AMERICA

The national anthem of the US? The Star-Spangled Banner

The national emblem of US? Bald eagle
Largest: Alaska; Smallest: Rhode Island
US bought Alaska from which country? when? Russia 1867
The longest river? Missouri
At the time of independence, how many states....? 13
Independence day july 4th
1st president is George Washington
George Washington was related which story? The cherry tree story
The rank of area of US in the world? 4th
The statue of Liberty has origin from France
Where is the Pentagon located in US? Washington DC
How many stars in the US’s Flag? 50
The location of Lady of Liberty is in water in which state of US? New jersy
The highest mountain peak in North America is: Denali
TRUE/FALSE
The bother between US and Mexico is river Rio Grande T
Las Vegas belongs to New York state F
New York is the biggest city in the US T
Two main political parties in the US? Republicians and democrats
Symbol of the Democrats/ Republicians? Donkey/ elephant
3 branches of US government?
Legislative, Executive, Judicial Branch
Their functions respectively? Legislative (make laws), Executive (carries out laws), Judicial
(interprets laws)
the components of the excutive branch?
President, Vice President, Cabinet
The longest term of a President? 2 terms (4 yrs each term)
GOP? Grand old party
Candidate? Potential president
Campaign? a campaign is an organized effort to reach a goal -to become president(a campaign
usually starts a year before the election)
Platform? Platform is your beliefs on how to run the country (economy, foreign policy, security)
Incumbent President? In office (present president)
Primary: a straight vote
Caucus: discussion
Delegate? a representative of that state
Convention? A huge meeting
Poll? a survey, collection of opinion, ask who you gonna vote for
Lobbists? people influence other people to vote for a candidate
Rhetoric? The art of persuation
Pundits? Pundits are experts in a field who are asked for and who give the opinion
Spin doctors? ability of speaking to turn negative things into good things
Cast a ballot= to vote
popular votes? total number or percentage of votes cast for a candidate
Electoral vote: a vote by a member of an electoral college
the maximum of electoral votes? 538
Nominee: potential candidate
1. https://www.usa.gov/branches-of-government

Constitution

Legislative Judical
Executive
(makes laws) (interprets laws)
(carries out laws)

- Congress - Supreme
- President Court
- Senate
- Vice President - Other Federal
- House of
- Cabinet Courts
Representatives

