What We Did in Class Today Friday December 17, 2010

Today in class, we had a party. People brought in food, for extra credit points, and if you brought in Indian food, you got extra points. I brought in Indian chocolate chip cookies that I made. We played Christmas music, and had a great time.

What We Did In Class Today Thursday December 16, 2010

Today in class, we continued to try to finish our discussion about India that we didn't finish yesterday. The Internet was down, so we didn't accomplish much. We couldn't look things up, so we all went around the circle, and said what we wanted to be when we got older. There were some pretty funny answers, like a fireman, a professional dancer, and other funny things. I said that I wanted to work with kids, and be something like a speech therapist. Mr. Schick said that if I do that job, I shouldn't have much competition with people who are coming over from India, who are looking for a job.

What We Did in Class Today Wednesday December 15, 2010

Today in class, we talked about some of the different questions that the groups had come up with for the India projects that were due today. We discussed as a class different points of views and ways to look at the situations. The groups presented their questions and answers and the class members could agree or disagree with what was said.  We had an open discussion and many different points of view were talked about.   Everyone did a good job coming up with interesting questions.  I enjoyed hearing my classmates share their ideas.  We did not finish our discussions so we will continue tomorrow.

What We Did in Class Today Monday December 13, 2010

Today in class we contined to work on our group project that is due on Wednesday. We have almost finished all of our reaserch and we are ready to begin working on the Prezi now.

What We Did in Class Today Friday December 10, 2010

Today in class we watched some movies from the New York Times website about how people live in India.   Some of the movies showed how building codes had been violated.  Buildings were built too high and were thrown together quickly, and as a result they collapsed.  People were killed or injured when the buildings fell down.  Other movies were about the poverty in India and how the people aren't able to get the things they need for their basic needs.  The movies showed how the people cope with being so poor and having so little.

Mr. Schick told us about a project that we have to do over the weekend.  It is due on Wednesday. We formed groups of four people. The people in my group are Kamal, Alyssa, Christy, and me. Over  the weekend, I will work on my part of the project.

What We Did in Class Today Thursday December 9, 2010 (it was Mr. Schick's birthday today!!!!!!)

Today in class, it was Mr. Schick's birthday!!! (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!) Christy brought in cupcakes for the class to eat, and we put some candles in the cupcakes, and we sang Happy Birthday to Mr. Schick. Mr. Schick lit all of the candles, and after we sang Happy Birthday to him, he blew all of the candles out in one breath. The cupcakes were vanilla and chocolate. They were very god. We finished watching the movie, Slumdog Millionaire. The movie ended with Jamal finding Latika at the train station. They were both very happy to have found each other after all that they had been through. Jamal won a million rupees on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and he was very excited. I really enjoyed the movie.

India Paragraph

India is a developing country that has a very large population of over one billion people.  There are so many people living in the country that there are not enough resources to go around, and many of the people live in poverty.  Unemployment and starvation are major problems in India, and the people are taken advantage of because they will do almost anything to survive.

There are many people living in India who don’t have the basic things that they need to survive.  Many people don’t have nice houses or healthy living conditions.   They live in areas outside of the main cities called slums.  The people make some sort of shelter out of whatever materials they can find.  Their houses are made from a lot of different things, like scrap pieces of metal, old pieces of wood, pieces of garbage, and other miscellaneous things that they find.  The slums do not have good sanitation or electricity, and diseases spread easily.  India was already struggling to provide needed resources to the people before its population began to rapidly increase.  There isn’t enough food, water, and other necessities that people need to survive.  As the population continues to grow, the resources that are available for each person decrease even more.  This forces more people into poverty, and many become beggars.  They ask their own people and tourists for food, water, money, and other things that they need.

Another problem that the people of India face is unemployment.  There are so many people living in the country that there are not enough jobs to go around.    The people can’t find jobs, so they can’t make any money.  This causes them to struggle to be able to buy food and other necessities that they need to survive.  Many of the people who do have jobs don’t make enough money to support their families.  Sometimes families make their children work because the family needs more money.  Children often work in factories and in other harsh conditions that are very dangerous.  Parents have many children because the death rate in India is so high.  The more children they have, the greater the chance that a few will past childhood.  Also, more children means there are more people who can work to help earn money for the family.  The problem is that these families who keep having children are making the population of India grow even faster and this causes even more problems because resources are even harder to find as the population grows.  It is a cycle that continues to make things worse and the problems continue to grow.

