Arthur picked Russia for his second country. He pointed to the map and said, "This BIG country here." Can you tell he's five going on six? Everything's better when it's giant-sized.
There's a heavy Russian influence in Alaska, especially along the coastal areas. Many people in those areas are often bilingual or trilingual: English, Russian, and a native language (such as Yup'ik or Alutiiq). There are old Russian Orthodox churches everywhere in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and Southeast Alaska. When I went to Nome, there was a lovely little Russian store where I found Robinson a carved chess set.
Long after colonization and Seward's Folly, Russian culture remains strongly embedded in present-day Alaska.
We were studying Russia itself and not any of its former colonies, so to kick-off the celebration, we checked out a movie from the library that was part of a series called "Families of the World." Each video is of a different country and is about a half-hour long. The one about Russia followed two kids, one from a rural area of Russia and one from a city.
The boys loved seeing how their lives were different from the children in the movie. They were amazed at the amount of cabbage, carrots, and potatoes the rural family stored in their cellar. They were surprised that the kids often had sandwiches for breakfast and drank their tea with jam.
But there were also similarities: both kids went to school and did homework. They had after-school activities and their own interests. In essence, my boys realized they were almost exactly the same as the children in the movie.
The movies themselves are pretty old (almost 10 years), but they are interesting enough to make viewing worthwhile. Check your local library! They might even have other series that were not available at mine.
No comments:
Post a Comment