Prime Time 6, Coursebook mit Audio-CD und DVD

5 The Americanisation of the world? The United States has taken in many different foreign cultural influences from its immigrants over the centuries. In turn, it “Americanised” – or standardised – these elements and shaped them to please the people in the melting pot. This popularised culture then had a good chance of being well-received in the rest of the world. Magic beans around the world a) A typical international coffeehouse chain has to buy its supplies from all over the world. Sort the countries in the box on the right into three groups: 1) origin of the coffee beans, 2) origin of the sugar and 3) origin of the paper for the cups. b) Look at the map below and try to locate these countries. c) Explain why some countries are highlighted with a coffee cup and name at least three countries that are both a supplier and a market for the coffeehouse chain. 2 Australia Brazil Colombia Costa Rica Ethiopia Finland Guatemala Indonesia Kenya Mexico Norway Panama Papua New Guinea Peru Sweden Yemen SUGAR SOURCE COFFEE BEAN SOURCE PAPER SOURCE FOR CUPS T h e J a v a C o f f e e B e a n d) Discuss why or why not an internationally operating restaurant chain can be a success. Reading: Is American culture “American”? a) Read the following article about American culture and its influence on the world. b) While reading, highlight with two different colours: • passages that deal with the US integrating various cultural influences from abroad • passages that deal with the US influencing other countries’ cultures 1 2 From the beginning of the 20 th century, people abroad have been uncomfortable with the global impact of American culture. In 1901, the British writer William Stead published a book called e Americanisation of the World . e title captured a set of worries – about the disappearance of national languages and traditions, and the loss of a country’s unique “identity” under the weight of American habits and states of mind – that has gone on until today. More recently, globalisation has been the main enemy for academics, journalists and political activists who loathe what they see as the trend toward cultural uniformity. Still, they usually regard global culture and American culture as synonymous. And they continue to insist that Hollywood, McDonald’s and Disneyland are wiping out regional and local peculiarities. Despite those allegations, the cultural relationship 5 10 15 70 Globalisation Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv