Online tutoring

Hello everybody!

Although you are working very well despite the current situation and the communications by email are fluent, I am scheduling 1-hour virtual sessions per week by Teams. In case you want to join, let me know and I will send you an invitation. Please notice that it is totally volunteer and webcam is not required. 

These are the hours scheduled per level:

1º E.S.O.: Tuesday, 13:00. 

2º E.S.O.: Tuesday, 16:00. 

3º E.S.O.: Monday, 16:00.

4º E.S.O.: Monday, 13:00. 

These groups (3º and 4º E.S.O.) are more focussed in solving doubts about your IGCSE and the administrative proccess designated by Cambridge this year, although I'll let you know all the updated news also by email.

Have a nice week! :)

4º British: Online World War II lesson. Stage 3: Transition (1941-42)

The following link will show you the third chapter of my classroom presentation. Because this week you have to finish the monthly work too, this chapter is shorter :)

It is about the official entrance of Russia (after Hitler broke the pact and invaded it!) and USA (after the attack over Pearl Harbour) into the war and how these two fatcs altered the development of the conflict.

The Russian or Eastern front was a terrible and long war scenario, with the infamous and bloodiest one being Stalingrad battle, with around two million casualties and several documented cases of cannibalism. Because the city bore Stalin’s name it was of a high importance for the morale of the Soviet forces to hold it… and for Hitler to conquer it. Can you guess how it finished? Do you remember Napoleon Bonaparte’s mistake? Yes, exactly: the Russians waited for winter to come... then, they trapped the German troops into an exhausting urban warfare, fighting house by house. Look at the drawing (in red, obviously, the Russian Soviet Army; in dark grey, the Germans):

Meanwhile, in the Pacific front, the Japanese government decided to attack Pearl Harbor (Hawaii) because the following reasons:

1. As a revenge: USA cut off US oil exports to Japan in the summer of 1941. Without USA oil supplies (80% of their total!) Japanese navy would be unable to function.
2. Strategy: Japan wanted to create an empire (they called it “an Asian co-prosperity sphere” under the motto “Asia for Asians”). As Europeans powers were busy in the war and not able to defend their Asian colonies, in attacking Pearl Harbor the Japanese hoped to destroy the USA fleet so that the Japanese navy would have total free reign in the Pacific. Indeed, in the hours following the Pearl Harbor attack, Japan also attacked British-held Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaya, and the USA territorial possessions of the Philippines, Guam and Wake Island. 

The saddest thing is that USA known that a Japanese attack was imminent somewhere in the Pacific, but experts had thought the Philippines or some other area of the South Pacific closer to Japan was the likely target. Pearl Harbor was considered too far away and therefore they did not prepared safety steps... Look at the geographical location of Hawaii tn this map:

But there is another sad side on this part of History: the suffering of the North-Americans citizens with Japanese origin. Watch the following video to discover what happened to them (6 minutes in English). Ugly history: Japanese American incarceration Camps.

You can watch two short videos about both episodes here:

Simple History: Battle of Stalingrad (5 minutes)

Simple History: Pearl Harbour (1’20 minutes only!)

The last slide of this part is a photo of the famous Enigma machine, the German encryption device whose working process was dechipered by the British Inteligence at Bletchley Park as part of the Ultra program. There is even a quite recent film about it, if you like this type of cinema: The imitation game (2014).

Now, 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, 5 May (important announcement: also remember that this same week, Thursday 7 May, you MUST send me the monthly work nº7):

Question 1: What was the Operation Barbarrosa? Summarise it in 5-6 lines.

Question 2: Why did Hitler order to invade the Caucasus?

Question 3: Find out the title of a book&film that was inspired in the true story of the Russian sniper Vasily Zaitsev.

Question 4: What is the meaning and historical explanation of the Japanese word “kamikaze”?

Question 5: What was the “Leapfrogging”, also known as “Island hopping strategy”, in the Pacific Front?

Question 6: How did the Enigma machine work? Summarise it in 5-6 lines.

That’s all for this week. If any doubt, just ask me, ok?

3º British: Review of tertiary sector

Hello everybody! Today’s lesson is goiing to be easy: just a quick revision of the Tertiary sector. Specifically, about the part that we studied at class before this lockdown situation. As they are concepts that you already know, it would be easy to refresh your memory.

What is Tertiary Sector?

In general, we can define it as the sector that produces no tangible goods, but also provides services to the population to meet their needs. This sector is very varied and covers a wide range of activities that can be provided by public or private institutions. But more important, they can be classified in different groups or types:

• Social services: such as administration, education, health, etc.
• Distribution services: trade, transport, communications, internet, etc.
• Consumer services: hotel, restaurant, leisure, culture sites, museums, libraries, etc..
• Business services: banking, insurance, etc..

