One Lap Down, Three to Go

Today in human geography we took a test on cultural geography. It was the last test for the quarter, and now we are starting to talk about the different religions. I think that the test went pretty well, there were 4 or 5 questions that I guessed on, and I know that I got one wrong. Overall I think that I got around a 92%, which isn't bad. Once we finished the test we were split into groups for a power point presentation about the five major religions. Jasmine and Stephanie are in my group and we got the religion, Islam. We used the Google docs so we could all work on it together. We had lots of issues with the internet, but for some reason my internet worked, so I started to work on it. Then Stephanie's internet started to work, so now we had two people working on the power point presentation. Me and Stephanie got a lot done and we are almost done. Jasmines' computer never worked, but we got a lot of information done, and written on the presentation.

Test Review: Cultural Geography

Today in human geography Jasmine taught the class the class, and we reviewed our notes, and reviewed for the test. We also watched a short video that discussed nationalism. Listed below are some notes to study for our test.

Study Guide:

• Cultural characteristics- learned characteristics from a certain cultural or group. Can be seen through:
• Language:
• Spanish unites the Hispanic world
• Brazil is the only South American nation that speaks Portuguese
• Canada is a bilingual language:
• French
• English
• Switzerland has multiple languages
• English is considered the number one business language in the world
• Called the " lingua franca"
• Ethnic heritage:
• Countries , like Yugoslavia, have many ethnic groups and they get along fine.
• There soon became problems in Yugoslavia, and the country split up
• When one group has more power the weaker on is mostly to be punished
• Not all groups have the same outcome, like the U.S. for example
• Religion:
• Five major religions:
• Hinduism
• Buddhism
• Judaism- the people are decedents of Abraham
• Christianity
• Islam
• Muslim groups
• Shiites
• Sunnies
• Million of people believe in the same thing
• Jews, Christians, and Muslims all claim Jerusalem as their holy site
• They are constantly fighting over this spot
• Spatial divisions- how we divide the livable space found on the Earth by establishing social, economic, and political control
• Countries
• Economic alliances:
• North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
• Association of Southeast Asian Nations
• Political alliances:
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
• Commonwealth of Nations
• Originations of American States
• Reasons for spatial divisions:
• Difference in culture, language, or religion
• Historical boundaries
• Imperial conquest and control
• Economic similarities and differences
• Nationalism- the belief that you nation is superior to all others
• Economic differences- fertile land, access to the coast, fishing rights, natural resources, different economic philosophies

Cultural Geography Part 2

In human geography today we continued to discuss the topic of cultural geography.

Spatial divisions are how we divide the livable space found on the Earth by establishing social, economic, and political control. Spatial division can be shown in many different ways like countries, economic alliances, and political alliances.

• A country is easy to explain, it is just different sections from the continents divided into countries.
• Economic alliances can be demonstrated by, many different countries and the issues that they have had. North America and Free Trade Agreement which is also known by the NAFTA. Association of Southeast Asian Nations is another example of economic alliances.

• Political alliances are also another form. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), or the Commonwealth of Nations is also another group that represents the political alliances’ part of spatial division. Organization of American states is also another political alliance.
• There are reasons for spatial division, and they are the difference in culture, language, and religion. There are also historical boundaries witch make there be divisions in the countries. Imperial conquest and control, along with economic similarities and differences, are a part of the reasons for spatial division.
• Nationalism is the belief that your nation is superior to all others. This means that a nation has the right to think that there the best, but that may not be true but you have that right.
• Economic differences is fertile land, access to the coast, fishing rights, natural resources, and different economic philosophies.

Cultural Geography

Today things were back to normal, we had a teacher, everyone was in a uniform( out of spirit week clothes), and we started a new unit. It was called "Cultural Geography". Cultural geography describes groups of everyday people, and the ideas that the group will teach to other groups of people. This can connect a region, or maybe even divide a region. This basically tells us how countries are made you of so many different people, like the Unites States, or showing that most people in a country look and act the same, like China. There are three "Cultural Characteristics", language, ethnic heritage, and religion.

• Language
• Examples of how language works in cultural geography:
• Spanish unites the Hispanic world
• Brazil is the only South American country that does not speak Spanish. The instead speak Portuguese.
• Canada is a bilingual country that speaks French and English. These two languages are the country's official languages.
• English is considered the world language used for business transactions. This is called "lingua franca"
• Ethnic heritage
• Examples of how ethnic heritage works in cultural geography:
• In Yugoslavia, many ethnic groups made into one country, but soon the leadership died and there became a war. Now they are no longer one country.
• When one group becomes more powerful, the other gets "shamed" by the powerful ones.
• Some groups get along fine and stay as one country, like America. America has peacefully emerged into one country, but many different groups in the country.
• Religion
• Examples of how religion world in cultural geography:
• The five major religion are:
• Hinduism
• Buddhism
• Judaism
• Islam
• There are millions of people who believe in the same thing but all belong to a different group. 

No Teacher

In Human Geography Mr. Schick was not there. We had human geography first so we just thought that Mr. Schick was running late, so we continued to sit there and talk among ourselves. Then the announcements started to be said over the speaker, but there still was no Mr. Schick. We then started to get a little worried, but we continued to just sit and wait for him. Phil soon opened to door and stuck his head out the door, but he was not there. Jasmine and Carly then went down to the office to tell someone, because we weren't sure what the number was for the office. When they came back they said that Mr. Ironton said to just wait in the room and that there will be a substitute in the room soon. Then, about seven or eight minutes later a teacher came into the class, and asked where Mr. Torres was, and we tried to explain to her that this was a human geography class, and that Mr. Schick used this room for teaching. She was a little confused so we continued to explain it to her. After us telling her again, she understood, then she left the room. We sat in the room for about another five minutes, and then another teacher came in, and he was our "real" substitute. For the rest of the class, that we had time left, we took a pre-test thing that will show Mr. Schick how much we know, and don't know. Then at the end of the semester we will take it again to see how much learned. I thought the test was pretty hard, and it gave me a look into what we will be learning for the rest of the semester.  

The return of the population quiz

Today in class we got our population quizzes back, I had totally forgot that we even took them. I was a little nervous, because I hadn't checked power school to see my grade. As Mr. Schick started passing out the tests, he wasn't ringing the bell for anyone. Mr. Schick only rings the bell if a student got an A, there was only one bell ring so far, and I was starting to get a little nervous. Finally he called my name, second to last, out of the pile and then I heard a ring! I was really excited because I hadn't done very well on the last test and I really wanted to do well on this one. Once all the tests were passed out there had only been two bell rings, and I was very happy and thankful that one of them was mine. The rest of the class we went over the questions for the test to see what the correct answers were. We participated more today which was good, and we weren't the class with the lowest average. Because we participated more we became more informed about the topic, I hope this continues to happen and we continue to bring our grades up as a class.

Kiva

Today in Human Geography we took a test on population pyramids, and vocabulary terms about the fertility rate, annual growth rate, and more terms like that. Once we finished the test we started to talk about an organization called Kiva. Kiva is an organization that helps poor people continue to make a living. This organization is many people in need of money to help their business, family, or even food. For example this man named Ronald who lives in Kenya is looking to raise a $700 loan. With this loan he will construct a greenhouse for his business. The best part about this that many other organizations do not pay you the money back that you had given them, but this organization does! This is one of the interesting qualities that this organization has. It is a very good education and I am interested in helping out people in need.