When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
cit. John Belushi “Animal House”
NELSON MANDELA
ONE MAN CAN CHANGE THE WORLD
People all over the world have called him Nelson Mandela for years, but Nelson Mandela’s real name is Rolihlahla Mandela. He was born in a small village called Mvezo in South Africa in 1918. A teacher at school gave him the name Nelson. At school Nelson was very hard-working and successful student. He went to university and in 1942 he became a lawyer.
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The 1940s were a time of change in South Africa. In 1948, the government made some new laws, the apartheid laws. People have written many historical books about these laws. The laws separated white and black people. White people were free to travel and vote. They had good jobs and lived in nice houses. The apartheid laws were terrible for black people, because they weren’t free. They lived in slums and they were not free to travel everywhere in the country.
Nelson Mandela and many other black leader protested against the apartheid laws. Mandela fought for black people’s rights. The South African government sent him to prison on Robben Island, near Cape Town. In prison Mandela wrote letters to fight apartheid. He became the most famous prisoner in the world. All over the world, people protested against the South African government.
On 11th of February, 1990, after 27 years in prison, Mandela became a free man. When he left prison, he was on TV all over the world. Mandela and the government started to talk, and apartheid finally ended in 1992. In 1994, South Africa had its first election for white and black people. Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South Africa. He was president for five years.
Nelson Mandela has travelled abroad many times since he left prison. He has met a lot of famous people, from pop stars to presidents, and he has worked with them to help African people. He has also written an autobiography ” Long Walk to Freedom”. The prison on Robben Island has become a museum since Mandela was there. Visitors to the museum can see the terrible thing that happened in the apartheid years.
SOURCES: http://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/biography
http://www.theguardian.com/world/nelsonmandela
JAMAICA AND ITS NATIONAL HEROES
Jamaica is an island in the Caribbean Sea. Its name comes from the word “xayamaca”. “Xayamaca” means ” land of wood and water”. For many years, the island was a British colony, but it became independent in 1962. Jamaica’s official language is English, but most Jamaicans speak a local dialect called ” Jamaican patois”.
The population of Jamaica is about 2.7 million. More than 90% of the population are black, about 7% are mixed race and the rest are white. About a third of the population lives in the capital, Kingston, on the south-east coast of the island.
Jamaica is probably most famous for its music. Ska and reggae originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and 60s, and Jamaican singer-songwriter Bob Marley exported reggae out of Jamaica. He was very successful, and he had number 1 hits all over the world. Jamaica and the rest of the world were very sad when he died in 1981. The reggae movement has an enormous influence on world music, and Bob Marley is a national hero in Jamaica.
But Jamaica has a second national hero. In 2008, runner Usain Bolt won three gold medals in the summer Olympics. He was a first man to run 200 metres in less than 20 seconds, and he also broke records in the 100 metres race, and the 4×100 metres relay. Four years later, at the London Olympics, he became the first man to win gold medals in both the 100 and 200 at consecutive Olympic Games and the first man in history to set three world records in a single Olympic Games competition.
INFORMATIONS FROM:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002490/bio
http://www.biography.com/people/usain-bolt-20702091#awesm=~oBqsnZWPKuTTGI
THE KINGS OF MUSIC
In 2009, the world’s most famous singer-songwriter announced his return. He was going to do fifty concerts in London. His fans were very excited. But the concerts didn’t happen, because Michael Jackson died suddenly of heart failure on 25th June 2009. He was only forty-nine years old. Many fans went to his funeral, and millions watched it on TV. They mourned the “King of Pop”.
Michael Jackson was born in Indiana on 29th August 1958. He was the eighth of ten children. When he was only five years old, he joined four of his brothers in a pop Group called The Jackson 5 . They became very successful. The Jackson 5 had their first number one single, “I want you back”, when Michael was only 11 years old.
When he was 13, Michael started his solo career. Ten years later, he was the most popular singer in the world! He also became famous for his very unusual dancing style. In 1982, he made one of the most successful albums ever: ‘Thriller’. It was number one for 37 weeks! The ‘Thriller’ video was a mini-horror film, with dancing and special effects. His fans loved it. Jackson was an incredible performer, singer, songwriter and dancer.
