Curious fact: The Union Jack flag.

In this post I would like to talk you about the Union Jack flag or also named Union flag.
Most of the people always think that this flag is the flag of England, because it's present in all the souvenirs if we go to London, it is everywhere. But the Union Jack is the flag of the United Kingdom.
As we can see in the next video, this flag is composed by the different crosses of the saint patrons of each country of the United Kingdom.

I think that knowing why and how is this flag composed, will help us to be a good bridge between the different cultures that we as future english teachers will be.
I hope that you enjoy this short video, and that the information useful.
Thanks for reading and comment :)

The Secret of Queen Elizabeth I


I think that this story is very curious and interesting, so I decided to share with you a tale created by Bram Stoker, an irish novelist and writer known because of his novel "Dracula".

Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603 after 44 years of reign. She died with no offsprings and never got married.
In fact is known as the "Virgin Queen". Maybe is really weard that a King or a Queen doesn't want to have an offspring who she can let her position, specially if you think about the obesession of her father, Henry VIII who wanted to have a boy to be the next king. Intead, Elizabeth didn't care about that, she doesn't to let offspring. But, Why?

The reason of this, is an event in Elizabeth's childhood. Elizabeth I spent her chilhood in Bisley, in Gloucestershire. It was near London, so her father often was visiting her. Before one this visits, something terrible happend. Elizabeth, who was only 11 years old, had a severe fever and she died. The woman who was taking care of her was very worred because of the reaction of the king when he realizes this. So she decided to have a replacement.

The substitution should seem like Elizabeth not only physically but also should act like a princess. The woman look everywhere around they were, but she didn't find someone who was like her. But she found a boy, a friend of Elizabeth that fitted in the profile. He was dresses as a girl and he looked forward to the king. Henry didn't realize of the difference between both of them. The fraud was successful, but at the same time he could died if the king knows the truth. But, anyways, he is going to be the king of England from now and then.

British Empire & the Commonwealth

The British empire was one of the biggest empires of the whole history, under the mastery of the queen Elizabeth II. Countries like the United States, India, Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand were a part of this big empire. Little by little the domains of the empire were acquiring its independence, what unleashed in The British Commonwealth it remained under the reign of Elizabeth II. The British commonwealth was an organization, in which all the countries which formed it were heirs of the British Empire, but in 1995 mozambique joins this organization. 

Mozambique joins the commonwealth to support it in its struggle against discrimination, because of this the commonwealth changed its name to the commonwealth of nations to highlight its international character.

  

Today the commonwealth is an organization of 53 independent countries which support each other and work together towards international goals. It is also a ‘family’ of peoples. With their common heritage in language, culture, law, education and democratic traditions, among other things, Commonwealth countries are able to work together in an atmosphere of greater trust and understanding than generally prevails among nations (www.commonwealthofnations.org). The head of it still the queen Elizabeth II.

 

Within the activities carried out by the commonwealth the commonwealth games, (which are a small version of the Olympic Games) exist, involving athletes from all countries that make up the Association. At the Commonwealth Games, in addition to the typical sports, also are held in sports typical of the countries members such as badminton, cricket, polo, squash, rugby seven, bowling or football. Tests are also held for athletes with a disability.

I think the commonwealth sends a very important message through what means all this organization and what they do together, see the union representing to combat discrimination and to improve the economy and other social aspects is tremendously inspiring.

Click here the commonwealth games tosee the medals of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth games.

Who fight for noble causes are often forgotten

Mapuche people is in this country since three hundred years ago, we don’t have to forget our roots, because many of us belong to the miscegenation between Natives and Spaniards. We don’t give it the importance, but that people can be our relatives, we can be united by ancestors.

Some of people in that culture are Pehuenches, Huilliches, Moluches, and Picunches. The name of the people is in relation of the geography they live on. For example, Moluche people. Molu means where is the sunset and che means people, so Moluche means people who live where is the sunset.

Schools don’t promote the ethnic cultures in Chile, children are totally engaged with globalization, they want to be like the people on internet; famous, with a perfect skin, expensive clothes, and the best phones.

We don’t improve that things in the Schools, we don’t talk in a daily conversation about Mapuches. The best thing we can do is read information about it, teach to our brothers, cousins, and our friends about it.

I studied in a Mapuche school for three years, one of that years came to the school a woman called “Machi” to do a “We tripantu”, the mapuche’s new year, the day was totally cloudy and for some minutes it was raining. She took some plants and made some prays to her gods, and then when she was finishing the prays and the religious singing, the sky turned from cloudy to sunny. The sun came and show to us all his rays. I think that experience made a change in my life. The feelings of all of us were inexplicable.

Mapuche people have problems with the authorities because of the forest was stolen to them, a teacher told to me how this happened. Spaniards came to the Mapuches communities, they try to exchange alcohol for some yards of forest, Mapuches thought that the Spaniards were crazy because selling yards was ilogic to them. It was just like selling your space of air, obviously we can’t do that. So, Mapuche sold them, thinking that they had cheated these outlanders.

On the other hand, my grandfather told me that some spaniards Middle-class businessmen came to the forest to talk with them, and they forced to sign official papers of their territories, giving them the domain titles. After that, they were forced to move out there.

They have a right to have their land back, her ancestors lived there. The fight between the police and Mapuches is hidden, the state don’t want to the newspaper write about that, because the police is very aggressive against them.

I think we have to be respectful with Mapuche people because they have great stories, mores and traditions. The state of Chile was created after the Mapuches, we are the invader and also we discriminate people with Mapuche names. We must stop the discrimination towards our own roots.

What do you know about the Mapuche?

