Step 1: Primaries and caucuses

Caucuses = small reunions, local ones in which the members of a party

choose their candidate though discussions and votes

Primaries = party members from all over the country vote for the best

candidate to respect them

Step 4: Electoral college

- each state gets a number of general electors according to its

representation in congress (state surface and population)

- each elector costs a vote and the candidate with more than half of the

vote wins: there are a total of 538 general electors, so a candidate needs

270 votes to win.

The president is the head of the executive branch and the country. He or

she is responsible for signing and enforcing laws passed by Congress.

The president signs bills into laws. This branch also includes the vice-

president and the president’s advisors, this group of people is called the

cabinet.

They support legislation, the legislative branch consists of the house of

representatives and the senate.

UK = Great Britain + Northen Ireland

Great Britain = Scotland + Wales + England

1) Why were 3 branches of government established?

There are 3 branches of government because they have the role of

controlling each other – this limit the powers of each branch and helps

maintain a balance.

2) What is the most important duty of the legislative branch?

It’s to make laws (make bills and vote them into laws).

3) Who signs bills into laws?

4) Who gives advice to the president about important matters?

The vice president and the advisors (the cabinet) advice the president on

important matters.

5) Which branch decides if laws agree with the Constitution?

The judicial branch (the Supreme

6) Where do the Congress and House of Representatives meet?

The congress and House of Representatives meet in the Capitol.

7) Where do the President, the vice president and the cabinet members

meet?

The President, the vice president and the cabinet members meet in the

White House.
9) Who appoints the Supreme Court Justices?

The president appoints the Supreme Court Justices

10) How many members does the Congress have?

The Congress has 535 members: 435 representatives and 10 senators.

11) Who is the commander in chief of the armed forces?

The commander in chief the US armed forces is the President of the US

12) How long are the terms of the Supreme Court Justices?

The terms of the Supreme Court Justices are life-long.

1)

Doc A) Check or complete your findings from the previous activity.

The picture represents a diner with white and red benches and chairs

(booths). There are many lamps on the walls (neon signs). The floor is

tilted with black and white tile which gives an odd appearance.

Doc B) The diner is an accessible place for all, a place where you can’t

meet people to socialize and discuss different topics. Diners are a part of

the country’s pop culture. Diners are a part of the country’s pop culture.

Diners are part of American’s daily life. The food in dinners is affordable.

Doc C) You can find diners everywhere in the USA: they are present in

small cities as well as the largest ones. The food is reasonably priced,

and you are served comfort food: sloppy joes, cheeseburgers,

milkshakes, eggs overeasy, banana splits, meatloaf, club sandwich,

pancakes with honey maple butter, cheesecakes and so on. They have

been a part of the American history for over 140 years.

Doc D) Usually the interior is composed of a bar and a booth part.

Behind the bar we can find the kitchen with the stoves and grills, and on

the bar, we have paper napkins, mustard pots. The long bar is a place

where you can eat potatoes (fries or wedges), roast beef, pulled pork

and stew. The decoration is also retro, and we can find all kinds of

posters. The staffs are generally very friendly and welcoming.

2) Diners are typically American eateries where you can go at any time

(they operate 24 hours a day) and find traditional comfort food – served

in a casual atmosphere – at a reasonable price. You can meet all sorts of

people sitting on high stools before the counter or enjoying their food in

booths…

3) What makes them typically American is their looks and décor, the kind

of food they serve and their relaxed atmosphere.

Video:

1) Design: long sit-down counters, tall glass windows and a chrome

exterior, an iconic look

2) The first diner was opened by Walter Scott in 1870s in a horse-pulled

wagon from which sold coffee and sandwiches. A lot of people copied

him and set up bigger wagons where people could sit down.
1) Say as much as you can: nature, main topic, tone

The document is an extrait of a book named Notes from a big country

published by Bill Bryson in November 1981. In this extract, Bill Bryson

talks about his average experience with diners, he makes fun of the diner

spotters, the people who eats in the diners but also himself.

