So what do young Germans think of the U.S. of A.?

[sister_luck]

Here's the list my English students (age 13-15) came up with when asked to do an A-Z of the United States. Lots of the answers were prompted by the textbook (especially the place names - there is a map in it - and most of the sights). This group of students is in the lower set, i.e. their academic ability is slightly below average. Still, interesting to see how they view "America". The only vocabulary I provided was obesity, but they asked me for it. The spelling has been edited.



American Football, Atlantic Ocean, Americans, America, Aberdeen
Big Mac, George W. Bush, Burger King, baseball, Brooklyn Bridge, basketball
California, Central Park, cinema, Chicago, casino, criminal people, Colorado
Donuts, dolphins, Dollar, Detroit, Desperate Housewives, D12
East Side, Elvis Presley, English, Empire State Building, Eminem
Florida, fast food, football, Fairbanks, family barbecues
Ghetto, Gulf war, George W. Bush, Golden Gate Bridge, golf, grapefruit, gangs
Hip hop, Hollywood, holidays, Heinz ketchup, Henry Ford
Iraq, Iowa, Indians
New Jersey, John F. Kennedy, Michael Jackson, Jackass, Justin Timberlake
Kurt Cobain, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Kentucky, Kansas
Lady Liberty, liberty, Las Vegas
McDonalds, Mount Rushmore, Michael Jackson, moon landing, Mickey Mouse, Miami, Mississippi
New York, Nevada, New Jersey, Neverland Ranch
Obesity, Osama Bin Laden, Ohio, The O.C., Oklahoma, Orlando
Punk, police, Philadelphia, Pimp My Ride, Phoenix
Queens
Rockefeller Center, Rocky Mountains, rap, rugby, rock’n’roll, rappers, Rhode Island
Statue of Liberty, San Diego, sandwich, space camp, sea, Simpsons, Star Wars, San Francisco, San José
Tupac, Texas, Twin Towers, Titanic, tacos
Usher, USA, Utah, United States of…
Virginia, Vegas, Viva la Bam, volunteer work
World Trade Center, George W. Bush, work songs, White House
X-zibit
Yankee Stadium, New York
Z

They truly belong to the MTV generation.

Comments

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

Indeed...

Strange they thought of Punk for P though.

Chani

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

I always find it very striking how much they're influenced by rap and r&b. When I was in high school (and please, it wasn't that long ago) those were genres we looked down at a bit. Especialy rap was a culture no-one at my school really identified with. Last year I noticed how a lot of my students dressed just like in the videos and when they did something on stage they danced just like in those same videos (including the guys!). I still don't know if this has something to do with these students living in a big multicultural city and me having went to school in a small town or if it's a general trend.
It was also more prevalent with the younger (14-15yo) kids and also the kids from the more job-oriented classes (contrary to classes that are oriented towards higher education at a university or other institution).

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

Oops... Sorry miss, I made a mistake: "...me having went to school..."

I should have learned those irregular verbs better back in the day.

[candlelightfrot.livejournal.com]

Nothing for 'Z?' Hmmm.... Zion National Park or the Zia Pueblo... Zanesville in Illinois or Indiana or Ohio... there are a bunch of Zion's and Zenith's and even some Zero's... Zulu's and Zuni's and even a few Zurich's... but my favorite is Zzyx out in California!

[sister-luck.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was a bit surprised by punk, too - I think they assume that every music movement is from the US - and they seem to confuse punk and grunge, too (I remember a big discussion with one 11-year-old boy about Nirvana, Kurt Cobain and the Sex Pistols).

[sister-luck.livejournal.com]

The kids in the other class decided to go for zoo - I don't think they meant to say that it's a zoo over there, but that you've got zoos, too.