Human Trafficking

 Harbouring: Husing
Coercion: Tvang
Deception: bedrag
Exploitation: utnyttelse

Summary of the Guardian Article:

Tasks

Page 221:

2b+)  Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of having a large number of foreign workers in a country: 
Some of the advantages may be that the workers from foreign countries know new things that the people in the country does not know, and they bring new customs and culinary specialties. Some of the disadvantages may be that the foreign workers do not know the language in the new country and that this will lead to a lot of misunderstandings. In addition that the foreign workers may have a whole other work culture and this can also lead to misunderstandings and disagreements. 

2c+)  Globalization will continue. Discuss what vision you see of the future when it comes to global education and work possibilities: 
I think that in the future there will be a lot more foreign workers around the world, and that people will have more work possibilities because of the globalization. There will probably also be a lot more students abroad. The globalization makes the world a "smaller" place. 

Page 222:

5)  Contact a local company and ask them if they need to use English in their line of business. If so, for what purposes? Report back what you learn.  
We talked to a local business a while ago, and my group talked to the business Fjellstrand AS. They told us that they needed to use English in their line of business because of their foreign workers at their factory, but also in contact with other businesses abroad. 

Page 234:

3b)  The global economy has changed relationships inside the Metha family. Explain why the father is confused and suspicious, the daughter angry and the mother worried:
The father is confused because of modern technology, and he is suspicious about why his daughter has to change name when working. The daughter is angry because she does not feel  like her parents are happy for her. She think that it is a great job opportunity. The mother is not happy about her daughter using her real name, and she is worried that her daughter is about to turn into one of the "cosmopolitan girls".

3c) "The internet has destroyed distance." Discuss this statement and what it will mean for working life in the future: 
Because of the internet people do not need to travel to have contact and meetings anymore. There is things you can use like skype, where you can have live conversations with someone on the other side of the world. This is in constant development and I think that in the next 20 years or even less, these things will be so clear and perfected that you do not need to travel to have a meeting, because you can use the internet. I think this will make it easier for the working life to use resources from other countries, and the world will be much more brought together.

3d) Priti has got a job that has been outsourced from Australia to India. Who wins and who loses from outscoring?
The company wins because it is probably cheaper to have workers in India than in Australia. 

In Depth Study - Australia

AUSTRALIA 

Task: “Choose one of the following nations: Canada, New Zealand, Australia or South Africa. See if you can find out the following information about them: When did they gain independence as nations? What are the major ethnic groups that make up their population? How large are these groups in numbers or percentages or both? What is the official policy regarding immigration? Is there a debate about multiculturalism in the country?

Introduction

Australia is an Oceanian country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. Australia is the sixth largest country by total area in the world. The indigenous Australians inhabited the country at least more than 40 000 years before the British Settlement, but what are the major ethnic groups today, and how large are these groups? Australia’s eastern half was claimed by Great Britain in 1770, but when did they gain independence? Does Australia have an official policy regarding immigration? These questions are some of the things that this article revolves around.  (Wikipedia Australia, 2015)

Independence

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        To fully understand how Australia got to the point where they gained their independence, we have to look at the nation’s history from the beginning. The human habitation of Australia is estimated to have begun about 48 000 years ago. These first people may have been the ancestors of the modern indigenous Australians. They probably migrated from South-East-Asia by sea-crossings or land bridges. The first recorded European sighting of the continent, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian mainland happened in the early 16th. century, by the Dutch Navigator Willem Janszoon.   (Wikipedia Australia, 2015) (Info please, 2013)

The Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines, and in 1770, James Cook sailed along and charted the east coast, which he claimed for Great Britain. The British Government sent a fleet of ships to establish a new penal colony in Australia. A camp was set up, and a flag was raised on 26 January 1788, a date that became Australia’s national day. At the time the European settlement began, the indigenous population is estimated to have been between 750,000 and 1,000,000. The indigenous people declined the settlement, and in 1869, the Europeans removed many Aboriginal children from their families, as a result of a government policy of “assimilation”. This practice may have also contributed to the decline in the indigenous population. (Wikipedia Australia, 2015) (Info please, 2013) (Twomey, 2011)

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A gold rush began in the early 1850’s, and this attracted new settlers. Sheep farming soon became an important economic enterprise. Free settlers and former prisoners established the six British colonies: New South Wales, Tasmania, Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and Queensland. The six colonies individually gained responsible government, and they managed most of their own affairs, however they still remained a part of the British Empire. (Wikipedia Australia, 2015) (Info please, 2013)

