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Sunday, October 21, 2018

Globalization. Pros and cons.


               Credit                          

Definition: It’s a process of economic, social and cultural integration all over the world.
-> Due to advances in means of transports and telecommunications the world is
  becoming more and more interconnected.
               -> Products, capital, ideas, culture, circulate more freely, but has globalization  improved     
                    people's lives? (food for thought).

This process has effects on:
-       economy
-       political systems
-       environment
-       culture
-       social life
-       education

 Advantages

1- Faster and better means of communication have made it possible for people around the globe to access the same products.
  (goods are cheaper on the internet, your friend, singing beautifully, has taken off on You tube and people download their music..).

2- Globalization has enhanced our knowledge of the world.

3- Cultures become richer as they get in touch with each other. Globalization broadens our mind.

4- We are connected thanks to internet technology and mobile phones.

5- We can communicate with people all over the world. The human life becomes global.

6- Education is promoted. Students can study abroad.

7- There are more international NGOs which want to exert influence in politics in their area of work. Non-profit, charitable and social organizations etc carry out campaigns to fight poverty, hunger, child labor, dowry, free education. Global communities have increased their awareness of the problems in the world.

8-Globalization can improve international relations among different nations.

Disadvantages

1-Traditions are disappearing as new generations adopt global traditions.(Halloween).
Are we losing our identity? Each culture has a different way to perceive the world and if they disappear we will be poorer. We need diversity; without debate, dialogue there is no social or moral progress.  
  - Music, news, products are having a great influence on us and have become dominant  
     (McDonalds chain restaurants can be found in each country)
    More variety and cheaper but with a negative impact on people (hard working conditions; workers exploitation, long working hours, very low wages-> See below)
    and on environment: pollution, natural resources devastated,  deforestation),
        
2- Developed countries have mostly benefited from the process of Globalization than the developing countries. A gap between rich and poor is becoming deeper.

3- Financial crisis, terrorism are not limited by borders.

4- Great corporations are relocating their companies to developing countries to make production cheaper (seeking cheap labor) and they take advantage of : great flexibility to operate and invest in other countries, less tax burden, more permissive laws, weak rules concerning pollution etc)
------> (precarious working conditions-Tragedies in Bangladesh) ( cobalt mines-> It is used to make electronic devices).
Local shops have to shut down. Companies are taken over by bigger corporations-> they can’t compete with multinationals.
5- Negative impact on environment (Palm oil and Greenpeace. Website).

6- Traffic between countries has polluted tourist destinations (Barcelona).

7- Diseases spread from one country to another country.

8. There is free trade but there are borders that impede people from free circulation (refugee crisis)

9. Globalization is being carried out following economic rules (we have prioritize economic issues) rather than ethic principles. Economic growth and benefits of great corporations are much more important than people and their rights. We don’t fight for the Common Good, we just pursue our own interest.( problems of corruption-> bad use of public money). A neoliberal model is prevailing. We defend freedom and respect for human rights but individualism and consumerism are winning. Under these circumstances, what kind of cultural model can we have? the ones given by Global Mass Media, social networks?

 
To have in mind:

-       Benefits and disadvantages are here to stay. Rich countries like UK, Germany and the United States can sell more goods and products to poorer markets on the Global South.
-       Local business and brands in developing countries can go bankrupt as big corporations in developed countries can dominate the economy of their country.
-        Local traditions and cultures may change. People in poor countries can abandon their cultural customs as they would want to look like stars in Hollywood.  
-        Non-English speaking countries want to learn English. More and more schools in developing nations are teaching their students this global language.
-    Process of globalization of democracy or human rights doesn’t exist and as a result, inequality is greater and people in need and poor nations are the most affected ones.  
-       People must get to know how to reap its benefits, reduce risks and work together to remedy the problems that have arisen. Countries in the Global North and Global South must work to spread its benefits.

Monday, October 15, 2018

What do we mean by Globalization?

We are starting our second year of UniDiversity. New topics, new students taking part in the project and everyone thrilled about working together and meeting again this time in Poland on the ocassion of the next mobility in November.
Globalization is going to be the first topic to deal with. But, before starting with the different activites related to it, can you tell me what we mean by "Globalization"? Is it good or bad? Can you think of advantages and disadvantages?

