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EXPLORING AMERICAN CULTURE

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

—The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, written by Thomas Jefferson

Exploring

Blue jeans, cars, credit cards, elections, immigrants, juries, and jazz have helped create American civilization. Chat with your conversation partner about America’s diverse, dynamic culture.

1. Where were you born? Approximately how many miles is your birthplace from here?

2. When did you arrive in the United States for the first time? How did you feel?

3. What were some of your first, or early, impressions? Why?

4. What has surprised you about living in the United States? Why?

5. Does your native country import anything from the United States? What?

6. Does your native country export to the United States? What?

7. What products, if any, seem exceptionally “American” to you? Why?

8. Which companies seem particularly American to you? Why?

9. Can you compare shopping here and in your native country?

10. Do any clothes seem “real” American to you? Blue jeans? Hawaiian shirts? Other?

11. Are American movies popular in your native country? Which kind? Why?

12. What types of music first developed in America?

13. Which Americans are popular in your native country now? Why?

14. Can you think of some Americans who are unpopular in your country? Why?

15. Has the United States changed its borders since 1776? How?

16. Has the population in the United States changed in the last 50 years? How?

17. How many languages have you heard spoken in the United States?

Vocabulary

With your partner, write definitions for the following words.

pursuit | inalienable | import | individualism | export

slogan | freedom | conformity | hero | villain

Bill of Rights | popularity

Slogans

Can you think of other state or national slogans? Add them to the list.

In God we trust.

Freedom is not free.

E pluribus unum. (From many, one.)

The Conversation Continues

1. What are some national symbols of the United States?

2. Can you think of some beautiful places in the United States?

3. Do you think America’s geography has helped shaped its culture? How?

4. How many states are there in the United States? How many have you seen?

5. Have you visited Florida? Hawaii? New York? Nevada? Texas? Indiana?

6. What are some tourist attractions in Washington D.C.?

7. Do you agree that “America is a car culture”? Disagree? Why?

8. Where else would you like to go in the United States? Why?

9. Who are some important heroes in the U.S.? Why?

10. Who are some villains in American history or culture? Why?

11. What should Americans be proud of? Why?

12. What has disappointed you about living in the United States?

13. What American customs or laws do you appreciate? Which do you find strange?

14. What is the Bill of Rights? What freedoms does it protect?

15. What are some important phrases or slogans in the United States?

16. Why do you think so many immigrants move to the United States?

17. If you could change one thing about the U.S., what would it be?

18. What do you appreciate about American culture? Why?

19. What is your American dream? Why?

Discussing Quotations

With your conversation partner(s) or on your own, read the following quotations out loud. Do you agree? Do you disagree? Why? Explain your reasons.

1. “America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”

—Alexis De Tocqueville (1805-1859), historian

2. “The last hope of human liberty in this world rests on us.”

—Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), U.S. President and statesman

3. “America is best described by one word, freedom.”

—Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), 34th U.S. President and General

4. “America is a place where Jewish merchants sell Zen love beads to agnostics for Christmas.”

—John Burton Brimer, design and garden writer

5. “America is the country where you buy a lifetime supply of aspirin for one dollar, and use it up in two weeks.”

—John Barrymore (1882-1942), actor

6. “America, which has the most glorious present still existing in the world today, hardly stops to enjoy it, in her insatiable appetite for the future.”

—Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906-2001), author

7. “This is still a very wealthy country. The failure is of spirit and insight.”

—Jerry Brown (193, California Governor

8. “America is a land where a citizen will cross the ocean to fight for democracy – and won’t cross the street to vote in a national election.”

—Bill Vaughan (1915-1977), writer

9. “My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.”

—Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965), US ambassador to the UN

10. “The price of freedom of religion or speech or of the press is that we must put up with a good deal of rubbish.”

—Robert H. Jackson (1892-1954), Supreme Court Justice

11. “Double—no triple—our troubles and we’d still be better off than any other people on earth.”

—Ronald Reagan (1911-2004), 40th U.S. President

12. “In one generation we have moved from denying a black man service at a lunch counter to elevating one to the highest military office in the country, and to being a serious contender for the presidency. This is a magnificent country and I am proud to be one of its sons.”

—Colin Powell (1937-), 65th U.S. Secretary of State

13. “The function of freedom is to free somebody else.”

—Toni Morrison (1937-) author, Nobel Prize winner in Literature

On Your Own

List five adjectives that you think describe American culture. Prepare to share your choices with your conversation partner or classmates.