Task 0 MindMap the Netherlands

Generate a Mindmap about the Netherlands

http://mind42.com/

Task 3 Videos about the Netherlands

Holland Stereotypes
a) What famous things from Holland does the video mention?
b) Mention 5 stereotypes. Which is the reality??
 1)....                          In reality.......





Cycling




strong>Video1
1) What stereotypes does the video mention??

Video 2
NETHERLANDS LOW DUNES DIKE DAMS WINDMILL POLDER DAMS GREENHOUSE MEADOWS FIELDS MOTORWAY NEST WOODS

2)
1. What comes to your mind when I say HOlland?
2. Which sea borders the Netherlands?
3. What does Netherland mean?
4. Which part of the country is lower than the sea?
5. What types of dikes are there??
6. What do the windmills do?
7. What is a POLDER?
8. How do they pump the water nowadays??
9. What have they built to protect against floods?
10.Name a famous painter.
11.Which flower grows in abundance and is sold at auctions?
12.There are fields of...
13.What is the capital?
14.How many cows are there?
pigs
hens
15.What do the Dutch have for breakfast?
16.What do they have for dinner?
17.How long are the summerhollidays?
18.What do most people do after dinner??

Task2 Holland Quizzes

1)

1)http://www.funtrivia.com/newflash/trivia.cfm?qid=158546

Look at the solutions and the corresponding explanations

2)http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/places-of-a-lifetime/amsterdam-quiz.html

Poezenboot concertgebouw rijsttafel stonetablets


Poezenboot


 bloemenmarket

Task 9 Anna Frank

1) Read and listen about her life

http://priorywoods.web4.devwebsite.co.uk/page_viewer.asp?page=The+Diary+Of+Anne+Frank&pid=155

http://www.annefrank.org/content.asp?pid=2&lid=2&flashid=6

3) Do the crossword

http://www.surfnetkids.com/games/annefrank-cw.htm

4) Do the quizz

b)

http://www.annefrank.org/dagboeklessen/en_US/quiz1.html

http://www.fanpop.com/spots/anne-frank/quiz/show/199702/how-old-anne-when-diary

a)http://www.surfnetkids.com/games/anne_frank_quiz.htm

5) Watch the video and answer the questions

6) Make an online timeline of the most important events in her life using http://www.xtimeline.com/

Task 6 A kid's life in the netherland: Chantal

http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0212302/netherlands.html

Read about Chantal's daily life and write a similar one.

Spanish stereotypes

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g187427-c69822/Spain:Some.Truths.About.Spanish.Stereotypes.html

1. The Spanish are lazy and love to sleep the siesta.

In the European Union, the Spanish have the longest working hours and they work very hard. You do not get to have the (once) 9th highest GDP in the world by being lazy. Yes, the Spanish like to sleep the siesta, but only about 20% of them can do so, and those are the retired and the ones who live in small rural towns. The population of Spain is concentrated now in big and medium sized cities. Many people now live in the suburbs, quite far from where they work, and do not have time to go home for lunch, what with the traffic. So they cannot sleep the siesta. They probably sleep the siesta on weekends, when they can.

Health authorities say that it is healthy to sleep the siesta, so that the body can recover during the day. The siesta was much more of an occurance in the past, especially in the south of Spain, because of the heat. Now air conditioning is everywhere and this has changed many things.

The Spanish also have less vacation than their other European counterparts.

The Spanish also sleep less than other Europeans.

2. Spain is the land of sunshine and beaches.

This is true. Spain has more sunshine than the rest of Europe because it is at the southern tip of Europe. Yet its geography is very varied. There are the central plateau, the Mediterranean coast, the Atlantic coast, and the Pyrenees. In the north there is less sun than in the south and in the central plateau it can get very cold in winter. The sun is predominant along the Mediterranean and in the south, inAndalusia. Of course the north can be colder and has more rain throughout the year than the south.

The beaches in Spain have a very wide variety, from the Mediterranean to theBalearic Islands and the Canary Islands to the waves along the North coast. So this stereotype is true. Some beaches are monitored on a daily basis and there are high standards of cleanliness required to have the European Blue Flag, the sign of quality.

3. Spain is the land of bullfights.

The bullfight is no longer considered a sport in Spain, but is described as a cultural tradition. Yes, there are bullfights in Spain, but their popularity is decreasing every year. Today only 25% of the population supports bullfighting and young people prefer going to football (futbol) games. The majority of people who go to bullfights are middle aged and older people. In some communities, bullfights are no longer allowed. This tradition is entering a crisis because fewer people attend the bullfights every year. There is now a growing and progressive majority that wants to get rid of the bullfight because it considers the bullfight as something cruel, something that is irrelevant to modern life. Time will tell!

There are powerful economic forces that want to keep the bullfights alive. There are rich groups that grow the bulls for the bullfights. A popular bullfighter in Spain has been reported to make more than 5,000,000 euros a year. The owners of the bullrings want to keep the bullfights. Many politicians want the bullfights, especially if their communities enjoy the bullfights. Time will tell!

