This is the second of a series of articles in which Jump! Mag reporters interview girls around the world. Have you ever wanted to know what it is like to grow up in another country?

We continue our Jump! Mag tour of the world in Turkey, where seven year old Ayşe lives.  

Hello Ayşe, How do I say hello in Turkish?

Merhaba Annie!

What are your favourite subjects at school?

That’s hard… I think most of all I like learning Turkish language and…….music.

What kind of music do you like listening to?

I like to dance to pop music like Rhianna and Adele but I like Turkish music too, I like a rock band called Duman.

What games do you like to play with your friends?

Mostly street games like Tag and hide & seek, it’s fun to chase each other around.

What do you like most about being a girl?

…….I think maybe because…you can have a baby… Also at school at playtime, the boys are always chasing each other and fighting and being a bit rough, and they can be like that with each other but not with us, they can’t be so rough with us. I like wearing dresses also and dressing up!

What are your favourite words in your language?

I love you…….mum.

If you could choose any country in the world to visit, which would it be and why?

I want to go to America, to  visit my Aunt in San Fransisco, I want to swim in the sea in Mexico because my Mum has told me all about it. I’d also like to go to Africa, to visit the different native tribes that live there.

How would you describe your village to someone who wanted to visit here?

I live in a fishing village, it is very sunny, there’s no snow here! We have the sea, which I like to go swimming in and I like to go walking up around the mountain near the sea which is beautiful.

Annie-May Gibb is a freelance writer, who is passionate about creating a better world.

She mainly works on project that work to instil equality and confidence in young people.  She is also passionate about using tabasco liberally on most foods.

Here is some more information about Turkey 

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Turkey is a large peninsula that bridges the continents of Europe and Asia. Turkey is surrounded on three sides by the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Aegean Sea. Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey, is built on land in the Bosporus seaway. The city is partly in Europe and partly in Asia. Turkey is larger than the state of Texas.

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The Boy Who Swam With Piranhas Review

By David Almond

This is a story about taking charge of your life (and fish!). It follows the story of young Stan and his journey to discovering the Stan he is destined to be.

The tale begins in his Stan’s home with his Aunt and Uncle. They live in a shipbuilding town, in a time when the main industry and provider of work is in decline . His Uncle tries to solve their problems by opening a fish canning factory in his home. He becomes so absorbed and crazed by this money making scheme that he does something so terrible that he drives our hero to run away.

Stan meets his destiny in the quirky world of a travelling fair. Here his hard working and gentle nature help to change the outlook of his adopted family from a downbeat and can’t be bothered attitude to a more gentle and sunnier outlook . Whilst working the hook a duck stall he meets with the legendary Pancho Pirelli who recognises a young himself in Stan inviting him to put his life in his own hands and fulfil his destiny.

The book generally kept a good pace, but was slow in parts. The ending of this story provided a heart warming feeling of hope that if we take risks and work hard, then maybe we can achieve what we desire. Stan is a nice, strong and likeable character,  with the villains being a group of heavy handed men with clip boards who do not like anything fishy or strange.

In a bold move the author invites the reader to decide if these villains should have their just desserts, and encourages one to look at the rest of the world and imagine the lives of many different people. While this fits the flow of the book I found it wanting and would have like a more formal ending so I could know a little more of Stan and his life. Perhaps there is room for a sequel?

Overall I thought this was a nice heart warming story with a good message. However, I think there were areas which could have been explored more and am a little disappointed that I am left wanting for more meat on this story.

7/10

Buy this book at Hive Books 

Review by Claire Lyons

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Last time we looked at uses of English, both in day to day life, and in careers. Today we will focus on Biology – the study of life and living organisms in more detail that you could ever think necessary. So how is Biology useful in our day to day lives? How can we put the skills learned in Biology to use?

1. We are what we eat. Have you heard that expression before? In Biology we learn all about the food we eat. What is good for us, and what isn’t. Most importantly we learn why certain things are better than others. We all know that too much sugar rots our teeth. But how does it do that? Why is brown bread better than white bread? What use does our body have for certain foods? And how does it get from our plate to the loo?  Feeding ourselves forms the very backbone of our survival. Knowing how to do it right helps prevent us from having all kinds of health problems. Biology teaches us about that.
   
2. How did we get here? Evolution. Why are we the way we are? How did we develop from apes? How are we still developing? What makes us different from other animals and why are we more intelligent? Biology helps us recognize our place and role in the natural world and understand what we are capable of doing that our monkey cousins can’t.
   
