Cultural Assimilation In Hemmingway And The Power Of One Essays

Cultural Assimilation in Hemmingway and The Power of One Cultural Assimilation in Hemmingway and The Power of One Throughout the world, there are many diverse cultures, each of these distinct cultures have different backgrounds, rituals and practices. These cultures have a profound effect on the minds of their inhabitants. It's a person's culture which effects their thoughts, beliefs and their outlook upon life. It doesn't matter where you are from or where you go to, you always have a piece of your culture with you wherever you are. It is your cultural heritage's and background which molds your mind, and your thoughts of how you perceive the world around you. In every culture different aspects of the society are viewed differently. Some cultures share similarities with other cultures about how they view things. In many cultures sports plays a key role in the society, and many times the whole community is based around the sports. No matter where you are from, sports will always play a role in the society. Many times in literature you can t ell where the setting is or where the author is from by the way the community or society in the literature view sports. If you look at the literature that authors produce and where they are from, you will notice a common trend in all of their work. The cultural heritage of the writer affects the perspective in which they write from or about. The cultural heritage affects the writers perspective in many different ways, among them are stereotypes and the setting of the story and the everyday activities that the character go through. Two prime examples of how an authors cultural heritage affects the perspective that they write from is the South African author Bryce Courtenay and the American author Ernest Hemingway. Bryce Courtenay was born and raised in South Africa and received his early education there. He spend the majority of his adolescent life in South Africa and in his final year in Africa he spent it in the copper mines of Central Africa, before he moved to England to complet e his education.1 Courtenay spent his early life in Africa, and the African culture had a profound affect him. His time in the copper mines also had a penetrating effect on him and it is visible in his writing, when he wrote about the mines in Africa. In the book The Power of One, Courtenay writes form the perspective of a young British boy in South Africa which shows how cultural heritages affects the writers perspective. It is apparent that the prejudices had a astonishing affect on Courtenay, especially with the hatred between the Boers, Blacks and the British. Because of the hatred going on in South Africa at the time of his growing up and even today, you can sense a tone of racism in his writing. "Please, Meneer, he hates kaffirs (blacks) just like you."2 Frequently in the book the black are referred to kaffirs and other derogatory terms. Through the years, because of wars and other disagreements the Boers have come to hate the British, and vice versa and the Blacks in souther n Africa have always been hated ever since the white Europeans arrived. This hatred started between the British and the Boers when the British first came to Africa during the slave trade. The Boers from Europe, had migrated to Africa for freedom, freedom of religion and of the prejudices that they faced in Europe. There was peace between the British and the Boers until the Boer republics were found to be rich in diamonds and gold. Fortune hunters, mostly British, poured in to stake claims,3 which belonged to the Boers. That is when the tension increased. Soon after was the Boer War, and since then there has been a great amount of tension and hatred between the British and the Boers. "...he stopped halfway down the alley and shouted in Afrikaans, 'I'll get you back for this, you rooinek (redneck, a derogatory term for the English) bastard.'"4 Time and time again in the book you can feel the tension and hatred between each of the groups in South Africa. Another area of his culture that is present in the

How to Teach the Past Continuous to ESL Students

How to Teach the Past Continuous to ESL Students The main concept to relay when teaching the past continuous is the idea that the past continuous expresses an interrupted action. In other words, the past continuous speaks about what was going on when something important happened. The past continuous can be used by itself to express what happened at a precise moment in the past. However, the most common use is together with the past simple  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹(when something happened). You might want to consider teaching the past simple together with the past continuous for intermediate level classes, as the past simple will be review for students. Introduction Start by speaking about what was interrupted. Describe an important past event and then fill in the details as a painter would fill in background details by using the past continuous form. This immediately illustrates the idea that the past continuous is used to set the context of what was happening at that moment in time. Id like to tell you about the day I met my wife. I was walking through the park, the birds were singing and it was raining just a little bit when I saw her! She was sitting on the bench and reading a book at that moment. Ill never be the same. This example is exaggerated for a reason. It boldly conveys the point. Continue introducing the past continuous by asking students simple questions in the past simple about events. Follow up these questions with a question asking what was happening when the event occurred. When did you leave home this morning - At nine oclock.What was your sister doing when you left home?Where did you meet your girlfriend? - At school.What were you doing when you met her? The next step in teaching the past continuous is to include simultaneous actions using while. Explain that while is used when two actions happen at the same time in the past. Its a good idea to point out the difference between while and during, to help avoid confusion. Practice Explaining the Past Continuous on the Board Use a past continuous timeline to illustrate interrupted action. Contrasting this timeline with the past continuous for something happening at a specific point in the past may help illustrate the difference between the two uses. Make sure that students understand the use of time clauses with when and while to help them use the past continuous in context. Comprehension Activities Comprehension activities such as using photos in magazines will help with the past continuous. In this case, make it clear to students that they are to describe the event in the past. You can model this by using a photo in a magazine to describe such an event. Dialogues beginning with What were you doing? will help students practice. A creative writing exercise on the past continuous will also help students build their ability to integrate the past continuous into more advanced structures. Challenges The single greatest challenge to learning the past continuous is deciding which action is the main event: in other words, which event interrupted the action in progress in the past moment in time? Other challenges can include the use of the past continuous to express an activity that happened over a period of time. Its crucial for students to understand that the past continuous describes a particular moment in time, and not a completed event. Here are examples of this type of issue: I was studying science yesterday.She was cooking dinner last night. In other words, the past continuous needs the context of another event when stopped the action in progress at the time.