Th.1- British and French Stereotypes – Are they true?

First, I will start by giving some examples of

stereotypes about British people before providing you
my opinion.
The first one is that British people’s favourite food is
fish and chips. I think it depends on personal taste.
This one is very famous; they love drinking tea. I
believe that it’s totally true, most of the British drink tea
at 5pm.
The next one is about how British people adore
queuing. I honestly don’t have an opinion on this
stereotype because I don’t know if it’s true. And I can’t
understand how they appreciate standing in line and
waiting. If this stereotype is true, then British people are
definitely patient.
Moreover, British people love the Royal Family, this
one is true, I mean who doesn’t adore the Royal Family?
I think everyone was moved when the Queen passed
away.
Then, British people speak with a posh accent and are
arrogant. They definitely have a different accent and we
can tell from the way that they talk that they are British
and not American nor Australian, but I wouldn’t say it is
posh, it’s just different.
 The following one is that they have bad hygiene. I
think it’s untrue. They are seen as elegant so I don’t
know why people would say that they have bad hygiene.
Next, British people live in a country with
unpredictable weather and mostly bad weather. I think
every country, not only the UK, has unpredictable
weather.
Plus, some people believe all British have a butler. This
one is false, maybe some of the rich British families have
one or several but not all of them.
Finally, British people are polite and well mannered. As
for me, everyone should be that way, it’s a question of
education and not a question of being British or not.
Now, I’m going to talk about stereotypes about the
French, and since I am French it will be easier to tell you
if it’s true or not.
First, French people always wear berets hats and
striped tops. Not all the French wear berets and striped
tops and we mainly wear it to pose for pictures, or at
some rugby matches.
Then, we always have a baguette under our arm. You
can see a French with a baguette going out of a bakery
just like you can see a French with a sandwich or with a
cake.
 Also, French people greet each other with kisses on
the cheeks. It’s totally true, it’s called « la bise ».
The French love cheese, red wine, snails and frog legs.
It’s right that we love red wine and cheese, even
foreigners love it. But I don’t think a lot of French eat
snails and frog legs often.
French people are lazy and rude. I wouldn’t say that
we are lazy or rude, it’s just that we enjoy a lot of
vacations; and we are just honest when giving out
opinions.
French people have a bad English accent. I think it’s
both true and false, because English is a foreign
language so it’s normal to have an accent. A lot of
French have bad English accent, but a lot others have
great accent as well just less.
Next, we are always complaining. This stereotype is
true, I mean, I can hear at least two people complaining
in a day.
And finally, French people are into drinking coffee. It is
indeed a common habit for French people to start their
day with a cup of coffee.
To conclude, stereotypes might not always be true.
We need to live in a culture long enough in order to
distinguish which ones are stereotypes, and which ones
are cultural values or habits.
Th.2- The Space Race
The Space Race was a competition during the Cold
War between the United States and the Soviet Union,
also known as the USSR. They were competing to be the
first to conquer space.
First, in 1955, the USA and the USSR both
announced the launching of satellites into orbit and the
Soviets succeeded first when they launched Sputnik I on
October 4th, 1957. 4 months later, the Americans put
their first satellite called Explorer I into orbit.
Then in April 1961, the Soviets became the first to
send a person named Yuri Gargarin into space and 3
weeks later Alan Shepard was the first American to
travel in space.
But Americans preceded the Soviets with John
Glenn becoming the first to Orbit Earth in February
1962.
After that, Russian woman Valentina Tereshkova
became the first woman ever to travel in space on June
16th 1963.
Finally, President John F. Kennedy announced that
the Americans will be the first to land on the Moon
before 1970, and he was right, because on July 16th
1969, Apollo 11 lifted off and four days later, Neil
Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins were the
first to walk on the Moon.
To conclude, the USA and the Soviet Union were
fighting over the quest to the Moon and space. The
Soviet succeeded first in many areas but eventually the
United States won the Space Race in 1969.
Th.3- The Biography of a Civil Right Leader
Many people know Martin Luther King or Rosa
Parks, they played an important role in the Civil Right
Movement. But today I’m going to tell you the life of
another great Civil Right Leader that you might not
know: Harriet Tubman.
Harriet Tubman was born in the early 1820’s, as a
slave in Dorchester County, Maryland, as Araminta Ross.
She changed her name when she married John Tubman,
a free black man, in 1844. But to her people Harriet
Tubman remains their « Moses ».
She has no formal education because she was a
slave.
