Our CNN Thoughts!

The Ins and Outs of Iraq

by: Kortney Gilbert

I've learned a lot though our research on the country Iraq. I think that Iraq would be a great place to life. I learned so much about their daily life. Her in America we really don’t have a big meal of the day but, in Iraq lunch is there big meal where they have kebab or as we know it beef and vegetables cooked on a skewer and masgouf which is fish cooked on a grill. For lunch I usually just a sandwich and chips. They have bread filled with honey and nuts for dessert after their big meal. Another I learned in their daily life was school. They go to school when are six up till they are in high school. Same in America only half of the kids in Iraq make it to high school because there are too many wars in Iraq and a lot of family move. Another that I learned about Iraq was their sports. Their most popular sport is football but in America it is known as soccer. People play form very young age and join teams. Iraq has never played in their own country because of the wars.Iraq became the first team to make to the World cup without even playing in their own country. Next, I learned about their history. I learned that they had a president elected in 1979 named Saddam Hussein. He was executed for killing over 34,000 Iraqis in 2006. I also learned about Iraq’s independence against the Turkish empire on October 3, 1992. I thought it was really interesting to learn about Iraq and all of its customs. https://www.pinterest.com/jgoldperiod3/kortney-gilbert-period-7-iraq/

 blog about AUstralia by:Albert Covaci

My country’s named is Australia and it is in Oceania. Rugby is one of the best sports in Australia with brutal hits and knockdowns. Rugby started in 1871 and the ball that they play with is called quanco and is diamond shaped. Rugby players should have more protection so not many concussions occur. Before the match they do something called a rugby dance war, it is about the team's showing their might by dancing before the match. Government in Australia is a democracy. The nation remains a member of Britain's commonwealth of nations and officially recognizes Queen Elizabeth the second who is also the leader of England also.The federal parliament has 2 houses 76 members senate and 150 member of house of representative.If you noticed the federal parliament is where emmet from the lego movie is where he gave his speech. One of the biggest exports are livestock and minerals like iron,diamond and gold. Also one of the biggest export partners Japan, China, the U.S.A, South Korea, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The country is self-sufficient in food productions. About 60 percent of exports go to Asian nations.  

I was impressed of what’s their favorite sport or what types of foods they like to eat. Australia is an amazing country to live or just visit,anyway I hope you enjoyed this blog:) https://www.pinterest.com/jgoldperiod4/albertc-period-7-australia/

Response On Kortney's Presentation-From Hope

Kortney, I think that your presentation and your information on Iraq was very interesting. Before I read your blog and saw your pinterest board, I did not really know that much about the country you chose. My country is Ethiopia and I thought it was interesting to learn that in Iraq most kids go to school until they are in highschool, because in Ethiopia 15 percent of kids don’t continue to highschool. I also enjoyed learning about Fouad Massoum, Iraq’s leader. In Ethiopia, the leader is Mulatu Teshome. I learned in your presentation that Fouad Massoum’s job is to protect the country from terrorist groups and wars. Also, I enjoyed hearing that Iraq’s most popular sport is football (which is called soccer in America). In Ethiopia, one of the main sports is soccer also. Finally, I want to talk about music, specifically instruments. You stated that one of the main instruments is the Oud, but in Ethiopia, one main instrument is called tsenatsil and it is a type of rattle. Overall, I enjoyed learning about Iraq and seeing how it compares to Ethiopia.

Hola Mexico

The country that I learned about was Mexico. Mexico is located in United States. Mexico is a very fun and interesting country to learn about. Government, Daily Life, and Religion are very important traits that I have talked about. Mexico City is the largest cities in the world. It has 20 million people! That a lot of people in a city! Enrique Pena Nieto is the president of Mexico. Enrique seems like  good president and represents their country good. In pictures he seems serious and into his work which signs that he is a good presented. When he was on air answering questions he made Mexico seem attractive and stylish. Mexico is a federal government. The legislative branch is congress and helps out making laws. They make good laws and make sure Mexico is safe.  In Mexico there are a lot of fun activities to do and festivals to join and eat a lot of food! Mexico discovered how to grow corn which I think it’s cool, because I eat corn and I know that Mexico was the first place to grow it. Walking on the streets eating food is not polite and not good manners for adults when for us it doesn't matter where you eat food either at a restaurant or walking around with food. Mexican’s have a similar outfits to what we have. They wear t-shirts which a lot of people do to, they wear jeans which people wear to and they wear tennis shoes. When there in festivals and they big dresses that are colorful. When you see there dresses it makes me want to dress like them and be part of that festivals. Most of Mexico is Roman Catholic when in Illinois people are all different than just one religion. Many Roman Catholics do not attend church services. I attended my Hebrew school and services every week. They have one holiday that is a very religious holiday. I think that good that most people all celebrate a holiday that's their religion.  Guadeloupe Day is the holiday that 83% of Mexicans celebrate. That's what I have researched and I hope to learn more information about Mexico.

https://www.pinterest.com/jgoldperiod1/talia-cohen-period-7-mexico/

Charming China

My country is China. It is in the Southeast part of Asia. It is a very interesting country to learn about. Government, history, and animals are all very important traits to China. the president is Xi Jinping. He was elected by the 2987 members of the National People’s Congress, the country's legislature. The president serves for five years and can have a second term. I think that it’s interesting because it is the same for America because there are many different things about the two countries. For example China is the only place that has pandas. According to the census of 2014, there are only 1,864 giant pandas alive in the wild. It is one of the rarest and most endangered species in the world. That’s really cool considering America doesn’t have any pandas. Another fascinating thing in China is The Great Wall Of China. It is the world’s largest defence fortification. It is not one long wall but a system of many walls built over 2,000 years ago. I think this is really awesome because it winds up and down across deserts, grasslands, mountains and plateaus, stretching approximately 13,170 miles from east to west of China. That’s really long! Overall I really enjoyed learning about China and hope to learn more.

