4º British: American Revolution on Twitter

You are about to start the 8th edition of your favourite historical activity... twitter in class! This year it will be all about the American Revolution, a topic that we have never performanced before.

The Revolutionary War, otherwise known as the American Revolution, was a battle for independence fought between the United States (then the Continental Colonies) and Great Britain that spanned the years of 1775 to 1783. The conflict was the result of mounting tension between the colonists and the colonial government, which was an extension of the British crown’s authority. Throughout the war, a number of individuals played essential roles for their respective parties...

 

How does it work? You must create a special twitter account as you were one American character, that can be a famous or an anonymous one (choose your character from this document). With this “historical account” you become follower of @auladeadriana.

 

The application period will start THIS WEDNESDAY (25th November), at 15:00. Just send me an email with your chosen character (even better, send me the list of your three favourite characters) and I will answer you back with the confirmation. Once that you have the confirmation (but not before), you can start making your character back to life :) You will have some time for creating the twitter account; the more “realistic” that you do it (portrait, biographic info, etc.), the better for your final mark.

The debate will start Friday 27^th November and finish Friday 4th, December.  You have to create a minimum of 20 tweets (12 of them base on real primary sources: texts, photos...) in the name of your chosen character. Try not to be independent, but “talk” with the others. I will help you with some clues for the timeline (eg. this "major battles" web), so you will not be lost in the process.

 

I would also recommend you to use the hastag #HistoryatVasco in your tweets, to facilitate its reading.

 

The previous years, this experiment was a total success and your partners really did good performances, so you will have to work hard for leading them...

This work is individual and mandatory and will be part of the score at the end of the term. If you fail to finish it, do it out of date, or just copy&paste from a webpage, the mark will be a 0 for this work.

 

Be creative and enjoy it! 

1ºBritish: Videos about Code of Hammurabi and Isthar Gate

As required in class, here you have the links to the Khan Academy videos in case you need to revise them for the monthly work or the exam...

1. Code of Hammurabi (3 minutes)

2. Gate of Isthar (6 minutes)

Have a nice weekend!

3º British: What is a megacity?

Most part of the world’s population live in urban areas. We have studied their characteris but, what happened when the city is constantly increasing its size and population? Find it out!

You (by your own or in pairs) will have to do an online research for answering the questions below, in the visual format you prefer: infography, Prezi, power point, etc. When finish, send it as attached file in PDF format to blogeducativo08@gmail.com (last day, Tuesday 10 November)

This work is mandatory and you will receive a mark. If you fail to do it, do it out of time or just copy&paste from a website, the mark will be 0.

Questions:

1. Definition: what is a Megacity?
2. Name, at least, 3 characteristics of a megacity.
3. What are the main challenges of living in megacities?
4. How can be those challenges solved or, at least, reduced?
5. Where are most megacities located? Why?
6. What cities around the world are considered nowadays megacities? List AND place them on a map.
7. Investigate ONE of them and prepare a complete and detailed research about it. You should include photos and official data.
8. Which other cities around the world are growing the fastest and would probably become megacities? Why?
9. Other cities are experimenting problems linked to the urban sprawl… What is urban sprawl? Why does it happen?
10. Opinion: What do you think it would be the future of urban settlement in Europe? Give rational arguments to support your point of view (about 15-20 lines). 

Useful links for starting:

• LatitudeGeography
• Century Foundation
• Megacities Project
• Megacities: challenges and solutions
• Infography from The Guardian
• Urban dynamics (36 pages...)

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

3º British: The EU and the refugee crisis

This is a short and mandatory activity for homework. As we are studying migration at class, it seems to be a good moment for debating about the so-called "Syrian refugee crisis"... and it is a doble task:

1. Read the following 4-pages document from the European Commission official website and then write an abstract about it (15-20 lines).

2. Write your opinion about the topic, giving always reasons for supporting your point of view. Do you agree or desagree with the EU policy on this topic? Why? (other 15-20 lines).

