A symbol of friendship

Every year there is one special tree that is transported from Norway to England, and placed in Trafalgar Square in London. The Trafalgar Square Christmas tree is a central part of the Christmas celebration in London and it also is a symbol of the friendship between Norway and England. It is a tradition, which has been around since 1947. The first tree brought over was a token of the Norwegian gratefulness for the British friendship during the Second World War. The close relationship between the two countries gave the Norwegians hope throughout the occupation years 1940-1945. London, where the Norwegian King Haakon VII and his family stayed during the war, became a represent of freedom during the hard years.

On November 23rd Fabian Stang, the Mayor of Oslo, Councilor Judith Warner, the Lord Mayor of Westminster, and lots of media from England cut down the tree in the forest outside of Oslo. It was a mighty tree chosen carefully and the Norwegian foresters who looked after it describes it as "the Queen of the Forest". Yesterday, Thursday December 2nd, the tree was lit in the customary place in Trafalgar Square and a traditional ceremony was held. Music, caroling, speeches and poems read by school children was on the program for the evening. Both national anthems were sung beautifully by Alfie Boe. This year it is the 64th tree that gets to bring joy to thousands of people who will pass it and admire it and perhaps take time to pause in a hectic December time and think about how important it is to have good neighbors! I certainly will!

You can read about the story here:
















Anna

English in South-East Asia

Today we learned about the use of English in South-East Asia, and about anime and manga in Japan. I worked with Tuva, Rikke and Martha. We read the three texts a couple of times, and then we took notes from them. Afterwards we talked about what we had read and discussed the facts.

For instance, we learned that Japan is the forefront of developing technical products - automobile to computer chips and in Japan it is considered virtuous to exhaust yourself, and effort is being favored over results.
We also read that Manga is fastest growing category in American publishing and that the export of Anime are making the world are becoming Japanized. We can see shows and comics like Pokémon and Digimon on television all over the world.The Call Centers in India was also mentioned in the text "English in South-East Asia" and that English words are added to their daily tounge in China.



I think it was a good use of time, because we could choose the way we wanted to learn and work the way we learn best. If I could have done something differently I would have read the text a few more times, to really understand them. And all four of us took notes from different pages, so maybe next time we all should take notes from every page we have to read.

But after all, it was an effective and good way to work.


Anna