Reflection

I learned about the UK in my seminar. I study about social class system, University, private school and minority languages of the UK, I could get much information. The most interesting thing is minority languages in the UK. I researched about Welsh. Welsh is one of minority languages and it had been prohibited to speak Welsh before. But Welsh became an official language as well as English and became a bilingual country now. That’s impressive! I thought that people all of the world should important own culture including minority languages. Also, there is the second longest place name in the world in Wales. When I watch the word’s spelling, I was surprised. But When I watch the word’s spelling which the longest place name in the world, I was surprised more!

This seminar gave me much information and knowledge of the UK. And this seminar gave me interest of the UK. So, I want to know about the UK more. And I’m glad that I could study with my seminar’s members. Also I have never been to the UK, but I want to go to the UK once. Thank you for teaching and doing a very happy class.

Minority Languages of the UK

There are some minority languages in the world. I learned about minority languages which are spoken in the UK by my seminar. People in the UK speak English mainly, but some people in the UK speak some minority languages. The languages are Welsh, Scots, Scottish Gaelic, Cornish and Manx. These languages are classified into Celtic languages. Welsh, Scots and Scottish Gaelic are spoken now. But Cornish and Manx had gone. I researched about Welsh by using the Internet.

Welsh
Welsh is a language still spoken in Wales and is one of the Celtic languages. Wales is located northwest Europe and is part of Great Britain. Welsh is called Welsh or Cymric in English. In 1536, English became an official language in Wales. So Welsh was prohibited to speak in the school and everywhere. And teachers were prohibited to teach Welsh by the Education Act of 1870. However, the preservation movement of Welsh became active when becoming the 20th century. Therefore, the number of people who can speak Welsh has increased. Now Welsh became an official language as well as English and became a bilingual country. And every signs and the official document are written in two languages.

Welsh Speakers
According to the 2004 Welsh Language Use Survey, this shows 508,100 people (18.7%) of the population of Wales are Welsh speakers in 1991. In 2001, this shows that 582,400 people (20.8%) are Welsh Speakers. In 2004, this shows that 611,000 people (21.7%) are Welsh speakers. The numbers of people who speak Welsh have increasing gradually. This influences that government took Welsh education system in elementary school and junior high school. Also, a Welsh radio broadcasting station (BBC Radio Cymru) started on 1977 and HTV (ITV Wales) broadcasted on November 1, 1982 by S4C (Sianel Pedwar Cymru 'Channel Four Wales'). S4C is a Welsh television channel broadcast from the capital, Cardiff.

The below graph is showing proportion of people aged 3 and over able to speak Welsh.













Place Name
Finally, I would like to introduce about the longest place name in the world. The longest place name in the world is Maori names 'Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaunga horonukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu' of some towns in New Zealand. The second longest place name in the world is 'Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogoch' in Wales.

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_language
Storry, M. and Childs, P. (2007) British Cultural Identities. (3rd Ed.) Routledge.

Benenden School

There are some famous girl’s schools in Britain. They are Cheltenham, Roedean, Benenden and Wycombe Abbey School. I'll introduce about Benenden School among these schools.

Benenden School
Benenden School is one of British's top school. It was founded in 1923 and it is located in the Kent countryside. And it has educated some 4,500 Beneden Seniors since 1923. Now, around 520 girls aged 11-18 go to the school. They come from a variety of backgrounds.

Education
This school has good education. The curriculum compose to students can pass GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education). And the school offers opportunities for students to understand their role in society. For that reason, students can learn many things. Most students can learn an instrument or take an extra subject.

A Level Subjects
Art & Design, Biology, Chemistry, Chinese, Classical Civilisation, Computing, Critical Thinking, Design and Technology, Drama and Theatre Studies, Economics, English Language/Literature, English Literature, French, Geography, German, Government and Politics, Greek, History, History of Art, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Music, Physics, Religious Studies, Spanish

Subjects
Art & Design, Biology, Chemistry, Chinese, ICT, Design & Technology, Drama, English, English Literature, French, Geography, German, Greek, History, Latin, Mathematics, Music, Physical Education, Physics, Religious Studies, Science, Additional Science, Spanish

Boarding
This school has boardinghouses. All students of Benenden are boarders. There are six boarding houses for 11-16 year olds. The sixth form has their own Founders Sixth Form Centre, which is divided into four houses. The Centre has two large common lecture rooms, group rooms and computer rooms. There is a kitchen for ten students. The purpose of this is that Founders’ students learn how to manage their own time and to balance priorities.
The below picture is boardinghouse.









Clubs
Students can learn many things through the clubs besides study. They can learn photography, compose music, take up reeling, protect an eco-system, archery, windsurfing, how to juggle through the clubs. Also, clubs are musical ensembles, orchestras, drama, dance, sports, mathematics clubs to debating, literary, modern languages, classics and current events societies.

Sports
Also this school is prepared a lot of sports for students. For example, Aerobics, Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Croquet, Dance, Hockey, Judo and Self Defence, Riding, Rounders, Tennis, Lacrosse, Scuba Diving, Volleyball and so on.

