3º & 4º British: your exam!

Hello everybody!

As previously explained, this term you will have an alternative to exam. To get the 60% of the mark this term you will write a special essay (that is, your opinion) about a specifical topic. And today is the day!

Read carefully the following newspaper article: Geopolitics after covid-19 (in Spanish). Yes, it is long (7 pages) but after all this activity is replacing an exam so it should be a bit demanding, don’t you think so?

You have to write an essay with your personal opinion about it. Do you agree or desagree with the article? Why? What is the sentence o fragment that shock you the most and why? As is “opinion”, all answers will be valid BUT remember that you must write fully developed and well argumented explanations, ok?

Specifical requirements:

The essay must contain minimun 40 lines (times new roman 12 – simple line spacing, as in the article) and must be sent in pdf format.

You must also include comments to the following sentences:

• “La última fase de la globalización comenzó en 1989 y quizás termine hoy, con el coronavirus”. (Page 1 - line nº 24) Do you think that the economy will change after this situation? Why?

• “Las plagas afectan con distinta intensidad a diferentes clases socioeconómicas” (Page 3 - line nº 2) Do you agree or disagree? Why? If yes, how?

• “Quedan claras las prioridades del globalismo: por encima de la propia vida humana está el dinero”. (Page 3 - line nº 37) Do you agree or disagree? Why?

• “El espacio hispano-americano como el espacio euro-mediterráneo, que deberían unirse en defensa de la idea de solidaridad, comunidad y pacto inter-generacional”. (Page 6 - line nº 6) Do you agree or disagree? Why? Do you think that those institutions would work better than the European Union? Why?

• To sum up your essay, answer the article’s final question: ¿La sociedad al servicio de la economía, o la economía al servicio de la sociedad? (Page 7 - line nº 7)

When finish, send it as attached file to blogeducativo08@gmail.com. LAST DAY: FRIDAY, 29 MAY.

Ready? Steady?... go! Good luck!

4º British: Online World War II lesson. Stage 5: Victories of the Allies (Second part: Berlin and Hiroshima)

The following link will revise the last year of the war: the surrender of Berlin and the Atomic Bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

In Europe, the allies start competing to conquer Berlin, for showing their political and military superiority, besides the enormous symbolism of such a victory. The Battle of Berlin took place in April 1945. As mentioned in my class, a very interesting and educative visit is the “Berlin underground”.

On April 30th 1945, when Hitler committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin two days before the Soviet took the city. Below, the iconic photo taken by the Russian photographer Yevgueni Jaldéi after the fall of Berlin:

  

Meanwhile, in the Pacific Front, it was necessary to fight every single island. Some episodes were sadly famous, such as the defense that Colonel Kuribayashi prepared in Iwo Jima (see the photo colecction in National Geographic). As told you in the online class last Monday, there are two movies about it, from the two different perspectives; you can watch the official trailers in the following links:

• Flags of our fathers (USA soldiers)
• Letters from Iwo Jima (Japan soldiers)

After years of research, called “The Manhattan project”, a big group of scientist created a powerfull weapon: the atomic bomb.

Above: photo of Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer. Einstein warned that the Germans were researching an atomic bomb and suggested that the United States do the same. Oppenheimer was the leading scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory

Finally, on the 6^th August 1945 President Harry Truman ordered to drop off the first atomic bomb over the city of Hiroshima. It killed 100,000 people; many more suffered injuries and illnesses for the rest of their lifes. You can watch a BBC-simulation video here (4 minutes). On the 9^th August, he ordered to drop a second bomb over Nagasaki, with similar dramatic results. Japan surrendered several days after that. But, was REALLY necessary to use such a destructive weapon? Even nowadays is still a controversial topic, although it seems to have more political that militar motivations (John Green video: 1’40 minutes only)

The Second World War officially ended on 2nd September, 1945

That’s all. As you attended my class on Teams last Monday, there are not “control questions” about this part :)

1º British: Alternative to an exam - online research about the climates of Spain

Spain is a privileged country, enjoying a wide variety of climates, and precisely this variety makes possible amazing contrasts between the different landscapes. Look at the following map (click on the image to enlarge its size):

This is a very important activity because you will receive a mark equivalent to an exam! Yes! So please take it seriously and do your best!

