001 - Stereotypes

Activity One - Describe

Before we begun to explore why China is considered a superpower it is good to explore what you already know about the country. We will all come to this class with ideas about China that have been shaped by the news, films, sport etc and therefore it is good to share with each other what you know.

1. On the padlet below write down as many things as you can about China. Think about religion, dress, food, language, economics, history etc. This can also be done on A4 white boards and then the ideas can be shared with the group by holding them in the air to view.
2. Watch the YouTube clip below which identifies the 'Best Bits of the Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony.' What does this inform us about China as a country?
3. What do these aspects of China actually tell us about the country? Write two paragraphs to explore your ideas.

Activity Two - Profile China

To help get gain knowledge of what China is like we are going to develop a country profile for China. A profile is an outline of the key statistics about the country. This will give us an outline of what the country is really like rather than relying on our perceptions from the media. But where should we start with the research? We often 'google' it when searching for information but is there a better way? Does bing different results? Have we heard of DuckDuckGo? Why should we use it?

Reviewing Search Engines

The room will be divided in to three and will be asked to search for the rulers of China using one of the search engines. Bing, DuckDuckGo and Google.

1. What results do you find?
2. What are the benefits and problems of using that search engine?

For the data you will need for the profile use Wolfram|Alpha to help you search. It is a site where you ask it a question and it will search its data base for the answer. Use the socioeconomic section for some of the points below.

You need to include the following information:

1. Land Mass
2. Population size
3. GDP
4. GNP
5. What farming produce is grown?
6. What is the manufacturing base?
7. Key religions
8. Languages
9. Number of internet users
10. Map of China
    • Main airports
    • Main ports
    • Mountain ranges
    • Key rivers

Activity Three - Draw

We are now going to explore the second Superpower that we are going to look at in this unit - India. Again though we will all come to the lesson with a perception of what the country is like.

1. On an A4 piece of paper draw a stereotypical Indian. Around your image annotate it with aspects of language, religion, potential jobs, music, food etc.
2. Use the Youtube clip below to add to your diagram.

Activity Four - Profile India

Develop a country profile for China. A profile is an outline of the key statistics about the country. You need to include the following information:

1. Land Mass
2. Population size
3. GDP
4. GNP
5. What farming produce is grown?
6. What is the manufacturing base?
7. Key religions
8. Languages
9. Number of internet users
10. Map of India
    • Main airports
    • Main ports
    • Mountain ranges
    • Key rivers