User:Purus74

User: Purus74 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia WebQuest

Your First Journey Abroad: the United Kingdom, the USA, Ukraine

Olga V. Mishutina Email: purus@sibmail.ru

Introduction to Webquest

Dear Students, Welcome to this WQ!!! I hope that everyone will enjoy an interesting and informative internet-trip to the UK, USA and UKRAINE. Using some of the point web-resources and students’ essays, you’ll choose one of these countries for the “virtual” visit. Please, save your experience in your own journal. Through this project you will improve some skills: the quick search, comparative analyses, using maps and other useful tools.

Webquest Tasks

First of all, you need to be clear in the way of your activity here: - if you choose a virtual trip to the UK, you’ll make it through using different URLs and after that you will write your own short essay on it. - if you choose a virtual trip to the USA, you’ll make it through on-line reading a comparative essay on the USA and Siberia, written by Elena Pinko, a student at the Institute of Natural and Socio-Economic Sciences (INSES) of the Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University (NSPU). After the reading put your comments on it into your own journal. - if you choose a virtual trip to the Ukraine, you’ll make it through on-line reading a self-reflective essay about the visit to this country, written by Nadezhda Grishchuk, a student at the Institute of Natural and Socio-Economic Sciences (INSES) of the Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University (NSPU). After the reading put your comments on it into your own journal.

During your journey you should keep these topics in mind:

1. Culture and cultural differences: stereotypes, culture shock, cross-cultural communications 2. Everyday life: daily life, families, houses, leisure activities 3. Customs and traditions: holidays, celebrations 4. Education: higher education, online education 5. Society: globalization, localization, immigration 6. Global markets: tourism, supermarkets as business, pop industry

Webquest Process

You will embark on a journey through UK, USA or Ukraine. Remember to put detailed notes into your journal. You will be divided into groups of 3-4. Each Group will be assigned a country to research. After you have traveled through the country, you will chat with other members of your group using ICQ or Skype and share your experience.

THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND

Resource 1: Official website of the British Embassy in Russian Federation – the main information for visitors and residents. [URL: http://www.britemb.msk.ru] Resource 2: The extra information on the UK – useful WebPages [URL: http://www.anglik.net/linksUK.htm] Resource 3: British Towns & Villages Network – interesting information [URL: http://www.british-towns.net/england.asp] Resource 4: Living in London [URL: http://www.lon.ac.uk/Living_in_London/home.asp] Resource 4.1: London Accommodation [URL: http://www.studenz.com] Resource 5: Education: Higher education [URL: http://www.lon.ac.uk] Resource 6: Historical Places & Events - Tyburn, near Marble Arch

[URL: http://www.tyburnconvent.org.uk/home/index.html]
Resource 7: Immigration and Nationality Home 
[URL: http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk] 

Resource 8: Tourism [URL: http://www.visitlondon.com/city_guide/young/] Resource 9: Website Highlights English Nature [URL: http://www.english-nature.org.uk/]

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Resource 1: A Comparative Essay on the USA and Siberia, written by Elena Pinko, a student at the Institute of Natural and Socio-Economic Sciences (INSES) of the Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University (NSPU) USA & SIBERIA

GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION THE USA: The United States occupies the core of the North American continent. The United States territory consists of three separate parts, difference in size, natural features, level of development and population: 1) The main part, the United States proper, has an area of 78,00 000 square kilometers. It borders on Canada in the north and on Mexico in the south. It is washed by the Pacific Ocean in the west, the Atlantic Ocean in the east, and the Gulf of Mexico in the south-east; 2)Alaska occupies the north-western part of the continent of North America, including a lot of Islands; 3) Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. SIBERIA: It is located in the geographic centre of Russia (from East to West), and spans one time zone. Farm land makes up to 48% of the territory; more than 5% of the land is occupied by lakes; the Ob Sea, a reservoir created in the 1950s, spans the region for a distance of 145 miles. It stretches West-East for 2.25 thousand miles - from the Eastern mountainside of Urals to the Far East (longitudes 65 and 115 east), and South-North for 2 thousand miles - from Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China borders to the Arctic Ocean shore (latitudes 50 and 80 north). The boundary between Western and Eastern Siberia runs mainly along the divide of the Ob and Yenisei rivers. The region is divided into four zones: the Suburban Zone, the Eastern one, the Baraba and the Kulunda Zone.

ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM: THE USA: The United States is divided into 50 states, each having separate state governments, flags, laws and traditions. Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa is also part of the United States, each with a special status as a dependency or territory. SIBERIA: Siberian Federal district: Republic of Altai Republic of Byratya Republic of Khakassia Republic of Tyva Altai krai Krasnoyarsk krai, Taimyr and Evenkia AO Irkutsk oblast and Ust-Orda Buryat AO Kemerovo oblast Novosibirsk oblast Omsk oblast Tomsk oblast Chita oblast and Agin-Buryat AO [3] Geographically the Tyumen oblast with Xanty-Mansi AO and Yamalo-Nentsy AO is also situated at the territory Siberia

POPULATION: THE USA: Total Resident Pop. (July 2005 est.: 296,496,649 Population density: 79.6 people per sq mi White: 211,460,626 (75.1% of pop.) Black: 34,658,190 (12.3% of pop.) Asian: 10,242,998 (3.6% of pop.) American Indian and Alaska Native: 2,475,956 (0.9% of pop.) Hispanic/Latino2: 35,305,818 (12.5% of pop.) Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander: 398,835 (0.1% of pop.) SIBERIA: The great majority of Siberia's population (17% of Russian population) is made up of Russians and Ukrainians. Non-Russian groups include Turkish-speaking nationalities in the Altai Republic, the Khakass Republic, the Tuva Republic, and the Kemerovo Region; Buryat-Mongols in the Buryat Republic, in the Agin-Buryat Autonomous Area, and in the Ust-Ordyn-Buryat Autonomous Area; Finno-Ugric Ostyaks (Khant) and Voguls (Mansi) in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area; Nenets (Samoyedes) in the Taymyr Peninsula and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area; and Tungus Evenki in the Evenki Autonomous Area.

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM: THE USA: The United States really has several systems, at different levels, from public elementary and secondary schools through universities and colleges of every variety. Trade and technical schools fill important needs. American educational resources are impressive, even if the delivery of educational services is haphazard. The Federal law "On Education" defines the forms of educational establishments as state, municipal and non-state ones. According to the same law the higher education is built upon the following typology of establishments: universities, academies, and institutes. They offer training programmes on all levels of higher, postgraduate and continuing education. Differences in typology are related to a range of fundamental, applied, social sciences trained in, spectrum of proposed programmes as well as scope and level of research investigations. SIBERIA: Since 1992, Russian higher education has had a multi-level structure. The term "multi-level" indicates that degrees now maybe obtained on three levels instead of on only one level, as in the former Soviet Union. Nowadays, higher education institutions may confer the following degrees and diplomas: Level 1 comprises the first two years of studies and is concentrated on compulsory fundamental courses in the given speciality. After this period, students may either continue their studies or, if they do not want to do so, leave the institution with an Intermediate Diploma; this Diploma is conferred in all fields of study; the Diploma is not a degree, it is only an intermediate qualification; however, the Diploma gives its holder the right to exercise a professional activity in accordance with the level of education it represents; the Diploma supplement lists the results of normal examinations taken during the first two years of study.

CULTURE: THE USA: America has soaked up influences from all other cultures, but created something distinctly American. American culture is a complicated subject. There is nothing more American than the magical nine-letter word, Hollywood. Hollywood is the movie capital of the world. The American public has assured the film industry of that distinction by their weekly treks to the movie theatre, and their purchase and rental of videos and DVDs. Nowhere in the world do people watch more movies than in America. It is estimated that the average American views one movie a week, whereas in Europe, the frequency is about one a month. SIBERIA: Novosibirsk is one of the cultural centres of Russia. The cultural portrait of Novosibirsk is multifarious - architecture and painting, music and theatre, high classics and folklore - all kinds of culture and arts have the new development. The Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre has become the architectural symbol of Novosibirsk - one of the most remarkable building in the city. It is often called the Bolshoy Theatre of Siberia. Not only the building is unique, but the cast of the theatre as well. The brilliant Siberian Ballet and wonderful opera are known in many countries all over the world. Each of the 8 city theatres is of high professionalism, has originality and all of them have their own admirers (Novosibirsk State Academic Theatre "Krasny fakel", the Youth Theatre Globe, the Theatre of music, songs and dance "Chaldony", Russian House of Folk Traditions and others). Graduates of Novosibirsk State Conservatorium named after M.I.Glinka, of the Choreographic, Theatrical and Musical Colleges reinforce the creative groups of Novosibirsk and other theatres of Russia. The Conservatorium's particular pride is its violin school having prepared a number of world-class violinists. In the 90s the Novosibirsk Philharmonic Society has become a real leader in the musical life of the city and is the only one in Russia to have 13 groups in the staff including The Academic Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arnold Katz; The Chamber Chorus conducted by Igor Yudin; the Chamber Music Orchestra conducted by Honored Artist of Russia Mikhail Tourich, etc. Novosibirsk is famous for its jazz groups as well. The city is proud of the biggest Picture Gallery in Siberia. Its exposition includes more than 6,000 works of art of Russian and foreign painters. The pearl of the exhibition is the collection of N.Rerikh's pictures, which were presented to the city by the artist's son.

