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  • Open House 9/3/09

    • Introduction to - and Perceptions of…Africa!

    January 18th, 2009 by johnk

    “Africa is a strong, beautiful country and has potential to be so much.”

    As you see from the words above by Angelina Jolie, actress and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, many people have misconceptions about Africa.

    Although our Humanities 8 focus will be on the country of South Africa, for this post, you can include your thoughts about Africa in general. Here are some ideas that you can submit:

    1. What do you know for sure about Africa? Have you been there?

    2. What perceptions do you have about Africa?

    3. What would you like to find out more about Africa?

    You can also mention any books, movies, people, places and events that connect with Africa.

    Below are some videos that give a variety of perspectives about Africa: (You may want the video clips to run through with the buffering that takes place the first time, and after that, you can watch them play smoothly.)

    1. Lonely Planet TV begins a journey into Africa with a bungee jump over the Zambezi River in southeastern Africa, followed by whitewater rafting on the Zambezi.

    2. Akon sings about his home country of Senegal in West Africa.

    3. For Westerners, a place called Timbuktu is associated with being at ‘the end of the earth.’ However, this video tells us of the proud history of Timbuktu, a city located in the West Africa country of Mali.

    4. A slideshow of African masks.

    5. A look at a traditional dance of Angola called capoera, now a sport in the Olympics!

    6. The British rock singer, Peter Gabriel, teamed up with the famous Senegalese singer, Youssou N’Dour in a 1990 song called, ‘Shaking the Tree.’

    7. Wangari Maathai, known as the ‘tree lady’ and winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, talks about the environmental and political challenges she has had in Kenya, a country in East Africa.

    8. A mini-documentary in which the commentator says, ‘In Africa, soccer is religion’ and how football is being used to help fight against HIV/AIDS in the southern African country of Zambia.

    9. A sport you could try in the southwest country of Namibia - sandboarding on the dunes of the Namib Desert!

    10. A student presentation of the Barbara Kingsolver novel, ‘The Poisonwood Bible’ - about an American missionary family’s attempts to change the people of the central African country of the Congo.

    11. Here’s a 2005 BBC report about a child soldier in the east African country of Somalia. Unfortunately, it is a true story. (You might want to read more about child soldiers in Africa, including the award-winning novel ‘AK’ by Peter Dickinson.)

    11. Flying over the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, in a scene from the Academy Award winning movie of 1985, ‘Out of Africa.’

    Posted in Uncategorized | | | 43 Comments

    Random Thoughts

    January 11th, 2009 by johnk


    So many thoughts can relate to our Humanities blog, so post any ideas and questions you have or theories and philosophies you come across, including contradictions, explanations, ironic moments, insights, and in general, anything that might help us to navigate our way on the journey through Grade 8 - and maybe life itself! Some sample random thoughts from last year are in the comments window. (It’s highly recommended that you type your comments in a Word document, and then copy and paste into the blog comments window.)

    Posted in Uncategorized | | | 49 Comments

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