It can be done individually or in pairs. And because it is so important, you will have two weeks to do it.

You must do a presentation (in power point or prezi) with a complete research about the 6 Spanish climates: continental, oceanic, mediterranean, semi-arid, high- mountain and subtropical.  Each climate have to include the following items:

• location (name the provinces with that particular climate)
• characteristics (average temperature, precipitation through the year…)
• An example of a typical climate graph of that area (Choose one real city of that area and search its name of this climate website to get the climate graph! So easy!)
• Typical landscape of that climate. Here you have to add several photos of both vegetation and some animals. For example, in the oceanic climate you should include photos of oaks (robles) and beechs (hayas) forests, and some brown bears.
• Agricultural activities in that climate. For example, in the oceanic climate is typical the bovine livestock, specially for milk products, meanwhile in the continental climate is typical olive trees and porcine livestock.

To start your research, you can check the following links: Spanish landscapes and Iberian wildlife tour.

When finished, make sure you have signed the document (with all your names in case you have done it in pairs) and send it to blogeducativo08@gmail.com as usual BEFORE MONDAY 1, JUNE.

Of course, remember that you have the opportunity to join my Tuesday classes on Teams, in case you need extra explanations or need to ask any doubt. Actually, in this link you can re-watch the video with my explanation (you will be asked to enter into your educa.jcyl account)

Are you ready? 3, 2, 1... go!

Criterios de evaluación y calificación para el fin de curso 2019-2020

¡Buenos días! Ya ha sido aprobada la propuesta de modificación de los criterios de evaluación y calificación para este fin de curso tan peculiar. 

Teniendo en cuenta los acontecimientos excepcionales que se están viviendo en la actualidad con la epidemia del Covid-19 y la situación de confinamiento, la calificación final de Junio se obtiene de la media de las notas obtenidas en la 1ª y 2ª evaluaciones. Sobre esa nota media se podrá sumar hasta un punto en base al trabajo realizado durante las excepcionales circunstancias de la tercera evaluación. 

Es decir, si en la tercera evaluación...

... tienes un 10, se sumará 1 punto

... tienes un 9'5, se sumará 0'95 puntos

... tienes un 9, se sumará 0'90 puntos

... etc.

En el caso específico de 3º y 4º British, aquell@s estudiantes que realizaron el monthly work extra y voluntario sumarán otro punto más. 

Como siempre, para considerar aprobado el curso la nota final de Junio (teniendo en cuenta todo lo anterior) debe ser igual o superior a 5.

En el hipotético caso que algún estudiante en Junio obtenga más de un 10 (algo que, obviamente, no podrá reflejarse en el boletín de notas), se llevará un pequeño premio de chocolate la próxima vez que volvamos a las aulas :)

4º British: BBC History Reporters

As promised, today we have a new task: turn yourselves into BBC-History channel reporters! :)  Besides funny, it could be a great educational activity, don’t you think so?

You have to choose ONE of the following (and already mentioned) topics:

• Irish War of Independence (1919-21) (NAM, Irish History Web & Irish War Web) and Irish Civil War (1922-23) (National Museum of Ireland, Irish War Web & BBC)
• Spaniards prisioners in Mauthaussen (trailer & newspaper article)
• Garbo, the spy (last week trailer, MI5 info & History channel)
• La Nueve and the battle of Paris (last week video & newspaper article)

Of course, you will need to do some previous research to prepare the script and the images you will use (photos or videos). It can be done individually or in groups (maximum 4 people).

These are the basic requirements:

• You should open your "TV news/reporter" with a definition of the chosen topic, explaining it as completely as possible. It is mandatory that the explanation provided includes, at least, 2 original images (eg. portraits, maps, etc.), 1 written primary source (eg. excerpt from a legal text, a speech, etc.) and 1 exterior scene. 
• It woould be also highly valorated if you also include an "interview with an historical character". Would you dare to performance one of the participants of your chosen topic? 
• The final product should last between 6 and 10 minutes
• After those minutes, you should include the author’s credits and webgraphy (sources of information you used)
• The video must be in .avi or .mp4 format 

When finish, send the file via wetransfer.com to acarriles@educa.jcyl.es. As usual, this activity is mandatory; if you don’t do it, or you do it out of time, the mark for this activity will be 0.

