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 do 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