4. Spain is the land of flamenco.

It is said that the majority of the population do not know how to dance flamenco. Flamenco has its stronghold in Andalusia, especially in Seville. Flamenco is not an easy dance, and one has to go to dance school to learn it. Flamenco dancers are very dedicated people because of the difficulty of the dance, and it requires constant practice. Every region of Spain has its traditional dance, but definitely the flamenco is the most dramatic dance. The gypsies of Andalusia were and are the stars and experts of this dance. There are famous flamenco schools in Spain now that attract a large number of foreigners from Europe, the Americas, and the Orient.

5. All Spanish people have dark hair, dark eyes, and dark skin.

This stereotype is not true. Remember that the Vandals stayed in Spain for a short period, and the Visigoths stayed in Spain for centuries. These two tribes were Germanic tribes and they left their genes in Spain. Today there are many fair skinned people with light colored eyes and natural blond hair. It is said that the Celts, left Norht west Spain for Ireland, Wales and evertually Scotland.

The dark skin is not natural, and people who live in the South or along the Mediterranean coast may have a deep tan, but that is because they may spend a lot of time outdoors while the sun is shining. Also among all of the Spanish, a deep tan is a status symbol, meaning that one has the time and money to be vacationing on the beach.

6. Spain is the land of paella and sangria.

Yes, this is true. The Spanish love paella and in almost every part of Spain one can find some sort of paella in the restaurants. In many parts of Spain, when people go out to the countryside to partake of nature, instead of a barbecue, they will cook a paella. The paella has many different forms and the most famous one is the paella Valenciana, originally from Valencia. If one goes to Valencia, one can try the many different forms of paella. There is one that looks black, because it is made with little squids and their ink makes the paella look black.

The sangria is not so popular with the Spaniards, as it is with tourists. The Spanish prefer to drink good red wine from nationally famous DOs. Red wine is drank with everything in Spain. In other countries there are rules, such as that with fish one drinks white wine, but in Spain they prefer to drink red wine.

Wine making is one of the principal industries in many parts of Spain, such as in La Rioja. Spanish wines have found favor in many foreign countries because they have very good quality at very reasonable prices. Spanish wines have won prizes over famous wines from other European countries. The Spanish winemakers are modernizing their wine making facilities and planting better varieties of wine. In the south of Spain, such as in Jerez, they produce sherry ( a fortifide wine).

7. Spain is the land of fiestas.

Yes, this is true. Every city, town and village has a fiesta once a year. Many times it is to honor their patron saint. People in Spain like to have fun and the fiesta is the time to have it. This is the reason that many foreigners come to visit Spain, to see and enjoy the fiesta. Most of the fiestas are very colorful events, when the Spanish put on the costumes of their region and cook the food their region is famous for.

8. The Spanish love their ham.

This is true. The most appreciated ham among the Spanish is the “pata negra” from the province of Huelva. The pigs from this region have black hooves, and that is the meaning of “pata negra”. The pigs eat acorns in oak forests. The acorns have very high contents of antioxidants, so the ham from these pigs are quite lean and healthy. Scientific studies have shown that eating this type of ham will lower one’s cholesterol. The ham has a slightly nutty taste and is considered a gourmet item in Spain.

Many other people in the world have visited Spain and tried the ham and now have a taste for it. Spain is about to start exporting this ham to all parts of the world. One Spanish company has won approval to sell its ham to the U.S., a very big potential market. Spain is also trying to sell ham to China, a country that loves pork products.

9. The Spanish men are latin lovers.

The majority of Spanish men do not meet the stereotype of the latin lover. However the latin lover is alive and well in Spain. One just has to look at national TV, which loves to report on the exploits of many famous playboys. These playboys are tall, not necessarily dark, but all of them are very handsome and very macho. They are armed with huge amounts of charm, are very entertaining, and are very experienced in the arts of seduction. Their victims are young beautiful women, many who have money. So these men are like bees, pollinating as many flowers as possible. However the Don Juan types are not good husband material, because once they conquer someone, they lose interest and look for another. Many foreign women succumb to these men, to their later anguish and regret.

Because of the mixture of races, one can say that the genes Spanish have are very strong and vibrant, and they produce very beautiful women and handsome men. One has to just sit at a sidewalk café and observe the people passing by to see some physically very beautiful people passing by. This is one of the joys of visiting Spain!

10. Conclusions

There is much more to Spain than what the stereotypes paint. Spain is a modern, industrialized country, with a high economic growth rate. The Spanish are determined to improve their standards of living. They also want to project a new image to the rest of the world because some of the stereotypes about them are negative and are not true. They will keep the positive stereotypes.

Holland Festivities: Sinterklaas en Zwarte Piet

Go to the wikispace Holland Tourism and learn about festivities.

Do the following activity

................

The lyrics of traditional Sinterklaas songs and some parents warn that while Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet will leave well-behaved children presents, they will punish those who have been naughty. They will kidnap bad children and carry these children off in a sack to their homeland of Spain, where, according to legend, Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet dwell out of season.