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Thirty-two years before Michael Jackson’s death, Unites States said goodbye to another ‘King’: the ‘King of rock’n’roll’, Elvis Presley. Elvis died suddenly – also of heart failure – on 16th August 1977. He was only 42. At that time, websites didn’t exist, and people couldn’t download music. They couldn’t watch his funeral via satellite. But thousands of fans travelled to Memphis, Tennessee. They put flowers outside Elvis’s home, and many went to his funeral.
Elvis Presley was born on 8th January 1935. He grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, as an only child. Elvis loved music: country, blues and gospel. He started singing in 1954, and only two years later he had his first number 1 single, ‘Heartbreak Hotel’. American teenagers loved Elvis! His music was different, new and exciting. It crossed the racial divide: White and black people loved him. Elvis was a pioneer of rock’n’roll, and he started a new music and dance craze. He also became a successful actor: he was the romantic singing start of 31 films and had millions of fans. Elvis was a living legend.
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Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson both had a lot of money, but they didn’t have happy personal lives. Both musicians had excessive and eccentric lifestyle, and this contributed to their early deaths. Elvis Presley and Michel Jackson continue to influence musicians and songwriters today. Thousands of fans continue to buy their music and to visit the places connected whit them. These two Kings of Music came from different ethnic backgrounds, different cities and different generations. But their lives and their musical legacies are many ways the same.
INFORMATIONS FROM:
http://www.michaeljackson.com/it
THE STATUE OF LIBERTY
The statue of Liberty is one of the symbols of America one of its most visited monuments. It is situate in Liberty Island wich is a small village near the New York harbour. The statue was given by France one hundred years ago in recognition of the friendship established during the American Revolution. Over the years, the Statue of Liberty’s symbolism has grown to include freedom and democracy as well as this international friendship.
It was the idea of the Edouard de Laboulaye, a French liberal. He hoped that by honoring the achievements of the Americans, he would inspire the French people to create their own democracy. The statue cost much money; 25000 dollars. France raised money by festival and lotteries.
The Statue of Liberty was engineer and built by French sculptor Auguste Bartholdi, with the help of tons of workers working ten hour days, seven days a week for nine years! The statue was finally finished in 1884 and presented to America on July 4th. The official name of the Statue of Liberty is “Liberty Enlightening the World” but is familiarly called “Miss Liberty”.
The lady in the statue represents the Roman goddess of freedom named Libertas. Bartholdi said that he used his mother’s look to design the face of the statue. The lady carries the torch of freedom in her right hand and a tablet with the inscription “ July IV MDCCLXXVI, Indipendence Day”, in her left hand. At her feet are some broken chains.
On the statue of liberties crown there are 7 rays. The 7 rays are representing the 7 continents. Inside the statue is a flight of stairs that goes all the way up to the crown. The crown has 25 windows that visitors can look out from.
Lady liberty is actually a movie star! She has appeared in several movies. One of her most famous appearances was in “Planet of the Apes” where she was seen half buried in sand. She appeared in, but was destroyed in “Independence Day” and “The Day After Tomorrow”. She can also be seen in “Ghostbusters II”. Those are just some of her more notable appearances, she has been in several movies.
Approximately 4 millions people pay their respects and visit the statue each year. To compare, the London Eye gets 3.5 million and the Eiffel Tower gets around 6 million.
Informations from:
http://wow-facts.com/facts-about-statue-of-liberty/
http://www.coolfactsforkids.com/statue-of-liberty-facts-for-kids
http://www.history-for-kids.com/statue-of-liberty-poem.html
Windmill boy
THE STORY OF HOW IMAGINATION AND IGENUITY CAN CHANGE A FAMILY, A ViLLAGE, A NATION.
William Kamkwamba was born August 5, 1987 in Malawi, Africa. He was a normal boy which saved his family and his village. His village is call Masitala. Masitala is situated in Malawi, Africa and it is a not big village where everybody is poor (two hundred people live there). The village didn’t have water or electricity, like most villages in Malawi.