But when did Australia gain independence as a nation?
Federation of the colonies was achieved after a decade of planning. The six separate colonies became one nation, and they agreed to have a federal government that was responsible for matters concerning the whole nation. This happened in January 1901. Australia fought in World War I and World War II with Britain, and this was the nation’s first major military action. In 1931, the ties to Britain formally ended, but the final ties ended with the passing of the Australia Act in 1986. This ended any British role in the Australian government, and March 3, 1986 is the day Australia achieved complete independence from Britain. (Wikipedia Australia, 2015) (Wikipedia , 2015) (Twomey, 2011)

Major ethnic groups

More than 90 percent of the Australian population are of predominantly European (white) ancestry. The country’s colonization from Europeans is a significant reason for the majority of the population being white. Therefore, Australia’s ethnic diversity can be attributed to their history. However, it can also be attributed to the country’s location. Australia is one of the most developed countries in the world, and it is close to Eastern Asia. Therefore, 7 percent of the Australian inhabitants is of Asian origin. About 3 percent of the population in Australia is indigenous; most of them are Aboriginals or Torres Strait Islanders. These groups are both indigenous people from different parts of Australia. The Aboriginals are defined as people who are members “of the original race of Australia”. The Torres Strait Islanders are the indigenous people of the Torres Strait Islands, and they are distinct from the Aboriginal people of the rest of Australia.  (Britannica , 2015) (Statista, 2015)

In the paragraphs written about Australia’s independence longer up in this text, there is a lot of information about how the Europeans got to Australia, and what they did there. Therefore, it will be more interesting to read a little bit about the indigenous ethnic groups in Australia, whom there is not so much information about in the latest paragraphs.

 

The Aboriginal Australians

The category «Aboriginal Australians» was made by the British after they began colonising the country in 1788. Everyone they found who already were inhabiting the country, they put in this category, and all the descendants of these people later on. In the era of the colonial government, your access to human rights was based upon what race you were. If you had an ounce of Aboriginal blood, you had to live on Reserves or Missions, you were given minimal education, you could not use electric devices, and you needed to have governmental approval to visit relatives. The Commonwealth of Australia’s supreme law is named the Constitution of Australia. When the Constitution of Australia came out in 1901, it gave the Commonwealth parliament power to legislate with respect to "the people of any race" throughout the Commonwealth, except for people of "the aboriginal race". Although, the aboriginal people were not legislated to be called a “race” yet. This was removed in 1967, and ever since it has been a number of proposals to amend the Constitution to specifically mention the Aboriginals as a race. (Wikipedia Aboriginals , 2015)

The Aboriginal people has dispersed across Australia over time, and the ancient people differentiated into hundreds of distinct groups, each with an own culture and language.  There is about 600,000 aboriginals living in Australia, and they make out 2.7 percent of the Australian population. (Wikipedia Aboriginals , 2015)

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The Torres Strait Islanders

The Torres Strait Islanders, like the Aboriginals, were not regarded as a race either. However, the change in the Constitution in 1967 gave the Commonwealth parliament the power to make laws specifically with respect to Aboriginal people, and Torres Strait Islanders, together or separately, as a “race”.  (Wikipedia Aboriginals , 2015) (Wikipedia Torres Strait Islanders, 2015)

The Torres Strait Islanders are the indigenous people of Torres Strait Islands, a part of Queensland. They are a seafaring people, and they trade with the people of New Guinea and the rest of Australia. There is an estimate of 50,000 Torres Strait Islanders, and they live all over Australia in addition to the islands.  On the picture below, you can see all the Torres Strait Islands. (Wikipedia Torres Strait Islanders, 2015)

Official policy regarding immigration

Since 1945, more than 7 million people have migrated to Australia, as new settlers, and the trigger for this was the end of World War II. Migration was encouraged by Britain and some European countries. The 2011 Cenus reported that over one in four of Australia’s 22,000,000 people were born overseas, and a sociology study from 2014 concludes that “Australia and Canada are the most receptive to immigration among western nations”. Around 1970 there was a fundamental change in Australia’s immigration policy. There came millions of refugees and migrants during the 1970s, which resulted in the issue of a policy of multiculturalism, because this was the first time there were more migrants who wanted to come to Australia, than the government wanted to accept. The latest government in Australia supports high immigration, and in a 2010 Australia Day speech, Tony Abbot  stated that "My instinct is to extend to as many people as possible the freedom and benefits of life in Australia". (Wikipedia Immigration, 2015)

Debate about multiculturalism?