Stereotypes everywhere

We defined stereotypes as a  fixed general image or set of characteristics that a lot of people believe represent a particular nation / ethnic group, and we agreed that we have to avoid using them, but how?, we are surrounded by the use of them. In almost every commercial on TV, Magazines, etc,  you can see generalizations.

Ever since we talked about stereotypes in classes, i see them everywhere. The amount of stereotypes on the media is overwhelming. Media helps reinforce gender stereotypes, where men have a role and women have another. Everytime we see a commercial about house products, we see women cleaning, happy about finding the best product to keep their house perfect. Why can’t we see men doing the same? I bet another stereotype would appear, “men that take women’s role are homosexuals”.

While studyin stereotypes i found a very interesting video about how media and stereotypes work together to reinforce gender stereotypes, and how it hasn't changed through the years.

But Media&Stereotypes are not only gender or beauty related, they cover all aspects. We can find comedy tv shows such as The Big Bang Theory were you can find stereotypes like the nerds, the dumb blond and the indian guy, movies about black people being gangsters, muslims being terrorist, etc. These images sometimes feed hate and create big differences between people, it can even lead to bullying.

We have to avoid using them, not only because sometimes they're not accurate, but also because you might hurt someone by using them against them in a negative way.

What if one day you meet someone that is different than you and you push him away because of stereotypes and prejudice?, what if you miss the chance of knowing a great person? 

O Canada...

I'm one of those persons who felt the lack of something in their presentation about countries. Well, in my case I'd say mine lacked a lot of things. That's mostly the reason I decided to focus this blog entry on  the country my presentation was of, Canada, that beautiful place often obscured by the USA. The other reason is that I didn't know about what should I've written, but whatever... So let's begin this.

Few facts about Canada

Canada is located in North America and is said to be the world's largest second country in regards to area (9,984,670 km2), counting with ten provinces and three territories, and it has an estimated population of 32,344,962 inhabitants. Its capital city is Ottawa, though the largest one is Toronto. Yeah, I thought of Montreal or something else when thinking about Canada's capital too.  It was at the end of the 15th century when British and French colonies arrived and settle on the Atlantic Coast of the country, and that's the reason of why Canada has two official languages (French and English). The actual geographical territory of Canada is due to several conflicts the UK had until the late 18th century; many territories were won and so many were lost too. Being dominated by the British Empire, it wasn't until 1867 (July 1st) when three colonies (pursuant to the Constitution Act, 1867) joined to form the autonomous federal dominion of Canada. Later, an accretion of provinces and territories occurred and thus Canada was born. However, it was just in 1931 when Britain finally granted full independence to Canada. This last fact was made through the Statue of Westminster 1931, which is NOT an actual statue but an Act from the Parliament of the United Kingdom. By the way, the hymn of Canada is titled "O Canada" and you can listen to it here (the lyrics are in the video's description). I also found a parody of the hymn, which you can listen to it here. Though you have to make sure there are not Canadians near.

French Canada vs English Canada

That's right. As mentioned before, Canada was colonized by British as well French colonizers, meaning this in places were the French or British influence is bigger than the other. I think most of the people believe the English Canadians hate the French ones, and this applies on vice-versa. After a little research I did, I came to the conclusion that, though French and British Canadians don't go too far to hate each other, they mostly don't care about the other part. This phenomena is known as "Two-Solitudes" and it basically means the lack of communication between the Anglophone and Francophone people from Canada. It can also be defined as the lack of will for communication which, if you ask me, I consider even worse. And hilarious at some extent.  Still, those conflicts are not what make Canada famous, but probably are the starts from there—

Wait, there are actually famous people who are from Canada!?

Yes, that's actually true. And listen well, they are A LOT! I was surprised to find such a huge list of famous people from Canada. Seriously, they're so many that I'll let you a link here, since write all of them would be really hard.

Most Popular People Born In "Canada" -according to IMDb-

Finally, some stereotypes

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and a video is a sum of frames, so that's like, what, millions of words? is a very useful tool to show this. Here I'll left a video about Canadian Stereotypes... made by a Canadian girl, so don't freak out and start to say this is only to mock Canadians. Stay calm, be cool.

Damn this girl is hot... Oh, sorry about that.

Anyway, this video leads me to a question: what are your thoughts when you hear the word "Canadian"? Also, did you know any of the stereotypes mentioned in the video? If so, let me know them by writing right down in the comments, eh.

Queen Elizabeth I, more than just a Queen

One of the things about Queen Elizabeth that I think it is very interesting her life out of the court.

I've been looking for more information about it and this is what I found:

• After the execution of her mother, she spent many years of her childhood at Hatfield House in Hertfordshire, away from the court.
• Her step mother Catherine Parr tried to make Elizabeth back in the court, but her father didn't consent it.
• She was very smart; she spoke French, Spanish and Italian. She also knew Latin and Greek.
• In 1554 she was imprisoned, accused of having cooperated in Wyatt's conspiracy.
• Despite calling herself the virgin queen, were attributed to her many lovers, like  Thomas Seymour, Robert Dudley, Walter Raleigh, Earl of Essex, Robert Devereux, among others.
• Also, there is a novelist, Bram Stocker, he said that the Queen was actually a boy, and that's why she, or he, never get married. 

Anyway, there is no doubt that she was an incredible woman (?) and an excellent queen, she knew how to handle an entire kingdom.

She is an example of strenght and intelligence, a woman in a men world, a light in the dark of England.

Would you think that she is an example for everybody? 

I think that she is, specially for women, because in a time when just men were available to have the crown and be the leader of a country, this woman appears and change everything, not just for England, but for the world.