Reflection

I learned the UK in my seminar. Especially I reaserched about tranceportation system, social class system, education(university and private school), and minority languages. I am very happy that I could get more information about the UK, because I am interested in the UK history and culture a lot.

Especially I became interested in social class system. When I went to England, I actually realized class system clearly. I think my host family is middle class. The reason why I think so that they are not royal family, politician, lawyer, officer, and doctor, but they are well-off. Their house is very big and there are large garden, fireplace, and two bath room. One day I visited my friend's host family, and then I noticed the differences. I think social class system is not good, but it is one of cultures in the UK.

The UK has a long history and independent culture. It is very interesting and attractive for me. I think that it is not only me but also a lot of people in the world. For example Britain musicians and movies are very popular.

I want to know about the UK more and more, and visit there again in the future.

Minority languages in the UK

It is said that there are 6912 languages include in minor languages in the world. I learned about languages which are spoken in the UK. Mostly, British speak English. But there are other languages. For example, Welsh, Scots, Gaelic, Manx, and Cornish. These languages came from Celtic Languages, while English came from Anglo-Saxon. English, Welsh, Scots and Gaelic are living language, but Manx and Cornish became dead language. People are trying to revive minority language like Welsh, Scots and Gaelic and Dead language.

Focus on Welsh

Welsh is spoken mainly in Wales. Wales has a very strong Celtic culture. Many Celtic languages have almost disappeared, but Welsh is still used. Until 1825 about 80 per cent of the population spoke Welsh. During the nineteenth century there were fewer Welsh speakers, because many English and Irish workers moved to South Wales people moved to the cities where less Welsh was spoken. One of Welsh men said, “Both my great-grandmothers spoke Welsh. My father and his brothers could speak both Welsh and English, but all left Wales and married English women, so my generation speaks no Welsh. I ‘m learning it at evening class.”
Recently, there has been more interest in Welsh. It is now spoken as a first language by more than 20 per cent of the population of Wales. It is used as a second language schools in Wales. So the number of speakers aged between 3 and 15 rose from 17.7 per cent to 24.4 per cent. It means Welsh is reviving gradually now.
Welsh is recognized as a minority language. According to the list of languages ordered by the number of native-language speakers, Welsh is 266 th place. By the way, 1st place is Chinese, 2nd place is Spanish, and 3rd place is English and Japanese is 9th place.
Wales receives money to help its language stay alive. There are television and radio stations with Welsh-language programs.
To understand how different Welsh is from English, compare these lines from the Welsh national anthem with their English translation.


I thought all people who live in the UK speak English. I didn't know about welsh. When I watched the sentence of the Welsh, I didn't understand meaning of it at all. People should protect own national culture and language. Maybe government's role to protect these things is big and important.

References:
Storry, M. and Childs, P. (2007) British Cultural Identities. (3rd Ed.) Routledge.

Roedean Independent Private School

Private Schools

Only about 7 per cent of children in England go to private schools. But these schools have enormous influence. Though I have described before, Oxford and Cambridge is very famous. and 50 per cent of oxford and Cambridge students are from private schools.
I researched about girl's private school. Cheltenham, Roedean, Wecombe Abbey, and Beneanden are famous in Britain. Especially I will talk about Roedean school in this time.

General information about Roedean
Roedean is an independent private girls school. It locates in Roedean village on the outskirts of Brighton, East Sussex in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1885 by three sisters: Penelope, Millicent, and Dorothy Lawrence. The school moved to its present site on the Sussex Downs overlooking the sea in 1898.

Roedean is an independent day and boarding school for girls aged 3- 18 and for boys aged 3-11. Boarding school is the arrangement by which school students live at their school, going home during the holidays. This type of school is commoner in Britain than in Japan. Roedean is divided in two schools; junior and senior school. The Junior school campus is located in quirky Kemp Town, and the senior school campus is just outside Brighton.

School fees are between£4,550 and £9,750 per term from the youngest day girls to the oldest boarders.

Senior School

Usually, private schools have more better facilities than public schools. Roedean also have full facilities, so students can study in good environment. I will introduce some of Roedean facilities.

