
We came back from the destillery in Frankfort, the American Frankfurt. There we were guided very well and learned all processes, which have to be followed for producing bourbon and whiskey. In the end we got samples.
We went by van to the capital of Ohio-Columbus- yesterday. Columbus possesses the largest university of the whole US, it is name is Ohio State University. At this university we could visit a exhibition, which was sponsored by a German artist and the University of Applied Science Paderborn. The pictures showed photos of houses in the former GDR taken direct after the breaking down of the Iron Curtain and 15 years later. Furthermore the visitor could look at photographs taken by media-students. They searched for hints of the former existing Berlin Wall.
I haven't learned anything new from the exhibition. But this exhibition was located in the foreign language department of the Ohio State University. It is not a normal gallery, even more a normal workplace for students and university staff.
In my point of view the efforts of maintenance and reconstroction of the Berlin Wall are worth a lot. They keep this bad period in the German history for all generations visible. Internationally it can be seen as thanks for the support during this time by the Western World. In addition it can work as an example for other divided countries, e.g. North and South Corea.
Unfortunately an invsible border still resides in German minds. It is impact slowed down for younger generations. This shows the studying of Western German students in the East, even if no student fee could be a reason too. From my point of you people who grow up in a united Germany feel like normal Germans. If we take a look to the older generation, it is different. They have experienced advantages and disadvantages from the fall of the Wall. There are still some differences regarding paying for the same work in our country. The characteristics of the stereotypes West-German is to be reall y arrogant, on the hand the East-German is poor and needs help. These attitudes reside really deeply and were sometimes fulfilled. Inside the exhebition you could find one pictures where aked to show their feeling on a board regarding being German. One person said that he is still totally East-German and happy about it.
After the request of some readers here is the beginning of my comparison of the US and Russian.
Cleanieness of dormitories- 1:0 for US
Paper on the toilet- 1:0 for US
Food- 0:1 for Russia
Friendlieness of people- 1\2:1\2
Height of buildings- 1:0
Better alcohol- 0:1
To be continued in another manner.
Haven't you the same opinion, please use the comment- function.
We came back from the destillery in Frankfort, the American Frankfurt. There we were guided very well and learned all processes, which have to be followed for producing bourbon and whiskey. In the end we got samples.
We went by van to the capital of Ohio-Columbus- yesterday. Columbus possesses the largest university of the whole US, it is name is Ohio State University. At this university we could visit a exhibition, which was sponsored by a German artist and the University of Applied Science Paderborn. The pictures showed photos of houses in the former GDR taken direct after the breaking down of the Iron Curtain and 15 years later. Furthermore the visitor could look at photographs taken by media-students. They searched for hints of the former existing Berlin Wall.
I haven't learned anything new from the exhibition. But this exhibition was located in the foreign language department of the Ohio State University. It is not a normal gallery, even more a normal workplace for students and university staff.
In my point of view the efforts of maintenance and reconstroction of the Berlin Wall are worth a lot. They keep this bad period in the German history for all generations visible. Internationally it can be seen as thanks for the support during this time by the Western World. In addition it can work as an example for other divided countries, e.g. North and South Corea.
Unfortunately an invsible border still resides in German minds. It is impact slowed down for younger generations. This shows the studying of Western German students in the East, even if no student fee could be a reason too. From my point of you people who grow up in a united Germany feel like normal Germans. If we take a look to the older generation, it is different. They have experienced advantages and disadvantages from the fall of the Wall. There are still some differences regarding paying for the same work in our country. The characteristics of the stereotypes West-German is to be reall y arrogant, on the hand the East-German is poor and needs help. These attitudes reside really deeply and were sometimes fulfilled. Inside the exhebition you could find one pictures where aked to show their feeling on a board regarding being German. One person said that he is still totally East-German and happy about it.
After the request of some readers here is the beginning of my comparison of the US and Russian.
Cleanieness of dormitories- 1:0 for US
Paper on the toilet- 1:0 for US
Food- 0:1 for Russia
Friendlieness of people- 1\2:1\2
Height of buildings- 1:0
Better alcohol- 0:1
To be continued in another manner.
Haven't you the same opinion, please use the comment- function.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
How children play and learn
Hello readers all around the world,
today we visited the Children's Museum of Cincinnati. There any visitor find a quite a nice atmosphere for children to touch and interact with all the different objects of this museum. It's aim is to give kids the possibility to move a lot and try things how they work. Normall you don't find a museum which give such a variety of touching, putting on clothes, and moving things. Education is transfered in a way that it isn't felt like learning, it is implicit knowledge what the museum gives to any of there young visitors. In comparison to other museums it is seen as a chance to make the children bussy and relax. In general this cannot be said because in some stages parents and the kids work together as a team. Mum and Dad explain unknown and give guidance.
All parts of the museum are appropriate for each age. Depending on the age the children can do different activities, e. g. read information and play with all kinds of stuff.
I really liked the exhibit: Children just like me- A unique celebration of children around the world. By the introduction of foreign children, the young visitor gets to know other cultures. That's a good waw because these children belong to the same group. The exhibition tries here to awake intercultural competencies in the children, what means that are also other children with different skin-colours, faces, and so on in the world. For example is India teached to the kids with a possibility to put on a sari. Unfortunately there were to many written information. It is better to make more pictures, because the kids don't care about words.
Learning through exploratory is more effective, because it is easier to remember and is been kept in mind unconsciously. The real way of learning it is to put in action: "learning by doing". The role of the learning stuff isn't as strong as during classroom learning. Here it is more mentoring and the child repeats or learns by it's own.
today we visited the Children's Museum of Cincinnati. There any visitor find a quite a nice atmosphere for children to touch and interact with all the different objects of this museum. It's aim is to give kids the possibility to move a lot and try things how they work. Normall you don't find a museum which give such a variety of touching, putting on clothes, and moving things. Education is transfered in a way that it isn't felt like learning, it is implicit knowledge what the museum gives to any of there young visitors. In comparison to other museums it is seen as a chance to make the children bussy and relax. In general this cannot be said because in some stages parents and the kids work together as a team. Mum and Dad explain unknown and give guidance.
All parts of the museum are appropriate for each age. Depending on the age the children can do different activities, e. g. read information and play with all kinds of stuff.
I really liked the exhibit: Children just like me- A unique celebration of children around the world. By the introduction of foreign children, the young visitor gets to know other cultures. That's a good waw because these children belong to the same group. The exhibition tries here to awake intercultural competencies in the children, what means that are also other children with different skin-colours, faces, and so on in the world. For example is India teached to the kids with a possibility to put on a sari. Unfortunately there were to many written information. It is better to make more pictures, because the kids don't care about words.
Learning through exploratory is more effective, because it is easier to remember and is been kept in mind unconsciously. The real way of learning it is to put in action: "learning by doing". The role of the learning stuff isn't as strong as during classroom learning. Here it is more mentoring and the child repeats or learns by it's own.
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