Discovering SWITZERLAND!
Teacher Page

DEAR MIDDLE SCHOOL EDUCATOR:
The other materials in this study unit are for your students…. This page is for you! It is your guide to the latest Learning Enrichment (LE) product — a brand-new study unit in a brand-new series — "Culture Contact"!....

New Series. LE's "Culture Contact" series tackles goals identified by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) in its curriculum standards guide, Expectations of Excellence (EOE). LE's latest survey of state standards for Grades 6-8 assures us we're on target with the NCSS goals we've selected…. New Unit. Every student text page in "Discovering Switzerland!" has been crafted to lead students through a thinking process that will expand their grasp of the concept culture. They'll also discover that multilingual Switzerland has much in common with multicultural America!… New Approach. On the surface, this unit is the (fictional) story of Kim and Lee Dow, who visit relatives in Switzerland during one summer. In reality, the unit is structured around three basic steps for discovering what makes a culture unique. The Q-and-A's at the top of unit Pages 1, 2, and 3 introduce and explain those steps.

Thus: On the "Homeland" Page, the Dows research maps and other sources for clues to the relationship between Switzerland's geographic features and the formation of its multilingual society. On the "People" Page, they observe (and make journal entries about) the occupations, institutions, and goals of Swiss people today. And on the "Heritage" Page, they report on and discuss some of the enduring traditions and priorities that define Switzerland within the world community.

CURRICULUM STANDARDS
Each of the four student pages in this unit is a "stand-alone" product, which can be machine-copied and distributed in any order you wish. However, LE recommends that they be used in the order in which they are numbered. That's the best way, we believe, to help middle schoolers achieve and demonstrate the ability to:

• "explain and give examples of how language, … beliefs, values, and behaviors contribute to the development and transmission of culture." ("Culture," EOE)

• "articulate the implications of cultural diversity, as well as cohesion, within and across groups." ("Culture," EOE)

• "examine, interpret, and analyze physical and cultural patterns and their interactions, such as … settlement patterns, [and] cultural transmissions of customs and ideas." ("People, Places, & Environments," EOE)

VOCABULARY
Culture is the key social studies concept in this unit, and readers will find progressive clues to its meaning and applications. Many other terms are defined in context, though you may want to preview the lists that follow, below. Note that place names appear in the form in which students will find them in sources they consult — for example, the World Book Encyclopedia.

Note, too, that canton (state) is a term with special meaning in Swiss history. Over the centuries, Switzerland was formed by an alliance of 23 independent cantons. After joining, three of them split into so-called "half-cantons." American sources show some confusion over that split: A few report that Switzerland now has 20 cantons (and 6 "halves"). Others retain the historic 23. The official number, from Switzerland: 26.

Other Terms to Preview: (1) "Homeland" Page: alliance, canton, environment, encyclopedia, isolated, physical map/political map, plateau, precision tool…. Pronunciation aids for students: Liechtenstein (LICK-ten-stine), Lucerne (Loo-SURN). (2) "People" Page: commuter, economy, glacier, initiative, neutrality, pollution, suburb…. Pronunciation: CERN (SURN), Jungfraujoch (YUN-frow-yok), Ticino (Tuh-CHEE-no), Zurich (ZOOR-ik), Zwingli (ZWIN-glee), Auf Wiedersehen, Schweiz! (Owf VEE-der-zane, SHVIGHTS), Au revoir, Suisse! (OAR-e-vwar, SWEES), Ciao, Svizzerra! (CHOW, SVEET-say-rah). (3) "Heritage" Page: architecture, Confederation, currency, diversity, exhibit, federal system, festival, franc, international, solidarity.

BACKGROUND
Intended to spark curiosity about Switzerland and its people, this unit can lead to many topics for student research. To get your class started, you may want to pose the following questions. Or, you may prefer to tell them these basic facts before distributing the unit materials: How big (how small!) is Switzerland? Switzerland measures about 220 miles from east to west, and 140 miles from north to south. It's roughly one tenth the size of California. What are the country's natural resources? The Swiss have few natural resources — water power, forests, and pastureland, for example. They make their economy work by importing raw materials that they turn into valuable products. In what part of their country do most Swiss people live? Almost 70 percent of Switzerland is mountainous. That doesn't leave its 7.3 million people much room for homes! Thousands of their towns fill a narrow east-west plateau between the Alps and the Jura Mountains. What religion(s) do the people practice? About 40 percent of Switzerland's people are Protestants; about 46 percent are Roman Catholics. In general, how did the Swiss people form their nation? Over the years, Switzerland was formed by many independent cantons (states) that gradually united with one another. Today, Switzerland includes 26 cantons.

TIPS FOR USE
As mentioned in the introduction to this Page, the Q-and-A at the top of each student text page is a pointer to that page's learning rationale. You may want to rephrase each Q-and-A, use it as a discussion starter, or ignore it until you are ready to review the page.

Page 1/ "Homeland." Prompt students to look for and list the various types of sources mentioned on the "Homeland" page (atlas, encyclopedia, Internet sites). If such sources are accessible in your classroom/school, you might have groups of students use them, to "discover" additional info on such topics as Switzerland's climate regions, its people's language groups, etc…. You may also want to tell students that there are many local dialects in Switzerland — especially among its German-speaking citizens…. Discussion: Switzerland has three official languages and four national languages. (Romansch is the fourth. See the "Heritage" Page.) Ask students: How did Switzerland's multilingual policy develop over time? How does that experience compare with official-language policies in the USA? What might be the pluses and minuses of each country's policy?

Also: Does the name "Jura" sound familiar? Tell students: The Jurassic Age was named for the Jura Mountains in Switzerland. That's because of all the dinosaur bones that archaeologists found in the Juras, in the 19th century!…. At one point, Lee mentions seeing a Web-Site Page with info on the cantons. It actually exists! Just visit the About.ch Site to see the cantons map that the librarian showed them…. The Dows' American Mom has a Swiss ancestor. How many Swiss people have moved to the USA, over time? About 400,000, according to The National Center for Swiss-American Studies, Inc.

Page 2/ "People." On this page, the Dows do a great deal of traveling, starting with their "free" bike ride in Zurich. (The free rides are for real! They're available in Zurich and other Swiss cities, where borrowers must show an ID and leave a refundable deposit.) Students interested in environmental protection will probably be the first to catch on to the reasoning behind the Zurich bike plan: Cars pollute. Switzerland is deeply concerned about reducing pollution in other ways, too. The Swiss are now constructing two huge rail tunnels through the Alps, in order to keep heavy freight trucks off roads that pass through Switzerland, linking northern to southern Europe…. Discussion: How might environmental pollution and global warming affect life in Switzerland? Clue: Start with the possibility of melting glaciers…. (Ooof!)

Also: This page touches on a slew of other culture-related topics that students may want to research: the impact of geographic features on Swiss occupations (cheesemaking, engineering, tourism); the role of Swiss leaders in the Protestant Reformation; and the forms that democracy takes at Switzerland's national, cantonal, and community levels…. Note: Lee's reference to CERN is an allusion to what is popularly known as the European Laboratory for Particle Physics. The group's name has changed since it was founded in 1952. But the acronym CERN — based on the French version of the original name ("Conseil Europeen pour la Recherche Nucleaire") — remains the group's global name-tag.

Page 3/ "Heritage." The "Heritage" Page begins with a recap of two major Swiss themes (multilingualism and democracy), then uses those themes to raise a major topic in Swiss cultural studies — namely: whether or not all Swiss share a common cultural heritage. Be sure that students note the steps by which the Dows develop their argument: (a) laying out evidence that might support the opposite point of view, (b) offering a counter-argument, and (c) defending their position that there is, indeed, a single, commonly shared Swiss culture. It's not a minor debate: The Swiss argue that question among themselves…. Discussion: Can people from different cultural backgrounds share citizenship in the same democracy without developing and sharing a "national" culture, too?

Also: You may want students to visit and read the opening paragraphs of the Swiss Constitution on-line, to find the stirring passage cited by Kim. (Note: Getting there requires Adobe® Acrobat® Reader®)…. Students who research "Nobel Prize Winners" in Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2000 will get an eye-opener! Since the time of Dunant (a co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901), the Swiss have acquired an incredibly high number of Nobel prizes, per-capita…. And here's LE's brief version of the Henry Dunant story, which you may want to share with students:

HENRY DUNANT, HERO
Henry Dunant…. Citizen of Geneva, Switzerland…. Hard-working businessman…. He probably never thought, "I'm a hero." But he was.
     On June 27, 1859, Dunant was traveling in Italy, when he came to a place called Solferino. He knew that two armies had recently fought a battle there. But he was horrified to see thousands of wounded soldiers still lying on the field, with no one to help them. Dunant tended as many soldiers as he could. Then, after returning home, he wrote a book, A Memory of Solferino. In it, he urged Europe's leaders to form an organization for the "relief of the wounded." His idea caught on. And in 1864, the Red Cross was founded in Geneva.
     Its headquarters are still there. So is the Red Cross museum. On the inside, a banner displays these words: "Each person has a shared responsibility to humanity." Henry Dunant knew that…. He lived it.

Page 4/ "Treasure Hunt" (Evaluation). LE strongly recommends that you use the "Treasure Hunt" Page as an open-book quiz or a small-group activity. One reason for this recommendation: The "Treasure Hunt" Page demands very careful reading and close attention to details — in Part B, especially. Another good reason for small-group efforts would be the spontaneous discussion that some questions are likely to prompt — Item 4 in Part A, for example.

Suggested Answers: The short-answer questions on this page have been distributed as follows: Items 1-5 deal with the "Heritage" Page; Items 6-10, with the "Homeland" Page; and Items 11-15, with the "People" Page. Part A: 1-F (should be the Swiss franc); 2-F (should be 1901); 3-T; 4-O; 5-F. Note: Item 5 may sound as though it's an opinion, but it rests on a false assertion. See, for example, the excerpt from the Swiss constitution at the end of the "Heritage" Page. Part B: 6-c; 7-c; 8-a; 9-b; 10-c; 11-b; 12-b; 13-a; 14-a; 15-c. Part C: Answers will vary.

MORE SOURCES
The Embassy of Switzerland has a terrific, fact-packed Site…. Also highly informative: "Swissworld"…. And, while you're on-line, don't miss LE's own senior high school unit "Switzerland: Scaling the Heights".… That unit's "Map Page" shows Switzerland's language regions.

Finally: Some tourist books offer valuable insights into a country's traditions and customs. Mark Honan's Switzerland (a Lonely Planet publication) is such a book. See the introductory pages of his commentaries on Zurich, Geneva, and Lucerne, for example. It has good maps and a number of topical "sidebars," too.

Switzerland Student Text Page No. 1 | Switzerland Student Text Page No. 2 | Switzerland Student Text Page No. 3 | Switzerland Evaluation Page | Switzerland Map Page | Switzerland Data Page | Switzerland Gallery Page

Would you like to see other pages in this study unit? Or visit LE's Home Page?

LE wishes to thank Presence Switzerland (a service commissioned by the Swiss government) and the Embassy of Switzerland in Washington, DC, for underwriting the costs of developing this unit and making it available to our electronic audience! We hope that the unit meets LE's goals of serving the needs of teachers and students in Grades 6-8.