The need for employment forces some people to make choices they might not otherwise make.  Human trafficking is a huge problem in India.  In addition to being forced by their families to work at an early age in unsafe conditions, children are often sold into slavery.  There are also many orphans in India, so they don’t have any family to protect them from being exploited.  In order to survive, they have to do whatever they can to get their basic needs met.  They are taken from their homes and moved to other areas or countries where they are made to work dangerous and unpleasant jobs.  Adults are also victims of human trafficking.  The people are so poor and have so little that there isn’t anything they can do to prevent these things from happening to them. 

What We Did in Class Today Wednesday December 8, 2010

Today in class, we continued to watch the movie Slumdog Millionaire. We still haven't finished it, so

we will continue to watch the movie tomorrow. Today in the movie, Jamal was very happy that he found Latika. She seemed happy to see Jamal, but she had a black eye and was acting a little weird. When Jamal asked Latika what had happened to her, she didn't answer. She told him nothing was wrong and that she was fine. Jamal won even more money on the game show. The host of the game show tried to trick Jamal by giving him the wrong answer to a question. When Jamal was in the bathroom, the mirror fogged up. The host wrote the letter B with his finger on the mirror. Jamal saw what he had written. When the show came back from commercial, Jamal had to answer the question. He chose letter D, and not B. D was the correct answer, so Jamal knew that the host had tried to trick him.

What We DId in Class Today Monday December 6, 2010

Mr. Schick was sick today, so we had a substitute. We were told to look on Mr. Schick's website, and the directions for what we had to do in class were on it. We had to write a couple of paragraphs about what we have learned so far about the conditions in India. For homework, we had finish our essay. Here is my essay about what I have learned about India so far, and how these things are related to each other.

India is a developing country that has a very large population of over one billion people.  There are so many people living in the country that there are not enough resources to go around, and many of the people live in poverty.  Unemployment and starvation are major problems in India, and the people are taken advantage of because they will do almost anything to survive.

There are many people living in India who don’t have the basic things that they need to survive.  Many people don’t have nice houses or healthy living conditions.   They live in areas outside of the main cities called slums.  The people make some sort of shelter out of whatever materials they can find.  Their houses are made from a lot of different things, like scrap pieces of metal, old pieces of wood, pieces of garbage, and other miscellaneous things that they find.  The slums do not have good sanitation or electricity, and diseases spread easily.  India was already struggling to provide needed resources to the people before its population began to rapidly increase.  There isn’t enough food, water, and other necessities that people need to survive.  As the population continues to grow, the resources that are available for each person decrease even more.  This forces more people into poverty, and many become beggars.  They ask their own people and tourists for food, water, money, and other things that they need.

Another problem that the people of India face is unemployment.  There are so many people living in the country that there are not enough jobs to go around.    The people can’t find jobs, so they can’t make any money.  This causes them to struggle to be able to buy food and other necessities that they need to survive.  Many of the people who do have jobs don’t make enough money to support their families.  Sometimes families make their children work because the family needs more money.  Children often work in factories and in other harsh conditions that are very dangerous.  Parents have many children because the death rate in India is so high.  The more children they have, the greater the chance that a few will past childhood.  Also, more children means there are more people who can work to help earn money for the family.  The problem is that these families who keep having children are making the population of India grow even faster and this causes even more problems because resources are even harder to find as the population grows.  It is a cycle that continues to make things worse and the problems continue to grow.

The need for employment forces some people to make choices they might not otherwise make.  Human trafficking is a huge problem in India.  In addition to being forced by their families to work at an early age in unsafe conditions, children are often sold into slavery.  There are also many orphans in India, so they don’t have any family to protect them from being exploited.  In order to survive, they have to do whatever they can to get their basic needs met.  They are taken from their homes and moved to other areas or countries where they are made to work dangerous and unpleasant jobs.  Adults are also victims of human trafficking.  The people are so poor and have so little that there isn’t anything they can do to prevent these things from happening to them. 