There has been a debate in Australia about multiculturalism since the 1970s, when immigration first became a “problem” to the government. It was the first time there were more immigrants who wanted to come to Australia, than the government wanted to take. There has been many diverse opinions in the different governments up through the years. Today, Australia has become one of the most multicultural and diverse countries in the world, with more than 200 languages. There will probably always be different opinions when it comes to migration, but some of the current issues are for example the question about detention for asylum seekers and the question about Temporary Protection Visas . There is an ongoing debate about both these questions, both within the politicians and within the inhabitants. (Wikipedia Immigration, 2015)

To sum up, Australia got their independence in March 1986, after being under the British Empire since James Cook claimed the country for Great Britain.  There are many different ethnic groups in Australia, and the majority of the population are of predominantly European (white) ancestry. However, there is also different indigenous groups like the Aboriginals and the Torres Strait Islanders. The indigenous groups make up 3 percent of the population. Since 1945, more than 7,000,000 people have migrated to Australia, and this has led to an ongoing debate about multiculturalism in the country. The latest government is  supporting high immigration to Australia.

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Spot Checks ..

Spot Check p. 266:

a) What are the three main genres of literature?
 Fiction, Drama and Poetry

 b) Are fictional stories always untrue?
Most fiction consist of made-up stories, but the relationship between fiction and factual reality is often a complicated one, and the fact that a story is partly true does not disqualify it from belonging to the fiction genre.

c) What are the differences in the way fiction and drama relate to stories?
In fiction you write the story, but in drama you show the story.

d) What is meant by "prose"?
Prose writing is writing that follows the patterns of ordinary speech, without regular rhythm or rhyme.

e) What is meant by "free verse"?
"Free verse" is poetry lacking regular metre or rhyme.

f) How does literature differ from a user manual?
Literature can be fun, witty, entertaining, personal, philosophical etc. When you write   a user manual, you have to be as clear as possible, so a manual that is open to interpretation is useless. That is why most manuals are usually very boring.

g) How is interpreting literature different from interpreting real life?
To interpret literature we have to use our knowledge of the world and human nature.

Spot Check p. 281:

 a) What are the four main types of point of view?
Third-person objective point of view, third-person limited point of view, third-person omniscient point of view and first-person point of view.

b) Explain in your own words the difference between the third-person limited and the third-person omniscient point of view: In the limited point of view you only get to know one person, and in the omniscient point of view you get to know many characters.

c) What is meant by a "reliable" narrator?
A "reliable" narrator is often the third-person point of view, and specially the omniscient point of view, and then you have access to a lot of thoughts and opinions.

Spot Check p. 296:

a) What is the difference between direct and indirect characterisation?
Direct characterisation is when the author tells us diretly what the character is like. For example: "Charlie Richardson was a boy of 17 with a face full of freckles.  Indirect characterisation is when the author shows what traits characters have through the way they act and through the things they say. For example: "No problem at all," cried Charlie, drawing back a mop of ginger hair from his freckled face.

b) What is required for a character to be experienced as "round"?
A round character is closer to the complexity of real life than a flat character. ¨

c) Why is a "flat" character usually also static?
A flat character is usually also static because they rarely change. They do not have the ability to change.

d) Why can only a dynamic character experience an epiphany?
A flat, dynamic character can not change or develop, and when you experience and epiphany you realise life has to change.

Spot Check p.288:

a) Where is Jerome at the beginning of the story, and how old is he then?
He was nine years old and he was at school.

b) Describe the school he attends:
His school is a rather expensive preporatory school.

c) Why does he not live at home?
His father travels a lot because of his job.

d) What kind of pictures does Jerome have of his father?
He has different postcards with pictures of his father around the world.

e) What difficulties does the housemaster have when telling Jerome what has happened to his father?
He has difficulties not to laugh when he tells what has happened.

f) What is told in the story about the father? For example, his professions, Jerome's attitude to him etc: It says that he travelled a lot and that Jerome did not know what he did, and that he worshiped his father.

g) What happens when Jerome tells his best friend in public school about the accident?
Jerome realizes how the stories affect others, because his friend probably started laughing (even though it does not say so in the text).

h) Why does Jerome not want to talk to his fiancè about his fathers death?
He is afraid that she will laugh like the others.

Written task literature: Global Challenges

“In your course you have studied global challenges through English-language literature and films. Write a text in which you reflect on how effective a literary text and a film have been in raising your awareness about one or two global challenges. Use examples from each work.”

When we are watching films and reading books, in addition to enjoy ourselves we also learn things. A lot of the films and books today is based on global challenges, and although we may not think about it while we are reading or watching films, this definitely raises our awareness about global challenges in the world.  There are several books and films that have raised my awareness, but some made a bigger impression than others.

Last year we watched a film called "12 years a slave ". 12 years a slave is a drama film based on a memoir from 1953 by Solomon Northup, a free African-American man who was kidnapped in Washington D.C in 1841, and sold into slavery. Northup worked on plantations in the state of Louisiana for twelve years before his release in 1853.