2) What are trainspotters? explain the comparison

Train spotter are the ones who are obsessed with trains, they travel to

find and watch trains. The comparison of train spotters are with diner

spotters, diner spotters are like train spotters, because they travel states

to find and visit diners.

3) How important is the food served in diners? Why, according to

Bryson?

Food may be important, but it is no what people will linger on when

talking about diners, L10, L13 It’s more about the experience of eating,

it’s about the experience of eating in this type of restaurant, which seem

to be harder and harder to find.

4) What do we learn about Bryson and his experience of American

eateries while growing up? what were the “lingo” and the “indecipherable

code” he alludes to?

In American eateries, the staffs communicate with “indecipherable

codes”, which are small sentences, they use them because it’s much

faster than to say a whole long sentence.

December 1941, Edward Hopper

Rhode Island, first diner

Video:

Nighthawks by Edward hopper

Painted: 21st January 1942

 A few months after the Pearl Harbor attack – after the US joined

the Allies in the second world war.

 Dark atmosphere: New York had a lot of power art after P.H. so

Hopper represented in his feeling.

The characters were modeled by hopper and his wife Josephine.

There are 3 men and 1 woman. The waiter doesn’t even look at the

customers, he is doing.

The man has a hawk-beak shaped nose, and it probably inspired the

title of the painting. This suggests that the man might be “a predator”,

who doesn’t have the best intentions with the woman. Hopper plays

with colors, using darker colors outside the diner and bright colors
inside of it. It creates a contrast and draws our attention towards the

highlighted areas.

One man is sitting at the counter, with his back turned towards us. He

looks isolated, as if he’s not even part of the painting.

Thus we can say that Hopper wanted to represent a particular feeling

or atmosphere, very presents in his work: “the American loneliness”

(that idea you can feel alone even when surrounded by people.

This image takes place in a diner, we can see a waiter perched on the

booth, and on the other side there is three girls perched on it as well.

The girls are sitting on tools, and they are having milkshakes with the

waiter. They are faced closely, and it seems that the waiter is telling

them a story, there is a dog with the girls, and he is listening closely as

well. On the top left side, there is a boy who is drinking his milkshake

and is listening to the story discreetly.

This image takes place in a diner, we can see a police man who

sitting on a tool on the left side and a boy sitting on the right side, they

are both sitting in front of the booth. Behind it there is a waiter

smoking a cigarette. Also, there is a fridge, a radio and a board with

today’s menu by the wall behind him.

She thought it would be a club hit, but it became a world hit.

She sang acapella at the concert, it worked.

Inspired from Tom’s restaurant, because it was open at night.

Cathedral – picnic night took place, ate sandwiches and drank wine with

Jack.

She sold 7 million albums.

At the time when she wrote this song, she was trying to promote her

album, but people weren’t interested in it. She recorded the song

acapella and because she didn’t have money for a pianist she let two

young men remix the song thinking it will become a club hit but it became

a worldwide hit.

She came up with the melody walking down Broadway and she was

inspired by new wave films and the atmosphere they show. She wrote

the lyrics in Tom’s Restaurant on 112th Street, Broadway, one morning

Doc 1 : text fragments about diners : 2 articles, an extract of a novel, a

photograph

Doc 2: a video – a documentary about diners

Doc 3: a text: an extract from a novel

Doc 4: a painting – Nighthawks – Edward Hopper

Doc 5&6: two paintings – Norman Rockwell – Runway & Soda Jerk

Doc 7: a song – Tom’s Diner – Sujanne Vega

Aspects discussed:

- HISTORICAL CONTEXT – doc 1,2,3

- creation - evolution - current state

- SOCIAL CONTEXT – doc 2,5,6,4,7

- the waiters – the customers - the food/decoration

- CULTURAL CONTEXT – doc 1,3,4,5,6,7

- inspiration – role in creation (in paintings, in songs)