美国文化教案（英文版）

1、美国文化教案（英文版）Lecture 1 Basic Fact about the U.S.A.Teaching Objectives1.Introduction to the general facts about U.S.A.2.Elaboration on the American history-its periodical progress and events.Time SpanTwo class hours: general introduction (1& 1/2 hr) group work and peer review (1/4 hr)Comments and e

2、valuation (1/4 hr)Teaching Plan1.Introduction to the geographical conditions of U.S.A.2.Warming-up activities on the general facts.3.Brief review of American history.4.Peer review and discussion.5.Comments. Teaching StepsI. Geographical Conditions1. Position and Area®South of North America®

3、;Northern temperate zone; Oceanic air mass®Two neighbors®Sandwiched between two oceans®5000 km from west to east; 2500 km from north to south; coastline 20,000 km®9.6 million skm (3rd largest)®50 states (2 separated ones); Overseas territories: Guam, Puerto Rico, Virgin Isla

4、nds®North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)2. Four largest Countries in the World®1 RussiaLand: 16.995 800 sq km Water: 79,400 sq km Total: 17,075,200 sq km ®2 CanadaLand: 9,220,970 sq km Water: 755,170 sq km Total: 9,976,140 sq km ®3 U.S.A.Land: 9,158,960 sq km Water: 470,13

5、1 sq km Total: 9,629,091 sq km ®4 China Land: 9,326,410 sq km Water: 270,550 sq km Total: 9,596,960 sq km 3. Surface regions and landforms®The Atlantic seacoast (Eastern Coastal Plain)and the Appalachians Tide water region; Fall Line®The Great Mississippi River Basin “Father of Waters

6、”, “Barn of America”; Midwest-Agricultural region; Great Plains; 4 time zones (Pacific, Mountain, Central, Eastern)®The Rockies West to the Pacific Ocean “Backbone”-Mexico to the Arctic4. Rivers®Mississippi River 6400km from northwestern source in the Rockies to the Gulf of Mexico; transpo

7、rtation for Middle West.®Missouri River®Ohio River (industrial areas)®Tennessee River®Colorado River ®Rio Grande River (boundary river between Mexico and U.S.A.)®Potomac River (dividing South and North)5. Lakes®Lake Superior®Lake Michigan®Lake Huron®

8、Lake Erie (Niagara Falls)®Lake OntarioFeatures: Interconnected; half of the worlds fresh water; reaching Atlantic.II. A Outline of American History1. Colonial Life (1680-1785)2. American Revolution & Early Republic (1765-1820)3. Expansion, Development, Sectionalism, and Division (1820-1860)

9、4. Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1865)5. Post War Expansion & Change (1865-1900)6. The Progressive Era and7. First World War (1901-1920)8. The Twenties & Great Depression (1920-1940)9. Second World War and the Beginning of the Cold War (1941-1960)10. Contemporary America to present (196

10、0- )Lectures 2 and 3 Ethnic and Racial AssimilationTeaching Objectives:1.Introduce the most important aspects of the process of immigration;2.Offer a considerable amount of discussion about, and analysis of, the questions raised in this lecture;3.Help students have a broad perspective on the issues

11、of ethnic and racial diversity and assimilation.Main Teaching Tasks:1. Unit 13 in American Studies Readers (P 285-312)2. Chapter 2 and 3 in American Culture and Society (P 21-91)Time Allotment: In the 100-minute lecture, explanation, analysis and the showing of PPT will be combined.In-class Activiti

12、es:The ways of asking questions and group-discussion will be applied.Out-class Assignment:Go over what is learnt in todays lecture and preview the related materials about the next lecture.Teaching Steps:I.A Historical Perspective The United States is a nation of diversity, culturally and socially, a

13、nd the major body of its population consists of millions of immigrants and many ethnic groups. The earliest migration to the continent took place about 20,000 years ago, but it is Christopher Columbus who first brought to the attention of Europeans the new world. Driven by the desire of seeking free

14、dom and wealth, tens of thousands of immigrants moved from Europe to the rich land, establishing the base of a new civilization. Most immigrants landed at one of the five major American ports: New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and New Orleans. In 1776, Thomas Paine, an English immigrant, wro

15、te a famous line: “Europe, not England, is the parent country to America.” Besides these European immigrants, there was a large body of African immigrants, who were forced to move to the continent as slaves through slave trade. Between 1619 and 1808, about 500,000 Africans were brought to the coloni

16、es as slaves, and by the eve of the Civil War, there were more than one million slaves in the U.S.There occurred three times of immigration waves since 1620. The first happened between 1820 and 1860, when the number of immigrants amounted to 5 million. The immigrant population consisted of 2 million

17、 Irish, 1.7million Germans, thousands of African slaves and some Asians, mainly Chinese. The second wave came from 1861 to 1880, when skilled laborers were in great demand with the rapid development of American industrialization. About 5 million people from European countries came to the new contine

18、nt. The third wave occurred between 1881 and 1920, and the number of immigrants rose to 23,500,000, most of who came from such South-eastern European countries as Italy and Russia. As a result, the American population, for the first time in history, adds up to more than 100 million.According to the

19、first official census in 1790, almost half of the population -about 2,000,000 people-had English origin and the rest came from different origins, such as Scots-Irish, German, Dutch, French, Swedish, Welsh and Finnish. These white Europeans were mostly Protestants, while one-fifth of the population w

20、as enslaved Africans. Before the 1830s, Americans were a relatively homogeneous people in terms of national origin, religion, and physical type. By the third decade of the 19th century, the indigenous peoples had been reduced to subordination, and the only other significant non-European group was bl

21、ack slaves who had been brought to the society beginning in the late 17th century. To accept more immigrants arriving in the new world, the American government chose Ellis Island in 1892 as a special port of entry into New York harbor, a port that has become a historical reputable place, for welcomi

22、ng millions of immigrants. In 1886, France gave the United States the Statue of Liberty as a gesture of friendship, and since then the Statue, which is standing on an island near Ellis Island, has become a symbol of hope, lighting the way for new arrivals. Besides the early settlers and immigrants w

23、ho took part in building the new nation in the 1700s and 1800s, more than 13 million immigrants came to the United States at the beginning of the 20th century.Along with the rapid growth of American economy after the Civil War, the demand for more immigrants, most of whom were cheap labors, also inc

24、reased, and this demand was fulfilled by endless flow of immigrants from Europe tormented by famine and wars. When cottage industry finally gave way to the process of the Industrial Revolution on both sides of the Atlantic, more people came in search of happiness and new chances for survival. In the

25、 mid-1840s, Chinese immigrants, most from impoverished Southeastern China, began to immigrate to the west coast areas near San Francisco and Los Angeles. Faced with the increasing number of immigrants, American citizens and the government felt the pressure of living conditions and job market, so the

26、y began to ask for restricting the acceptance of unlimited numbers of immigrants.To put their demand to action, some citizens organized themselves on racial or religious ground for the purpose of rejecting immigrants, and the Ku Klux Klan and the Immigration Restriction League were the most notoriou

27、s. In 1924, Congress passed the Reed-Johnson Immigration Act, setting limits on the influx of newcomers with quotas calculated on nation of origin, which means the number of legible people of a country was based on the number of people from that country already living in the US. Throughout the postw

28、ar decades, the policy of nationally based quotas remained effective and the structure of American population considerably reflects this Act even today.There are two large bodies of immigrants that reflect the particularity of US immigration policy: refugees and illegal immigrants, whose size contin

29、ues to grow till now. In 1959 and 1980, the US first accepted about 700,000 Cuban refugees and then a group of more than 110,000 Cuban refugees in boats. After the end of the Vietnam War, the US accepted about 750,000 refugees from Indo-China area (the peninsula of S.E. Asia containing Burma, Thaila

30、nd, Malaya, Laos, Cambodian and Vietnam). As to the illegal immigrants, the US has more than 4 million people living in the country without legal permission, and many of them have Mexican origin because of historical reasons and the common border with the country. In1990, about 880,000 people gained

31、 legal status and more than 2.5 million people were waiting for being legalized. In 1965, a new law was passed to ignore immigrants country of origin, and immigration patterns thus changed as the US accepted immigrants on the basis of who applies first within overall annual limits. This change broug

32、ht about the changed nature of the American population. Today, Black Americans compose about 12% of the total population, and there are more than 18 million Hispanic people. The diversity of population has greatly changed peoples concept of “melting-pot” because different groups of people like to li

33、ve in distinctive communities such as “Chinatown” and “Little Italy”, although these people are bound by the same “American culture”.One problem resulted from immigration is “brain drain”, which refers to the immigration to the US of skilled workers, professionals, and technicians who are desperatel

34、y needed by their home countries. During the mid-twentieth century many scientists and other professionals from industrial nations, principally Germany and Great Britain, came to the US. More recently, however, the brain drain has pulled emigrants from developing countries, including, China, India,

35、Pakistan and newly independent African states. This is seen as another symptom of the unequal distribution of world resources.According to the 1990 census, about 13% of the US population had English origins, while about 23.2 5 had German origin and 15.5 % Irish roots. There are 106 major ethnic grou

36、ps in the US today, including Native Americans, Mexicans, Afro-Americans, Arabs, Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Eskimos, Greeks, Italians, Polish and Russians. Within these categories, however, there are many sub-ethnic groups, such as 170 different Native American tribes and diverse Arabic groups incl

37、uding Syrians, Jordanians, Egyptians and Palestinians.In recent decades, some important legislative documents have remapped the order of American immigration policies. The first is the Immigration Act of 1965 that gave the priority to the applicants for family reunification, and since then the numbe

38、r of Asian immigrants has increased rapidly. In 1980, the Refugee Act presented a new refugee policy by lifting over a world limit of 270,000 persons per year. In 1990, the Immigration Act increased the number of employment-based immigrants. Some changes took place in 1996 when the Illegal Immigrati