3. Understanding our bodies. Not only nutrition as mentioned above, but pain, how we reproduce, why us girls have periods. What are bones made of and why do we have them? What does the heart do? What does it look like? How does it work? This is information which will be useful to us every day of our lives. Every time we fall ill, or someone near us falls ill, understanding how our body works, and why it is reacting that way to lifestyle changes, bacteria or viruses makes illness seem less scary. Of course GCSE Biology will not give you the knowledge of a doctor, but it will give you the basics, enough to understand what the doctor is saying, and, as importantly, the ability to ask questions to understand more.
   
4. Gardening. Everyone can appreciate flowers and trees. How do they grow? How do we help them? How do they reproduce? Knowledge of plant biology opens doors to lots of hobbies as well as careers. Would you like to grow your own herbs? Vegetables? Flowers? Why do some plants and trees thrive in certain environments and not in others?
   
5. Science skills. Analysis, attention to detail, the ability to discover why and how. During Biology we don’t just rely on books, we take a look for ourselves, and the further we study Biology, the more we look at. You may find the idea of dissecting a pig’s foot or heart gross, but what better way to learn how they work? For the less squeamish looking at the leaf of a tree through a microscope will tell you so much more about how that tree lives than reading about it in a book ever will.

So, a better knowledge of who we are and how we work, the ability to observe and be analytical are some of the reasons we study Biology at school. But what careers will use the skills we learn at school. Of course all kinds of doctors, dentists, surgeons, nurses and vets all need masses of knowledge of Biology, but there are lots more.  Let’s look at three biology related careers closely:

1. Work in a zoo or animal park. It may sound glamourous work, but it is in fact very hard, involving lots of cleaning and feeding. But for people who really do want to work closely with animals and build up a relationship with them then working in zoos or animal parks, observing animals, doing everything possible to ensure their health and happiness could be an option. Biology teaches us about health, nutrition and reproduction. As the role of zoos has evolved from being pure entertainment in the past with little concern for the animals, to playing important roles in education and conservation now, the specialist knowledge of zoo keepers becomes ever more important.
   
2. Paramedic. These are the last people we usually want to meet, but when we do need them we are grateful when they get there. We only deal with paramedics when we are ill or hurt enough to need emergency medical treatment. Paramedics are first on the scene with the ambulance, and their job is to assess what is wrong and how to make a patient stable or comfortable until a doctor can be seen. They save our lives, working under lots of pressure. Knowledge of the human body and how it works is vital to these people.
   
3. Dietician. A dietician advises her clients on their diet. She looks at what they eat, how much and how often, and advises on what changes need to be made to eat more healthily. She needs detailed knowledge of the digestive system and nutrition as well as the ability to analyse and work out solutions to problems. Skills she will have started to learn at school.

Biology, like all the sciences, can be broken down into specialties, depending on whether you are interested in plants, medical research, animals, human anatomy, nutrition or even birds or insects.

Here are some more career options for those of you interested in biology to think about: horticulturalist, anatomist, agricultural scientist, forensic scientist, natural reserve ranger, zoologist, genetic engineer…as well as every medical speciality you could imagine.

 Rebecca Lee is a freelance writer, translator and coach who lives in France. In her spare time she enjoys history, cooking, travelling and reading.

Cheetah pic 

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Origami can potentially be very difficult, but there are plenty of easier designs for beginners. The great thing about origami is that you can make practically anything, so you will be able to find a design that you love.

If you have never tried origami before, then you should start with a few of the following simple, yet effective, designs that will really brighten up your room.

A Dog’s Face

If you are a dog lover and you want to make something simple, then this is the perfect origami design for you.

Start with a square piece of paper – (you can buy origami paper from places like eBay).

Fold your square piece of paper in half, you should now have a triangle shape.

Once you have a triangle, fold it in half again just to make a crease. Do not leave it folded.

Fold down the top corners to create the ears for the dog.

Fold the bottom corner of your paper up.

Now draw the face on the dog and any other touches you want.

  A Heart
You can make loads of great little hearts for a number of occasions, including Valentine’s Day. In fact, you don’t even need an occasion to decorate your bedroom with little hearts.

Begin with your square piece of paper.

Fold your paper diagonally and then open back up.  Do this in both directions (follow the dotted lines on the picture).

Fold the top corner down to the centre of the piece of paper.