Be creative and enjoy the activity. Good luck!

1º British: Climate graphs

Hello everyone!

Now that we know the differences between weather and climate, and we know the different climate zones of the planet Earth (do you remember the video: Climate zones by Dr.Binocs from last week?), let’s talk about climate graphs.

A climate diagram is a graph that reflects the climate in a place. So simple!

Imagine that you have a table like this one:

As you can see, the table gives you information about the average temperature (ºC) and average amount of precipitation (mm) each month in a place.

To discover the place, we use that information to draw a climate graph. But how?

1. Take a piece of paper (if gridded (cuadriculado), better).
2. Draw an horizontal line with the name of the months.  
3. Now draw two vertical lines: the vertical line on the left will be for precipitations (mm) and the vertical line on the right for temperature (ºC).
4. Now, in the vertical line on the left, and starting by the corner, measure 1 cm and write one mark. This mark represents 20 mm of precipitation. Measured another cm and write another mark (that represents 40 mm of precipitation); another mark will represent 60 mm, etc.
5. Go back to the table. What is the number of precipitation in January? Draw a blue vertical line in your graph in the correspondant area (J for January). Do the same for the rest of the months.
6. Once that you have done all the precipitation bars, go to the vertical line on the right. Starting by the corner, measure 1 cm and write one mark. This mark represents 5 ºC of temperature. Measured another cm and write another mark (that represents 10 ºC of temperature); another mark will represent 15 ºC, etc.
7. Go back to the table. What is the number of temperature in January? Draw a red dot in your graph in the correspondant area (J for January). Do the same for the rest of the months.
8. Now that you have all the red dots, connect them together with one red line.

Your climate graph is complete! Well done! You should have a climate graph similar to this one:

Tip: remember something very important for avoiding mistakes. Blue bars are always for precipitation, meanwhile the red line is for temperature.

You can watch a revision video (13 minutes in English). Yes, I know it’s a long video but it is really well explained and detailed so you can see the whole process.

Ok. We now know how to do it but... what are climate graphs use for? Good question! Climate graphs provide information about the place. For example:

• what are the warmest months of the year? That will tell you if the place is in the Northern or the Southern hemisphere. Or, if temperatures are exactly the same all the year, if the place is in the Equator line!
• Are the temperature high all the year, mild or very low? That will tell you if the place is in the warm climate zone, the temperate zone of the cold zone.
• Are the precipitations abundant all the year, regular or it doesn’t rain? That will tell you if we are talking about a tropical area or a desert.

And when you have all the information, you can discover the type of landscape linked to that place and climate. My notes can help you with this because you can see an example of each climate graph and its landscape, just click HERE.

As this topic is maybe a bit complicated, we will have a special class tomorrow at TEAMS to explain this parts and solve doubts, ok?

And now, YOUR TASK for this week! Look at the following table (click on it to enlarge its size and read it better):

First, draw its climate graph.

Second, record a short video (between 2 and 4 minutes) showing it to the camera and answering the following questions about it:

• What is the range of temperature?
• How is the rainfall distributed through the year?
• Which type of climate do you think this climate graph is?
• Which type of landscape is typical in this place?

Send your video as attached file to blogeducativo08@gmail.com BEFORE MONDAY 18, MAY.

This is a mandatory activity and you will received a mark for it.

3º British: IGCSE simulation

Hello everyone!

As previously told, your new task is to take a simulation (or mock) on the IGCSE. This task is mandatory for everyone and it will be part of the 20% of your mark this term so, please, take it seriously and try to do your best. 

When is it going to take place? On Wednesday 20 May, at 11:00 I will send you and email with the choosen Igcse in pdf format. That simulation will have 3 parts (Human geography, natural environment and economical geography). You MUST answer ONE question from each section. You will have exactly 48 hours to solve it and send it back to me. Not very stressful, isn't it?