There are two libraries in the school. The main library was built as the origin school hall and converted in1993. There are DVDs, journals, magazines and daily newspapers. Of coerce there are desks to study in there. And also there are two chapels. There are sports facilities. Student can enjoy swimming, squash, hockey, cricket, rounder, basketball, polo, horse-riding, karate, badminton, tennis and netball. And there are huge theatre in the school. It can hold 320 people at the same time, so professional companies use this theatre sometimes.
Senior school is boarding school. Each house has sturdy and relaxation space. Moreover there are junior prep room, a TV room, a common room and pantry for evening snacks. And each students has own bedroom.

Roedean has its own tunnel to the beach! It was opened in 1910 and uses as an air radio shelter in the Second World war. Now it is only open on special occasions.

This school has very high education. Student can study many thing under the good condition.

In the UK there are many boarding school, so many students do not live with their parents. I think it is good for children to become independent. Students live together and they learn manner too. I think their life in the school might be valuable.

The other hand most of Japanese university students too depend on their parents. I think we should take example by them.

Education

I will talk about education in Britain. Education is compulsory for all children from age of 5 to 16. Most of children leave school at 16 and about 40 per cent of young people go to university. There are about a hundred university in England and wales.

University and college

Most of big town in Britain have a both a university and a college of higher education. There are 91 university in Britain and 47 colleges of higher education. Universities offer three-and four-year degree courses; colleges of higher education offer both two- year HIND(Higher National Diploma) courses, as well as degree courses.
A degree is a qualification you get from university when you pass your final exams. You are then awarded BA(Bachelor of Arts), BSc (Bachelor of Science) or Bed (Bachelor of Education).
Undergraduates- students who are studying for degrees- go to large, formal lectures, but most of the work takes place in tutorials: lessons in group of ten or more when the students discuss their work with lecture.

Next I will talk about the way getting into university. Only about 25 per cent of the student population go on to higher education. Competition to get into one of Britain’s universities is fierce and not everyone who gets A levels can go. Students usually need three A levels to go to university and grades at A levels go from A, the highest grade, down to E.
Students apply to universities months before they take their A levels. The students are given a personal interview and the universities decide which students they want. The place which a student is offered depends on his or her A-level results. The more popular a university, the higher the grades it will ask for. If students do not get the grades that a university asks for, they have to try to get a place at another university or college before the new term starts in early October.

In Japan most of students even if they are university students live with their family. This is very common in Japan. Some of students live by themselves, because of special reason, for example their home town is far from their university. Now I am university student. I also live with my family. I thought this is very general thing. But it is different in the UK. When I went to England I have a chance talk with young English man. He is a university student. He lives by them self and works to earn money. He is independent of his parents completely. When I told him about Japanese university students, he is really surprised. Most of British students choose to go to university a long way from their home town. They think going to university is a time to be independent, and to live away from home and develop new interests.
Until 1998, British students did not have to pay to go to university. Now they must pay about ￡1000 a year as a tuition fee. They also need money to live away from home. Many students, whose parents do not earn a lot of money, are given a grant from the local education authority. If students do not get a grant, parents are expected to pay for their children. Some students borrow money from bank, which must be paid back after they leave university. In theory, the grant pays for rent, food, books and transport. In fact, the grant is not large enough. Students often work during the holidays to earn more money. About 38 per cent of the population under 24 years of age go on to higher education.

The most famous university are Oxford and Cambridge. And they are also the oldest universities in Britain. They have the highest academic reputation. People put them together and call them Oxbridge. About 50 per cent of Oxbridge students are from private schools. Most of alumnus of Oxbridge can get good careers.

References:

Michael,V. Geraldine,S. Picot,C. (2006)IN BRITAIN 21ST CENTURY EDITION. Macmilan

Social Class System

I will discus about social class system this time. There is still social class system in the UK. It is possible to divide into mainly three classes:
- Upper Class
- Middle Class
- Lower Class
Moreover British people classify it more in detail sometimes.
- Upper Class
- Upper Middle Class
- Middle Class
- Lower Class
- Working Middle Class (skilled)
- Working Class (Unskilled)
- Under Class
We can see problem of the class system in some British movie. For example “Pride and Prejudice”, and “Miss. Potter”.