39、on Act restricted the aid to the illegal immigrants and tightened the border control. After September 11, 2001, the immigration policy was once again tightened and on October 26, 2001, President Bush signed the USA Patriot Act into law. It retains provisions expanding government investigative author

40、ity, esp. with respect to the Internet. Despite the complaints about the laws infringement on privacy rights, it enhanced a sense of patriotism, leaving far-reaching influence on the issues like immigration policy.Legal as well as illegal immigration, along with natural population growth, are rapidl

41、y changing the color composition of the United States. The US population consists of more than 290 million people (Its estimated that the US population will amount to 300 million in October this year), including millions of immigrants who have arrived in recent years. At present, minority group memb

42、ers -African Americans, Latino Americans, Asian Americans and Native Americans-together make up about 26 % of the US population. By the year 2025, roughly 33% of US residents will be minority group members, and the proportion may rise to 40% by 2050. The multiracial character of the US is becoming m

43、arkedly more apparent every day and will continue to do so.II.Ethnic and Racial Diversity1.The establishment of the dominant cultureEvidence of the Indian presence in North America extends back at least to 35,000 B.C. estimates of the Indian population at A.D. 1500 range from 1 million to 40 million

44、, organized into hundreds of tribes or nations. When Europeans crossed the Atlantic in the late 15th century, they found two continents inhabited by perhaps 30 million Indians, as the Europeans called them. Their physical and cultural differences were interpreted ethnocentrically by the white invade

45、rs as proof of inferiority and lack of civilization. Native-Americans believe in communal lands, tribalism, sacredness of the earth, and being suspicious of private property. The first settlers living in Virginia (1607) and Massachusetts (1620) brought to this new world the issue of ethnic groups as

46、 they had to first of all make adjustments to their relationships with the Native Americans. At that time, a prominent factor that posed enduring influence on local society was the successful transplanting of the English language and laws, Protestant ethics, European social customs, and economic mec

47、hanism. White Americans defined Native Americans as racially inferior, savage, child-like, and in need of radical readjustment to the “better” life of the European culture. These stereotypes formed a way of seeing and speaking about Native Americans, which contributed greatly to the consensus for th

48、eir destruction. Indian societies were reduced physically through a combination of exposure to European diseases, armed conflict, starvation, and the breakup of cultural systems that had traditionally provided for social and material needs. Native Americans were subjected to a continuing series of a

49、ttacks: the takeover of ancestral lands, racially inspired killings, confinement on white-controlled reservations, bureaucratic manipulation by governmental agencies, and so on. Though Indians did make many cultural adaptations to the White presence, this did not prevent the eventual destruction of

50、these social forms and the succession of white dominance. By the end of the 19th century, the Indian population had been reduced to less than 250,000, and most of the remaining Native Americans had been forcibly resettled in reservations west of the Mississippi. It was not coincidental that reservat

51、ions were located on lands deemed by whites virtually worthless for farming and grazing. Indians were and are impoverished and at the mercy of the federal government. Now, after generations of white domination, Native Americans are among the poorest and the most oppressed minority groups in the US.

52、Their traditional patterns of living have been largely destroyed, and their life chances are almost completely subject to the whims of white-controlled institutions. They were, and are victims of racism.It was the white population that had the greater numbers, the money and the political power in th

53、e new nation, and therefore this majority soon defined what the dominant culture would be. It was English-speaking, Western European, Protestant, and middle class in character. At the time of the American Revolution, the white population was largely English in origin, Protestant, and middle class. S

54、uch Americans are sometimes referred to as WASPs (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants). Their characteristics became the standard for judging other groups. Those having a different religion (such as the Irish Catholics), or those speaking a different language, were in the minority and would be disadvantag

55、ed unless they became assimilated. The concept of assimilation asserted that all ethnic groups could be incorporated in a new American national identity, with specific shared beliefs and values, and that this would take preference over any previously held system of traditions. Assimilation stressed

56、the denial of ethnic difference and the forgetting of cultural practices in favor of Americanization which emphasized that one language should dominate as a guard against diverse groups falling outside the social concerns and ideological underpinnings of American society. Native Americans and Africa

57、n Americans, as well as immigrants from Europe and elsewhere, were seen as a threat until they were brought within the acceptable definitions of “Americanness” or excluded from it entirely. In the late 1700s, this assimilation occurred without great difficulty. Faced with the dominant English cultur

58、e, all other ethnic groups had to adjust themselves to these homogeneous standards, although, to some degree, they simultaneously retained their own cultural and social norms.During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, immigrants from poverty-stricken nations of southern and eastern Europe arrive

59、d by millions. They spoke languages other than English, and most of them were Catholics and Jews. Americans at the time were very fearful of this new flood of immigrants. They were afraid that these people were so accustomed to lives of poverty and dependence that they would not understand such traditional American values as freedom, self-reliance and competition. There were so many immigrants that they might even change the basic