 
Please search for information on the internet and let's discuss about it in class.

Friday, October 12, 2018

Globalization and different lifestyles



Activity 1. The students will analyze the most popular places for young people to eat. What are their origins? They will also go shopping and have a look at the labels to see where clothes are made. Then, they will compare prices with the clothes made in our own country. What are the advantages and disadvantages of multinational companies?

Activity II. This activity will be related to the Internet. Does the internet make us be together or get isolated from one another?

We will calculate the average time we spend on social networks, the most used ones, who we talk to, what we use the mobile phone for, in what language. Then we will value their impact on our lives. International WhatsApp groups will be created. There will a repres­­­entative from each country and they will share current news about their respective countries. In the training and learning activities in Poland we will analyze how they see us from outside, if there are countries that appear much more than others in the Mass Media, what image we project and if we feel identified with it.

Activity III. Poland will organize the learning and training activities about Globalization. We chose this country because it joined recently to the EU and because of its communist past. This country will explain to us how globalization has influenced its society. We will also share the activity through Instagram.

Activity IV – Ecological variability. Protected natural spaces/urban areas.
One of the easiest values to measure is ecological variability, the protected natural spaces at global or national level can serve as a basis to study the variability, the peculiar, against  globalization, which will be studied in the different cities to which each group belongs, in the case of living isolated, the nearest city will be taken as a reference. The comparison between the different protected natural spaces would have to indicate the singularity of each one whereas the comparison between the cities would bring us closer to globalisation.

-Students from every school will look for the protected natural spaces in their country, taking into account their most important characteristics and the level and entity to which this protection applies. Obviously, when the UN is the organization that carries out the protection, this protected area has a great relevance worldwide. The knowledge of our natural environment is very important when it comes to respecting and protecting the environment.
-Once they have the protected natural spaces from every country, they will have to compare them, are they very different or similar?
-Get the “map of your city”. You will find a historical, business, political, social etc center.
-Carry out a study of the characteristics that make this area be what they are like and compare them with the other cities, are they similar or very different?

Activity V- Knowledge of foreign goods.

When we speak about globalisation we think about multinational companies, the experience that we want to carry out is based on the knowledge we have of our partner countries. So, bearing in mind our previous ideas, we will try to choose the most internationally recognized products objectively. Every country has to know the relevance of these goods and, at the same time, the international brand that we leave behind and how we are recognized out of our own country.

-Students will make a table in groups from the same country in order to talk about the goods that we know from our partner countries and to indicate the nature of these products.
-Every group will give a presentation and they will see if they are recognised internationally and also, what kinds of products are most well-known.
-Then, every country will present a report with their conclusions and it will be defined as a globalizing or distinctive culture.


Activity VI- Globalisation.

In this activity we are going to work in international groups, and we are going to indicate what products are consumed by all of us. This will be the real case of globalization and which countries are the most important ones in the different  economic, social and cultural sectors.

-Students will make a table for the different sectors and will indicate what products are consumed by all the members of the group and which ones are their origins.
-Then, after sharing it, they will remove those ones that are different as well as their source of origin too.
-They will talk about the different dominant cultures by sectors.

Activity VII- Politics.

We mustn’t forget that students are going to be future citizens and voters. When studying the different governments of every country and their efficacy, they are going to be able to draw up important conclusions for their future as free and responsible citizens. The analysis do not have to be negative, they will just have to reflect on it. The knowledge of the different ideologies and the political history in each country will make them see the future even closer. 
We will treat the current governments of each school as different, and our European Community as globalisation. We will study:

-The structure of our national politics systems and the different ideologies which are present in every country.
-The European Community structure, their members and their ideologies.

We will try to answer the next question: Is it more important for a European politician to support his/her ideology or his/her country, even if it is against his/her ideology? We will work in international teams and it will be more important the amount of opinions than opinions per se.

 -Role play: every student has to represent his/her country and teachers will be the moderators.
 -We will suggest a touchy topic to discuss about and will vote it.
-They will have to draw up a single report with the results of votes.