The Physical Setting of American Civilization

Chapter 1, In Search of America, American Life and Institutions, pp. 5-12. Chapter 6: Cultural Regions of America,
Making America, pp. 121-134.
NYC residents must pay federal state and city income taxes while those lucky inhabitants of Concord, New
Hampshire, onnly pay federal income tax.
The big three of commercial television in Ame: ABC, CBS, NBC
American society is the most open and most intensely and continually self-critical in the world.
The Freedom of Information Act means that anyone, not just American citizens has a right to know what the
government is doing.
Hockey, baseball, football and basket ball are the 4 major sports.
The American People
Reading 2: Chapters 1, 2, 3, 6, 10, 11, 12
Individualism
The most important thing to understand about Americans is probably their devotion to individualism. They are
trained from very early in their lives to consider them-selves as separate individuals who are responsible for their
own situations in life and their own destinies.
+ Americans see as heroes those individuals who “stand out from the crowd” by doing something
first, long-est, most often, or otherwise “best.”
+ Many Americans do not display the degree of respect for their parents that people in more traditional or family-
oriented societies commonly do.
Privacy
Americans assume that most people need some time to themselves or somet ime alone to think about things or
recover their spent psychological energy. Most Americans have great difficulty understanding people who always
want to be with another person, who dislike being alone. Americans tend to regard such people as weak or depen-
dent.
Equality
Tone of voice, order of speaking, choice of words, seating arrangements such are the means by which Americans
acknowledge status differences among themselves. People of higher status are more likely to speak first, louder,
and longer. They sit at the head of the table or in the most comfortable chair. They feel free to interrupt other
speakers more than others feel free to interrupt them. The higher-status per-son may put a hand on the shoulder
of the lower-status person. If
there is touching between the people involved, the higherstatus person will touch first.
Informality
The Future, Change, and Progress
Americans are generally less concerned about history and traditions than are people from older societies. They
have the idea that what happens in the future is within their control, or at least
subject to their influence. Americans are generally impatient with people they see as passively accepting
conditions that are less than desirable.
Time
For Americans, time is a resource that, like water or coal, can be used well or poorly. As Americans are trained to
see things, the future will not be better than the past or the present unless people use their time for constructive,
future-oriented activities. One of the more difficult things many foreign
businesspeople and students must adjust to in the United States is the notion that time must be saved whenever
possible and used wisely every day.
Directness and Assertiveness
Preferred Discussion Topics
When they first encounter another person, Americans engage in a kind of conversation they call smalltalk. The
most common topic of smalltalk is the weather.
Americans are explicitly taught not to discuss religion and politics unless they are fairly well acquainted with the
people they are talking with. In public meetings Ameri-cans will openly debate political matters, but we are talk-ing
here about communicative style in interpersonal situ-ations.
Politics and religion are thought to be ―controver-sial,‖ and discussing a controversial topic can lead to an
argument.
Favorite Forms of Interaction
The typical conversation between two Americans takes a form that can be called repartee. No one speaks for very
long. Speakers take turns frequently, often after only a few sentences have been spoken.
Americans engage in far less ritual interaction than do many other cultural groups. That is, the questions are
supposed to be asked and the statements are supposed to be made in particular circumstances, no matter what
the people in-volved are feeling or what they really have in mind.
A third form of interaction, one Americans tend to avoid, is argument. Americans imagine that an argument with
another person might result in the termination of their relationship.If an argument is unavoidable, Americans
believe it should be conducted in calm, moderate tones and with a minimum of gesturing.
A fourth and final form of interaction is self-disclosure. In many cases, conversations with a large amount of
smalltalk (or of ritual interchange) usually produce little self-disclosure.
Channels Preferred
Americans depend more on spoken words than on nonverbal behavior to convey their messages. They think it is
important to be able to ―speak up‖ and ―say what‘s on your mind.
Aspects of Nonverbal Behavior
Appearance
Body Movements and Gestures.
Facial Expression
Eye Contact: Ameri-cans are trained to distrust people who do not look them in the eye‖ when speaking to them.
Space and Touching: If an American is talking to a Greek, a Latin American, or an Arab, for example, the American
is likely to keep backing away because the other person is likely to keep getting ―too close.‖ On the other hand, if
the conversation partner is Japanese, the American will keep trying to get closer because the Japanese insists on
standing ―too far away.‖

Family life
Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and others who might be thought of as family in many other countries are
usually called relatives‖ by Americans.
It is increasingly
common to find unmarried couples living together, unmarried women having children, ―blended fami
lies‖ that are composed of a man, a woman, and their children from previous marriages, gay or lesbian couples
with or without children, and people living alone. Arrangements such as these are often called ―alternative
families,‖ to distinguish them from traditional families.
Observers usually attribute these changes in the American family to two factors. First, starting with the women‘s
movement, women began to enter careers outside the traditional areas of teaching, nursing, and being a
secretary. And second, difficult economic times have often required both parents to earn income for the family.
Women’s Liberation and Feminism
The belief in the notion of equality between the sexes gained strength as a result of the women‘s liberation
movement of the 1960s and 1970s and has continued to grow as femi-nism has gained a stronger hold in the
society.

The American Government & Politics

Reading 2: Chapter 5 Units 5-9, About the USA, pp. 86- 127
Americans feel very free to criticize their political lead-ers
In addition to pride in their system of government and a propensity to criticize their leaders, Americans have three
other general ideas about politics that foreigners will want to understand: they believe firmly in what they call the
―rule of law,‖ they idealize compromise, and they conceive of
politics as something separable from other aspects of life.
They believe that ―no person is above the law and that laws apply equally to all people regardless of their wealth,
personal connections, or station in life. President Richard Nixon should be removed from office as a result of his
behavior in connection with what was called the ―Watergate Scandal.‖ Nixon had broken the law and therefore
should be punished, Americans believed, even if he was the president. Similarly, many Americans believed that
President Bill Clinton should have been re-moved from office for lying under oath about his affair with Monica
Lewinsky, even if the affair itself was a per-sonal matter unrelated to Clinton‘s formal duties.

