Mountain range in the west: Rocky Mountains

Great Lakes: Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario

Longest river in the USA: Mississippi River

Some important cities: New York, Washington D C, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Orleans

Step 2 Pre-reading

1. Ask the students to tell things about California including its location, size, population, economy, history etc. What do you learn about California?

2. Show the students some pictures and encourage students not only to say what each picture is about but how each one relates to California.

Picture 1 : Life of Native Californian Indians

Picture 2: A Californian gold miner around 1849

Picture 3: A traditional Chinese building in San Francisco's Chinatown

Step 3 Fast reading

1. Read through the passage and get the main idea.

2. Reading comprehension.

Ask the students the following questions:

1) When you look at the title, what so you think of ?

A land of differences. California is a land of great differences - differences in climate, in landscape and attitude.

2) Why is the USA called a melting pot?

There are many immigrants to the USA and there are many cultures and nationalities. So it is a place in which people, ideas, etc of different kinds gradually get mixed together.

3. Beside each date note down an important event in Californian history.

Step 4 Detail reading

Beside each cultural group, write the period in which they first came to California in large numbers.

Cultural groups Periods Cultural groups Periods

Russians early 1800s Japanese Early 1900s

Chinese Late 1840s/early 1850s Cambodians From about the 1970s

Africans 1800s Koreans From about the 1970

Italians Late 1800s Danish 1911

Jewish 1920s Pakistanis From about the 1970s

Step 5 Post-reading

Why is California in the 21st century such a multicultural community? (Using 3 or 4 sentences to explain.)

The state of California is a multicultural community because European, African and Asian people have been immigrating to the state for the last 200 years. Before their arrival, Native American people had lived there for thousands of years. People from all over the world are still coming to settle in California because of its good climate and the lifestyle it offers.