RELIGION: THE USA: America is a highly religious country, and has been since its earliest days. Nearly every religion in the world has adherents or organized institutions in the United States. American religious institutions are large, powerful and influential in social and political life. Even Americans who are members of no established religion are likely to believe in God. According to a Gallup opinion survey, nearly all Americans, 98% of them, do, compared to 84% in Switzerland, 73% in France and 60% in Sweden. Americans also tend to believe in life after death: 73%. About 60% of Americans are members of a church, synagogue or other religious group, though many more identify with various religions because of their birth or upbringing. About 40% of Americans attend religious services regularly. SIBERIA: The majority of the Russians living in Siberia adhere to the Russian Orthodox cultural paradigm with loyal relation to other religious traditions. Religious identity continue to be not actualized in the identity system of young people, that explains general aloof attitude of the majority of youth to religious problems and poor knowledge of these issues. In the system of traditional culture values of autonomous republics population religious identity constitutes a single whole with ethnic identity. However in the cities (Kyzyl, Gorno-Altaisk) a new protestant tradition comes and substitute traditional religious identity. Nevertheless, ethnic identity of converted indigenous people does not become weaker after this substitution, but sometimes becomes reinforced. Self-consciousness of Siberian cities population varies from religion-ethnic uncertainty, to tolerant poly-cultural type of consciousness, hence ethnic and religious interaction is included in social and cultural interactions. The chief non-Christian religions are Islam and Tibetan Buddhism in the south, and forms of shamanism elsewhere.

ECONOMY: THE USA: The United States is a country of highly developed economy. Agriculture is very wide-spread, above all in the prairie regions . In 2004, real growth in the U.S. economy was led by the services-producing sector. These industries grew 4.9 percent, reflecting strong increases in real estate and rental and leasing, information, and professional and business services. Currently, our 40% corporate tax (35% federal rate plus average state rate) is the second-highest among OECD countries, as rival economies have slashed their rates to attract investment. While EIA members that qualify as manufacturers under the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 will benefit from a 3% tax rate reduction over the next five years, other member companies will not; and all companies continue to be at a disadvantage under the U.S. corporate tax system when compared with other countries’ systems. SIBERIA: Novosibirsk region, unlike most of its neighbors, is not rich in primary resources, but is known for its manufacturing and processing, research and development capabilities. Much of Siberia's timber is brought to Novosibirsk for processing, as well as coal, iron-ore and oil. Lying on the banks of the river Ob and along the TransSib, Novosibirsk is a key cross point of the main transportation routes, from which cargoes are ferried to and from other Siberian regions, such as Altai Krai, Kemerovo, Omsk, Tomsk and Tyumen regions.

INDUSTRIAL PROFILE: THE USA: Industry operates within an increasingly complex and competitive global marketplace. Heavy industry includes such branes as mining, metallurgical engineering and chemical industries. Detroit is a large motor-car industry centre. Shipbuilding is developed along the Atlantic coast and in San Francisco on the Pacific coast. Textile industry is also well-developed, especially in the South near large cotton plantations. The U.S. high tech industry is the only industry whose products become smaller, cheaper, better, faster and more environmentally friendly year after year. SIBERIA: The region boasts the highest concentration of industry in between the Urals and Pacific coast; there are over 200 heavy industry plants and 11,000-plus privatized enterprises of all sizes. 80% of the region's industry is concentrated in the city of Novosibirsk. Among the largest enterprises are: Novosibirsk Metallurgical Plant, the Novosibirsk Tin Smelting Plant, which matches production of quality with high-level technology, the Electrode Plant (Linyovo town), producing graphitized and carbon electrodes, electrode pastes and cathode units, KhimPlast Company, which makes plastics, molded parts, household paints and plastic supplies, the Kuibyshev Chemical Plant (Kuibyshev town), giving half of the region's chemical products, 104 machine-building and metal working plants, 56 timber-related enterprises, more than 35 construction materials plants, 103 food industry enterprises, 2 pharmaceutical enterprises (including NovosibKhimPharm), and 65 light-industry enterprises engaged mainly in production of textiles, clothing and footwear.

