A New Start. - Geography nuggets. -

After coaching my daughter Isabella for 3 years for the National Geographic Bee, in which she placed in the top 20 nationally in both 2010 and 2011, I felt “depressed” by the poor level of geographic knowledge of most US students and educated adults, so I decided to do "a little something" about it... Using this blog and my website (www.geokid.org) I will deliver short, geography nuggets, in both written and video form.

But wait: isn't learning geography boring and useless?
I am asking you to give me the benefit of the doubt and let's find out together:
Japan Tourism Agency is thinking about offering free roundtrip flights to Japan to promote tourism, which has been very badly affected by the devastating earthquake of 2011. The final decision has not been made yet, but, if I were you, I would enter my name to be notified. To find out more follow this link: http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/topics/2011/free_flights.html

So you may be lucky enough to visit Japan for free. But what do you know about it?


Video obtained using Google Earth

Japan is an island on the opposite side of the Pacific Ocean than California.

It is about a 12 hours flight from Dallas, TX to Tokyo, the capital of Japan.
Japan has an emperor who for centuries was venerated as a God.

What else do you know about Japan? Try the following:
What is the tallest mountain of Japan, which is also a volcano?
Approximately how many people, do you think, live in the Tokyo metropolitan area? 2 million, 15 million, 35 million?
Did you know that Japan has the highest life expectancy in the world but also one of the fastest aging populations in the world? In 2009, about 23 percent of the population was over 65, and by 2050 almost 40 percent of the population will be over 65. Why is that relevant?

There are other geography blogs and websites out there, some of which I visit daily to learn new things. Here is what will make my offer different:

• Fun, Interesting and simple geography tidbits, focusing on useful and applicable information.

• Reader-driven content. Please submit suggestions and requests for geographic subjects to cover. Which foreign countries have you visited? Which ones would you like to visit and why? Have you ever completed a mission trip overseas? Do you support any nonprofit organization in developing countries? Do you speak a foreign language?

• And… starting soon, if readers like the idea, I plan to offer the opportunity for regular, geography live chats. Let me know what you would like to talk about. Maybe your social studies homework? Send me an email: info (at) geokid (dot) org and I will provide you with my Skype ID, for the weekly geo-chat sessions.

Looking forward to your feedback.

Why Geography is important (part 2)

I am only now following up a previous post (12/16/2011): why Geography is important. But instead of listing a bunch of boring reasons, I thought I would express a few considerations. The world is becoming smaller and smaller. Ease of communications and travel, imports and exports as well as tourism are making each country more and more dependent on other nations. First question: “how many countries are there in the world today?”

An economical, political and even environmental crisis in one country has repercussions all over the world. Prices of food and goods fluctuate, travel restrictions affect the ability of companies to buy or sell goods and, as a result, people can lose their jobs... It may not always be easy to see, but our dependence on each other is growing. Here are a few simple examples: the price of oil goes up when producing countries in the Middle East are affected by internal instability or just decide to limit production. This drives up the cost of goods, including gasoline for cars (which in turn affects transportation costs and therefore food costs) and other things like natural gas for heating houses and workplaces.

When a volcano erupted in Iceland two years ago (“do you remember that?” “Can you pronounce its name?”) it disrupted air travel across Europe. This not only affected tourists, but also business travel as well as goods shipped across the globe. Airlines lost a lot of money, as probably did many other firms that rely on quick and frequent air connections.

As our children grow up, this interdependence will only increase. That is why it is important for them to know where places are located, but also to understand other people, languages and cultures. Geography helps increase mutual awareness , better understanding and acceptance which hopefully leads to a better and more peaceful world. Yet, Geography is often overlooked in today's schools and the results show: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/07/most_us_students_lack_proficie.html,

http://nationsreportcard.gov/geography_2010/summary.asp

When we see pictures of starving children in the "Horn of Africa" (who knows which countries that part of the world include?) or of destroyed schools in Afghanistan, we feel sad and many of us are compelled to donate money. Often though, one tragedy follows another and soon we become immune even to the disturbing images that reach us from poor, faraway places. Instead, we should care for those people. Why? Here is one reason: A friend who grew up in Pakistan once told me: "Going to these countries with 21 century weapons to try and eradicate extremists will not solve US or world problems. There are thousands of people without jobs standing at street corners in those countries that would accept to strap a bomb around their chest in exchange for money that will feed their family.” The future of these countries and the people living there will deeply affect the world our children will live in as adults. We, who have the means, are called to help, if not out of compassion, at least out of concern for the world future. Education, mutual understanding and access to an acceptable lifestyle are some of the goals what we need to help them achieve. And, once we learn more about the children and the people living in Asia, Africa and South America, we will realize, that most of them are not so different from us and that, like us, all they strive for is to have a safe home for their children and some food on their table. Does anybody know approximately how many people in the world live on less than $2 a day? If you don’t, you have not been paying attention (to our video from December 16, 2010)

Learning geography will open our prospective to these realities and many more. Yes, because through geography we can learn about stuff that is fun too, like precipitation, different food and customs, history, weather and… if our GPS ever runs out of batteries, we may still be able to read a map and reach our destination. What does GPS stand for, anyway? Anybody?

Enrico at approx. 39N, 105W
www.geokid.org

I am speechless - God is good

It has been an emotial time. Isabella has studied hard daily for the past 9 months and once again, on April 1st, won the Colorado State Geography Bee. I wondered may times during the past few months, whether the time and effort we put into this endevor was worthy it... We received many positive encouragements along they way and so we endured. Now I know. Thank you Lord for being faithful and answering our prayers. You see, it is not just about the Geography Bee. We are hoping that this effort will open some door to help us teach other children/students/schools about the importance of geography. Learning about the world will teach students about other people and cultures, will teach students about the almost 3 billion people around the world that live on $2/day or less. It will teach them that there is a lot that can be done to help and even children can do their part. For example: sponsoring a child (see our earlier post about this). We have many ideas on how to make to idea come to fruition, but for now we are heading to D.C. for the National Bee. See you in Washington on May 24th!