In recent decades, the sector has diversified and has grown dramatically. In most developed countries, the service sector makes up around 70% of GDP. As an example, look at the following graphic about the economical activity changes in UK from 1750 to nowadays (click in the image to enlarge its size):

To sum up, the most developed a country is, the biggest the tertiary sector. Look at the following comparative (click in the image to enlarge its size):

  

The world economy and especially the developed countries has undergone a major transformation in recent decades. The development of information society allow to speak of a new economic sector, the quaternary sector or (I+D+I). To make things even more complicate, some Australians economists are now talking about a quinary sector:

Going back to tertiary, tourism is one of the main services of the sector nowadays. Tourism is the displacement for leisure purposes and spending more than a full day outside the usual address. Because of different factors, since World War II tourism has been experiencing sustained growth intensified in recent decades. In most developed countries has become a mass phenomenon of great economic importance.

Europe is the main destination, with more 700 million visitors per year! Thanks to the combination of cultural, natural and sunshine spots. Look at the numbers of the following map, 2018 (click in the image to enlarge its size):

Spain is a case in point of country developed with a large influx of tourists. Actually, in summer 2019 the tourism represents 15% of the GDP in Spain (which means more than the secondary sector!). The following graphic shows the numbers of workers (blue bars) and the incomes generate by each economical activity in Spain (click in the image to enlarge its size):

As you can imagine, a high dependency on tourism (or “Travel Industry”) is dangerous because in case of a crisis (economical but also medical, such as the current covid-19 quarantine), one of the very first sectors to suffer the consequences is precisely tourism: we all like to have holidays and travels but, to be honest, it is not a basic-survival need, isn’t it? Take a look at our map below to see the countries that most rely on their tourism industry, 2017 (click in the image to enlarge its size):

Finally, to check that you have really read this information, please answer the following questions by email (blogeducativo08@gmail.com) before Monday, 4 May.

1. Write a brief description (5-8 lines) of the graphic about the economical activity changes in UK from 1750 to nowadays.
2. One of the explanations of that change is the de-industrialisation. Search online for a definition.
3. What is quinary sector?
4. Map of Tourism (2018): How many visitors did Asia&Pacific receive in 2018?

And that’s all for this revision. Next week, we will study two case studies (one from a MEDC and another for a LEDC) that will be useful for the monthly work nº4 that you must send on Friday, 8 May (don’t forget it!).

Any doubt or question, just email me, ok?

2º British: England, from middle ages to modern times

Good news: this is last topic of History... after it, we will study Geography (the topics about climates that we did not have time to study last year). But let’s go step by step.

The Norman invasion of England in 1066 led to the defeat and replacement of the Anglo-Saxon elite with Norman and French nobles and their supporters. William the Conqueror killed Saxon king Harold in the Battle of Hastings, battle which was later narrated in the famous Bayeaux tapestry. In the following link you can watch a wonderful animated video of Bayeaux tapestry (4 minutes). But this battle was important not only for England, but for many other territories and people. Watch the following video How the Normans changed the history of Europe, by Mark Robinson (5 minutes, in English).

William’s son, Henry II, spread his kingdom across Western Europe thanks to his marriage with Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Europe during the High Middle Ages. Actually, she was also queen of France... She is one of the most interesting characters of Europe during Medieval Times, so watch now this short and funny video Life of Eleanor of Aquitaine, by Tooky History (3’40 minutos, in English). Pay attention, because one of the activities of the monthly work is precisely about her!

Under the rule of Henry II and Eleanor, their territory was named the Angevin Empire (in French also called: L'Empire Plantagenêt):

Nevertheless, their sucessors were not always so successfull. For example, one of Eleanor’s grandsons had to deal with the arrival of Black Death, which killed at least 30% of the population in England, and the Hundred Years' War againts France.

