Minority languages in UK

There are some minority languages in UK. I researched about Welsh.

The Welsh Language

Welsh is a one of the Celtic language. Welsh is closely related to Cornish and Breton. Cornish is spoken in Cornwall. Breton is spoken in Britain. There are about one million native speaker of Breton a century ago in the world. However a native speaker of Breton shrink by half of a native speaker of Welsh today.

History

At the beginning of the 19th century, 80% of people in Wales spoke Welsh, but during the century, English became the main language of some areas of the country. At the start of the 20th century, the Welsh language was spoken by almost half the population of Wales.

Number of speakers

The population of Wales is about three million. The total of Welsh speakers currently estimated to be around 20 ％of the population. The people who can speak Welsh increased to around 80,000 in 2001. Chirdren study Welsh in school of Wales. Welsh are used in trial, TV, and radio. 37.7% of children between 3 and 15 years old in Wales can speak the language.

The sound of Welsh
Sentence of Welsh start usually a verb. Welsh don't use j, k, q, v, x, and z. Welsh use ch, dd, ff, ll, ng, ph, rh, and th as an alphabet instead.

Legislation

The Welsh language Act 1967 assured the right to use Welsh more widely in court.

Benenden School

The British school is compulsory from 5 to 16. The school system is made by different sections: Nursery, Primary school, Secondary school( and Sixth Form Centre) and college or University.

The 2 systems are the State schoolsm, and the independent schools( or public school) whad is called private school of Japan.

Benenden is one of Britain's top public schools. Benenden is a full boarding school for about 530 girls aged 11-18. Benenden was founded in 1923. The school is situated in a beatuiful rural position in Kent.(→map) The mixture of Victorian and more recent buildings are set in 224 acres of beautiful parkland. The schooloffers a full balanced progam with a wide range of extracurricular activities and popular weekend program. All girls are prepared for GCSE , AS Level, A level and university.


School Aims
Benenden school aims is to develop pupil's potential to the within a happy and caring environment.

Boarding
All students are boarders at Benenden. There are six boarding Houses for 11-16 year olds .

Fee
Current fees stand at £9,350 (about 1,350,000 yen) per term.

Famous Alumnae　

・Anne, Princess Royal

Her father is Philip,Duke of Edinburgh, and her mother is Elizabeth.

The Weekend Program

Students can enjoy their weekend. Benenden offers exciting weekend program. There is always something exciting happening. Students are able to try new activities.

Chocolate Fountain parties, Canoeing, Mountain Biking, Theatre Trips, Jewellery Making, Crazy Golf, Windsurfing, Socials with Boys' Schools, Overnight Camps, Archery, Discos, Team Building and Outward Bound pursuits, Target Frisbee, Shopping, Rock Climbing, Visit to the Rare Breeds Centre, Dinghy Sailing, Kite Making, Swimming, Mini-Golf, Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, Volleyball, Visit to Hampton Court, Picnics, Rounders, Drama, Tennis, Trip to the Tate Modern, Bond-theme Social, Cookery, Outings to the Cinema, Camping, Ice Skating, Card Making, Dry Skiing, Trampolining, Museum Visits, Soft Toy Making, Young Enterprise, Clay Pigeon Shooting, Circus Workshop, Abseiling, T-shirt Painting and many more......

Subjects taught
Dutch, Portuguese, Ancient History/Classical Civ, Art and Design, Biology, Chemistry, Chinese, Computing/ICT, Critical Thinking, Dance, Design and Technology (DT), Double/Triple Award Science, Drama/Theatre Studies, Economics, English Language, English Literature, French, Further Mathematics, Geography, German, Government/Politics, Greek, History, History of Art, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Mathematics, Music, Other Subjects, Physical Education, Physics, Religious Studies, Russian, Spanish

Tertiary Education in Britain

I researched tertiary education in Britain. There are two famous universities in UK. Oxbridge:University of Oxford, University of Cambridge are old universities in Britain. Teritiary education in Britain is different from Japanese university.

University of Oxford

The Universtiy of Oxford is situated in the city of Oxford. Oxford has no clear date of foundation, but it is said that Oxford University is built in 11 th century.
There are 38 colleges and six permanent private halls.

May Ball
A May Ball is a official dance party which is held in Oxford and Cambridge at the end of the academic year. They are dressed. ticket prices are around 20000yen to 30000yen.

The British Class System

The British society has some groups of classes. Class is the important part of the British . British society is considered to be divided into approximately three groups of classes - the upper class, the middle class, and the working class. Each class has unique characteristics.

●Upper class
The upper class is highest class in British society. The family of upper class still pass on wealth from generation to generation. And they enjoy a dominant position in society. They lived in stately homes.
The new upper class is much more culturally invisible. The modern upper class close social contacts. The upper class is largely made up of wealthy families.

●Middle class
People of the upper middle class have honorable jobs like lawyers, doctors, and politician. They can get a high salary. People of the middle class works as teacher, president of small company. They are not so rich.

●Working class
People of the skilled working class have some technical skills and knowledge for their job. They works as technologists. Unskilld workers are not educated well. They doesn't have skills. They are working as cleaners, porters, porters...and so on.

●Under class
They doesn't have any jobs, house, and status. They are homeless.


In this way, there are big differences between the class in UK.

Location and Size in the UK

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island nation in Western Europe . The UK lies between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. The UK comes within 35 km of the northwest coast of France.The total area of the UK is about 245,000 square kilometres. The UK lies between latituades 49° and 59° N, and longitudes 8°　W to 2°E.

The UK is made up of Great Britain, Northern Ireland, and Numerous smaller islands.