Reference
http://www.benenden.kent.sch.uk/Pages/Index.aspx

Universities in Britain

There are the most famous universities in the world, University of Oxford and University of Cambridge in Britain. These two universities were founded in the eleventh and thirteenth centuries respectively. These universities consist of University of Oxford and University of Cambridge and are called 'Oxbridge'. Because these two universities are related. University of Cambridge is assumed that the university was established by scholar who belongs to University of Oxford in 1209. Also these universities have many common features and have a long history of rivalry with each other. For example, it is a boat race competition. The boat race is very famous and is held between Club of University of Oxford and Club of University of Cambridge a annual spring at the Thames in London. I would like to introduce about Oxford and Cambridge.

University of Oxford
University of Oxford is located in England city of Oxford and is the oldest university in England. And the university is always top-level in the world university ranking. The university's foundation does not clear. Student has come from various countries to the university and Over a third comes from outside England. The university has turned out 47 nobelists, 25 prime ministers of England, 6 kings of England and more than 50 olympics medalists.
Regarding history of the university, this university developed rapidly since 1167. Because student was prohibited to study at University of Paris by Henry II.
Regarding education of the university, professors turn not only lecture but individual guidance.

University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge is located in England city of Cambridge and is the second oldest university in England and is the fourth oldest university in Europe. The university was founded in 1209. And the university has turned out 81 nobelists. This is consistently ranked in the world’s top five universities and the university’s graduates include 85 nobelists as of 2009. Many famous persons have graduated from the University. The most famous persons among alumnus of the University are Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Robert Darwin and John Maynard Keynes. They are famous people who greatly contributed to the revolution of the society.

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Oxford
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Cambridge

Classes in Britain

There is still class system in Britain. People are divided into chiefly four classes. The classes are Upper Class, Middle Class, Working Class, and Under Class. The four classes are divided about position, job, and education, etc. I explain about the four classes.

Upper Class
Member of the upper class are very wealthy and have power. The upper class is divided into two classes: upper class and upper middle class. The position of the upper class is royal family, aristocrats, politicians, and captains. The position of the upper middle class is lawyers and doctors. The people of these classes have good speaking, behavior and education. The pronunciation is RP. They play golf, polo and shooting as sport. Also they read Guardian Telegraph Newspaper.

The left picture is polo.

The below picture is Guardian Telegraph Newspaper.












Middle Class
The middle class is also divided into two classes like the upper class: middle class and lower middle class. The position of the middle is white collar and teacher. White collar workers have very much poorer work and market situations than service class workers. The position of the lower middle class is office workers. They read Broadsheets Newspaper or The Times Newspaper.

Working Class
The working class is also divided into two classes like the above two classes: working class (skilled) and working class (unskilled). The position of the working class (skilled) is carpenters, engineers and electrician. The working class (unskilled) is laborers, waiters, dishwashers and porters. Manual workers are a declining proportion of all workers but an increasing proportion of manual workers are either female and from ethnic minorities. They read Tabloids Newspaper.

Under Class
The position of the under class is homeless and unemployment. They don't have job and don't have their house. Also, they are the lowest position in hierarchical society in Britain.

Reference
handout 'Contemporary British Society'

Big Ben in Britain

I would like to introduce about Big Ben in Britain. Big Ben is the nickname for the great bell of the clock and there is in the Palace of Westminster in London. The Palace of Westminster is registered in World Heritage and it uses as the Houses of Parliament now.

A clock tower was built at Westminster in 1288. But the Palace of Westminster was destroyed by fire on October 22, 1834. In the reconstruction of the Palace, the Neo gothic style which Charles Barry had designed was adopted. As for the clock tower, Augustus Pugin’s design was adopted and the dial of the clock also was designed by him. Under each the dial of the clock is carved in Latin, ‘DOMINE SALVAM FAC REGINAM NOSTRAM VICTORIAM PRIMAM’. It means O Lord, keep safe our Victoria the First in English. The height of the clock tower is 96.3 meters and 61 meters of the lower part are made from brick. The height of the remainder consists of the spire of the cast iron. And the clock tower was completed on May 31, 1859.

Big Ben is played at noon every day. The melody of the bell of Big Ben is similar to the melody of chime of school in Japan. A formal name of a song is called the bell of Westminster.

Now Big Ben has become a symbol of the UK and London. It was congratulated as the 150th anniversary on May 31, 2009. When night comes, Big Ben is illuminated.

Location and Size in the UK

The UK (official name: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) is located northwest of the European Continent between Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. The total area of the UK is 244,100 km² (94,526 square miles) and nearly 99% of them are land and nearly 1% of the remainder of them is inland water. The total area of the UK is 76th place in the world.

mile = 1760 yards (about 1609 meters)

The UK is composed of four separate nations: England (London), Scotland (Edinburgh), Wales (Cardiff) and Northern Ireland (Belfast). London is also the capital of the UK. Great Britain is a main island in UK including England, Scotland and Wales. The UK is composed of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The quotation marks show the capital of each nation.

England occupies most of the southern 2/3 of Great Britain. The total area of England is 130,395 km² (50,346 square miles).

Scotland is located northwest Europe and is part of Great Britain, an island country and the UK. The total area of Scotland is 78,772km² (30,414 square miles)

Wales is located northwest Europe and is part of Great Britain, an island country and the UK. The total area of Wales is 20,779km² (8,022 square miles)

Northern Ireland is located in the northeast of the island of Ireland. The total area of Northern Ireland is 13,843 km² (5,345 square miles).