3º-4º British: updated news IGCSE

Good news! Finally TODAY I have received the confirmation about the process for the IGCSE Geography & History exams: the process of convalidation will be similar to English as First language. 

Although Cambridge will take the final decission over your mark, at the end it will be based on your score in my subject; that means that we must continue with the scheduled plan: lessons, monthly works, etc. 

Don't give up and work hard this term! :)

4º British: Online World War II lesson. Stage 1: Road to war

There we go... A deep study of the World War II. Firstly, let’s have a look to the “big numbers”: the following graphic shows the number of deaths in the different conflicts of the 20^th century. The green circles represents militar casualties, meanwhile the orange circles represents civilians. The big orange circle (36 million of civilians) includes all the people killed in the concentration camps.

Remember that Germany was not accepted into the League of Nations until years later... and soon after it was accepted, Hitler reached power and left it. What did the League of Nations them? Nothing. They were in favour of the British Appeasement policy.

The following link will show you the first chapter of my classroom presentation. It is quite big so that’s why I decided to divide into chapters ;) In it, you can see the different steps that Germany and its allies from The Axis took until the official start of the war. One special and dramatic event was the occupation of Czechoslovakia. Besides reading those two links, it would be also necessary to watch the following videos by Khan Academy:

Video 1. Beginning of WWII (both Europe and Pacific front). 8 minutes in English.

Video 2. Victories of the Axis (1939-41). 6 minutes in English.

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, 21 April:

Question 1: What was the Anschluss or Pan-Germanism?

Question 2: What was the Sudentenland?

Question 3: What was the appeasement policy?

Question 4: What were the members of The Axis?

Question 5: When did the WWII officially start?

Question 6: What was the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact?

Question 7: What was the Blitzkrieg of Lightning war?

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

Back to home-schooling!

Good morning everyone! 

Hope all of you are fine and healthy... We still have several weeks of quarantine ahead so let’s face it the best we can.

Because this is a totally new and unexpected situation, I have rescheduled both the timeline and the syllabus and I have something positive for you: there will be NO EXAMS this term, hoooray!!!. No matter how this situation evolve, even if we can go back to classroom before summer, you won’t have exams on my subject :) Needless to say, you will have some other homework and tasks. And, as far as you send them well-done and on time, you will reach the maximum score in the “behaviour” percentage (10%).

What do you have to do from now on? Well, click on the pertinent link and you will discover it:

1º British

2º British

3º British

4º British

And, as usual, anything you need just email me (blogeducativo08@gmail.com), I’ll be here for you.

Have a nice day and take care.

1º British: The Earth’s relief

After the introduction to Geography and a brief revision of the Solar System, now it is time to start Topic 4. Wait a moment... and what happens with topic 3? Well, one of the “casualties” of this lockdown situation is the precisely the learning of mapping skills (topic 3 and monthly work 5). My experience has taugh me that is quite difficult and students really need the teacher’s support to have clear explanations (a video is never enough for this specifical case) and the possibility of total individual attention to clarify doubts. Therefore, we are skipping this part. Don’t worry, we will study it next year...

But now, as I said, let’s start with TOPIC 4: the Earth’s relief!. Quite interesting one, actually.

By the reading of my theoretical notes, you can see that the Earth, which is a geoid (that is, not a perfect sphere), has a complex structure with different layers:

• The atmosphere is the gaseous layer that covers the Earth. It is not a simple layer, actually: it can be divided in different parts, each one with a different name.
• The crust or litosphere is the outer layer of the Earth: where we live.
• The mantle is the middle layer (but technically divided into two: outter mantle and inner mantle)
• The core is the most internal, deeper layer (also divided into two)

Quite complicate, isn’t it? Look at the following drawing to understand it:

From all this layers, the crust or litosphere is one of the most interesting and active one 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. Look:

As you can imagine, being over magma is dangerous. These plates are not static, they move veeeeeery slowly: maybe only 1 or 2 milimetres per year. That movement has important consecuences for us:

• 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! (This is so important that we will study volcanoes more in detail next week). This very short video from BBC can help you to understand that movement (1 minute only, in English)

• Some other plates move horizontally, creating friction between them and producing earthquakes!

The Earth is million years old! And that movement of the plates tectonics has been happening since the beginning so, despite 1-2 milimetres looks a very small movement, the continous movement during all those millions of years has changed the look of the Earth a lot. In fact, at the beginning there was ONE single continent, called Pangea (or Pangaea) and over time it broke into pieces that were little by little separated, creating the current continents. That is called the continental drift. Watch this video about Pangea (2’23 minutes, in English).

We can say that the internal forces of Planet Earth are volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. They “create” the relief (a volcanic eruption can make a new mountain to appear… or a full island to dissapear!). Meanwhile the external forces (for example, the wind, the rivers…) “change” the relief by the erosion. Even we, humans, change the relief when we build roads or cities. Look at the following image to see how many different elements of relief we have:

Now, to check that you have really read my notes and watched the videos, send me an email (blogeducativo08@gmail.com) with the answers to the following questions (Last day: Monday, 20 April):

1. What is a hazard?
2. What is a plate boundary?
3. What is continental drift?
4. Who was Alfred Wegener?
5. What type of evidences did he find?
6. Finally, choose TWO words from the drawing “elements of relief” and write a  definition.

That's enough for this week. If you have any doubt or problem, just ask me, ok?

2º Online Baroque Art lesson

Before Eastern holidays, you study the Absolutism. The next part of the topic is Baroque art.

What is Baroque? The Baroque art and architecture is the style, originated in Rome (Italy) and spread thought all Europe and South America during the period 1590-1720.