Fold the bottom corner up to the top of the paper.

Fold the right side of your paper to meet the middle crease.

Do the same with the left side.

Turn your paper over and fold the two side corners in.

Now fold the top corners down.

Turn your paper over again and you have a heart!

A Ladybird

This is just a simple design that looks great. It would look good just sitting on your desk or even hanging from your ceilings. These little origami shapes can be placed anywhere.

Start with your square piece of paper, as always.

Fold your paper diagonally and then open back up.  Do this in both directions (follow the dotted lines on the picture).

Fold the top corner down to just below your centre line.

Now fold the same tip up to just above the centre line.

Fold that part up once more.

Fold both side corners backwards so they are visible if you turn your paper over.

Now fold all of the remaining corners backwards.

You can now decorate your ladybird!

Origami, unlike other crafts that use cardboard and other heavy duty materials, is the art of delicately folding paper. If you have mastered the three designs above, then try something even more challenging. For more designs and challenges, take a look at Origami Club.

About the Author: Katie Belliveau loves Origami and she likes to challenge herself with some of the more difficult designs. She has spent a lot of her free time recently making a variety of origami patterns.

Featured Image

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  The mother of eight year old Isabella wrote about buying toys without glitter, and searching for ‘girl’ clothes in colours other than pink, which got us thinking about the term ‘tomboy’. 

What do you call a girl who isn’t a girly-girl? Some people would say, ‘a tomboy’, but does that imply that the girl isn’t a real girl, and do we need a label for this anyway?

Perhaps we should let toys be toys, as this campaign demands, and sell clothes without ‘boy’ or ‘girl’ labels. What do you think? 

The usual scowl begins to creep across Isabella’s forehead as I nonchalantly pull a cardigan form the cupboard.   It was blue – her favourite colour. Weary of the daily clothes battle I give up and ask her what she’s objecting to this time….after a long silence she points to some ribbing along the middle of the cardigan and I realise that this time it isn’t the colour she objects to but the style! She’s eight years old and really all she wants to wear are her older brother’s cast-offs. Oh, and she’s always hated pink!

‘Nothing pink or fluffy please’ is my standard response whenever someone asks me what she’d like for her birthday. Most people know the score by now, so we don’t get presents deemed to be ‘girly’…but it’s a bit of a problem for this age group as most of the options including books are all pink, plastic and glittery and totally ghastly in the eyes of my tomboy daughter.   Give her play dough, paints, pens or crayons and she’s in heaven, anything ‘girly’ gets short shrift.

Building dens with her brother, junk modelling and building with lego are a few of her favourite things. When I caught her trying to pee standing up in the garden I had laugh…..

Purchasing school uniform in the past has proved tricky. When we went to Clarks shoe shop on our hunt for suitable school shoes for her, I steered clear of  the girl section fearing utter contempt if I even suggested such a thing – sure enough, my hunch proved correct as Isabella blanked all the ‘mary janes’ and instead made a beeline for the boys shoes. ‘Are you sure you want to get these boys shoes?’ I asked feebly, already knowing what the answer would be before the words were even out. I asked the shop assistant whether many girls came away with boys shoes, ‘Not many really’, she answered with a wry smile, but added that she thought the boys’ ones fitted better anyway. Fortunately the school doesn’t mind and she can show up in boys’ trousers and polo shirts. Summer uniform consists of boys grey 50s style shorts. No gingham frocks in my house!

I felt more exasperated the other day as I went looking for roller skates, for both her and her older brother. ‘Do you need boys or girls skates?’ every shop assistant asked. ‘Err I um, I suppose I want boys’, I stammered, wondering if I needed to explain she’s a girl but hates pink.  I was assuming, correctly as it turned out, that by girls and boys they were asking whether I wanted pink or blue. ‘I have these in pink’, the manager offered hopefully, after I had already explained the situation about 3 times. He just couldn’t get it that I had an eight-year-old girl who didn’t like pink. I glanced at the awful fluffy glittery pink and purple ones, and thought how horrified Isabella would be and how disappointed if she ever received such a gift. In the end, I opted for bright red and yellow ‘hero’ roller skates for her and blue and silver for her brother. Fingers crossed I made the right decision!

