Boreal forest (nordlig barskog/taiga) in Canada with magnificent alpine mountain range.
(http://www.thinkgreenliveclean.com/2010/05/the-largest-forest-conservation-deal-in-the-world-made-possible-by-your-consumer-choices/)

Hi there, eager travelers of the world! I am looking forward to reading about different countries, an listening to your video journals about the many different experiences and adventures from your journeys to places known and unknown. What follows below is your mission - consult it frequently:

• Create an account on Blogger and start a blog. You do this in pairs or in groups of three, so one person creates the blog and invites the travel partner(s). I will help with the technical details here. As soon as the blog is started, you add a link to it as a comment here. Everyone should be able to read the blogs.

• Choose two countries in the English-speaking world (not the UK or the US). You may want to consult the list inside the cover of our textbook for inspiration here. The goal of your blog is to compare facts about your two countries with each other and with Norway. (see details of what to compare further down).

• In addition you are to make a video/film of about 5-6 minutes where you talk about your experiences. In this video you should mix factual knowledge with imagined travel experiences. These can be creative and "out there", but should also be realistic/relevant for the setting. You can either talk about the experiences during your imaginary travels, or in retrospect having returned home.

• The deadlines are as follows:
• Blog - two posts ready by 26. November (after the lesson)
• Individual evaluation log (Your evaluation of your own work and the group effort.) Handed in on ITL by 3. December
• Finished blog by 3. December (before the lesson)
• Video/film - 10. December

• The main competence aim from the curriculum that will be assessed, is the following:
  

  drøfte sosiale og kulturelle forhold, samfunnsforhold og verdier i flere engelskspråklige land

• There are of course other aims that will be assessed - like your written and oral competence.
• You will get individual grades based on the group blog + the video/film.

Blog content - aspects to compare:

• However long your journey was, make 4 factual posts where you compare the countries + Norway. (Each post should be 15-20 lines). You should add pictures with each post, but remember that pictures/videos used should add/underline something in your text. Do not pick them randomly. Remember to give sources for each post.

• For the facts you need to do research, but remember to write about the different events, places, sights and people in your own independent words. Never copy directly, unless you quote someone. Correct quoting and paraphrasing is a plus. You need to find information about the aspects listed below, but you may combine them when you Write Your four posts:  

• living conditions and values - here some statistics should be used and commented on.

• culture (e.g. food, music, sports, literature, religion etc.)

• 2-3 places of interest 

• a national hero

• a current news story from this country (local news) - try to pick a story where you can reflect on what this tells us about the country and its people.

  • REMEMBER TO KEEP TRACK OF YOUR SOURCES 

    • If you have used a source, put it in at the end of your post
    • Include the date if you use an URL 
    • Pictures and videos should also have sources 

     

Holy cows grazing in from to the amazing Taj Mahal inAgra, India.
Photo by David Castor (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Taj_Mahal-10.jpg