Author Topic: The horror of Swedish holiday greetings!  (Read 17812 times)

Offline brianr

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Re: The horror of Swedish holiday greetings!
« Reply #20 on: January 06, 2013, 05:28:02 pm »
I taught Goegraphy for 30 years. Geography is not place names. When I told someone excitedly that I was about to become a geography teacher, he  asked me to name the states of America in alphabetical order ;D. I remember saying ahh... Alaska,  Arkansas, then stopped.  When I was in primary school I had to learn the rivers of Australia's east coast in order but never taught that sort of thing. I taught how landscapes are formed, where, why and how people farm and how cities develop etc. Obviously we study particular examples as case studies.
It is probably why I love train travel and am amused at fellow tourists reading a book or more recently taking out their ipads. I just love staring out the window at the passing scenery even if it is not dramatic alps.

Australia is much the same size as USA (excluding Alaska) in area but we are great travellers probably because we have to go so far that we stay a long time.  About 75% of Australians and NZers hold passports but less than 30% of Americans although the figure varies.

Australian and NZ employees receive 4 weeks annual leave. NZ has 11 public holidays and Australia has much the same but varies with the states.

It is now possible to travel over much of Western Europe without a passport (not the UK) but obviously I need a passport to enter the EEC anyway.

Last year I rented a motor home in Darwin with my sister and was shocked when I was asked for my passport as I have a NZ driving licence. Fortunately I had not stayed at  my sister's home on the way there or I probably would have left my passport in her safe while we travelled. I do not usually carry my passport while travelling wholly within Australia or NZ.  Back in the 70's I did not need a passport to travel between Australia and NZ but I do now. There is always talk of removing this requirement which would make life a lot easier for me.  I am thinking about applying for NZ citizenship after I have lived here 5 years (only 3 so far) but it costs over $500. As long as I do not get a crinminal record there is no restriction on my travel and I can vote in NZ as a resident (but no longer in Australia as an ex-pat) and I am eligible for all NZ health and age benefits.

Offline delalluvia

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Re: The horror of Swedish holiday greetings!
« Reply #21 on: January 06, 2013, 05:57:55 pm »
I taught Goegraphy for 30 years. Geography is not place names. When I told someone excitedly that I was about to become a geography teacher, he  asked me to name the states of America in alphabetical order ;D. I remember saying ahh... Alaska,  Arkansas, then stopped.  When I was in primary school I had to learn the rivers of Australia's east coast in order but never taught that sort of thing. I taught how landscapes are formed, where, why and how people farm and how cities develop etc. Obviously we study particular examples as case studies.
It is probably why I love train travel and am amused at fellow tourists reading a book or more recently taking out their ipads. I just love staring out the window at the passing scenery even if it is not dramatic alps.

Same here.  On my travels through Europe, the only time I took out my Kindle was on the airplane or on the train at night because you couldn't see anything out the windows.  During the day, I stared out across the farmlands and suburbs and countryside, just giddy.  Looking at people's houses, wondering what they did, how they lived.  I just loved it.

Quote
Australian and NZ employees receive 4 weeks annual leave. NZ has 11 public holidays and Australia has much the same but varies with the states.

Americans on average get two weeks.

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: The horror of Swedish holiday greetings!
« Reply #22 on: January 06, 2013, 09:38:35 pm »
I can't speak for the whole nation, but I certainly learned a lot of geography--like six years--in grammar school. I was one of my favorite subjects. At one point not only did I know all the US capitals but I also knew the difference between Sweden and Switzerland!

Reminds me of one of my favorite games as a child. It had a pegboard map of the U.S., with peg holes for state capitals and other cities. Each player had different colored pegs. There was a "spinner" with the alphabet around the circumference of the circle, and a sort-of egg timer-like thing. When it was your turn, you spun the arrow on the spinner. Then you had as much time as it took for the sand to run through the egg timer to put as many of your pegs as you could into the holes marking cities whose names began with the letter pointed to on the spinner.

I learned a lot of U.S. cities that way.

I taught Geography for 30 years. Geography is not place names. ... When I was in primary school I had to learn the rivers of Australia's east coast in order but never taught that sort of thing. I taught how landscapes are formed, where, why and how people farm and how cities develop etc. Obviously we study particular examples as case studies.

But wouldn't you agree that it needs to be both, Brian? What's the good of knowing how a landscape was formed if you can't locate the region on a map?

I say the same thing, roughly, about my own (former) field of history: No point in making kids learn the causes of, say, the American Revolution, if they can't say when it was fought.
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline Mandy21

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Re: The horror of Swedish holiday greetings!
« Reply #23 on: January 07, 2013, 08:33:22 am »
Golly, I seem to have unintentionally caused 2 whole pages of off-topic ruckus based on my geography comment.  Sorry to OP Sophia.

As someone above said, yes, it IS horrifying that so many Americans couldn't locate so many countries on a world map to this day, because we simply weren't taught.  I am glad to know that some portions of the country, at least, got some education on the topic.  I would LOVE to take an extended course in this even at my age, but I've never found one.  The first time I travelled across an ocean, I was 36, and it was only because I was in love with a Belfast man.  If not for that one single reason, I'd most likely still be sitting here on my arse dreaming of seeing Scotland in my NEXT life.  Instead, I've gotten to spend, in total, more than a year of my life living in the UK over the last 10 years, and have been privileged and blessed many times to travel to the most glorious place on the planet (for me).  But the huge majority of the friends I grew up with, never even dream of such things, let alone hold passports to get them there.  They look at ME like I'm an alien for daring to leave this hallowed ground.  It would be hilarious if it weren't so truly sad to me.
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