How do they classify people? They have basic categories. It is judged to which class the person belongs from his/her occupation, job, education, sports,Newspaper and so on. Classes divide considerably clearly, and the movement between the classes is rare. The social exchanges with other class have been very limited.

I want to focus on upper class and lower class. Because I am interested in these class, and I want to know the difference of upper class between lower class.

Upper Class
Upper Class people are very rich. People who belong to upper class are royal family, aristocrat, politician, president, lawyer, officer, doctor, dentist etc.

They have good jobs and get enough salary, so they can use a lot of money to enjoy their life. They live in big house, they have a expensive car, they eat gorgeous dinner. And their children go to private school and receive good education, and after graduate they can get good job like their parents. It is still considered difficult for middle and lower class people to entry to the upper class.. Marriage into upper-class families rarely results in complete integration.



Lower Class

Lower class people work hard and their social positions are low. Skilled people in lower class work as electrician, engineer, plumber, carpenter, etc.
There are fewer jobs for unskilled people in the UK than before. Only about two- thirds of men without qualifications have jobs. Some of the unskilled jobs available are working in restaurants, in supermarkets filling shelves or as a checkout operator, or cleaning. Additionally, there are people who work as helper or labourer, too. Usually their work is very hard.If there is any unskilled work, it is offered to women because, despite laws for equal pay, women are still paid less than men. Even job seekers with qualifications sometimes find it difficult to find permanent, full-time work.

References: "IN BRITAIN", p40

Transportation

The UK is on the west of the Continent and also it is on the Atlantic Ocean. It consists of islands of Great Britain island, Northern Ireland, and about 900 islands. The UK' s shape looks like boot.

Train

Many people in the UK live along way from their work. They often travel by train from the suburbs into the town centre to work. The organisation of the railway system in the UK has changed recently. For many years the railway was run by a public company, British Rail. In 1994, this company was split into two parts: Railtrack, which owns the track and the station,and several private companies, which operate the trains.

I researched about Channel Tunnel. The UK is surrounded by ocean so it is not connected with other countries like Japan. But people can go France easily thanks to Channel Tunnel. This is the longest Tunnel in the world. The total length of the tunnel is 50.45km. And people can through this tunnel by train. It takes only 20 minutes from England to France. Standard fare is about ￡44 , and over night fare is ￡49. I was surprised. It is easier and cheaper to go France than using plane.




The UK is surrounded by ocean like Japan. But The UK have a lot of connection with Europe. As you know, the UK is joining EU. Now EU has a 27 member states.
On the other hand, Japan has experience　of national isolation before. Now Japan is opened for other countries, but Japan is still isolated island. If a tunnel is made between Japan to Korea or China, a lot of people will come and go.

The UK

The UK is on the west of the Continent and also it is on the Atlantic Ocean.It consists of islands of Great Britain island, Northern Ireland, and 900 islands. The area is 244,000 square kilometers, and it is smaller than Japan. The population of the UK is 61,565000 and it is the 22 nd place in the world according to the list of countries by population. Incidentally Japan's population is 127,530,000 and it is the 10 th place. The UK has a long history, so the UK is a historical, interesting and attractive country.When I was high school student, I learn about the UK in the world history class, and I became interested in the UK.

Japanese people call the UK Igirisu. This word comes originally from Portuguese. The formal name of the UK is United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is very long, so people often say the UK or Britain. The UK is composed of 4 countries, England, Wales Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Last year I went to England to study English. I was very happy because I can go a dream country. I stayed Bath city where is a one of the beautiful city in the England for a few weeks. The Roman town of Bath is near Bristol. The Romans settled there because of its natural hot spring. They built a temple to the goddess Minerva in front of the spring. ( I took picyures in there!) In the eighteenth century, the town became popular with the Royal Family and the aristocracy. They came to bathe in the hot spring, drink the spa water from the fountain and socialise with their upper class friends.




And I also visited London. I took some pictures at Big Ben and Tower Bridge. These buildings are symbols of London.

As you know London is capital city of England. I think it is the most famous city in the world. London is very fun. There are a lot of historical buildings, museums, and shops. Next Olympic Summer Games are held in this city in 2012. Must be a lot of players and audiences will come here. Then I also want to go there again.