General American Values

Exercise 1 :

Read this following conversation. Chintya Phelly, an African exchange student, is  visiting  a  radio  station  in Minneapolis. Analyze and discuss the American values implied in the conversation.

Living in a foreign country and adjusting to a new culture can be a rewarding experience. But it can also be difficult if you don't understand society's values and assumptions. "Value" is the idea of what is right and wrong, desirable and undesirable, normal and abnormal, appropriate and inappropriate. "Assumption," as the term used here, is the unquestionable standard of people, life, and "the way it is." People who grew up in a particular culture have the same values and assumptions. They also agree, in large part, with each other's assumptions about human nature, social relations. The values and assumptions of a culture shape the way people act. For that, I want to analyze and discuss an African exchange student who was visiting a radio station in Minneapolis.

Chintya Phelly is from Africa who studied in America. She is visiting a radio station and meet Erica there. Erica looks very informal when having conversations with Chintya, this proves that with a relaxed manner and does not tend to be stiff, it makes us more confident when talking to people we just know or meet. Besides that, the presence of Mr. Fred made Chintya think that the American was very relaxed and could put himself in any condition when speaking. then Mr. Fred was caught arriving 15 minutes late and maybe Chintya thought that it was just an American stereotype known for punctuality. but in fact, he did not find it in Mr. Fred, who was 15 minutes late.

Exercise 2 :

Discuss a Western movie you’ve watched before and find the American values, beliefs, and norms on it!

The western film I will discuss is "The Karate Kid" which I have watched since I was a kid and I have found American values ​​in it. I found progress in the main character in the film, Dre Parker who tries to prove to everyone that he can get better even at the best with the practice and hard work he puts in. It also becomes American values ​​where Americans are motivated by generations before those who have experienced poverty and on the other hand, they are motivated not to live like them and become better people by living decent lives and having promising jobs and being able to be successful in the future day.

Then about freedom, which was experienced by Dre Parker where he desperately needed such a thing as freedom to exercise his rights and obligations during his move to China. besides that he received bad treatment by his peers and he felt sad and depressed. therefore he is very excited and active to practice Karate with his teacher, Mr. Han, who is willing to train Dre Parker. The goal is that he is not bullied again and he can hang out with his friends as usual. This proves that freedom is needed in any country and Dre Parker as an American is quite shocked by the treatment of his Chinese friends who look rude and judge their friends with bullying. This proves that in America it is accustomed to give freedom to everyone and not to act at will and still see the situation and conditions around to understand a person's character.

Money

 Money is not everything but everything needs money. that's a sentence that we often hear and are used to in everyday life, but I agree with the statement that whatever our needs, our needs, and desires are supported by money, but that thing is not the main thing and cannot be the main factor of success, It also takes hard work, skills, and high enthusiasm in order to work well and earn money on your own. For that, you need special abilities that you have to be developed and used as a way for you to make money from the job you choose, of course. On this occasion, I will discuss and share a little experience about how I manage the use of my money and how my attitude is in saving.

At my age, who is still in college, I can't yet feel how difficult it is to work and make money, but seeing my parents who are very hardworking and diligent at work makes me realize that earning money is not easy and it takes enthusiasm, hard work, and perseverance. height in order to work as well as possible. as long as I go to school and go to college, I can feel that when I have money, what should we do with it. some choose to be spent, some choose to save, and so on. I am one of those who like to save money and that has been doing since I was in elementary school. starting from the habit of saving me and using my money by buying what I need. most people mistakenly think that money must be spent, not completely wrong because money is a medium of exchange that serves as a medium for buying and selling goods that we use until now. but it would be nice if we set aside some of our money for savings and someday we will be able to use that money for various purposes such as buying something we want, used for sudden needs such as hospital fees, or just saving to have long-term money.

Saving does not have to be a lot of money, like me, who is still a student, who puts aside my pocket money and quite a lot if it is collected. if you have two thousand or five thousand in your pocket, try to keep it and try not to use it too, practice it and hope you get used to not using it all the time and end up saving it. You can put your money in a piggy bank or if you are an adult, it can be stored in a bank if the amount is large enough and its safety is guaranteed. but do not limit excessive use of money too much. using money must be in a fun way, but smart in managing it so that it doesn't go away and the use of saving can be felt directly by everyone as a way to manage finances properly and efficiently.