I just wish clothing manufacturers would realise that there are girls out there who would gladly wear feminine clothes if only they weren’t pink or glittery. Children shouldn’t be pigeonholed at such a young age. I believe it can affect the way they perceive themselves and the choices they make for the rest of their lives. It’s too narrow-minded. Toy manufacturers don’t help the situation either. If you go and look for something for young girls, there really isn’t much choice apart from pink or plastic so we automatically search in the ‘boy’ department, which isn’t always a very satisfactory solution for a five-year-old who hates pink!

Hamleys recently stopped their sexist labelling and colour coding according to perceived gender preferences but lego continues to promote pink or purple lego for girls. As I was growing up it was just plain ‘lego’ for all.

Isabella was cast as an ‘angel’ in the last Christmas play and was supposed to wear a pair of pink wings! I told her teacher she probably would balk at the suggestion, but the teacher waved it off and said, ‘Oh she’ll wear them when she sees all the others dressed up’ – funny how she suddenly developed a fever on the day thereby avoiding the situation altogether!

Personally I love it. I love how she doesn’t care when she’s the only girl pirate at the princesses and pirates school party, and that she thinks suitable party clothes consist of a faded old t-shirt and denim cut offs.   I feel relief that she has the will power to be herself. Being a ‘tomboy’ merely gives her the freedom and fluidity to move across the spectrum and be who she wants. Long may it last.

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Sally-Anne was out and about in Australian, and took us along on a virtual trip. She shared her first impressions of the country, and then her love of the city of  Melbourne.

In this report, she explains why she went to Australia alone, and what it is like to travel without companions. 

If you’ve been reading some of my reports from Australia, you’d be forgiven for wondering why I haven’t mentioned any of the people I’m travelling with. That’s because there isn’t anyone, I’m on this trip all by myself. I wasn’t too worried before I came because I’m quite used to doing things alone. I live in my own flat, I went to a different high school to everyone I knew from primary school and I quite often go and visit places by myself, but I’d never travelled alone. In fact, I’d never been outside of Europe at all, even with other people, so the whole trip was a bit nerve-wracking, if exciting.

Travelling alone has its ups and downs. On the one hand, I can just please myself and do exactly what I want to do without worrying about anyone else. I love visiting museums and going alone means I can spend as much time as I want dawdling in exhibitions, or I can just miss out the bits I’m not interested in. It’s great!

But other times, I think it would be quite nice to have a companion with me. Like watching fireworks over Darling Harbour, I wanted to turn to someone and say ‘Wow, did you see that!’, or when I’m eating out at night it would be nice to have someone to chat to. Just occasionally, I’d even quite like to have someone else suggest where to go or what to do, it can get a bit tiring having to do all the thinking for yourself. But mostly, it’s been pretty cool.

The strangest thing has been other people’s reactions. When I walk into a restaurant and ask for a table for one, the waiter looks surprised. I’ve noticed people often talk to you more than they would if you were with someone else. On the plane over, I was chatting to Lucy and her Dad who were going on holiday in the United Arab Emirates, I chatted to the man in the 7-Eleven shop about Birmingham, where I live and quickly made friends with Rhiannon coming through security in Singapore airport, who was going to travel all up the east coast of Australia. Most of the time this is great and I love chatting to new people, but quite often you get the feeling that people are only talking to you because they feel sorry for you being on your own. Sometimes I just want to stand up and shout that just because I’m on my own it doesn’t mean I’m lonely! People seem to get quite protective over you, especially if you’re female. I know they mean well, but I’m perfectly capable of looking after myself, thank you very much!

The surprise on people’s faces only increases when I tell them I’m here on business. Yes, that’s right, I’m not on holiday, I’m not travelling, I’m not on my gap year, I’m here to work! It’s not only middle-aged men in suits who go on business trips, the young woman in her Converse and flowery dress can too (ok, so I did put on smart trousers for the meetings, but still)! It’s really reminded me how much we assume about a person based on their appearance and that I must try harder not to do so myself!

Doing things on your own can be scary, but it’s also so rewarding. Travelling alone has made me so much more confident. Hey, if I can fly to the other side of the world all by myself, then I can do anything!

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Like a newly painted canvas.

I see the world,

Like a giant box, with puppeteers walking us all around.

I see the world,

But the world doesn’t see me.

I see the cloudy skies,

Like a wispy watercolour painting.

I see the cloudy skies,

Like a soft blanket of blue.

I see the cloudy skies,

But the cloudy skies don’t see me.

I see the ocean,

Like a piece of beautiful blue silk, rippling in the breeze.

I see the ocean,

Like lots of magic carpets, floating around the sea-bed.

