Thursday's Assignment

Why did you and/or your family come to Canada? Some people come to Canada to have a better life. Others give up a better life to give their children a better life here. Still others come to Canada to make babies!

Where were you born? Based on this Lottery of Life article.

Interestingly, many Canadians have gone the other way, to other parts of the world, to a worse life. They have gone to places of disease, destruction, desolation, and death. What impact have some of them brought to the global village? This morning you have some reading and listening to do!
Here are your tasks:

1. Read the headings in this article.
1. Click on some of the links to find the original sources.
2. How does Canada fare in the global village.
3. How about the country of origin?
4. Discuss with a partner possible reasons for a country's international success.
2. What about second language learning and ESL? Listen to this video: 12:46 - 14:36.
1. Click on CC for captions to help you along.
2. Did any fact surprise you?
3. Discuss why you agree or disagree with the speaker.
3. How was Canada involved in the global village?
1. Search (Ctrl-F) this document for Canadian missionaries.
2. Locate the last name "Goforth" in the same document.
3. Google for "Jonathan Goforth," and publish 3 interesting facts about him. Then leave a comment on your classmates' blogs.
4. Extra reading: One of Mrs. Goforth's reports

Missions and Education

As I mentioned before, missionaries wanted people to read the Bible in their own language, which meant poor people and women needed to read, which now we think is normal but at that time was a revolutionary thing.

Most education at that time was for elites. It was in a foreign language or an archaic version of the language. And people would memorize an adult text, and a tutor would train them in the meaning of the text. For if you'll think for example, Chinese was in Wenli, Classical Chinese, which is very different from spoken Chinese. People memorized the sounds of the text. Then they were taught the meaning of the words. Then they were taught the interpretation of the words, etc., with an adult text.

Similarly, with Classical Arabic. Similarly, with Latin, various things like that. It's an elite educational system which is not designed for ordinary people.

Religious groups pioneered this idea of mass education, where they have classrooms that are according to graded level. You have texts written for children, texts that are written in language closest to spoken language, etc. Not only are those things pioneered in Europe but they're spread around the world.

And in contexts where you have religious competition, there's also work done by Catholic missionaries as well. And they often have the best schools, and they stayed in it longer than Protestant missionaries, who sort of abandoned it over time.