William when he was 14 years old stopped going to school because it cost much money and his family was poor. So William returned to his parents in Masitala. Unfortunately, in 2002 thousand of people died (William’s family suffered too) because there was a drought so there wasn’t any food and water.
William loved studying, in particular he loved Science. When he was in a library William discovered an old book where there was a pictures and informations about windmills. So William thought the windmill could help his village destroyed buy drought. The windmill could pump water and could make electricity. William decided to make a windmill. During the day, William worked on the farm with his family. During the night, using a paraffin lamp for light, he worked on his windmill. William built the windmill with old pieces of bicycles, tractors and other rubbish. The windmill was five metres tall. He did it by himself. He was alone.
The people in his village applauded in surprise because the windmill created electricity ,but at first, they think that William was mad. They didn’t need the paraffin lamps now. They had electric lights! William didn’t stop. He built the second windmill which provided water to the people by a mechanical pump. The pump irrigated his family’s farm. William’s ambition is to give everyone, in his country, water and electricity saving them from drought.
Now, William Kamkwamba ( 22 years old) is famous because an American journalist has written a book about his story “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind”. William goes to conferences around the world.
ROSA PARKS: THE MOTHER OF THE MODERN-DAY CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
Rosa grew up in the southern United States in Alabama. Her full name was Rosa Louise McCauley and she was born in Tuskegee, Alabama on February 4, 1913 to Leona and James McCauley. Her mother was a teacher and her father a carpenter. She had a younger brother named Sylvester. Her parents separated while she was still young and she, with her mother and brother, went to live on her grandparent’s farm in the nearby town of Pine Level. Rosa went to the local school for African-American children where her mother was a teacher. Rosa’s mother wanted her to get a high school education, but this wasn’t easy for an African-American girl living in Alabama in the 1920. After finishing up elementary school at Pine Level she attended the Montgomery Industrial School for Girls. Then she attended the Alabama State Teacher’s College in order to try and get her high school diploma. Unfortunately, Rosa’s education was cut short when her mother became very ill. Rosa left school to care for her mother.
A few years later Rosa met Raymond Parks. Raymond was a successful barber who worked in Montgomery. They married a year later in 1932. Rosa worked part time jobs and went back to school, finally earning her high school diploma. Something she was very proud of.
During this time, the city of Montgomery was segregated. It were different for white people and black people. They had different schools, different churches, different stores, different elevators, and even different drinking fountains. Places often had signs saying “For Colored Only” or “For Whites Only”. When Rosa would ride the bus to work, she would have to sit in the back in the seats marked “for colored”. Sometimes she would have to stand even if there were seats open up front.
Growing up Rosa had lived with racism in the south. She was scared of the members of the KKK (Ku Klux Klan ) who had burned down black school houses and churches. She also saw a black man get beaten by a white bus driver for getting in his way. The bus driver only had to pay a $24 fine. Rosa and her husband Raymond wanted to do something about it. They joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Rosa saw the opportunity to do something when the Freedom Train arrived in Montgomery. The train was supposed to not be segregated according to the Supreme Court. So Rosa led a group of African-American students to the train. They attended the exposition on the train at the same time and in the same line as the white students. Some people in Montgomery didn’t like this, but Rosa wanted to show them that all people should be treated the same.
It was on December 1, 1955 that Rosa made her famous stand (while sitting) on the bus. Rosa had settled in her seat on the bus after a hard days work. All the seats on the bus had filled up when a white man boarded. The bus driver told Rosa and some other African-Americans to stand up. Rosa refused. The bus driver said he would call the police. Rosa didn’t move. Soon the police showed up and Rosa was arrested.
