After a couple of weeks of putting out fires, Sonia and I made our way back to the Khan Academy videos during our session last week. Sonia lived her entire life in eastern Europe, so it is not surprising that she has only a cursory knowledge of American history. I know I would fall far short if I were asked about the history of her country! It was interesting to talk about this history with her. Although Sonia is both educated and intelligent, I found myself explaining things that we just generally expect people to know.
For example: it’s impossible for someone to understand American history without understanding, at least at some level, the religious controversies that led large numbers of people from England to come to America in the 17th century. My high school students often didn’t know this history, of course, but it was part of my job to explain it to them. I suspect a lot of adults in America don’t know this history either – not because it wasn’t taught to them in high school, but because high school was a while ago. After all, we were all also taught Beowulf, quadratic equations, and the Periodic Table of Elements in high school, and most of us don’t recall much about that at all. But somehow people don’t get their knickers in a twist because “kids today don’t know the Periodic Table.” But I digress.
After Sonia and I talked about Henry VIII (she had heard of him and his multiple wives) and his split from the Catholic Church, we talked about how the Puritans further split Protestantism in England, and how it was the Puritans who came to America (at least to New England). She wanted to understand why the Puritans felt that they could be safe only if they left England. Then she wanted to understand why the Puritans, once they were in New England, began to systematically exclude people who didn’t agree with their religious beliefs, leading to further schism and even violence. It is hard to explain, to be honest.
The videos we watched went on to talk about the conflict among three European powers at the time – Britain, France, and Spain – and how that conflict played out in their efforts to colonize the areas in the Western Hemisphere. Her country fought with its neighbors over land and access to ports, but didn’t sail away over thousands of miles to take over land where other people were already living. We spent a lot of time looking at the map of Spain and its colonies and then comparing it with the map of England and its colonies. She had never thought much about the islands in the Caribbean (again, Americans don’t think much about them either, except as vacation destinations), and we spent some time talking about how the plantations that were established on the sugar islands paved the way for increased British presence in the Western Hemisphere and Britain’s eventual colonization of most of North America.
We spoke only briefly about the Enlightenment. Her home country experienced its own variant of the Enlightenment, but she knew as much about this as most Europeans and Americans know about the European Enlightenment – that is, very little. Because it’s impossible to understand the thinking of the people who wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution without understanding how much they were influenced by the Enlightenment, we are going to talk some about this philosophical movement over the next few weeks
When we get together next week, we’re going to discuss the next three videos in this series. You will find them here. Watch them if you have time and think about how much of this history you recall. After you’ve watched them, I’d love to hear your comments about this series of videos.
The third video focuses on the settlement of the colony at Jamestown in 1607. Jamestown is only a few miles from my house, and I’m planning to take Sonia to visit Jamestown sometime this month. As residents of James City County, Virginia, we get free admission to the Jamestown Settlement, a museum owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia. It contains a fairly standard museum with artifacts and displays that explain the settlement and evolution of the colony. But it also has an outdoor component – a reconstruction of the iconic triangular fort of the early years of the colony and replicas of the three ships that carried the first settlers to this location.
The actual site of the colony is on Jamestown Island, about two miles from the Jamestown Settlement. Identified as Historic Jamestown, this site is operated jointly by the National Park Service and the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. On this site, visitors can learn about the ongoing archeological work to uncover more about this settlement. Interpretive staff at the site lead tours that explain both the history of the site and the current efforts to learn more about it.
Because this site is operated jointly by the NPS and APVA, a national park pass does not allow for free entry. The regular entry is $30 per person (children under 16 enter for free). If you hold Access Pass (for US citizens with a permanent disability), an Active Duty Military Pass, or a Gold Star Families pass, admission is free. Reduced admission ($15.00 per adult and up to three additional people) is available if you hold any of a variety of national park passes.
I have invited Sonia and her family to have Thanksgiving Dinner with us. Maybe we’ll visit Jamestown while the turkey is in the oven.
I agree with Ann, though because the language is conversational and casual, I didn’t give it the consideration Ann did. I enjoyed the videos. The new information (to me) about the archeology in re: the lost colony, was really intriguing. I think Sonia would appreciate Kahn U. Videos and with you as a first-rate teacher, she’ll appreciate your additional knowledge and insight.
Karen, I watched the first set of videos from your previous posting and the first of the three in your posting today. As a former tutor, I’m confident my learners would have found the videos helpful. The videos kept my interest because they are entertaining, conversational, lighthearted, well scripted, with helpful graphics and subtexts. My initial concern was the choice of words and phrases such as exchange skins, a bunch of, etc. that a learner might have trouble understanding on their own. I’m pleased you are with Sonia when you view the videos to explain the use of and meaning of somewhat less elegant English words and phrases. It’s really great Sonia will be with you for Thanksgiving. Very nice.