Besides, you will have several days to prepare it in advance.

First of all, download and fill this self-evaluation-template. That table contains everything you should know for the Igcse, both the theory and the examples (case studies) you can be asked about. For example (ahem!...), would you be able to explain why the population change in a country and how different political laws, such as pro-natalist, can affect it? Other examples, do you know what is the Pacific Ring of Fire? Can you explain why people live in volcanic areas despite the danger? What is subsistence farming? How many energitical resources can you name?...

By revising your class materials (notes, monthly works, etc.) you should find enough information for all the items included in that self-evaluation template. You can also have a look to this list of case studies that were explained (or at least mentioned) in class. 

And remember that Mondays at 16:00 you can volunteer join my class at Teams and ask me doubt or clarifications about this Igcse simulation, ok?

Ready?...

4º British: Online World War II lesson. Stage 4: Victories of the Allies (First part: from 1943 to 1944)

The following link will show you the next chapter of my classroom presentation. Now that both Russia and USA have entered the war, with their maybe not well trained but inmense troops, the situation changed.

Representants of all the Allies were having different international meetings and submits: Stalin and his minister Molotov by Russia, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and President of USA Franklyn D.Roosevelt (yes, the same one that created “The New Deal” to fix American economy after the Wall Street Crack of 1929!). As you can see in the first image of my pdf, sometimes they also invited Charles de Gaulle, the leader of the French Resistance againts the Nazi occupation of France. Other important conferences during these years took place in Yalta and Teherán. Look at the photo, sitting at first row from left to right, Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin:

And, as we mentioned Churchill... his speeches (both in the Parliament House and through radio to the general public) were extremely important to maintain British’ moral high and support war effort (remember that prior the entrance of Russia and USA in the war, UK was during a year the ONLY country officially fighting the Nazis). Churchill had a very peculiar oratory style, with the following characteristics:

1.Correct diction. Use of simple words, easy to understand (and remember) for everyone and, at the same time, good knowledge of vocabulary and sinonims.

2.Rethorical questions (for catching public’s attention)

3.Rythm. Repetition of ideas and main words.

4.Extravagance of lenguage (emotive metaphores).

5.Encourage of national feelings and sense of duty.

6.Actio (Voice and Movements as a way to emphasis his words)

In the following document: Extracts from the mostremarkables speeches from Winston Churchill during the II World War you can see remarcked in bold some of those characteristics. Do you want to listen to him? It's only a 3 minutes extract from We shall fight on the beaches (June 4, 1940; House of Parliament, London)

But let’s go back to the warfront... it is said that you need much more than just soldiers and weapons. Maybe it’s true! Jasper Maskelyne was a magician that joined the British army... as a magician! He managed to “created” a full (fake) army to fool the Nazis (watch the video: Deception at the El Alamein (6 minutes in English) to discover how). That event gave time to the Allies to prepare Operation Husky: the landing in Sicily (3 minutes news-video) as a first step to defeat and liberate Italy from Mussolini fascism.

The next step was Operation Overlord, the famous landing on the Normandy beaches. It was necessary to organise again a distraction scheme to avoid the Nazis to concentrated troops in the area. Who was the responsable of the successfull plan this time?... A Spanish spy! Actually, he was a double agent and was condecorated by both the British and the Germans :) Watch this video about Garbo, the spy who fooled the Nazis (official trailer from the BBC documentary, less than 2 minutes).

Operation Overlord (June 6th 1944) remains the largest ever seaborne invasion, with 5,000 ships, 11,000 aircraft, 50,000 vehicles and 150,000 troops (10,000 soldiers were reported dead at the end of that day) carrying out the daring mission. The five beaches were secure and the troops were pushing inland. Watch the Simple History video (3 minutes in English).