In the film, Solomon works as a violinist in New York, and he lives with his wife and their two children. He gets a two-week job offer from to men called Brown and Hamilton, to be a musician, but only if he travels to D.C with them. When they get there, they drug him and deliver him to a slave pen owned by James Burch. He then gets shipped to New Orleans and a slave trader gives him the identity of “Platt”, a runaway slave from Georgia.  Later on, we learn about all the conflicts, problems and all the horrible things he has to see and go through the 12 next years. In the end, Solomon is released and is reunited with his family.

    From the film. Salomon number third from the left.

Before I watched this film I did not give much thought to the problem slavery, and I thought that this was something that did not exist anymore. However, after watching it, I was curios and I did a little research on the internet, only to find out that an estimate of 21-36 million people are in slavery today. This means that there is more people in slavery today than at any other time in human history. Slavery is one of the biggest global challenges in the world, and it is very important that people’s awareness is raised. Movies like 12 years a slave is a very effective way of doing this, and my awareness was definitely raised after watching this movie. It made me interested in the problem, and made me find out more about it.

In addition to the film Twelve years a slave, there is also a book who has made a bigger impression than others have, and raised my awareness about another global challenge: The book "Secret Daughter" is written by Shilpi Somaya Gowda. It is the story of two families from India and the USA who has a big connection they do not know about. The book starts with a woman named Kavita giving birth to her first child, a girl. But Kavita is from a culture which favours sons, and right after the birth her husband takes her and she is gone forever. Her next child is also a girl, and she knows that the only way to save her newborn daughter’s life is to give her away. This decision haunts her for the rest of her life, even after her son is born.

The baby girl who she gave away was adopted to a family in the USA, a doctor named Somer and her husband Krishnan. The story follows Kavita and Somer, and the child that binds both of their destinies.

I have always known that there are some cultures where it is “normal” to get rid of the newborn baby if it is a girl, because they would rather have boys and they can not afford to have a girl. However, this book describes it so well; the mothers desperation for her second child who turns out to be a girl too, and that you in the end of the book realise that the father has struggled just as much with this ever since it happened, even though he does not show it and it does not seem like it. The book made me think about this challenge, and it is definitively a global challenge, because this happens in many cultures.  

Both the film and the book has raised my awareness about different global challenges. They have made me interested and made me want to know more about them. This is very important if someday in the future these global challenges can be solved. People’s awareness’s has to be raised, and they have to want to do something to change it, to make it better. Films and books can raise awareness, and by raising awareness people begin to think, and when they begin to think they might act, so I definitively think films and literature can help in solving global challenges.

Sources: 

Secret Daughter: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6905012-secret-daughter

12 years a slave: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12_Years_a_Slave_%28film%29

Slavery: https://www.freetheslaves.net/page.aspx?pid=301

Pictures: 

12 years a slave poster: http://www.artwithimpact.org/sites/default/files/12-years-a-slave.jpg

12 years a slave movie snapshot: http://i.newsarama.com/images/i/000/124/338/original/12-Years-a-Slave-Shot-2.jpg?1393368275

Secret Daughter bookcover: http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347708559l/6905012.jpg

Task 8c p. 169

Find the article "Where did all the money go?" on our website. Write a summary of the main points of the article.

"Where did all the money go?"

The article is about the economic crisis in the world, with mainly focus in the world. The global free market consumer economy in the United States and the United Kingdom has been in big trouble recently. Many years of big economic growth has suddenly been replaced by a gigantic economic downfall. There are a lot more unemployed people, and fewer people to pay the taxes that the government needs.

Some people even speak of the beginning of a new Great Depression. Considering this: Poverty has increased. Consumers are nervous. There is less production, less trade and less investment... and so on, in a long downward spiral.

A lot of people are blaming the things that Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan did when they were prime ministers in the US. and UK. in  the 1980s. They were firm believers in the free market. They meant that many of the government regulations that had been put in place after the Great Depression and after the Second World War were standing in way of economic growth, so they started an era of deregulation. This lead to that some people got very rich, and less successful people struggled.

The 21.century: Banks and financial investment houses on Wall Street started to make money by "leveraging" it (using them to borrow money to make a big profit). By 2007 financial actors all over the world had invested hundreds of billions - perhaps trillions - of dollars in American mortgages.

Sources: http://access-socialstudies.cappelendamm.no/binfil/download.php?did=68773 (13.01.15)

Page 169 in Access  (13.01.15)

What we did Wednesday 5th of November

We had an English Subject day, and we spent half the day studying local businesses from Kvam. We were divided into different groups and had or presentation. Later that day we watched the movie "Wolf of Wall Street", which lasted for about three hours. The movie was really good, but a little long I think. We ended the day with a discussion about the movie.