Continental Drift
Sometimes, I forget that this journal exists and skip right to the friends page to see other updates, which is really sad since I've had it and have been regularly updating for the past six years. Lately, I've been writing a lot in a paper journal, which could be the reason. I've been trying to take some time during each ridiculous two hour lunch break to jot down some facts, quotes, remains of the day because now it seems that a lot of the time is blending together, which is exactly what I don't want. This job, the kids, the nights and weekends, the antm parties, there is just WAY too much good material to melt together.
For example....the other day, as I was dutifully plucking the kids out of the class one-by-one to shoot rapid fire questions that are meant to prepare them for the Trinity Exam that they have in May, I realized that I was running ahead of schedule and went back into class. As I stowed my materials, I overheard Isabel's final thought to the kids , "So you have learned very much today: you have learned about the oceans and all of the land that makes up the five continents...."
Say what??
I casually strolled up to her and whispered "seven."
"What?" she turned back to me. I reiterated that there were, indeed, seven continents, to which she stared at me with a befuddled look on her face. After the kids had left, she asked me what I defined as continents. We went through them together, and I realized that there were two essential differences: She lumped North and South America into one category and omitted Antarctica altogether.
I ran down to the teacher's lounge to consult my fellow auxiliares, Brits included so that we could have a proper European component, and they all corroborated that there are, indeed, seven continents. The only one who had been taught differently was Laura, one of the Brits, who had attended school ten years before any of us and believed there to be six, but couldn't even remember clearly what she had been taught.
I asked them what the Spanish disconnect was, and why they thought that two of the largest land masses should be combined into one and the other should be forgotten. Cate told me that she had asked one of the Spanish teachers Dora, who had set her straight on why North and South America should be grouped as one but Europe and Asia shouldn't:
"Diferencias culturales," She said. Implying most probably that because the Europeans and "chinos" (as they refer to all Asians, regardless of their origin) have different ocular shapes, that they should be considered as separate. And as for Antarctica? Well, "Solo viven alli los pinguinos" (only the penguins live there) so of course, that's out.
Let me remind you of the definition of a continent, which is no way shape or form includes cultural differences of penguins. "A continent is one of several large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, but seven areas are commonly regarded as continents - they are (from largest in size to smallest): Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe and Australia."
Not believing what I was hearing, I consulted another teacher whose opinion I trust- Carmen, a teacher in the infantil school whose delightful son I tutor two days a week. She agreed that there were, indeed five continents. I asked her for her reasoning and she said that it was because North and South America were connected by the isthmus. When I reminded her that Europe and Asia were connected by RUSSIA, which is far more than an Isthmus, and if you're going to go there then Africa and Asia are connected, too, she told me it was because of Pangea.
Let me remind you of Pangea by saying that it was the original supercontinent, a huge mass of land from whence all of the continents that we know and love today were spawned. Let me also remind you that it existed 250 million years ago, during the Mesozoic era, and has no bearing on the definition of a continent this day in age. Carmen believed that since North and South America floated off together, joined at the hip like siamese twins by Central America, the masses should be regarded as one. I asked her why Europe and Asia, then, shouldn't be regarded as one, and she again cited cultural differences.
I told her that this factor should play no part in the definition of a continent, and that the cultural differences in North and South America were also very great, to which she replied, "So you guys think that you're better than South America? Is that why you guys separate the two?" At this point, I wanted to bang my head against the glass of the metro door as she had turned the continent debate into a pissing contest of which land mass was culturally "better" than the other.
I ended the discussion there, seeing no other way to explain that the separate land mass did not equate to cultural separatism. I guess that you've got to pick your battles sometimes.
For example....the other day, as I was dutifully plucking the kids out of the class one-by-one to shoot rapid fire questions that are meant to prepare them for the Trinity Exam that they have in May, I realized that I was running ahead of schedule and went back into class. As I stowed my materials, I overheard Isabel's final thought to the kids , "So you have learned very much today: you have learned about the oceans and all of the land that makes up the five continents...."
Say what??
I casually strolled up to her and whispered "seven."
"What?" she turned back to me. I reiterated that there were, indeed, seven continents, to which she stared at me with a befuddled look on her face. After the kids had left, she asked me what I defined as continents. We went through them together, and I realized that there were two essential differences: She lumped North and South America into one category and omitted Antarctica altogether.
I ran down to the teacher's lounge to consult my fellow auxiliares, Brits included so that we could have a proper European component, and they all corroborated that there are, indeed, seven continents. The only one who had been taught differently was Laura, one of the Brits, who had attended school ten years before any of us and believed there to be six, but couldn't even remember clearly what she had been taught.
I asked them what the Spanish disconnect was, and why they thought that two of the largest land masses should be combined into one and the other should be forgotten. Cate told me that she had asked one of the Spanish teachers Dora, who had set her straight on why North and South America should be grouped as one but Europe and Asia shouldn't:
"Diferencias culturales," She said. Implying most probably that because the Europeans and "chinos" (as they refer to all Asians, regardless of their origin) have different ocular shapes, that they should be considered as separate. And as for Antarctica? Well, "Solo viven alli los pinguinos" (only the penguins live there) so of course, that's out.
Let me remind you of the definition of a continent, which is no way shape or form includes cultural differences of penguins. "A continent is one of several large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, but seven areas are commonly regarded as continents - they are (from largest in size to smallest): Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe and Australia."
Not believing what I was hearing, I consulted another teacher whose opinion I trust- Carmen, a teacher in the infantil school whose delightful son I tutor two days a week. She agreed that there were, indeed five continents. I asked her for her reasoning and she said that it was because North and South America were connected by the isthmus. When I reminded her that Europe and Asia were connected by RUSSIA, which is far more than an Isthmus, and if you're going to go there then Africa and Asia are connected, too, she told me it was because of Pangea.
Let me remind you of Pangea by saying that it was the original supercontinent, a huge mass of land from whence all of the continents that we know and love today were spawned. Let me also remind you that it existed 250 million years ago, during the Mesozoic era, and has no bearing on the definition of a continent this day in age. Carmen believed that since North and South America floated off together, joined at the hip like siamese twins by Central America, the masses should be regarded as one. I asked her why Europe and Asia, then, shouldn't be regarded as one, and she again cited cultural differences.
I told her that this factor should play no part in the definition of a continent, and that the cultural differences in North and South America were also very great, to which she replied, "So you guys think that you're better than South America? Is that why you guys separate the two?" At this point, I wanted to bang my head against the glass of the metro door as she had turned the continent debate into a pissing contest of which land mass was culturally "better" than the other.
I ended the discussion there, seeing no other way to explain that the separate land mass did not equate to cultural separatism. I guess that you've got to pick your battles sometimes.