Cultural Encounters Reflection

1. What was one thing you learned from the simulations we played in class? How did this help you understand the essential questions better?

We played different kinds of simulations. It helped me understand how people would need resources and not to waste them. The simulations always have a good part in what we should understand, it is a fun way to learn about Cultures and precious resources.

2. Reading was a part of Cultural Encounters. When you read the books you were asked to think about your reading. What did you learn about your reading while doing this?

I learned what certain people did or worked on and how they did it back in the colonial times. It also helped me realize what other people did in there time. There were different kinds of people.
Some just sit around and are respected greatly, but others have to work full time and harder.

3. Did the journal entries help you to better understand your character? Why or why not? Explain in detail.

I didn't learn all that much, although I did learn slightly, most of my learning had been covered by reading or playing simulations. So to me, most of these journal entries was just a review about what I learned.

4. What was the best part of your presentation? How could it have been improved?

My favorite part about my presentation was when all the people in the presentation started reviewing the reasons why they had ended up in the New World. But the part that I could try to improve, is the part when we went to the silversmiths place, it seemed a little too awkward when we tried to convince her to fork over the metal.

5. What was the biggest learning you gained from this unit? Explain with details.

The biggest piece of learning from this unit, was how people lived and worked back in the colonial days, how the people of Jamestown and Plymouth reacted when they found out about how the Natives lived and had so many arguments and how to discuss them over the town hall meetings.

Cultural Encounters Story

Cultural Encounters Story

Some things my character might be thinking is whether they have made the right choice by dropping everything down in your home country and take your chances in the New World. I am scared that the disease might have plagued the boat, and will spread quickly once the voyage starts where there are no second chances to get back on the dock. I am scared that the Mayflower will not have enough supplies for everyone on the ship for it is too crowded. We hope to find plenty of land, a good climate, and good health. Hopefully, there will be enough supplies there to feed everyone and make life as comfortable as possible. We also dream that we will hit gold and become rich. We all wish to just have a good life and not have wished we should have stayed in our English home. We fear that we will find very unwelcoming hosts, vicious animals, and other threats. We fear that we have saved up all our savings just to come here just to die.

We have moved hoping that we will have a better life in the New World. I am a carpenter, so many people will need houses to live in, we will need many boats for traveling, I can help build the wooden hulls for the boat. Also, we fear that we will become prey to the disease, so we will flee to the New World to escape the disease. We have lost our jobs since the population in Europe continues to rise, we need better jobs, so hopefully, we will have more work for more income in the New World. We will bring different tools for our occupations. Firstly, I need a hammer, pegs, saws, maybe a screwdriver for digging into little holes to hard to reach into, and trees for wood in the first trunk I am allowed to bring. In my second trunk, I will bring all the clothes and my belongings I need to go to the New World.

Now that we have been in the ship for a month, we are kind of desperate. Everyday, our ship rocks back and forth like a roller coaster that never stopped. Food is scarce and many are seasick. Some of us are wondering was it a smart move to go to the New World. Our resting area is dirty and unhygienic. Some people have died because of a disease. Here on the deck, it's not too comfortable. My mom stayed back in England and we haven't had any news from her, my dad died from a disease before we boarded the ship, my sister, Jasmine has come along with me to the new world. She is a good tailor and makes clothes for both of us. Most of our friends are either sick or dead, the journey to the New World wasn't easy, so we wondered if it was worth the sacrifices.

The food on board isn't very appealing and has a strange salty sea taste since we were smelling all that salty air for an entire month. The sanitation on board isn't very good and there are often many bad smells and unwanted pests. We don't want to stay on this ship much longer. We have gone through several storms, we were tossed around like pebbles in a jar. Sleeping was almost impossible and many people were seasick and puking. The ship is full of bad smells, it is indeed not a very nice trip. The storms threw us off track and made us bob up and down vigorously and repeatedly. We really hope we get to the New World soon. Our clothing is getting ripped as we are tossed around the walls. My sister has lost her needle as the storm tossed it into the seas. We can only deal with that when we get on land. We really pray that we will find land soon, as our boat really isn't in much of a good condition. We continue to fear that we are not going to find the new land and will be stranded in the sea until we starve, our boats totally rely on the wind, we are not sure the winds are going the correct way. We are lost.