What We Did in Class Today Friday December 3, 2010 and India Paragraph Homework

Today in class, we continued to watch the movie Slumdog Millionaire. We still haven't finished watching the movie, so we will continue to watch it on Monday. For homework, we had to write a paragraph about some problems that India is facing. Here is my paragraph:

The people of India are facing many problems right now. They are struggling with things such as child exploitation, human trafficking, and forced labor.  These issues are related to each other and violate the basic human rights of millions of adults and children in India.   Child exploitation is a term used when children are abused or taken advantage of through forced labor, child trafficking, child prostitution, or any other way that involves physical, verbal, or sexual mistreatment.  Children are often forced to do hard and dangerous labor in unacceptable working conditions.  Often, they are forced to work because they were trafficked into slave labor.  The trafficking happens within their country and throughout the international community. Human trafficking is when people are recruited, transported, transferred, and harbored against their will by force or threat.  They are generally forced to work at extremely dangerous jobs in places that put a person’s health and safety at risk, such as underwater, underground, and in cramped spaces.  Sometimes they are forced into prostitution or the drug trade.    It isn’t just children that are the victims of human trafficking.  Men and women are also forced to work in harsh and dangerous conditions.  Unfortunately, India participates in human trafficking by allowing the country to be a source of labor and a destination for those being trafficked from other countries.   India greatly contributes to the problem because it allows men, women and children to be held against their will and forced into labor.   They are made to work in brick kilns, rice mills, embroidery factories, and agriculture.  Women and girls are trafficked for the purpose of forced marriages and are sexually violated. Children are forced to work in factories, agriculture, as household servants, beggars, and forced to serve in the military.  The Indian government does not seem to be doing enough to stop these injustices.  Traffickers are not punished when caught, so there is nothing to make them stop. 

Sources that I used:

http://www.ache.org.uk/what_is_child_exploitation.html

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html

What We Did in Class Today Thursday December 2, 2010

Today in class, we continued watching the movie Slumdog Millionaire.

For homework, we had to look up the answers to the following questions:

 

Compare the motion picture industry in India and the United States.

The motion picture industry in India compared to the United States is that the United States has the oldest motion picture industry, and India has the largest motion picture industry. The U.S. has historically dominated the motion picture industry; however, in recent years India has passed the US in number of films produced.  The Indian industry also produces its films for much less per movie compared to the US.

What are the names of the three main characters (the "three 

musketeers") in Slumdog Millionaire?

The names of the three main characters in the movie Slumdog Millionaire are Jamal, Latika, and Salim

What is a “chai wallah”?

A chai wallah is a person ho provides tea, either by selling or bringing it.

Tell us five things we must know about the Taj Mahal. Include a fantastic photo.

• The Taj Mahal is one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

• The Emperor Mughal Shah Jahan wanted the Taj Mahal built in memory of his dead wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

• The Taj Mahal is made out of white marble.

• Approximately 1000 elephants were used to transport the marble to the construction site of the Taj Mahal.

• The word Taj means crown, and Mahal means place, so the Taj Mahal means crown place.

• Construction of the Taj Mahal started in 1632 and lasted for 16 years, ending in 1648.

• About 20,000 people worked on the Taj Mahal every day to complete it.

Sources

http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/facts-about-taj-mahal-3028.html

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1010048/faq#.2.1.28

http://www.isc.hbs.edu/pdf/Student_Projects/LA_Motion_Picture_Industry_2006.pdf

What We Did in Class Today Wednesday December 1, 2010

Today in class, we continued to watch the movie Slumdog Millionaire. I took the following notes on what we talked about in class:

18.56% of people in India are Muslim
about 67% of the people in India are Hindu

Mumbai is the richest city in India

The literacy rate for women in India is  82% and for men it is 90%

For homework, we had to find information on the Bombay riots.

On February 18, 1929, there was a conflict between Hindus and Moham-medans that resulted in people stoning, slashing, and disemboweling each other.   106 people died and 600 were wounded over a seven day period.  The riot began because some Hindus believed a group of Moham-medan from Afghanistan had kidnapped Hindu babies to sacrifice them to Allah.  The local police were unable to control the violence because people were so out of control.

( http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,737421,00.html#ixzz16vA2GEM8)