How did that war end? With the defeat of King John of England (from now on called John “Lack land”) in the Battle of Bouvines. That defeat meaned not only the lost of all his continental possessions, but also set a change in the British rule and opened the door for the social and policitical revolts, including the Peasants' Revolt (video by History Hub, 3 minutes in English) that broke out across the south of England in 1381 and a sequence of bloody civil wars and economic crisis, until he accepted the Magna Carta (video by British Libray, 3’30 minutes in English), which can be considered a precedent of a modern constitution. Not bad, isn’t it? In the folowwing image, king John Lackland sealing the document of the magna carta in 1215:

After several problems, which included a forced abdication, the English throne was given to a cousin, starting the rule of Tudor dynasty. The most famous and controversial king of that dynasty was, by far, Henry VIII. Married to Catalina de Aragón (aunt of our friend king Charles I of Spain, a.k.a. “carlitos”), Henry wanted the divorce but, as Pope refused, Henry created his own religion to become Pope himself and married his lover, Anne Boleyn (who was executed later!). And that was just the beginning... was Henry VIII a charismatic reformer who freed his subjects from a corrupt establishment or a bullying tyrant who used Parliament for his own personal gain? Mark Robinson and Alex Gendler put this controversial figure on trial in the video History vs. Henry VIII (5’20 minutes, in English).

P.S. Do you like gossiping? Who do you think was Henry VIII's true love? :) Check in that link what happened with each of his six wives.

Royal family disputes were never solved. Even more, after Henry’s death his oldest daughter Mary (from wife nº1, Catalina de Aragón) become queen. She was called “bloody Mary” although years later her half-sister Elizabeth (from Henry’s wife nº2, Anne Bolyen) become equally cruel and litigator (eg. kidnapping, imprisioning and finally killing her cousin queen Mary of Scotland). What a chaos of a family, eh? Once crowned queen, Elizabeth started a war against Spain and protected a complete fleet of corsaires (“legal pirates”), such as Francis Drake, to attacked Spanish vessels. The picture shows the moment in which Elizabeth entitled Drake as “sir” (member of aristrocrazy) as a reward of his piracy:

  

How to evaluate this topic? Very easy: by its monthly work (nº6). It have been modified (shorted) to work only about this specifical topic. As usual, the value of a monthly work is 10% of your final score. Send your answer by email to blogeducativo08@gmail.com (Last day: Monday, 4 May).

Cheer up! We’re a bit closer to the end of the lockdown... just keep calm and stay safe :)

1º British: Weather and climate

Hello everybody! Today we start a new and important topic. As this week you are busy making a volcano :) this post is only a short and easy introduction, ok?

Weather and climate are both refer to the conditions of the atmosphere (the layer of different gases that sorrounds Planet Earth) but weather and climate are not exactly the same.

The weather describes the atmospheric conditions in a particular place at a particular time. For example, look through your window? What is the weather like now in Ávila? Is it sunny? Windy? Rainy?... Weather can chage over the days, even in the same DAY.

Climate refers to atmospheric conditions that exist in a region over a long period of time (YEARS, centuries...). For example, the Mediterranean climate is generally warm and dry (that is, most part of the time, year after year, we have sunny days, good temperatures, we can go for a swin in the beach... although several days it is possible to have some rains).

The following video Weather vs. Climate (4’30 minutes in English) you can understand it better.

To finish, and just to check you have watched the video, please answer the questions by email (blogeducativo08@gmail.com) BEFORE Monday 4, May:

1. They are many factors that can change the atmosphere. Which ones? (write only the names, without explanations or definition)
2. One of the factors is precipitation. But this precipitation can have differents forms, which ones? (write only the names, without explanations or definition)
3. Where was the “cartoon Sabrina” sent to on a trip for an experiment?
4. What is meteorology? (search for a definition).

And that’s all! Very easy, right? Have a nice week!

4º British: Online World War II lesson. Stage 2: Meanwhile in Germany...

The following link will show you the second chapter of my classroom presentation. This part starts by the Aktion T4, a German euthanasia program (but not volunteer!).

This program existed in Nazi Germany prior to the Holocaust and essentially served as practice for the mass killing of Jews during World War II. The T4 Aktion program killed the physically-mentally-emotionally ill, the disabled and elderly people throughout Germany. In total, over 200,000 people were killed under this program. 

The T4 Aktion program killed members of society who, according to Hitler, were unfit to live. Hitler justified this program by saying that this was a wartime measure that gave mercy to those people whose life wasn't worth living. This program came down to their ability to contribute economically to society: if a person required more government assistance than they created by working, they were marked as someone that would be murdered.

Even in Nazi Germany, a political regime literally and deliberately defined by its inhumanity to other humans, leaders knew that a program that targeted sick, elderly, and disabled people would not be taken well. For this reason, the program remained a secret and was given a codename that gave no clues to its actions. The program started in 1939 (actually started before World War II began). Its official name, T4 Aktion, was created after the street address of the building it was run from, with the name Tiergartenstrasse 4.