The word Baroque derived from the Portuguese “barocco”, which means “irregular pearl”. That name indicates the totally personal way of the artists of expressing themselves. Even so, there are some common characteristics: illumination and theatrical effects, complex and dynamic compositions, excesive decoration, curves, big formats, etc.

In Baroque art nothing is as simple as it looks... For example, let's see the following and very famous canvas by Diego Velázquez:

What do you see? Apparently, it is a normal scene: several women, artisans, are working doing tapestries meanwhile at the back several rich aristocrats visit the workshop to buy some of them. Right? No at all, this canvas is, in fact, an episode from the greek mythology! It tells the story of how godness Athenea (here called Palas-Athenea) punish a girl called Aracne, who was showing off saying she was better than Athenea herself, turning her into a... spider! You can read all the details in the Museo del Prado website (click on the (+) icon and read the texts, them click on the next page (numbers at the bottom of the image) to see how the story goes). 

As said, in Baroque art nothing is as simple as it looks... But, how can we recognise Baroque? Let’s do a comparaison with the other art styles studied this academic year by using the same topic (Mother and Child):

Medieval times: Romanesque. The figures are rigid, some parts of the body (for example the eyes or the hands) are too big to show their simbolic importance. There is no relationship between them and the background are non-realistic colours:

Gothic: still in medieval times but now the figures are more realistic and proportioned, and there is some kind of interaction between them:

Renaissance: figures are totally naturalistic, beautiful and well proportionated. The background now is also a beautiful landscape.

Baroque: although figures are still realistic, they are now sorrounded by shadows and dark colours:

  

You can learn more things by watching this funny video by Khan Academy (about 6 minutes).

Have you watched the video? Really? Good, because now it is time to do the first special activity that will be considerer alternative to an exam... Don’t worry, after to gamification adventures, this is going to be very easy and funny! Just open this document (2 pages of images - no password required) and follow the instrutions :). Send me your answers to blogeducativo08@gmail.com before Monday, 20 April. 

That's enough for this week. If any question or doubt, just ask me ok? 

3º Online lesson

First of all, we should finish the task we’ve started: your lesson plan! You sent me your materials but the main part of this activity was the oral speaking. How can you do it now from home? Can you guess it? Yes! A video! :) That is not new for you, actually: remember your worderfull historical performances from the last year “Spanish America’s TV news” J

But let’s focus: each member of the team has to record a video with his/her part. After that, combine the different fragments into a single video. Of course, you can also insert the images, graphics or videos that you have previously choosen. The total duration of the video should be between 20 and 40 minutes. Because that final video will be too big for an email, the best solution is uploading it to youtube (anyone that has a gmail account can do it); be patient, it will probably take some time. When finish, you only have to send me the link J  Of course, if during the process you need help or want a revision, just email me, ok?

The last day is Monday, 27 April. With this activity you will get the 20% of your final mark.

And what about the theoretical topics that remain unexplained?

In the following weeks, we will finish the study of the Tertiary sector: we have explained most part of that topic before the lockdown (Do you remember the last class?) and now we will finish the topic talking about tourism. You have my theorical notes but to complete then each Monday (starting that same Monday 27 April) I will publish here on my blog a new post with contents and more detailed information. To evaluate that topic, you only have to do its monthly work (Nº 4). As usual, if any particular doubt, just ask me, ok?. The last day for this monthly work is Friday, 8 May.

Next topic (8: Globalization). Quite easy topic and even funny, don’t worry. Again: each Monday I will release a new post with contents. At the end of each post you will have several questions to answer by email (they will be very easy questions just to check that you have read the information or watch the videos provided, actually).

And that’s all about theory because one of the “casualties” of this situation is the revision of your mapping skills (topic 9 and monthly work 5). My experience has taugh me that is quite difficult and students really need the teacher’s support to have clear explanations (a video is never enough for this specifical case) and the possibility of total individual attention to clarify doubts. Therefore, we are skipping this part.

And finally, if there is not an exam, how do we get the 60% of the mark? You will write a special essay (that is, your opinion) about a specifical topic. I will post the details later on May (I don’t want to stress you out so soon) and even provide a link to a newspaper’s article. Do you agree or desagree with it? Why? What do you think is happening with that issue in the future? Etc. Your answer must be fully developed and well argumented but, as it will be your opinion, it shouldn’t be difficult, right?.

Any question or doubt? Are you ready?

4º Online II World war lesson

In the following weeks, we will study the II World War. You have my theorical notes but to complete them each Tuesday (starting tomorrow, Tuesday 14 April) I will publish here on my blog a new post with contents and more detailed information. At the end of each post you will have several questions to answer by email (they will be very easy questions just to check that you have read the information or watch the videos provided, actually).

There is only one monthly work more (Nº 7) which, actually, is more focussed on the Interwar period, already explained at class before all this lockdown situation, so you can start doing it (if any particular doubt, just ask me, ok?). The last day for this monthly work is Thursday, 7 May.

One of the “casualties” of this situation is our traditional Historical short-film festival but... I’ve planned an alternative! I will post the details later on May (I don’t want to stress you out so soon) but, yes it will be also about a video J. That new task is mandatory and will cover the 20% of your mark.

And finally, if there is not an exam, how do you get the 60% of the mark? You will write a special essay (that is, your opinion) about a specifical topic. Again: I will post the details later on May and even provide a link to a newspaper’s article. Do you agree or desagree with it? Why? What do you think is happening with that issue in the future? Etc. Your answer must be fully developed and well argumented but, as it will be your opinion, it shouldn’t be difficult, right?.

Any question or doubt? Are you ready?