Rosa was charged with breaking a segregation law and was told to pay a fine of $10. She refused to pay, however, saying that she was not guilty and that the law was illegal. She appealed to a higher court. In response to her arrest, black men and women in Montgomery boycotted, or refused to use, the city buses. They demanded an end to segregation, or laws that denied equal rights to black people. A young pastor at the local church named Martin Luther King Jr. led the boycott. Because of the protesters’ refusal to ride the buses, the bus system nearly went out of business. The boycott continued for 381 days! Finally, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the segregation laws in Alabama were unconstitutional. Just because the laws were changed, things didn’t get any easier for Rosa. She received many threats and feared for her life. Many of the civil rights leader’s houses were bombed, including the home of Martin Luther King Jr. In 1957 Rosa and Raymond moved to Detroit, Michigan. Rosa continued to attend civil rights meetings. She became a symbol to many African-Americans of the fight for equal rights. She is still a symbol of freedom and equality to many today.
BULLYING and CYBER-BULLYING: A NEW GENERATION OF BULLYING
Has anyone ever bullied you? If you answer is “yes”, you are NOT alone. Many celebrities from around the world were also bullied at school. Tom Cruise, David Beckam, Kate Winslet and Orlando Bloom were all victims of bullying. Look at them now! They are all very successful. Bullies alweys win. The bullies didn’t win.
CIBYER-BULLING
Have you ever heard of cyber-bullying? Cyber bullying means bullying using the technology.
Cyber-bullies use the Internet and mobile phones to attack ther victims.
For example, they sometimes send threatening or offensive emails and text messagges. 
Some bullies invent stories about their victim and put them on the Internet. In fact, about 30% of teenagers in the UK have suffered from it.
Cyber-bulling is increasing. It’s easy to send a text message or upload photos. The bully is anonymous. Is terrible for the victims because they can’t escape. He or she can attack at any time of day or night. Physical bullies can’t touch their victims at home, but the cyber- bullies can. Victims of bullying usually feel isolated. They don’t tell people because they are frightened. Bullying can have very serious effects on victims. They often start to do badly at school and they became depressed. Tragically, some even commit suicide.
We hate bullying. We think bullying should be made illegal and should be made a crime. Bullying needs to be stopped!
THE NAZIS AND THE HOLOCAUST
Adolf Hitler became Germany’s leader in 1933. His political party, the Nazi party, took control of the country.
They wanted complete control of Germany and Europe. They destroyed the opposition parties in Germany and started to invade other countries. The Nazis believed that some people in society were inferior. They wanted to create a superior race. The “pure” German race. They hated many groups ( gyupsies, communist, homosexual and the disabled). But the particularly hated Jews, so when the Nazis took the power, they created laws against them. They had to wear a yellow star, so people knew they were Jews. The Nazis forced them to leave their houses and live in poor areas: the “ghettos”.
Hitler wanted to eliminate the Jews, and the other minory groups, complety. He sent them to concentration camps.
The conditions in the camps were terrible. The people had to work very hard. it was cld and they had very little food.
Many people died of the cold and of the hungry… but Hitler’s plan of destrucion was not complete. The Nazis started to kill people in the concentration camps. They used gas chambers.
About eleven million people died in the concentration camps. Six million were Jews. This was called “the Holocaust”.
MARTIN LUTHER KING
Martin Luther King was born on 15th January, 1929 in the state of Georgia. He grew up in Atlanta and studied theology before getting a doctorate at the University of Boston. In 1954, he became a pastor at a Baptist church in Montgomery, Alabama. In December 1955, he was a leader of the famous bus protest in Montogmery.
From 1957 to 1968, King was leader of the non-violent civil rights movement. He travelled more than nine million kilometres, made 2500 speeches, wrote five books and the police arrested him twenty times. In 1963, he organised a demonstration in Washington DC. There, he made his famous ” I HAVE A DREAM” speech in front of 250000 people. Martin Luther King became the symbolic leader of African-Americans. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, aged 35. Although Dr.King had many followers, not everybody liked him. Some people even hated him or thought he was dangerous. Tragically, on 4th April 1968, he was assassinated or murdered in Memphis, Tennessee. He is buried at the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia. He is honored in the United States every years in January. A national holiday, called Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, is celebrated on the third Monday in January.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n82rgdbM9G4 ( in this video there is he when he said: ” I HAVE A DREAM”)
Keep Calm and Blog On! 