As said, the experiments of Aktion T4 were used later to develop the “Final Solution”, that is, the extermination of Jews. This is called by the Jweish people as Shoah or Holocaust.

More than six million Jewish people were killed in a systematized genocide. Five million more people died in the same time frame as a result of Nazi persecution. In addition to the Jews, Roma people (=Romaní, that is, gypsies), homosexuals, political dissidents, Polish people, Slavic people, black people, and many other perceived enemies were imprisoned and killed by the regime.

John Green, from Crash Course European History, has a very well explained video (13 minutes, in English) about this issue.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial has created 3 virtual tours of the Auschwitz-I and Auschwitz-II-Birkenau death Camps. As you can see on my presentation, near those camps there were several German industrial areas (the biggest one belonged to IG-Farben, in red on my map) who were using the prisioners as slave-workers until they were to weak or ill to go on working, so they were finally sent to the crematory.

You can read an interview with Rainer Höss, one the grandchildren of Rudolf Höss, Commander in charge of the Nazi Concentration Camp in Auschwitz from 1940 to 1943. After discovering the secret of his family, Rainer has become an activist for Human Rights. In "Historias de la Historia" you can read a very interesting interview to him (in Spanish).

If you are really interesting in this particular topic, I can reconmend you the following books (for a totally volunteer and independent reading). Primo Levi was a survivor from Auschwitz (his books are available in Avila's public library), meanwhile Laurence Rees is a journalist from BBC (his book has been also transformed into a 5-episode documentary film, available on youtube)

Many people were against this Nazi policy: as you can see on the presentation, several diplomats created passports to save Jews (Germans could not kill someone under the nationality of a neutral country!). And they were also some others, less famous but also very important, such as Adolfo Kaminsky, who as a teenager saved thousands of lives by forging passports to help children flee the Nazis. He spent his life helping others escape atrocities around the world. You can watch his full story in the New York Times documentary The Forger (16 minutes, originally in French with English subtitles).

Now, 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, 28 April:

Question 1: What was the aim purpose of Aktion T4?

Question 2: When did it start?

Question 3: What is Anti-semintism?

Question 4: What is genocide?

Question 5: What was the Wansee conference?

Question 6: What happened in 1943 in the Warsaw guetto?

Question 7: Were there other attempts of rebellion? Where? When?

Question 8: Why was Adolfo Kaminsky choosen for became a forger? What were his proffessional skills?

Question 9: What other people did he help in postwar conflicts?

Question 10: What is his hope for the world?

That’s all for this week. If any doubt, just ask me, ok?

2º British: Thieves in the museum!

There are many Baroque's painting in the Museo del Prado, in Madrid... People often ask if any artworks from it have ever been stolen. Well, the answer is: Yes! In fact, Prado suffered several thefts (1861, 1897, 1906, 1909 and 1918). As part of the bicentennial of the Prado Museum and the exhibition of the “Tesoro del Delfín” (stolen and recovered in 1918), I have prepared this special detective double-task for you:

FIRST MISSION: There has been a robbery! And your misión is to discover & catch the thieves and recover the famous canvas. But there is an extra handicap: it is a time-trial! There are only 5 days until the opening of the exhibition in the “Salón de Reinos” in the Museo del Prado, that's why you must hurry to solve the enigma! In this document you have several clues to solve it. You will also find useful the museum floor map. Let’s investigate!

When you have completed the “Solution page” (yes, I know some numbers can not be read very well... that's part of the difficulty of this activity, haha), send your answers (you can just write directly the answers on a word document) as usual to blogeducativo08@gmail.com. 

SECOND MISSION: Send an email to acarriles@educa.jcyl.es answering, as complete as possible (minimun, 6 lines each), the following questions with your own reflections and opinions about the topic of this investigation:

• Why would someone steal artwork from a museum?
• What do you think of the thieves’ choice? (Eg. Why do you think they took paintings and not sculptures? Why do the paintings not include people?  Why did they only take such small paintings?)
• Why we should protect art and cultural heritage?

ALL the missions must be solved and sent by email by Thursday, 16 June.

This activity is mandatory and can be done individually or in pairs (in that case, please do not forget to include both names in your email) and you will receive a mark that will allow to earn an extra mark (1 mark) in your final score. 

Ready? Steady?... Go! :)

1º British: Earthquakes and volcanoes

As we studied last week, the crust or litosphere is one of the most interesting and active layers of out planet because it is NOT form by a sigle piece but on the contrary, there are different plate tectonics (such as giant pieces of a puzzle) floating over the semi-solid magma from the mantle. And when two of these plates move towards each other (when they collides like a car crash) or when two of these plates move apart from each other, the magma rises throught the gap: a volcanic eruption! 