For two months we have been in very grave danger and had been on the verge of dieing. We have been blown way off track but are grateful for land. The Mayflower is all battered up and is in no condition to continue the voyage. We have started to explore this new territory and carefully because we didn't know what is here, animals, hunters and other dangers we don't know about might be lurking around here. We are pretty nervous, we didn't want to come all the way to the New World to die. Many more storms hurled us off course, Jasmine and I were talking about what we would do if we ever got on land, we were in luck, on the horizon, there was a green patch. Everyone cheered and rejoiced. Some were worried. People started packing up their trunks to get back on land. The captain said that we would land the next day, we left our trunks on the deck and went into our resting areas sleeping comfortably this time. We were safe. For now.

After we had hopped off the ship, everyone were singing and dancing and planning for our new life. Some people started getting to work, I chopped a piece of wood to start a wooden fort for our shelter. My sister found a blacksmith and traded for a new needle to start working again. We were happy that we were off the ship, we would do all anything to get off it. Suddenly, we were surrounded by the fresh smell of nature. We are mostly relieved that we have reached land since the time on the ship had been long and dreadful. As we were building the fort, we were afraid that we may not be alone, some natives might be waiting behind a tree, a bush, anything could happen, I prepared my only weapon, my knife, in case anything would happen. We landed in the middle of the summer when there is a lot of rain, we want to finish our fort before fall, it will be cold and it will destroy our unfinished fort, our work will be wasted, we are working in haste. I need plenty of wood to start my work, luckily, that's just what we have. Work is coming down fast, we will be finished pretty soon and will be ready for winter and anything to come. Our colony is supposed to be very free for everyone but indentured servants and others. We will be careful for the nearby neighbors, we do not wish to be attacked. Now that we have landed, there is nothing we can do to go back, so we will make do with Plymouth. We are wondering if we are safe or in a dangerous situation.

The sanitation in this new country, it is clean and easy to move around, there is plenty of space in this world so it is easy for us to get around. Our wooden fort was easy to build and gave us a little protection, it was a little crowded, but it was better than a castle. Wheat does not grow well in this territory. The food here does not seem so appealing, the corn that grows in this place, we do not know how it tastes, we don't want to eat bad food. It is easy to get a job here but the hardest thing is about our neighbors, the Natives, they will attack now and then and it is not very easy to work with the arrows shooting down from the sky, we have already had several wars, we are not in good shape to fight, but did our best and managed to escape the battlefield. If this keeps on going, we will need to go back to Europe when the next boat comes. The sanitation here is OK but not great, our fort provides protection, but only fine in sanitation, it is not as clean as a town, but Spanish raids have almost destroyed all our defenses. The wooden walls are pretty easy to build and will provide more protection than a town. We will make do with what we have and be happy with it.

Spanish raid had been a problem, as well as the Natives. Work is hard, we have to build everything ourselves instead of being there for us. We also need more food for the winter, we do not know how to fish. And we have not hit any gold yet, we will maintain like this until work becomes easier and when we have settled more comfortably, then we will continue our jobs in peace. My work is very good, as there is plenty of wood in this country, I work on the wooden hulls on the ship and on the wooden fort. Business in the New World is going on fine, the only thing that stands in the way is that there were attacks from the Natives and Spanish, we can hold them back, but not forever, I will just continue my work. If I leave them alone, they will leave me alone in return.

We have finally settled down and have been going pretty good on business. It has been pretty rough throughout the last 2 weeks. We have gotten our jobs easily and are grateful for our income, we will continue life in the New World, it is full of surprises. I would rather be staying here in the colony. It is much easier to continue life here and is more exciting, although, I am slightly homesick already, I will visit now and then, I am wondering what my old village has turned into and it's condition, I had always felt safe in it. We have been lacking food for these two weeks and will need to trade with the Natives, it will not so easy and we will have to wait until the next ship comes, I do not think we can hold on that long, we will be dead unless our farmers find a way to harvest much more amount of food, the fur-traders might have to go full time on hunting only to stop and rest, we need to survive.