Saving is indeed important but sometimes it doesn't matter if we want to use the money we have for personal needs such as shopping, traveling abroad or to tourist attractions, visiting fancy dining places, and so on. It aims to enjoy the effort and hard work while working and it is very good at relieving boredom and stress. But remember again that the use of money that is spent should not be outside the limit and efforts are made to save it so that the money you have is not used incorrectly and only you can manage the income and expenditure of the money.

Culture & Foreign Language Teaching

When we visit a place or even a country, we will find something new there, which we haven't found in our place of origin, one of which is the culture. diverse culture certainly has its uniqueness and seeks the characteristics of the country. We can find out how the people behave from the culture that still exists today in their area. Talking about culture is endless because I believe that every country has a diverse culture and has something special in it. Besides culture, I will also discuss foreign language teaching, which is very interesting to discuss as a new insight into its use in learning in various countries. This is a guide for how we prepare ourselves when we want to continue our education abroad and train ourselves to believe in the language we can.

Culture plays an important role as an expression of a country and its people. we can see how society applies a culture that has existed for a long time and is still being done. that means that the country loves things related to art, lifestyle, and suitable habits so that they are preserved even until technology is in effect, the culture will never disappear and will continue to exist forever.I will give a little explanation about culture, one of which is food, wherein every country there must be a different culture about food. for example in Japan, they usually eat sushi and other raw seafood, they think it is delicious and can be enjoyed. but not necessarily with Italy, in Italy, they are famous for pizza, spaghetti, and so on. which is a food that has a strong taste with a rich flavor of spices. From these two examples, I can conclude that of course, every country has a different culture, especially with their tongues that are accustomed to eating something that has a variety of tastes. it is normal to happen and we assume that it is culture. have differences but can be a new knowledge that we can understand when we go to a country.

I will give a little explanation about culture, one of which is food, wherein every country there must be a different culture about food. for example in Japan, they usually eat sushi and other raw seafood, they think it is delicious and can be enjoyed. but not necessarily with Italy, in Italy, they are famous for pizza, spaghetti, and so on. which is a food that has a strong taste with a rich flavor of spices. From these two examples, I can conclude that of course, every country has a different culture, especially with their tongues that are accustomed to eating something that has a variety of tastes. it is normal to happen and we assume that it is culture. have differences but can be a new knowledge that we can understand when we go to a country.

Changing Planet

Seeing the development from time to time has very significant changes. As living beings who live and live on this earth, let us have the awareness to change and make this earth a place for us to feel the blessings that God has given and take care of it as best as possible. seeing the condition of our developing earth becomes our reference and our efforts to advance this earth for the better. talking about "Changing Planet" I will explain and share experiences about how the planet that we live in now, namely the earth can change and develop from the aspect of environmental conditions to the development of the times that continue to advance to adapt to technology.

The condition of the environment that exists on our earth shows how much we care about cleanliness and environmental health, for example, if we see people littering, cutting excessive trees, burning forests, these are all forms of our ignorance of this earth. and speaking of environmental conditions, there are still many areas, especially in urban areas, where air pollution is very dangerous for breathing, but during a pandemic like this, there is little benefit to be made. during this pandemic, it is advisable for the public to stay at home and reduce the activity of using private vehicles and reduce the operation of public transport which has a very good impact in reducing excessive air pollution. for that, if we have a genuine desire and effort to make this earth better, there are many ways, one of which is by maintaining cleanliness, reducing the use of plastic so as not to pollute the sea, reducing the use of transportation for healthier air pollution, and many more. we can do for the earth we loved.

After talking about the state of the earth, the next topic is about the times where we can feel the difference. the times are indeed real and have been experienced by all people in their time. but every human being must think of how to make this earth have a change and over time intelligence and persistence also appear in order to realize a dream, namely to create better earth from time to time. Then many scientists from all over the world appeared to make a work of their own creation and that is the cause of the times have changed rapidly and drastically, such as the example of Michael Faraday, the inventor of electricity who became the pioneer and as a result of his findings, there were many outside scientists. like Thomas Alva Edison, the inventor of the lamp, Nikola Tesla, the inventor of alternating electric currents, and so on. until now we all feel that these discoveries are very useful in everyday life and lighten the work. This proves that the resulting changes are the result of hard work and efforts created to make changes to the times that were left behind to the present day. and now the rapid development of technology so as to make this earth a proof of the times and make the earth a successful planet in bringing about change and development.

Thank you :)

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