Watch the following videos by Dr.Binocs Show. They are both very short and easy to understand:

Video 1. Volcano

Video 2. Earthquake

There are areas in the planet which more probabilities of suffering both volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. This is because they are localted in the area known as “the Pacific ring of fire”.

The Ring of Fire has 452 volcanoes and is home to over 50% of the world's active and dormant volcanoes. In fact, 90% of the world's earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire. One of the most famous of them is the Krakatoa, in Indonesia. And it has woke up just several days ago! Its explosion was so strong and powerful that it was heard almost 600 kilometers away!

But here in Europe we have also some sadly famous volcanoes such as Mount Vesuvius, the one that destroyed the Roman city of Pompeii in the year 79. In this link you can watch a 8-minute animation video about the last day of Pompeii. 

So, if they are so dangerous, why do people still live near volcanic areas? Because volcanoes can bring people many energetical and economical benefits:

1. The ash deposited during a volcanic eruption adds valuable nutrients to the soils and helps to fertilise it. This helps agriculture and farming

2. They also provide mineral resources (eg.gold, copper, etc.), pumice and building materials.

3. Volcanic landscapes are very attractive for tourism.

4. In volcanic areas, electricity can be generated from geothermal energy (free heating!).

What we have to do is to learn how to predict volcanic eruptions and seismic waves, to prepare an evacuation plan in advance, to save the people before anything happen. Now a days there are several tools:

• Gas measurements (sulphur dioxide & carbon dioxides increases as magma rises)
• Seismic readings (earthquakes increase and become shallower as magma rises)
• Webcams and Satellite imaginery (measures “bulges” as magma moves up the volcano)
• Temperature / acidity of soil and water (they both increase as magma rises) 

For predicting earthquakes we use a seismograph, a machine that detetcs the tremors of the Earth. By reading its graph we can see the strengh/danger of the arthquake:

  

The strength of the tremors is called magnitude. We measure the magnitude with an instrument called a seismograph and we create scales with the information obtained. One of the best-known scales is the Richter scale.

Task 1. Short questions (as usual)

Now, 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 Monday, 27 April:

Question 1: What is a volcano?

Question 2: What is the difference between magma and lava?

Question 3: How does a volcano erupt?

Question 4: Name the different types of volcanoes

Question 5: How is called the surface where two tectonics plates slip?

Question 6: What is a tsunami?

Task 2. Science project!

Well then but... if we are not taking exams this term, how are we be evaluated? Good question! I've prepared a very special activity: How to make your own volcano at home! This activity will give you a mark that cover the 20% of your final score this term. Click on the link to read all the instrutions, see the examples and the delivery date.

1º British: Make your own volcano at home!

As we have just studied the volcanoes, let’s finish this part with a special activity. First of all, let’s precise two important things

1. It is NOT necessary to make the volcano to erupt!

2. In case you want to run the full experiment (and make it to erupt) please ask your parents for help and supervision.

Are you good at arts&crafts? Because this week you have to do your own volcano!

You can build one out of clay, papier-mâché, plastic bags or even stiff card stock bent into a cone shape around a jar or water bottle. One of the main issues here is to see your creativity and solving-problems skills: how can you do it when you can not go to a shop to buy specifical materials? Be creative and think how you can recycle what you have at home!

Look at the following examples:

Example 1: you can use a plastic bottle. Cut it and cover it with a black pastic bag. Add some transparent film and paint it to simulate the lava. A final touch of cotton will look as the smoke:

Photo 2: A clay (plastilina, arcilla...) volcano

Photo 3: papier-mâché or old newspapers

And... what if you want to complete the experiment and make your volcano to erupt? This is a quite safe project to perform with kids (and parents). The safest way is to use baking soda and vinegar to create foamy reaction. You can add dish soap to enhance the texture and a little red food coloring or ketchup for color. If you follow the instructions of this article (a useful demostration video at the end) it is highly unlikely that your volcano will hurt anyone (unless they happen to be allergic to any of the materials used in this project!).

How can I evaluate this activity?

Make sure to take some photos (4 or 5 will be enough) during the creation process and the final video (pm4 or avi format) of yourself making the volcano to erupt (to show me that you really do it and you are not just using some picture from internet!). Then send both photos and video to acarriles@educa.jcyl.es

This activity is mandatory and you will receive a mark for it (that will cover the 20% of your final score this term). If you don’t do it, do it out of time or just copy&paste from internet, your mark here will be zero (0).

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