The following infography can also offer some extra help (click on it to enlarge its size):

When finish, send the document (pdf format) as attached file to blogeducativo08@gmail.com (last day: Friday, 9 October). 

1º British: Infographic about vikings

During the following days your INDIVIDUAL new task is to create an infographic about the Vikings. But, first of all, what is an infographic?

Infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present complex information quickly and clearly. They can improve cognition by utilizing graphics to enhance the human visual system’s ability to see patterns and trends. For example: 

There are a wide variety of tools available that allow you to create your own infographic. These free infographic creator tools will allow you to generate an infographic very quickly, without the need for a professional designer, and often in very high quality formats but if you prefer something more familiar to you for starting, you can download this archive with free power point templates.

However, infographics are about more than looking good and attracting lots of views and links. If your infographic does not present data in an engaging way – or your data is not worth learning – you may find that your work/effort is unsuccessful. So before you start designing, do some research.

In your case, each team will create an infographic about vikings!. Besides being visually attractive, your infographic should be informative and complete from an educational point of view. You can start by reading my theoretical notes for class and by visiting the BBC for kids web and the AcademiaPlay video.

When finish, sent the work as an attached file to acarriles@educa.jcyl.es.  The LAST DAY: Sunday 4, October). As usual, this work is mandatory and will be part of the score at the end of the term. If you fail to finish it, do it out of date or just copy&paste from internet, the mark will be a 0 for this work.

Keep calm and good luck! :)

3º British: The World Factbook

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of USA publishes an online “Annual book” with a multitude of data of all the countries around the world: The World Factbook. The information is compiled from different sources, both public and private, and it is useful for learning about the political, economic or social features of the countries.

Using this web is very easy: once you have choosen the country, you will see a map with its location, flag, etc. And below the map, you can find its information organized by topic. By clicking on each of them, it will display the information boxes. 

In today's activity (maximun: 4 students per group), we will work with the The World Factbook‘s web. It's a triple task!:

Task 1. You must download and FILL IN THIS DOCUMENT with the details requested in the list below, about 4 different states: Spain, another European state, a MEDC from outside Europe, and a LEDC.  Besides the information, in your document, you MUST include a map and a at least 2 graphs of each country (eg. economical sectors, unemployment levels or population structure): 

• Name of the country and capital city
• Location (continent, geographical coordinates, borders)
• Population (As this will be the main part, please insert as much data as possible: age structure, population pyramid, dependency ratios, birth/death/migration rates, maternal and infant mortalilty rates and life expenctancy)
• Official Language (if more that one, list them)
• Type of government
• International organizations to which it belongs
• GDP (Gross Domestic Product per capita)
• GDP composition by sectors 
• Military Expenditures
• Educational expenditures
• School life expectancy
• Health issues (see "population" tag)
• Youth unemployment
• Transnational issues (For example, border disputes, nationalism' conflicts, refugees, etc.).

Task 2. Then you must compare the data of those countries and enter your opinion, as complete as possible (Times new roman, 12, simple line)

• Was it easy to find all the information requested? Why?
• Is the data updated? If not, why?
• Compare population rates and health issues.  What do you think about those numbers? Why? What could they represent for their future? 
• Compare militar and educational expenditures. What do you think about those numbers? Why?
• Is there any other data that surprises you? Which one? Why?
• What is the situation of Spain compare to the other states analyzed? Why? Write a fully developed essay (minimum 15 lines)

When finish, send both documents in PDF format as attached file to  acarriles@educa.jcyl.es. 

Task 3. Oral presentation at class (aprox. 15 minutes). The talk should be focussed not on Spain, but on the comparaison between the chosen countries and your conclussions. As usual, all members of the team must speak. Collaboration and coordination between them will be taken into consideration.

This is a mandatory activity. If you do not do it, or do it out of time, your mark here will be 0.

Ready? 3, 2, 1... GO!

4ºBritish: how to comment an historical source

 

In the following document you can learn how to comment and historical source. The example included is about the English Parliamentarism. It would be a good idea to download and print it, to have a look every time you need it...

In the image, the Death warrant for the execution of King Charles X of England.