Not only am I getting older and therefore gradually losing touch with my high school students, but I am also losing touch with American culture. I try to stay with it as much as possible by subscribing to certain magazines and keeping up with celeb gossip, but that's about as far as it goes.
Everyday American life - the beautiful, peaceful, wonderful way of life - is slowly fading away, and as you see from this sentence, it has become idealized in my own mind.
The real purpose of this entry is to pose a few questions to anyone reading this. In a word, I need some help. I have started to write a series of short articles pertaining to everyday American life, and I found that there are some holes in my memory. These articles will be introduced in my Intercultural Communication class, where students are focusing on American culture, lifestyle, geography and history.
The first two articles are about Transportation/commuting and Shopping. So here are my questions.
Transportation/Communication
Is it true to some people, especially those who live on the East Coast, sometimes commute to work by airplane? Say, from Boston to NYC, or something to that effect?
What are the benefits of carpooling to work? I have already written about the benefit of the carpool lane. How does that carpool lane thing work anyway?
For teenagers who live in metropolitan areas, how does one go about getting a driver's license? Do they offer Driver's Ed in the high schools? How much does it cost otherwise? And finally, how much does it cost to take the test and get the license at the DMV? I know this varies from state to state, but I found that the price varies from $5 on up.
What is the temporary license called? Do you have a nickname for it? I swear that we called it a "temps" in high school, but my co-worker highly doubted this.
Shopping
I guess I don't have any questions about this section, but I will share with you my list of vocabulary words, and you'll get an idea of the contents we are dealing with.
Main Street
Outskirts
Gas station
Mom & Pop shop
Chain store
Strip Mall
Locally-owned
Outlet Store
Superstore
And finally, let me share with you other topics for future articles. Each article will be short, say 100 words or less.
Possible Topics for the Future
Food: What we eat every day
Music: What people listen to
Leisure: What people do for fun
Sports & Exercise: What people do to stay fit (or not)
Entertainment: What people watch on TV
Humor: What is funny to American people
Holidays: How holidays are celebrated
High School Life: What life is like for high school students
Any other suggestions?
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7 comments:
God, Mande...so many questions! OK, this is what I think but again, I'm pretty much in the same boat as you so take what I say with a grain of salt! :)
Is it true to some people, especially those who live on the East Coast, sometimes commute to work by airplane? Say, from Boston to NYC, or something to that effect?
I don't think they commute but they might have business trips throughout the week which will find them on flights for most of the week. Those flights are called "commuter flights" :)
What are the benefits of carpooling to work? I have already written about the benefit of the carpool lane. How does that carpool lane thing work anyway?
If you go in the carpool lane you have to have at least 4 people (depending on the city) in the car. For example, in NYC when they had the transportation strike (subway/bus), they refused to allow cars to come into the city (over the bridges since it's an island) unless there were 4 people in the car. Benefits? For commuters, it is splitting costs for gas, tolls, etc. and for the city itself, it is lessening the number of cars into the city that will make the roads clog up.
For teenagers who live in metropolitan areas, how does one go about getting a driver's license? Do they offer Driver's Ed in the high schools? How much does it cost otherwise? And finally, how much does it cost to take the test and get the license at the DMV? I know this varies from state to state, but I found that the price varies from $5 on up.
Drivers Ed is offered in high schools. They get their licenses the same as everyone else, in a driving test, but also have to do additional things, such as demonstrate how to parallel park (although I wonder if everyone else has to do that). I think the test itself is about $30 (at least in NY).
What is the temporary license called? Do you have a nickname for it? I swear that we called it a "temps" in high school, but my co-worker highly doubted this.
Permit.
Phew!
Great post! Let's see, the temporary drivers license thing, was called a "learner's permit", at least that's what they called it in Colorado and the learner's permit, cost me about $5.00 if I remember correctly. : ) The actual driver's license was, I believe $15.00 or $20.00 bucks, I just renewed mine last year, sorry I can't remember exactly. But it was between $15-$20 for sure. I'll try to pop back over here tomorrow if I have time and see if I can answer some more! Good night! : )
The car pool lane thing. I think it varies from state to state. In Denver, you can't ride in the carpool lane, unless, at least two people are in the car with you. Some guy got busted, though it was on the news, that he was driving in the carpool lane with a dummy in his SUV! Ha ha ha! Seriously, it was on the news over there in March of this year! So the judge sentenced the man to sit on the corner and wave to all the people passing by in their cars, while holding the actual stuffed dummy, with a big sign that read something like "it doesn't pay to be a dummy"! Wasn't that crazy? Talk about a real head scratcher!
Driver's Ed. I took that in high school. You watch a bunch of boring moving about the "dangers of speeding" lol! Most were made in like the 1950's or something, really out dated movies, btw. You also get drive time, where you can drive around a parking lot and try not to hit any orange cones. I think the appeal of this is it can lower your insurance rate a bit. You still gotta get your license from the local DMV though.
For whatever it's worth, you aren't alone, I also find myself losing touch with American culture, all the time! : )
My high school didn't offer Driver's Ed, so everyone had to learn on their own. I got my learner's permit (about $15, maybe?) but after that I never needed to drive so I didn't even bother getting my license.
I lived in NYC for four years, and I don't know anyone who commuted by airplane. There are people, however, who live too far to commute into Manhattan every day so they rent an apartment and work in the city Monday-Friday and then go home on the weekends. These people are pretty rare, though, I think.
Good luck with the articles! Writing things articles like that about one's home country can sometimes be a very eye-opening experience.
I waited to see other people`s answers because I`ve been out of the U.S. so long myself, and even now that I`m back here, a lot goes by me. I`m sleepwalking through life....
So what can I add? Hmmmm.
Deenster says, "There are people, however, who live too far to commute into Manhattan every day so they rent an apartment and work in the city Monday-Friday and then go home on the weekends."
This is actually not uncommon. In fact, my brother and his wife have done it for years. Their little boy is in kindergarten in the city, and their house in NJ is just their weekend house.
In California, hybrid vehicles are also eligible to drive in the car pool lanes.
Car pool lane requirements vary by state, but California was at least two people. A pregnant woman got a ticket, tried to claim she was driving two people claiming she was in the third trimester or some such, and was fined anyway. Lots of sneaky people out there!
Commuter flights between NYC and DC are also common and I took some of those when working for the govt in NYC. But I don't think anyone actually goes to work this way every day. They run hourly for the people who need to shuttle between the two cities for meetings. I also took the train to Albany or Philadelphia a lot, and those trains were always full for people en route to meetings also.
Sounds like an interesting class!
Q
Here's my input...
Sounds like you got the flight stuff down. Temps - we called it that too. Here in CO Springs, most school districts can afford to fund driver's ed anymore - plus the liability for accidents is an issue. So, students take - not sure if it is mandatory - a private driving class. It's very expensive. When you do your transportation topic, it might be interesting to focus on how some parts of the US are totally dependant on cars, and others don't even own them.
Another possible topic of interest is holidays. Ooh - hoew about housing? Our expectations of a house are MUCH different than in Japan.
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