I see the ocean,

But the ocean doesn’t see me.

I see views of hills and cities,

Farms and factories,

Sea and ocean,

Boats and cars,

But the views never see me.

I want to be an actress – then the world will see me.

I want to be an author – then the world can read me.

I want to be a singer – then the world will hear me.

These are the things that matter to me,

The world, the environment and everything inside it.

I’m Amber and I’m 14 years old. I love reading, writing, drawing and basically anything creative! When I’m older I want to be a freelance journalist – I think that would be quite fun! I like reading YA and my favourite authors are Suzanne Collins, J.K Rowling, Luisa Plaja and Cathy Cassidy.

My Teen and YA Book Review Blog  The Mile Long Bookshelf The Mile Long Bookshelf Facebook page.

@MileLongBookS on Twitter.

 

 

Featured Image NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

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You might not remember when her body measurements were hateful but Barbie herself could do anything and be anything.

I remember. 

To be fair, I also had Pop Star Barbie; mine owned a record company, spoke 6 languages and had a PhD in archaeology. It’s probably fair to say I was a nerd. It’s not also that I think girls today lack the imaginations to make their Barbie mermaids into something; my small has made her Barbie mermaid into a superhero but Barbie used to be every girl [even with the ridiculous figure]. Now, even with the new more “realistic” bodies, Barbie is actually more limited in terms of careers and adventures.

The films may be predicated on the notion of girl power and female friendships, heck Barbie and the 3 Musketeers is practically Germaine Greer-approved, but they are reinforcing an even more narrow version of femininity that is inherently harmful for girls. The opening of the first life-sized Barbie Dreamhouse in Berlin is just further reinforcing the idea of Barbie-as-Object rather than Barbie-the-Adventure-Girl of my childhood. 

Barbie-of-the-Dreamhouse only allows two careers: model or pop star. Girls can pretend to bake cupcakes in her fake kitchen and rifle through her wardrobe. There is no evidence of President Barbie or Barbie The Musketeer or Barbie the Vet here. It’s just the plastic pink version of femininity that Barbie has been criticised for more than 40 years. At this point, I’d love a return to Malibu Barbie and Stacey who hang out at the beach surfing. At least they were athletes. Barbie-of-the-Dreamhouse doesn’t do adventures and I’m not entirely sure when she works as a model or pop star when she seems to spend all her time baking cupcakes and dressing up.

Barbie had an opportunity to change into something really quite radical with the return of President Barbie. Instead, Mattel has returned to the pink princess twaddle. 

Louise Pennington is a feminist activist, historian and writer. She has been published in the New Statesman and Huffington Post. She tweets about feminism and her cats as @lestewpot. This article was originally published on her blog. 

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If you want to learn programming languages, one of my favourites is Code Avengers.  They offer HMTL5/CSS3 for website creation, and JavaScript programming languages – in a fun, gamified environment.  They offer a Code Camp, but unfortunately it’s down in New Zealand!  Luckily we can all use the tuition as it’s web-based. The first level of lessons are free and further levels cost $5 per student per course.   In a similar vein, but created with less focus on young learners is Codecademy.   Codecademy is completely free and offers tuition in a wide range of languages and topics: HTML/CSS, PHP, JavaScript, Python, and more.l  Codecademy, like Code Avengers is on-line step by step interactive tuition.  While it’s not specifically for kids and teens, it is still very accessible if it’s languages you are after.

Mozilla offers a number of free tools to help you get creating with technology through their Webmaker initiative.  Popcorn lets you take existing video – yours or a favourite from YouTube or another source – and enhance and remix it.  You can add text, links and maps to videos to customise them and make them your own.  X-ray Goggles let you see – and change – the code behind any website, whether it’s your own blog or something world famous!  Screenshots and hilarity generally follow, and you’re learning to understand source code while tinkering with the web pages.  Thimble makes it easy to write and preview HTML/CSS code to create your own website.  You can start from scratch or edit one of the projects in their gallery.  The Mozilla Foundation has created these free tools to give young people a fun environment that allows them to move from a consumer to a maker of digital content.  I highly recommend a play-around on these sites!

If you had something a bit more social in mind, check to see if there is a Coder Dojo in your area – here is their directory page.  Coder Dojo’s are free meet-ups where kids are given projects and mentored to learn to code.   Kids as young as seven years old and as old as 17 come to coder dojos to work with volunteers to work on websites, apps and other projects.

