4º British: The Spanish Civil War, BBC broadcasting review

The Spanish Civil War was a major conflict that devastated Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939. It began after an attempted coup d'état by a group of Spanish Army generals against the government of the Second Spanish Republic, then under the leadership of president Manuel Azaña.

The nationalist coup was supported by the conservative Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (C.E.D.A), monarchists known as Carlist groups, and the Fascist Falange (Falange Española de las J.O.N.S.).

Following the military coup, working-class revolutions spread across the country in support of the Republican government, but were all brutally put down by the army. The war ended with the victory of the nationalist forces, the overthrow of the Republican government, and the founding of Authoritarian State led by General Franco. In the aftermath of the civil war, all right-wing parties were fused into the state party of the Franco regime.

The “Nacionales” received the support of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, as well as neighboring Portugal. The Soviet Union intervened on the Republican side, although it encouraged factional conflict to the benefit of the Soviet foreign policy, and its actions may have been detrimental to the Republican war effort.

The USA government offered no official support for the Republican side, although over two thousand Americans volunteered on the Republican side. Meanwhile american corporations such as Texaco, General Motors, Ford Motors, and The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company greatly assisted the “Nacional” army with their constant supply of trucks, tires, machine tools and fuel.

Episodes included in the full BBC video playlist: 1. Prelude to Tragedy, 2. Revolution, Counter-Revolution and Terror, 3. Idealists, 4. Franco and the Nationalists, 5. Inside the Revolution, and 6. Victory and Defeat.

We should know better our recent History…

3º British: Get a bearing

A bearing is a measurement of direction between two points. Bearings (in Spanish: rumbo, orientación) are generally given in one of two formats, an azimuth bearing or a quadrant bearing.

An azimuth bearing uses all 360° of a compass (brújula) or a Protactor (transportador de ángulos) to indicate direction. 

For quadrant bearings the compass is divided into four sections, each containing 90°. 

So, you’re in the field with your map at point A and want to get to point B… How do you accomplish this? The first thing you need to do is determine the bearing from point A to point B.

The easiest way, is to carry a protractor with you when you’re in the field. If you have a protractor with you, place it on the map so it is oriented parallel to a north-south gridline, with the center of the protractor on point A. Once you have done this, you can simply read the bearing you need to go off of the protractor. In this example, the bearing from A to B is N 20º E.
  

By the way, if you want to do some volunteer review of geographical coordinates or GR (Grid references), you can visit this link. And you can also re-watch the video about calculating gradient.

3º British: Income tax

Spring is also the season of... taxation!. The "Annual Tax Return" contains the earnings and expenditures of the fiscal year. But, how does the Government use our money? According to this graphic (official data from 2013), most part of it is for pensions and other social issues (you can click on the image to enlarge it).

Do you agree with the precentages? Would you change something? Why? Is there anything that susprise you?

3º British: IGCSE 2015

Here you have, finally, the basic information about this year's exams (I've also included an example of each one from November 2012):

• Geo. Paper 1 (Code 0460/12): Tuesday 5 May, 10:00 - 11:45 hours. 
• Geo. Paper 2 (Code 0460/22): Friday 8 May, 10:00 - 11:30 hours. 
• Geo. Paper 4 (Code 0460/42): Tuesday 19 May, 10:00 - 11:30 hours. 

In the meantime, you should read the rules for the Geography's exams and have a look to all the examples explained at class that you can use on the real Igcse...

GOOD LUCK!