Sunday, August 25, 2019

Week 3--due on Friday, August 30th

Hello Everyone,

Africa Presentations
First, here's the signup sheet for the Africa presentations.  Read the directions at the top and sign up for your slot.  Please do not edit anything else on the document.  Feel free to run your topic by me via email if that's helpful.

One student wasn't sure how to make a topic into an appropriate question, so let me give a few examples. Say you wish to give a presentation on the organization "Sole Hope."   Your question could be as simple as "What are the values and goals of Sole Hope?  Whom do they help?"  If you want to research Apartheid, your question could be "What is Apartheid exactly, and is it still a problem in South Africa today?"  It may be one question or two short questions.

Here's a recap of your presentation instructions.  Remember to keep SOAPS in mind:

S-speaker --you
O--occasion--geography/public speaking class, Africa topics
A--audience--teenagers and Mrs. Price
P--purpose--to inform and delight
S--subject--your pick! Anything about Africa--if you need inspiration, use the Google strategies we talked about in class. Also, p. 30 in your notebook, "The Culture of Africa" has some good suggestions for starting points.

Other parameters

  • Begin presentation by introducing yourself and your question (written out legibly on a blank piece of paper).
  • Time frame: 3 minutes to 3:45 seconds.
  • You may have one visual, but it is not required.  If you include a visual, make sure it's not distracting and large enough for the class to see easily from the front where you are presenting.

One thing we didn't talk about in class but need to is GENRE.   This is a speech not a written composition/essay, so please DO NOT READ your research.  You may have a few discreet note cards to trigger your memory, but you should practice so that you are giving an ORAL presentation, not reading a written essay aloud.

We talked about how we are all "in the same boat," and that we want to be a supportive audience to each other.  We'll talk more about that before presentations, but think of ways you can be encouraging to each other.

Continue to Make Progress on African Countries

Continue to learn the countries of Africa with the Sheppardsoftware site.  If you have mastered Level 1 "All of Africa by Region" in the drop down menu, then select "All of Africa" to make it more challenging.  Level 2 adds additional challenge beyond that if needed.  

If you have mastered the all the countries, move onto the right column sections (geo-regions, rivers, and oceans).

Complete Notebook Pages

Complete the following notebook pages for next class.
*5 themes of geography (two pages--staple and cut to make a flip book) When complete, put it under the "general" tab in your notebook.
*Lesson 11: Global Interdependence
*Cultural Geography--Health Statistics
*Africa Geography pp.4-7 only  (use the internet to find answers)

Just for fun... 
Watch Jimmy Kimmel clip, "Can You Name a Country? to see why Americans need to work on their geographic knowledge (sorry in advance for the bit of the immature language).

That's it!  I look forward to our first week of presentations.  Have fun exploring a new topic.

Below are some photos of food culture in Africa.  The first two are what families eat in a week. A few others are what a person eats in a day. All photos from books by the photographer Peter Menzel.








Camel broker Saleh Abdul Fadlallah with his day's worth of food at the Birqash Camel Market outside Cairo, Egypt. (From the book What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets.) The caloric value of his day's worth of food on a typical day in the month of April was 3200 kcals.  He is 40 years of age; 5 feet, 8 inches tall; and 165 pounds. Contrary to popular belief, camels' humps don't store water; they are a reservoir of fatty tissue that minimizes the need for heat-trapping insulation in the rest of their bodies; the dromedary, or Arabian camel, has a single hump, while Asian camels have two. Camels are well suited for desert climes: their long legs and huge, two-toed feet with leathery pads enable them to walk easily in sand, and their eyelids, nostrils, and thick coat protect them from heat and blowing sand. These characteristics, along with their ability to eat thorny vegetation and derive sufficient moisture from tough green herbage, allow camels to survive in very inhospitable terrain. 



























Kibet Serem, a tea plantation farmer, with his day's worth in his tea plantation near Kericho, Kenya. (From the book What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets.) The caloric value of his typical day's worth of food in the month of February was 3100 kcals. He is 25 years if age; 5 feet, 11 inches tall; and 143 pounds. He cares for this small tea plantation that his father planted on their property when Kibet was a young boy. He is responsible for milking the cows that his family owns. He sells extra milk to a nearby school for a government feeding program and gives some to his mother who makes yogurt and sells it. His staple food is ugali, a maize meal porridge. 





Marble Moahi, a mother living with HIV/AIDS, in the family kitchen in Kabakae Village, Ghanzi, Botswana with her typical day's worth of food and antiretroviral medications. (From the book What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets.) The caloric value of her day's worth of food on a typical day in March was 900 kcals. She is 32 years of age; 5 feet, 5 inches tall; and 92 pounds. Despite a decline in new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa, this region of the world remains the most heavily impacted by HIV/AIDS.



Saturday, August 17, 2019

Week 2--due on Friday, 8/23

Hello Everyone,

I enjoyed seeing everyone Friday.   It will take us a few weeks to get back into rhythm, but we'll get there! ; )

This week at home, you will:
  • create a notebook cover for your geography notebook with the stickers I gave you in class. If you were absent, just wait to do this until next week after I give you your stickers.
  • continue to learn the countries of Africa with the Sheppardsoftware site.  If you have mastered Level 1 "All of Africa by Region" in the drop down menu, then select "All of Africa" to make it more challenging.  Level 2 adds additional challenge beyond that if needed.  This Friday, we will have a short quiz on just the region of Southern Africa as that's our focus for this week (7 countries per Sheppard Software site). 
Please hole punch your completed Africa map and Africa Week 1 guide.  Place them in your notebook under your Africa tab.  I'll look for them in your notebook next Friday.

Monday, August 12, 2019

Week 1---August 8/12

Hello Students,

I look forward to seeing you this Friday for our first class.  Here's what you need to do for then:

1. Print this map of Africa----without looking at any resources, label as many countries as you can.  This is a pre-test, so don't be discouraged if you don't know as many as you hoped!  The United Nations recognizes 54 countries in Africa, so it's one of the hardest to master and where we will begin.

2. After you take the pretest, begin learning the countries of Africa with this online game.  This week we'll focus on countries, so look for the countries category and start with Level L, progressing through levels 1, 2, and 3.  If you want to go higher, that's a good challenge, but I just want you to master through level 3

3. Complete this  Google form survey about Africa.

4. Bring one object---any object (be creative if you like) that tells about an experience you've had this summer.

Bring your Africa map pre-test and your class notebook to class Friday.

See you soon!

Mrs. Price