The Natives have been rather cranky and are always just trampling over our land, they do not believe in owning land, they claim that the land was free to be owned, we have injured the Natives that have dared to enter our walls without permission, they will probably have their revenge soon. So we will prepare for war. The fur-traders will have a hard time learning from the Natives from what we did, like everyone knows, there are consequences for every single act we make. My sister is healthy and energetic, me myself have been slightly lazy but not ill. I haven't been so enthusiastic about carpentering ever since I accidentally cut my hand. I haven't heard from my mother in a long time, I wonder how shes doing.

In the past half-year, the colony conditions have changed, the natives have been slightly more easy to cooperate with now that we have been here for a while, but our friendship between the two tribes continues to be unsteady. We have made a few laws and rules. Though not many changes have been made. The natives have been coming over pretty often now to teach fur-traders new tactics and how to hunt. We are always prepared for everything that might happen, surprise attacks are pretty often. We will be alert whenever they are around. You can never be too careful.

Every day, we wake up and go do our chores. Some of my sister's jobs in the morning are washing our clothes, and going out to trade for food, on most days, I have to go out to chop some wood for my shop, I might also have to go out to trade for more thread for my sister. It is easier to work for each other than to get stuck forgetting your own chores. I have found plenty of success in my occupation since many people are moving here and need more houses. My sister has been very busy since many people need more clean clothes. We have been traded many different things, although we are not sure if it is enough to go through the winter. In our colony, our rules say that only laborers and indentured servants should work. It is a good rule to the people of noble birth but terrible for the servants and laborers who have to get their hands dirty because they could not get enough to make a living in England. There are other rules that are totally unfair and should be abolished. There are not bad rules for me and my sister since we have just moved here for our occupations.

Molly's Dream

Essential Question 1: What dream does Molly have?
Essential Question 2: What will she need to do to make her dream come true?

This passage is about a girl named Molly who works as an endentured servant in America. She works for a seamtress and learned to knit, sew, and stitch. She hopes that her family can be reunited after it shattered like leaves in a storm. She was making a sampler of a pond, ducks, geese, and a dog. She longed for that and enjoyed working on it. She wanted to be as skilled as her employer was, and she also wanted to be a talented seamtress too. So Molly decided to tell Mrs. Simmons, her employer her dream tonight.

1. I think that Molly's dream was that she wanted to be with her family like it was before it shattered, she wants to be a talented seamtress and live near a pond with ducks, geese, and a dog.
2. To make her dream come true, she needs to finish the duration of her indentured contract and when she is free, she can get together with her family, and live in a house near a pond with ducks, geese, and a dog.

A New Kind of Freedom

Essential Question 1: What convinced Johann to go to America?
Essential Question 2: How did he feel about the decision later?

The passage I have just read is about a man named Johann who is trying to decide whether or not to move to the New World and leave Germany, their home. Johann finally decided to move to the New World. When he docked in the New World or America, they received 450 acres of land since each person recieved 50 acres and Johann's family had 9 people. After they had farmed all their land for 5 years, Johann started to feel that his move to America was worth it, totally worth it.

1. I think what convinced Johann to go to America was because in America, people were allowed to worship whomever they pleased, but in Germany, people were forced into believing a certain religion. 2. I think that Johann was pretty pleased with his decicion. After all, 450 acres of land is pretty attracting. Furthurmore, they could be free to choose their own religion. So I think that Johann never regretted moving to the New World.

Cultural Encounters and Immigration

Why do people move? Well, they could be moving for reasons like economic opportunities in another area or country. Or maybe they could be escaping a raging war. It could be because they don't want to be forced to believe a certain religion and fled for their own freedom. They might move because of a lack for food in their old area and moved to a different region where it is more suitable for growing crops. Another good reason might be because of political reasons. My family was only moved to America since there were no political rights in Hong Kong. Or, people might move, simply because they need more space.

Moving to a new place probably means that people there will speak a different language. It will become hard for one to communicate and might even cause conflict. If a person shouts, it doesn't mean the words are rude, so one might misunderstand and get into a fight. If one doesn't know a language it would be hard even to go grocery shopping. That is why knowing how to communicate to others nicely is very important.