Alice Violato
Alessia Ferrara http://youlikealessiaf.blogspot.com
Marta Tosato
Raffaella Panizzon
About America
Italian and American students seem to appreciate America, since they focused on their powerful economics and on the most succesful symbols of the USA. However the Americans were the only one to point out the Iraqi War's issue.
About Italy
American students have a stereotyped vision of Italy, since they relate to old images of our country wich do not reflect the actual situation.
Italian and American Women
The Italian students identify the American woman as fat and overweight, while the American ones recognize that a lot of American women have a general weight disorder considering that a part of them is skinny, whereas the other is overweight.
About education
If we look at the answers given by the American and the Italian group, we notice that both emphasize the importance of education for their future achievements, thus focusing on the connection between university and world of work. Another part of the students, however, see education as a possibility to open up their minds, i.e. a way to enrich their personal lives and not just something they need to find a good job.
Good teachers:
The two groups seem to differ deeply in their conception of the ideal teacher. While the Italian students wish to have teachers who can increase their interest in the subject and are passionate about their job, the American ones focus more on the practical aspects of learning and expect their teachers to help them to understand things when they are not clear.
Alessia Ferrara
Word Associations
- Immigrants: let them be; desire for a better life; stereotyped.
- Responsibility: not negotiable; respect for yourself and the others; moral duty.
- Individualism: freedom; be yourself; indipendence.
Reading the questionnaire results I found a very interesting thing: Americans tend to consider Individualism as something really positive, while according to Italians Individualism is often likened to "egoismo" or "chiusura".
Sentence completion
-
A good prof. is...someone who makes you think.The greatest thing I learned from my first exchange is the relationship between students and professors: my American partner considers professors like parents or friends. I think this is something quite impossible here in Italy: professors accustomed us to the idea of a strict education. Further, this sentence makes me meditate on the learning process and on its great change for the better: nowadays it's surely more student oriented than in the past.
-
A good citizen is...like a good son.I absolutely agree with this patriotic perspective: a good son is responsible; he/she respects himself/herself and the others; parents give him/her both duties and rights...
Questions for Chiara:
Raffaella
Questionnaire results:
Word associations
Responsibility:school (2), work (3), family (2). Independence (1), non negotiable (1). Most of the the associations have a negative connotation.
Freedom:America (3), democracy (2). Breath (1), lifted burden (1). Many of the words proposed have a positive connotation.
Politics:corrupt (3), complicated (3). Elections (1), headache (1), religion (1). The topic is definetely associated with negative expressions.
Sentence completion
A good daughter is someone who...
First of all, what surprises me the most is that the questionnaire makes a distinction between sons and daughters. Is there really a difference? Do boys and girls have different duties towards their parents? I don't think so, therefore I agree with those who answered the same thing for both.
Secondly, many people emphasize the fact that a good daughter should "obey" her parents. Is this really the right way to see a child-parent relationship? I think that parents shouldn't need to impose their will on their children, but to have a honest and clever dialogue.
A good citizen is someone who...
Most of the students answered that a good citizen is someone who respects the law and the environment s/he lives in. I was wondering what the American group would say, if a law was unfair; should we still stick to it?
Questions for Chiara:
How do you cope with your Italian origins? Do you feel any sort of "clash" between your American lifestyle and your Italian relations or is it an advantage?
Alice:
Words association:
Freedom:
American Lifestyle: busy, rush, fast-paced, (I can’t really say whether these words have a positive connotation or not... it could be...)
Sentence completion:
The Mafia is...
I chose this one, because I read on it one of the most interesting completion, that is the last one and says “wrongly seen as something ‘cool’ in
A good job is a job...
It seems interesting to me to highlight an aspect, which according to many Italians is relevant, that is a good job allows you to have spare-time... none of the American students has pointed it out... why? Do you think that is that an important aspect for Americans too, or not?
Question for Chiara:
Since you're an Italian American, you certainly have a clearer view of what Italy and Mafia is... Could you tell us what kind of image Americans have of both of them?
Marta:
I notice that American students wrote about America similar things:
-McDonalds, Starbucks
-American dream, many opportunities, opportunity
-Power, powerful
-Something about their flag
Also Italian student wrote something similar:
-Fast food
-Sogno americano
-Superpotenza
-Grandezzaà large
Questions for Chiara:
Do you think that Italian women and men have a right image of what American women and men are and vice versa?
The Years of Lead
In Italy "the years of lead" denoted a two-decade period that was marked by a bloody series of murders and terrorist attacks that claimed many innocent victims. Two thousand people were injured and more than four hundred were killed in terrorist action between December 12, 1969. Those years were called "di piombo" because of the massive use of weapons during the clashes between the right extremists and the police and obviously the became a symbol of violence and intolerance.
The most striking case was definetely the kidnapping of Aldo Moro, the first politician who suceeded in finding an agreement between his party - PSI - and the right-wing DC. Because of this, the so called "brigate rosse" captured him a few days later (16th March 1978), and he was found dead a few months later (9th May). After this tragic episode, the government took some measures to contrast terrorism like the drawing up of laws that would reward those ex terrorists who agreed to collaborate with the police and help it to find components of the brigate rosse. This phenomenon was then called "pentitismo". Only in the mid-80's will right-wing terrorism be fully eradicated.
We found some pictures that might help you to see how the "Anni di piombo" were and an couple of interesting web sites with facts about one of the darkest periods of Italy's recent history:
http://www.ladestra.info/public/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/carabi.jpg
http://www.sapere.it/tca/minisite/scuola/insegnanti/arte_pratone/imgs/moro.jpg
Group 4: Questions
1)What's the importance on the terrorism issue in the presidential campaign? How do Republicans and Democrats maintain they want to fight it?
2)How has terrorism changed your lives?
3)Many people criticize G.W.Bush's policy. If you are among them, what would you have done instead of attacking Iraq as a response to 9/11?
4) During our group discussion we found that the word 'terrorism' is generally related to the bloody attacks by the extreme left wing. What about terrorism in the U.S.A.?
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