A Student’s Concern about Endangered Indigenous Cultures June 11, 2014

In one of PC TECH’s ESL classes, students have been writing about the world’s indigenous cultures.  Federica, an architect from Italy, offers her opinion in response to this question: “What would the world be like if most indigenous cultures disappear?”

There aren’t that many indigenous [cultures] surviving in the world. They [largely] live on the American continents (especially in South America), in Africa, in Asia, and in Australia. They have adapted to nature, particularly in the jungle, very far from the big city. Many indigenous are nomadic; others have been forced by logging companies to leave their lands.

It’s very important that we remember who we are, and that we must never forget [that] they are our ancestors, our history. They are what makes us unique. Unfortunately, more than their customs and their history have been lost. The world went ahead and probably to blame is globalization. I don’t know how the world would be if they were to disappear. But I know that we are similar. I take care of myself with plants and roots like indigenous people and we speak the “same” language; it has only evolved.  [Editor’s note: The author gives the example of Italian having evolved from Latin].

I think that what would help [many] indigenous people would be if logging companies stop [activity] in their territories. We can also try to not lose old cultures and [instead] learn from them. We have to protect them and we have to continue to [merge] the old world with the modern world.

PC TECH students create an essay every week. Their teachers make corrections to spelling, grammar, punctuation, and suggest improvements to writing style. This is often a class activity, where everyone has copies of each completed composition. All the students, guided by the teacher, can then add their comments and suggestions. The teacher makes the final – but not too technical – edit before publishing to PC TECH’s blog page.

PC TECH: English Language School in New York City