She escaped slavery in 1849 with her two brothers,
her husband didn’t come to help her and abandoned
her.
During the Civil War, she was a nurse and a spy by
communicating helpful information to the Union. She is
considered the first black woman in the military. She
was also a « conductor » on the Underground Railroad,
a collection of houses and safe places for slaves. She
helped dozens of slaves escape from the South, was
never caught and never lost a passenger. Slaveowners
were even offered 40,000$ for her capture or death.
 Harriet contributed a lot to the Civil Right
Movement by freeing many slaves and helping the
Union Army.
To conclude, Harriet Tubman was a very courageous,
remarkable and incredible woman who put her life in
danger to save many lives.
Th.4- A Movie Review of Hidden Figures
Hidden Figures is a movie and a book based on a
true story. It is a film about 3 protagonists: Dorothy
Vaughan, Mary Jackson and Katherine Johnson. They
were 3 black women who studied mathematics in
college. They were very good at arithmetic. They worked
as teachers and also “computers” for the NACA which
would later become NASA.
The movie takes place during the Space Race, a
competition between the Soviets and the Americans to
conquer space first. In the movie, we can see 3 different
fights that the characters had to lead.
First, Dorothy Vaughan, did all the work of a
supervisor in the West Camp underpaid so she was
upset. Later, she was interested by the IBM mainframe
machine being built in the tech wing. NASA noticed
Dorothy on the IBM and wanted to reassigned her to
programming the IBM for John Glenn’s trajectory. But
Dorothy required one thing: she demanded that all of
the West Computing ladies, the computers, go with her.
At the end, she was the new IBM supervisor.
Next, Mary Jackson was assigned to work with
engineers on the capsule in the beginning of the movie
but she was told by her boss that she was not qualified
for the engineering program because she needed
advanced extension courses from the University of
Virginia. To solve this problem, she petitioned the court
and plays on the judge’s desire to be the « first » to
attend classes at an all-white school and she succeeded.
Then, Katherine Johnson integrated a different
section to calculate John Glenn’s safe return and more.
She got called out for being away from her desk too long
because she was running across the campus to use the
coloured lady restrooms. Mr. Harrison, Katherine’s boss,
removed the segregated facilities in response to the
knowledge that NASA has separate bathrooms and
coffee pots for black people.
To conclude, the movie shed lights on issues that the
Black Community faced, including work place
discrimination and the experience of having
accomplishments diminished in favour of their white
counterparts. We can also learn that with determination
we can do whatever we want, we just have to be
determined to not give up. Dorothy, Mary and Katherine
are great examples to look up to.
Th.5- All about Australia
First, Australia is the 6th biggest country in the
world but can also be considered the smallest continent.
Australia is in the Southern hemisphere. It’s a big
island so it doesn’t have any borders with the other
countries and it has a lot of coasts too. It has a big
desert in the middle outback. A lot of people live in
Sydney and Melbourne but those cities are not the
capitals. It’s in fact Canberra.
Furthermore, Australia is a former British colony,
colonized by James Cook. Indigenous Australians used to
live there before and they still do. Natural resources, like
gold, made the country wealthy. Plus, Australia is a
member of the Commonwealth.
There are many landmarks and monuments in
Australia like Uluru or Ayers Rock, Waterfalls or The Big
Banana, Sydney Opera House, Sydney Harber Bridge,
The Big Pawn and The Big Pineapple.
Next, Australia has a population of approximatively
22 million, it’s a cosmopolitan country, there are a lot of
immigrants.
The weather is good, it’s always sunny and often
hot. The seasons are reversed from what we have in
France.
 Then, Australian are sporty and have a lot of
hobbies. They are into surfing, soap car racing,
boomerang, hosting pool parties, doing a slip and slide,
having water gun pistol fights. They are also keen on
cricket, football, track, netball and rugby with Aussie
rules.
80% of Australian plants and animals are typical
from Australia and they cannot be found anywhere else
in the world, including the kangaroos, koalas, echidnas,
dings, platypuses and other exotic animals.
Australian eat vegemite, spread made of brewer’s
yeast, barbecued sausage, Lamington cake, a coconut
cake and a lot of ice scream. They drink plenty of beers
as well.
There are also many celebrities from Australia that
you might know. The most famous for me are Chris
Hemsworth, Margot Robbie and Hugh Jackman.
To conclude, it seems that Australia is an amazing
country with such interesting things to discover and
activities to do. Now I want to visit Australia and I hope
that my presentation convinces you to go to Australia
too so that you can learn a bit more about this country.