Finally, France was liberated and Charles De Gaulle entered Paris in a triumphal parade. But De Gaulle was not the first one in entering Paris, actually... can you guess who were the allied soldiers that really won the Battle of Paris and free the city?... Americans? No. British? No. They were Spanish! The 9th Company of the French "Regiment du Tchad" (also known as Division Leclerc) was nicknamed La Nueve (videoscribe by Memorias de Pez, 6 minutes in Spanish) because of the high number of Spanish republicans who, suffering exile after the Civil war, decided to go on the fight against European facism by joined the Free French Forces (“Legión extranjera”). It is a VERY interesting story and, of course, next week we’ll back to it with a special activity. But there is not hurry...

We are talking a lot about battles and weapons but... how did the war impact soldiers in the field and the people at home?. For many of the combatants, the homefront and the warfront were one and the same. Did you know, for example, that more British civilians were killed by enemy action during World War II than were members of the Royal Navy (60,595 civilians vs. 50,758 navals)? The war disrupted life for millions upon millions of people. You'll learn about the different experiences of the populations of various combatant states in this Crash Course video, by John Green (14 minutes in English).

Now as usual, to show that you have really revised all that information (if necessary, you can also do a quick online search), send the answers to the following questions to blogeducativo08@gmail.com before Tuesday, 12 May:

Question 1: Read again the LAST paragraph of the doc.: Extracts from Winston Churchill, belonging to the famous “We shall fight on the beaches” speech. How many of the most famous resources of Churchill can you identify? Point them.

Question 2. The slide nº5 includes a photo of a "Pervitin" tube. What kind of medicament was that? Why was it used during a battle? What do you think about that use? Is it ethically correct in war-times? Why?

Question 3. The slide nº21 mentioned the “Roman massacre of Teotoburg”. Find out what was that (about 3-4 lines)

Question 4. Write a summay of the last video (Crash course: civilians and soldiers). It has to be about 10-15 lines long.

That’s all for this week. If any doubt, just ask me... or join the next Monday teams class, ok?

3º British: Tourism case studies

As promised, here you have two good examples of how tourism can affect different areas (and how those problems can be fixed).

First, we are going to study a MEDC: Lake District National Park (UK). Beautiful, isn’t it?

Look at the following map_ the green areas show the National Parks in UK and inside the red circle is the one we are studying today, Lake District National Park (founded in 1951):

But, what is a National Park?

National Parks are areas of outstanding natural beauty which have been preserved for the people of the future. National Park has two aims:

1.To preserve and enhance an area’s natural beauty

2.To promote people’s enjoyment of the countryside

It is not easy to achieve these aims while dealing with tourists (actually, the parks main problems are pressure from an excess of visitors). Because of that, rules and regulations are often set out to avoid any problems.

National Parks are close to densely populated areas (in the specifical case of Lake District, it is very well communicated thanks to the M6 highway). This leads to large percentages of visitor numbers during peak times, which in turn increase litter, footpath erosion, congestion and pollution. There is also often conflict between tourists and local people living in the national park. Over 42.000 people live in the Lake District area and deal with over 40 million tourist each year, wow!. That’s why it is called a honeypot.

But why has Lake District become so popular? The park’s authorities run a survey years ago and these were the answers:

Read the following doc: How do people reduce impacts of Tourism in Lake District?. And to finish with this part, watch this official VideoScribe Lake District Vision where everything is very well explained and detailed (10 minutes in English)

  

Now we are stuying a similar case but in a LEDC: Masai Mara National Park (Kenya). Impressive, really:

Kenya’s flagship park, the Masai Mara National Reserve, is one of Africa’s finest wildlife destinations where quintessential safari landscapes of vast acacia-dotted savannas teem with animals. The stellar highlight of the Masai Mara is, without a doubt, the Great Migration, an annual movement of millions of wildebeest, gazelle and zebra migrating between neighbouring Tanzania and the Kenyan park. Look at the map:

Tourism brings very important income to Kenya and gives tourists a greater understanding of the area's animals and plants. But tourism need to be managed carefully to ensure that the natural environment isn't damaged for future generations.

The Kenyan government has set up very strict rules about how hotels can ensure they balance the needs of the tourist and the needs of the local community. Ecotourism can play a large part in helping to ensure that there are many social and economic positives coming from ecotourism. Again, to finish the explanation watch this final video: Masai Mara (2 minutes in English).