https://www.pinterest.com/jgoldperiod1/bella-lowis-period-7-china/

Swaggy Sweden

Sweden is located in Europe. There is a king named King Carl Gustav. The Prime Minister of Sweden is Stefan Löfven. He is the leader of the Swedish social Democratic party. Lofven was just elected this year for Prime Minister. Sweden plays a lot of sports but one of their most popular is hockey so many kids teens and adults play the sport. There is also 35 professional Swedish players That play in the United States. There is a Olympic team that all 35 Players that play on the Olympic team every 4 years. There is very special players on this team just like the captain Henrik Zetterberg he is a very special player that was born in Stockholm Sweden and has a lot of talent.  In Sweden there are many holidays but one of the most important holidays is national saints day it is when you go to the cemetery and pray over the saints that died and bring flowers and they would sleep there with the saints that fought (if they want to). Studying Sweden was really fun!https://www.pinterest.com/jgoldperiod2/sweden-jack-gerber-2/

Madagascar is not just a movie

When I started researching about Madagascar I thought they had very few or no people I thought this because as you know in the Madagascar movies they show very few people only tourists in Madagascar. So when I fould out that Madagascar had over 23.8 million people I definitely looked more into that. I checked out their capital Antananarivo and they hold 1.4 million people, and I found out that they had the first Queen's castle but they had a President and Prime Minister, I was a little confused on that. Then I looked it up and found out that they changed governments a couple decades ago. When I started learning about the education in Madagascar I thought most schools would have less kids than U.S per class but they have around two times the number of students per class including private school I was very shocked by this. I was shocked because The U.S has way more people than Madagascar. When I started looking into what they eat in Madagascar I was really surprised, because with every meal they eat they have to have a rice or it is not considered a meal it would be considered a snack without rice. I wasn’t to surprised about this but we usually eat fish in the form of sushi or you would just eat the meat of the fish and not see the fish itself but in Madagascar you would eat the fish like one giant sardine. I thought that was pretty gross. Well thanks for listening.

https://www.pinterest.com/jgoldperiod4/jared-letwat-period-7-madagascar/

A Bit of Italy

The country I picked to research was Italy. It is located in southern Europe, right on the Mediterranean Sea. Italy is such an amazing country with so much culture! I chose Italy because I am 50% Italian and I have a lot of family there. Italy has a president and a prime minister. The president is elected by the people, and the prime minister is chosen by the president. The president is named Sergio Mattarella. The prime minister of Italy is Matteo Renzi, and he was elected in February of 2014. He is 39 years old, which makes him the youngest prime minister in Italian history. I think he is a good prime minister and he will do great things for Italy. Meals in Italy are very different from meals in the U.S., but a similarity is that families usually eat dinner together. Meals in Italy usually start at about 7:00 to 8:00 in the north, and can start as late as 8:30 to 9:30 in the south. The reason why they eat so late there is because they have a huge lunch there. I think this is better than the United States because we eat all big meals. Pizza and pasta both originated there. Music is also very important in Italy. Opera, pianos, and musical notation were all invented there. At music festivals in Sicily, a popular dance called a Tarantella is typically performed. Italy was a very interesting country to research. I learned a lot, and I hope you did too!

Here is a link to my pinterest:

https://www.pinterest.com/jgoldperiod3/sophie-picklin-period-7-italy/

It's all Greek to me.

Greece is a great country with a horrible economy. Germany has been receiving money from Greece after World War Two without having to pay back. I think it was very kind of Greece to pay Germany so they can get back on their feet. Now Germany's paying Greece back because Greece's economy collapsed. The Greek economy used to rely on farming and fishing, but most Greeks today work in service jobs like tourism, education, government, and health care. Shipping is a major business. Mining is also important to the economy. Other than the economy they like sports. Their favorite sport is soccer or futbul. Greece has never won a game in an international soccer tournament, but Greece won the European Championship in 2004. I don’t pay attention to soccer but I know that the European Championship is a big deal. Greeks elect a president. They have 5 year terms and they can have two of those. The longest they can go is 10 years maximum. So as you can see Greece is a great country. https://www.pinterest.com/jgoldperiod4/jacob-a-period-7/

Ei ffel France

The country I studied is France, France is a amazing country that Is located in Europe, it is a beautiful country with lots of culture and I think it would be very interesting to live there. France has a strong government and their president is Francois Hollande. Francois Hollande has been president since 2012 and is ending in 2017 because unlike America the president in France has a 5 year term, but America and France allow the president to have 2 terms. I think that France has a very interesting government and I'm happy i got to learn more about it. France has a very fascinating government, a huge part about France's history is the French Revolution. The French Revolution started in 1789 and ended almost 10 years later somethime in the late 1790s. This Revolution was a chaotic blood bath that I think played a huge role in what France is today. Christianity is a huge part of France's culture, about 60 percent of the population is christian making it the biggest religion in France. Most christians in France celebrate all the holidays and go to Mass twice a year. I think that France's strong religious beliefs are very cool and interesting.

https://www.pinterest.com/jgoldperiod3/owen-korrub-period-7-france/