There are other groups that work mainly through schools – and if you make noise you may be able to get one set up at yours!  Apps for Good helps 11-18 year olds develop apps and take them to market.  The programme is available at no cost at least for the coming year, and growing very quickly.  The emphasis with Apps for Good goes beyond the programming, with an emphasis on the planning and design of the app, developer support for the actual programming, and also helping young people think about how you would actually market a final product.  Have a look at their gallery – very impressive!

A fantastic group organising after school programming lessons for 9 – 11 year olds – Code Club just launched this year and already have over 600 schools participating!  Lessons are run by volunteers – often professional developers – and for the moment they focus on Scratch.  Have a look at their website for information on how to get a Code Club at your school.

Last but not least, my own organisation has just launched London’s first tech day camps.  Fire Tech Camp runs all-day sessions during term breaks and summer holidays, at Imperial College in London.  We offer video game programming, mobile app design and robotics to 9 – 14 year olds in a fun environment.  Camp runs Monday through Friday and is scheduled to correspond to working parents’ hours (8.30 am drop off and 6 pm pick up) so that you can learn to innovate and create with technology while your parents have to work!  We hope to spread to other cities in the UK in the coming months.

I hope this gives you some ideas for how you can learn to program, either on your own or with others, to become a tech creator!

Jill Hodges is the Founder of Fire Tech Camp, London’s first technology day camp.  Fire Tech Camp is teaching kids to programme video games, develop mobile apps and engineer robots during week-long courses held during term breaks and summer holidays.  If you’d like to come to camp, apply for a scholarship, or provide sponsorship to children who want to learn to get creative with technology, visit our website on www.FireTechCamp.com, like our FaceBook page, and follow us on Twitter.

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Now you can find out, as we begin our Jump! Mag tour of the world in Iran, where ten year old Parmida lives.  

Hi Parmida. Thanks for speaking to Jump! Mag. Lets talk about your school. What is your favourite subject and why?

I like Science, Biology especially, because I’m crazy about being adventurous and learning about the world.

What kind of music do you like best?

- Rock Music.

What do you like to do in your spare time with friends?

I like best just to play with friends, tell jokes and laugh!

What do you like most about being a girl?

I like having long hair!  But in my country sometimes things are different for girls. My uncles took me to a soccer match one time, but in this country, girls aren’t allowed in the stadium. So I dressed up as a boy, I had short hair then, and wore boys clothes. A security guard noticed me at one point because I took my hat off and he recognized that I was a girl. He was annoyed at first, but my uncles talked him round and he was laughing about it not long after. Luckily it was the end of the match by then, and so we left before anyone else noticed. I really enjoyed watching the game though!

What is one of your favourite words in your language?

I can’t decide between Mother and Father………

If you could choose any other country in the world to visit, which would it be and why?

France, because I’d love to see the Eiffel tower.

How would you describe Iran and its people to those who are interested to visit?

In my opinion, Iran is the best land in the world, and it has many attractions and famous places to visit. We have a rich ancient historical background, including Cyrus the Great, the great Shah of Persia who did many good deeds for the country, and who we still honour and respect today. I love my country, and think that Iranians are good people. I believe in the Zoroasterian saying of Good thoughts, good speech, good deeds. ‘There is only one way in the world, and that is goodness path.’ I think this a good representation of our beliefs in Iran.

Thank You Parmida, lovely talking to you!

Annie-May Gibb is a freelance writer, who is passionate about creating a better world.

She mainly works on project that work to instil equality and confidence in young people.  She is also passionate about using tabasco liberally on most foods.

Here is some more information about Iran 

View Larger Map

Iran (Persian: ایران‎) is a country in southwest Asia with an area of 1,648,195 km2  and a population of 75 million.  Farsi (Persian) is spoken by the majority of the population in Iran, though a significant portion of the population also speaks other languages/dialects such as Azeri, Kurdish, Lori, Arabic, Baluchi, Gilaki, Mazandarani, and Turkmen. The vast majority of Iranians are Muslims.  There are also small populations of Zoroastrians, Christians, Jewish people, and people of other faiths living in Iran. The capital of Iran is Tehran (with a population of around 10 million), and other major cities include Mashhad, Esfahan, Tabriz, Karaj, and Shiraz. Although nearly three quarters of Iranians live in urban areas, Iran also has one of the largest nomadic populations in the world (an estimated 1.5 million).

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