Business in the USA

Reading 2: Chapters 17, 20 Chapter 5 – Econony, American Life and Institutions Economy, pp. 63-67.
“My father taught me to work, but not to love it” (Abraham Lincoln)
The American economy had to be built as they say from the ground up.
Many Americans prefer to be their own bosses, and they are willing to trade security for the chance of “making it”.
The AFL’s approach to labor problems was co-called “bread and butter” unionism.
The Ametican blue-collar worker is among the highest paid in the world, and his benefits and pensions also make
him one of the most expensive.
Many countries now have their own Silicon valleys, but the first and biggest computer research and production
area is still Silicon Valley, near San Francisco in Northern California.
The best-selling car in the world is a Ford.
Califonia and Texas are now the leading manufacturing states in Ame (Cali is also the largest agricultural producer).
Characteristics of U.S. Organizations
Competence is the key to being hired by most U.S. organizations.
Efficiency is a primary concern of most organizations.
American values are reflected not just in the general status of business within the society but also in the op-
erations of each business organization.
Three aspects of Ameri-can business life that people from abroad notice very quickly. The first may not seem to be
a matter of culture, but it probably is. Another characteristic of business life in the United States that foreigners
notice is its informality. Americans‘ notions about equality also strongly influence what happens throughout
business organizations.

The comments that follow represent a few aspects of American business operations that stand out in the minds of
many foreign visitors: hard work, punctuality, impersonal dealings, quantitative reasoning, writing it down, self-
improvement, behavior in meetings, turnover (America is still a more mobile society than most, so people change
jobs relatively readily, and it is customary for Americans to give as little as two weeks‘ notice before they leave a
job. It is unusual to find a strong sense of company loy-alty at the lower ranks of a business, and even many ex-
ecutives are ready to change employers when a promis-ing opportunity arises.)

The American System of Education

Reading 2: Chapter 7, 19
7 values and virtues Americans admire in the business world…

hard work, achievement, competitiveness, materialism, rationality, perseverance

and building toward the future

3 reasons why Americans want a college education?

- Prepare for their future career - Prepare for their whole life - Be worth than others
in life
If an American has invited you to their house for dinner, Should you bring anything?
Y/N? Y
Two of your co-workers are talking, and you have to ask one of them a question
about a project you’re working on. What should you do?
A. Go back to your desk and wait until the conversation is over.
B. Interrupt their conversation and ask the question.
C. Stand there and watch them until the conversation is over.
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt
(Rhushmore)l
7 Founding Fathers? John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay,
Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Washington
Be acustomed to bargain? Y/N? N
Scholastic Aptitude Test - SAT - critical reading, math and writing skills
American College Testing - ACT

TRUE/FALSE
5. The Americans always express impatience with people taking long turn. F
(sometimes not always)
6. With the Americans, “intimate friends” and “close friends” are the same in
meaning. F
7. American families have changed in many ways since the 1950s. Families are
becoming smaller. T
8. There are more single-parent families (households containing only one parent
usually a woman—and one or more children). T
9. American society generally does not accepts the idea that young people of both
genders need to ”find themselves” and “develop their potential” F
10. Americans don’t feels anything unusual when someone is being friendly to them.
F
11. Americans have been taught to become independent or allowed others to
become dependent on them. T
12. Most Americans believe it is weird and not okay at all to have friends of the
opposite sex. F
13. Relationships are based on shared interest. T
(not important)
https://www.ushistory.org/documents/amendments.htm#amend12

Amendment I
Freedoms, Petitions, Assembly
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the
right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a
redress of grievances.

Amendment 14
Civil rights
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they
reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or
immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of
life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within
its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according
to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State,
excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice
of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in
Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the
Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being
twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged,
except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation
therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens
shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such
State.
Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of
President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United
States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of
Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State
legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the
Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion
against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may
by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law,
including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in
suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United
States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of
insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or
emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held
illegal and void.
Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the
provisions of this article.