Real-World Speech of the Week. After watching this week’s speech ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ka6_3TJcCkA ), post a 100-word response in which you reflect on the participant’s skills. What did you like or not like? What did the speaker do well? How could he improve? Did the speech keep your attention? What organizational pattern did he use? Was he persuasive enough? This exercise is in support of your persuasive presentation.

* Leonardo DiCaprio’s Powerful Climate Summit Speech

“According to your authors, “culture consists of thoughts (expectations about personal space, for example) and tangible things (bus stops, trains, and seating capacity).

Material culture refers to the objects or belongings of a group of people. Metro passes and bus tokens are part of material culture, as are automobiles, stores, and the physical structures where people worship.

Nonmaterial culture, in contrast, consists of the ideas, attitudes, and beliefs of a society. Material and nonmaterial aspects of culture are linked, and physical objects often symbolize cultural ideas. A metro pass is a material object, but it represents a form of nonmaterial culture, namely, capitalism, and the acceptance of paying for transportation. Clothing, hairstyles, and jewelry are part of material culture, but the appropriateness of wearing certain clothing for specific events reflects nonmaterial culture.”

Answer the following questions.

1. If a visitor from another culture asked you for an introduction to North American culture and only had three days to spend with you, what would you show that person? Why?Assume you have lots of money and expense and transportation is not a restraint. In other words, you can go anywhere you want. You only have three days, so be logical; you can’t see the whole country!
2. What would you want an intelligent outsider to understand about how we live?
3. What would you be embarrassed or ashamed to show?
4. Can you think of subgroups or subcultures in our area that would portray our culture in other ways?

After hearing that you are taking this course in life-span development, your next-door neighbor wants you to tell her all about memory and language development in her infant. She says that her daughter is just starting daycare and she worries about whether she will remember what happens there or be able to soon communicate. What can you tell your neighbor that will enlighten her and provide useful information?

One of your friends has recently married and has now confided in you that she is pregnant. She knows you’re taking this class in life-span development and asks for your input concerning what she can expect when giving birth, and she wants your suggestions concerning her childbirth options. What would you tell her about the three stages of birth, complications she might expect, options about the use of drugs, and the childbirth strategies that are available to her?

You are asked to talk to a high school class about potential hazards to prenatal development. The principal of the high school has suggested that you discuss not only alcohol and other drugs but environmental hazards and maternal diseases as well. She has asked that you be honest about the different agents that can cause problems, the problems they may cause, and how these problems can be avoided. What would you tell these students about teratogens and prenatal care?