The Cardinal Points: Without Geography We are Nowhere
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Enseñanzas Oficiales de Idiomas
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Inglés Nivel Avanzado C1: Segundo curso
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Lesson 1 |
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The Cardinal Points: Without Geography We Are Nowhere
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Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images in Pixabay under public domain |
Why do you think it is important to learn Geography?
Read the following epic quotations that some famous people said when talking about Geography. In pairs try to discover why they made a mistake:
- In 2001, President George Bush claimed that "border relations between Canada and Mexico have never been better".
- In a National Geographic survey in 2002, 85 per cent of young Americans could not find Israel, Iraq or Afghanistan; 30 per cent could not find the Pacific.
- Paul Martin, the Canadian PM suggested in April that the D-Day landings took place in Norway.
- Charles Clarke, the Education Secretary, accused a fellow MP last summer of lounging on the beach at Harrogate. In fact, the genteel Yorkshire spa town is at least 60 miles from the nearest stretch of coast.
- In 2001, George Bush had to ask the teenage Welsh singer Charlotte Church which state Wales was in. (She replied: "It's a separate country next to England.")
- Jade Goody, who appeared on Channel 4's Big Brother programme famously thought that East Anglia "was abroad".
- In 2001, the former health minister Lord Hunt of King's Heath told the House of Lords that the Netherlands was in Scandinavia.
- Norway's royal palace apologised in February after Crown Prince Haakon claimed that Portugal was on the Mediterranean.
Adapted from: https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/geography-wed-be-lost-without-it-557135.html

Curiosidad
Now it's time for you to test yourself.
Video by Cube Root on YouTube
'You can travel the seas, poles and deserts and see nothing.To really understand the world you need to get under the skin of the people and places. In other words, learn about geography. I can't imagine a subject more relevant in schools. We'd all be lost without it.'
Michael Palin, actor, writer, traveller