FINANCIAL SECTOR: THE USA: The United States has a sophisticated system for safeguarding, transferring and managing money. While the federal government prints the currency and mints the coins, most of the institutions you will deal with as a consumer will be entirely private: banks, savings institutions, insurance companies, credit card companies and investment brokers except, of course, for the tax people. Wall Street itself is a short street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, which takes its name from the town wall built in 1653 across Manhattan Island to protect the Dutch colonists of New Amsterdam from both the Native American Indians and the English. Symbolically, however, “Wall Street’ means the financial center of the United States ( just as City of London is the financial center of the United Kingdom) because of the concentration of business institutions in the area: stock brokers companies, banks, trusts, insurance corporations, commodity exchanges (coffee, cotton, metal, corn) and, of course, the New York Stock Exchange. The Exchange – sometimes called ‘the nation’s market place’ – was founded on May 17, 1792, when Alexander Hamilton, the first US Secretary of the Treasury, decided to issue government bonds to consolidate and refund the debts incurred during the War for American Independence; a ‘market place’ for the selling and buying of these bonds became necessary. The Exchange deals only in ‘listed’ stocks, i.e. stocks which are on the official trading list of the Exchange. SIBERIA: The region is home to over 50 banks, the largest of which are concentrated in the capital city. Branches of several Moscow banks are located in Novosibirsk, including Moscow Business Bank and the Savings Bank of the Russian Federation. The largest local banks are: Siberian Bank - with branches in Altai Krai and Omsk region; the Novosibirsk Bank for Foreign Trade - with branches in Alma-Ata, Krasnoyarsk, Omsk and Tomsk; and Siberian Trade Bank (STB) - with branches in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Tomsk and Barnaul. STB, along with several German companies, has established an investment Fund which will work with Russian securities. The bank will act as a broker on the Russian market.

ENVIRONMENT: THE USA: environmental concerns and actively work to reduce the environmental impact of electronic products and manufacturing processes where technically feasible through policy and advocacy work and voluntary industry design for environment tools. SIBERIA: Extremely dissimilar over Siberian territory population density and economic activity are determined by highly diverse ecological geography. Vast areas remain practically unaffected by human activity, yet in industrial regions air, water and soil are heavily polluted with harmful substances. Obsolete technologies, lack of facilities for rendering and purification of industrial waste are the reasons for large economic centers of Siberia - Angarsk, Bratsk, Kemerovo, Krasnoyarsk, Novokuznetsk, Norilsk - to get on the list of the most ecologically unhappy cities in Russia.

Resource 2: The extra information on the USA – useful WebPages [URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States] Resource 3: Official website of the United States Embassy in the Russian Federation – [URL: http://www.usembassy.ru] Resource 4: Higher Education - Iowa State University [URL: http://www.iastate.edu]

THE UKRAINE

Resource 1: A Self-Reflective Essay on the visit to the Ukraine, written by Nadezhda Grishchuk, a student of Natural and Socio-Economic Sciences (INSES) of the Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University (NSPU)

My first visit abroad. Many people think that Ukraine is not abroad. It is our former territory. But is a bit different there. When I go out from the train fro the first time it was a light shock for me. Titles, money, and speech - all differ from our country. Firstly I can't go anywhere because I can't understand their money. Ukrainian money are smaller than our. Money paper is smaller. They are funny a bit and smaller when I look at them, because they look like something from the old tale. The next unusual thing for me was territory. I understood that the climate would be different, but their territory was smaller in comparison with our. It took me about an hour to get to another city, just like my trip to my university. And the speed of bus was lower. I was happy to meet my friend a few days later. She studied in Crimea. There are few universities there. All of them are concentrated in Ukraine, and Crimea is considered to be the place for tourists. My friend studied English; she is the future specialist in English and Ukrainian languages. It was interesting for me to hear that they studied English on the book by Arakin just like we in Russia. It is difficult for Crimean students to earn money - the only for it is summer, and in future they haven't got huge opportunities at their place of birth. Crimea is famous for Ukrainian and Russian young people for Kazantip. It is a special place near the sea, where about 20 dancepoles are situated. The sea hears is the clearest in Crimea. Because it is usually specially cleaned. Young people from our country and Ukraine come here every summer to dance. Ukrainian people from East are as a rule not friendly with us, Russian. Because of political reasons, they are rich, and they think Ukraine can live wealth without Russia. But they don't think about their citizens from Crimea that are often rather poor. But there are often exclusions, and some of them are kind to us. I haven't got large problems with the language, because young people of this country know Russian and they speak with me in Russian, and I also understand their language.

Resource 2: The extra information on the industry of Ukraine – useful WebPages [URL: http://www.ukrindustrial.com] Resource 3: Official website of the Ukrainian Government – [URL: http://www.president.gov.ua] Resource 4: Search system on Ukraine [URL: http://meta.ua] Resource 5: Young Ukrainians and their interests [URL: http://www.kazntipa.net]

Webquest Conclusion Group Presentation of a booklet in LJ blog 3 points: Lacked in knowledge of country, a lot of mistakes; 7 points: Only included information from journals, not all Group members participated, few mistakes; 10 points: Well- presented, well-organised, each group member took an equal role and it was clear and concise.

Finally, I extend my sincerest thanks to my colleagues on Group2: Rada Sviridon, Olga Shevtsova and Yana Gareyeva for help with this WQ. Cordially yours, Olga V. Mishutina.