Now, as usual, some questions (few and easy, as this week you have to finish the monthly work) to be answered before Monday, 11 May:

1.Look again at the map above. Describe the distribution of the UK’s National Parks (about 3-5 lines).

2. You are an influencer! Choose a photo and write a catchy IG message for it describing the attractions of Lake District as a holiday destination. :)

3.From the Kenyan government rules for ecoturism, which one do you think is the most important? Why?

4.Why is ecotourism specially important in LEDCs?

5.Would you like to visit Masai Mara? Why? List and explain 3 reasons.

And that’s all! As usual, any question or doubt, don’t hesitate to ask me. I’m here any time you need me!

1º British: Elements and factors affecting weather

Last week we mentioned that they are many things that can change the atmosphere conditions and, therefore, the weather.

The elements are temperature, humidity & precipitation, atmospheric pressure & wind. Besides, these elements can be also affected by some factors: latitude, altitude and distance from the sea.

Let’s study carefully how all they work:

1.Temperature is the amount of heat in the air from solar radiation. Temperature is measured, with a thermometer. Latitude, altitude and distance from the sea influence temperature. How?

About latitude:

• At the equator, solar rays hit the Earth at a very direct angle (90º). They are concentrated over a small area and insolation is intense. The temperature is high.
• At the poles, the Sun’s rays hit the Earth at a less direct angle. They are concentrated over a larger area and son insolation is less intense. The temperature is low.

Maybe you will understand it better with the following drawing:

Th combination between temperature and latitude is very important because help us to divide the Earth into 3 different climate areas: torrid (warm) – medium – cold. You can learn more things with this video: Climate zones by Dr.Binocs (4 minutes, in English).

But there are more factors that affect temperature. For example, the altitude. The higher the altitude, the lower the temperature. This is because at higher altitudes the air is less dense and does not retain heat. Look at the drawing:

For example: Mont Blanc is a very famous mountain on the French Alps. It is located in Europe, that is, the medium climate zone. But Mont Blanc is 4,800 meters high! So at the top of the mountain it is really cold!.

The sea regulates temperature. Because the sea is a liquid, it takes a long time to heat up or cool down: refreshing breeze in summer, warn air in winter. Great!. That’s why temperature can change depending is you are close to the sea or not:

2.Humidity is the amount of water vapour in the air. The amount of water vapour that the air absords depends on the temperature. Warm air absorbs more than cold air. Air is saturated when it can absorb no more water vapour, and so it precipitates in the form os rain, snow, sleet or hail. Precipitation is measured by a pluviometer like this one:

When talking about precipitation, clouds are important. Watch the following video of Types of clouds by Dr.Binocs (4 minutes in English).

Precipitation is a very important issue, as we really need water to survive. That’s why droughts are so dangerous. Pay ttention again to Dr.Binocs to learn about drought and how to prevent them (4 minutes in English).

3.Atmospheric pressure is the weight or force that the air exerts on the Earth’s surface. Atmospheric pressure is measured with a barometer like this:

Extreme low-pressure weather conditions create hazards such as hurricanes and typhoons (3 minutes video, in English).

  

Wind is a mass of moving air. It happens between two areas with different atmospheric pressures. Air always moves from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure. Wind speed is measured using an anemometer and it is expressed in metres per second (m/s) or kilometers per hour (km/h).

  

Finally and as usual, to check that you have really read this information, please answer the following questions by email (blogeducativo08@gmail.com) before Monday, 11 May:

1.What is solstice? And Equinox?

2.Name one type of each level of clouds: low, mid and high level (only name, not necessary to explain anything)

3.Which type of cloud is the Dr.Binocs favourite one?

4.Open your window and take a photo of a cloud. What type of cloud is it? Send me both the photo and your answer.

5.What is fog?

6.What is drough?

7.What type of problems can create a drough?

8.Name 3 tips for saving water and avoid suffering a drough.

9.What is a hurricane?

10.What is the name for the hurricanes in the Pacific area?

And that’s enough for this week. Next Monday, we will learn how to do a climate graph...