City of Bath

A city of Bath is my favorite city in the south west of England. Bath became a world Heritage Site in 1987. A city of Bath was founded by the Romans as thermal spa. In the 18th century, under GeorgeⅢ, it developed into an elegant town with neoclassical buildings such as Queens Square, Circus, and Royal Crescent.

There are some historic landmarks liks the Roman Baths, Pump room and Bath Abbey. You can try the hot Spa water at the fountain in the Pumproom.

My Favorite Blog Report

My favorite blog report is about Haka written by Mitsu. He wrote about Haka on his blog. His presentation of last semester was so interesting. His report is clear to understand. I didn’t know about Haka before taking this class. However this report gave me lots of information of Haka. So if you read this blog, you can get some important information. The structure and paragraph of his report is so good. We can see the video of Haka dance on the his report. His report has some interesting links. I am really interested in Haka and Maori culture.

Treaty of Waitangi

The treaty of Waitangi has been a fatal decision on New Zealand history. A grasp of the treaty is necessary to understand New Zealand history and society.


Background to the treaty

New　Zealand was mostly a Maori world in the 1830s. There were about 100,000 Maori. In those days many Europeans arrived in New Zealand. There were about 200 in the North Island in the early 1830s. But, by 1839, there were about 2000 settlers all over country. More immigrants were arriving all the time. New Zealand was changing quickly in the late 1830s.

The declaration of Independence of New Zealand
James Busby engaged in the Declaration. I’ll introduce about him later. The purpose of this declaration is to protect favorable settlers and traders, and prevent violence by Europeans against Maori. The Declaration was signed in 1835. It has 52 signatures of Maori chiefs: 34 northern chiefs who signed on 28 October 1835 and then 18 others from around the country by 1839. Maori have seen the declaration as British recognition of an independent Maori nation. Unfortunately the declaration seems to have very little practical effect at the time.

Maori and Pakeha had long traded land with each other. Most settlers were acquiring land from Maori . But there were some troubles. Crime, violence and general lawlessness pervaded. The British Resident from 1833, James Busby, could do little to control it.


Substance of the treaty

The Treaty of Waitangi is the founding document of New Zealand. It is named after the place in the Bay of Islands where the Treaty was first signed, on 6 February 1840. The Treaty was prepared in just a few days. The Treaty of Waitangi has two texts. The Maori version is not an exact translation of the English. Different understandings of the Treaty have long been the subject of debate.


Key people


James Busby was the British Resident. New Zealand was regarded as a dependent territory of New South Wales when Busby was appointed as the official British Resident. Richard Bourke was governor of New South Wales. He instructed Busby to protect favorable settlers and traders, and prevent violence by Europeans against Maori while apprehending escaped convicts. His role was race relations conciliator in disputes between Maori and Pakeha, and mediator in matters affecting British subjects alone.





Captain William Hobson had been sent by the British government. He had been given important task. His job was to persuade Maori chiefs that Great Britain should take over the job of governing the northern part of New Zealand. He also should claim the South Island as British because Captain Cook, from Britain, had been the first to land there.

Henry Williams took an important role in the Treaty of Waitangi. He had translated the English document of the Treaty into Maori with his son. The Treaty of Waitangi was considered New Zealand's founding document. It was prepared over just a few days in February 1840. The translation was key to getting Maori agreement. The job of translating the document was an important task, but it had to be rushed. They received the document on the evening of 4 February, and it was needed for the meeting of the chiefs on the next day. Henry Williams used a dialect known as “Missionary Maori”, which was not traditional Maori. He invented some new words to put the ideas into Maori. For example he used the word kawanatanga to describe the British government ruling over New Zealand. The English word is sovereignty. But the Maori were confused by some of the differences of interpretation. Henry Williams was also involved in explaining the Treaty to Maori leaders at the meetings with William Hobson at Waitangi.


Tamati Waka Nene

Nene was a chief of Nga Puhi. He was favorable to Pakeha. He assisted the British Resident, James Busby. And he played an important role in the Treaty of Waitangi. Nene was one of its most influential supporters in the debate at Waitangi over the Treaty. He called on Hobson to stay , to help the Maori keep their lands and their customs. His speeches swayed opponent of chiefs to agreement.

Treaty of Waitangi

★ Henry Williams ★




　Henry Williams took an important role in the Treaty of Waitangi. He had translated the English document of the Treaty into Maori with his son.

The Treaty of Waitangi was considered New Zealand's founding document. It was prepared over just a few days in February 1840. The translation was key to getting Maori agreement. The job of translating the document was an important task, but it had to be rushed. They received the document on the evening of 4 February, and it was needed for the meeting of the chiefs on the next day.


Henry Williams used a dialect known as “Missionary Maori”, which was not traditional Maori. He invented some new words to put the ideas into Maori. For example he used the word kawanatanga to describe the British government ruling over New Zealand. The English word is sovereignty. But the Maori were confused by some of the differences of interpretation.

Henry Williams was also involved in explaininf the Treaty to Maori leaders at the meetings with William Hobson at Waitangi.

Early Settlers

Most new settlers came from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

Abel Janszoon Tasman who was first person came to inshore New Zealand from Europe. The purpose of his voyage was management strategy of colonial company. He searched existence of uncharted southern continent.

James cook landed on New Zealand in the 18 century.

Introduction to New Zealand

I have never been to New Zealand.　But I’m interested in New Zealand.　I introduce about the fascination of　New Zealand.
The Population of New Zealand is about only 4 million.
It is small population. New Zealand has some unique culture. There are Maori people in New Zealand. Maori are New Zealand’s indigenous people. The Maori arrived in New Zealand about 1000 years ago. They came from Hawaiki. Today, Maori make up over 14 percent of the population.
Maori culture have a rich and varied such as carving , weaving, kapa, haka, and moko.
Their language and culture has a major impact on all facets of New Zealand life. You can enjoy their culture.