30th of March

Yesterday in Social Sciences, at the begining of the class Paqui was a little angry with us because we were not paying attention. After that we have continued with a Power Point presentation about the political organization of Spain and we have continued to complete the scheme about the point three of the unit with this Power Point presentation. We also have spoken about coalition government that is a government formed by several political parties. And about referendum that is an election in which the citizens are asked question and they have to answer "yes" or "no" and finally we have spoken about the three referendums that there have been in the recen history of Spain that there were in 1976, 1978 and in 1986.

And at the end of the class Paqui has given to some classmates the marks of the make up exam and finally Paqui has told me that yesterday I have to write the journal.

Sorry for the delay but, yesterday I forgot to write it.

bye

Source: http://www.diarioya.es/content/%C2%BFcambio-o-desaparici%C3%B3n

Monday, 28th March (delayed)

Last Monday Kelly came with us, and Paqui check the scheme of point three. Them Paqui give us the make-up exam to the people which failed the exam. Afterwards, Kelly showed us a power point about point two. After Paqui wrote in the blackboard a scheme about levels of political organization of Spain, and also we talked about the languages of Spain. When the people finished the exam give this to Paqui, I pass the exam with a 10.

Today I'm very happy.

I sorry by the delay, kisses.






Source: http://www20.gencat.cat/portal/site/Llengcat/menuitem.21576464db9e81e7a129d410b0c0e1a0/?vgnextoid=087748a344371110VgnVCM1000000b0c1e0aRCRD&vgnextchannel=087748a344371110VgnVCM1000000b0c1e0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=detall&contentid=76313f476fd22110VgnVCM1000008d0c1e0aRCRD

Where does the Vice President of the U.S.A. live?

We all know that the President of the United States of America lives in the White House but few people know where the Vice President lives. You might think that the Vice President lives in the White House too, but as of July 1974 Congress designated the Admiral's House as the official residence of the Vice President.

The house is located on the southeast corner of 34th Street and Massachusettes Avenue in Washington D.C. You may be thinking why is the house called "The Admiral's House"? The reason it has this name is because it is located on the grounds of the United States Naval Observatory. The house was originally built for the superintendent of the Observatory. Before 1974, the Vice Presidents "bought temporary residences or stayed in hotels."

In this entry you can see some photos of the Admiral's House from when Vice President Al Gore and his family lived there.

"The house is a white brick walled Victorian-style home with 9,150 square feet of floor space."

Here you can see a map I made of Washington DC and the location of the White House in relation to the location of the Admiral's House.

Sources:

1. http://clinton3.nara.gov/WH/EOP/VP_Wife/home.html


2. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Where_does_the_vice_president_live_while_serving_in_office


3. Google Maps

Some more articles of the Constitution

Source: http://angelodemonio.wordpress.com/2010/12/06/dia-de-la-constitucion-espanola/

There are some other articles of the Constitution that you may find interesting. It would be interesting that you analyze if what is written in the Constitution has a real translation in reality: 

ARTICLE 35 

1. All Spaniards have the duty to work and the right to work, to the free election of profession or office career, to advancement through work, and to a sufficient remuneration to satisfy their needs and those of their family, while in no case can there be discrimination for reasons of sex.

2. The law shall regulate a statute for workers.

ARTICLE 47

All Spaniards have the right to enjoy decent and adequate housing.  The public authorities shall promote the conditions necessary and establish the pertinent norms to make this right effective, regulating the use of land in accordance with the general interest to prevent speculation.

The community shall share in the increased values generated by urban activities of public bodies.

 If you want to read other articles of the Constitution, here you have the complete text both in English and Spanish: 

http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/sp00000_.html

http://www.tuabogadodefensor.com/01ecd193df1195501/01ecd193df1296d13.html

Languages in the Spanish Constitution

Spanish official; spoken all over the country   Catalan/Valencian, co-official   Basque, co-official   Galician, co-official

Aranese, co-official (dialect of Occitan)   Asturian andLeonese, recognised   Aragonese, recognised   Extremaduran, unofficial   Fala, unofficial

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Spain

Today we have talked about some features of the Spanish State and the present Constitution. We have had an interesting debate about the different languages spoken in the country. Here you have the article of the Constitution about languages, which reflects the reality of the country and establishes that all the languages spoken in the country are official:

ARTICLE 3

1. Castilian is the official language of the State. All the Spanish people have the duty to know it and the right to use it.

2. The other languages of Spain will also be official in the Autonomous Communities according to their Statutes.

3. The richness of the different languages of Spain is a cultural heritage that will have to be respected and protected. 

The different Statutes of the Autonomous Communities have been written taking the Constitution into account and they have been approved by the citizens. Galician, Catalan and Basque are official languages in the respective Autonomous Communities and this variety of languages reflects a rich cultural background inherited from the different peoples who lived in the Iberian Peninsula. 

Here you have some data about the number of speakers of the different languages of Spain: 

Catalan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalan_language

Galician

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galician_language

Basque 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_language

Asturian /Bable

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asturian_language

Aranese

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aranese_language

And here you have some links to learn the different languages of Spain on line: 

Catalan

http://www.parla.cat/pres_catalaenlinia/AppPHP/login/index.php

http://www.parlacatala.org/

Galician

http://e-galego.cesga.es/inicio.htm

Basque

http://www.euskalkultura.com/euskera?language_sync=1

http://www.gazteaukera.euskadi.net/r58-2243/es/contenidos/informacion/xtra_euskara_aprende/es_1844/xtra_euskara_aprende_c.html#internet

Make- up exam next Monday

Source: http://www.how-to-study.com/study-skills/en/other-helpful-articles/52/tutoring-and-its-benefits/

Remember that the students who failed the second term will have the make-up exam next Monday, the 28th March. So, please, study!

Challenge number 13

With this challenge we will learn how some people came into power and about women who hold important posts in politics. These are the questions: 

QUESTION 1

Here you have some pictures of heads of State or politicians from different countries. You will have to explain the posts they hold (or held) and how they seized power in their countries. 

BENITO MUSSOLINI

ADOLF HITLER

MUHAMMAD VI

HUGO CHÁVEZ

BASHAR AL- ASSAD

QUESTION 2

The following women hold important posts in their countries Who are they? What are their posts? As a clue, you will have their first name. 

MARY...

JULIA ...

TARJA ...

HILLARY ...

21th of march of 2011

Today in social sciences Kelly has been with us. First we have cheked the exercises nine to twelve, they were about the division of powers, the democracy and the political parties. After we have saw a power-point about the diferents types of non democratic states: absolute monarchy and dictatorship, and we have see some examples of dictators and states with an absolute monarchy. Finally Paqui has said to us that we have to do an scheme about the political organization of Spain. I’m very sorry because I am late, but I couldn’t write it before.

Source: http://juliebehling.blogspot.com/2010/07/signpost-14-its-good-to-be-king.html

Four more projects

We continue presenting some of the projects the students prepared about the secondary and tertiary sector. These four projects show us different activities of the tertiary sector: a furniture shop, a bank office, a transport company and some shops and supermarkets of the town where we live. We hope you like them and please, leave your comments. 

Open publication - Free publishing - More trade

Open publication - Free publishing - More bank

Open publication - Free publishing - More transport

Open publication - Free publishing - More trade

Types of States

Here you have the Powerpoint presentation we have used today to review the different types of States. Have a look on it, especially to the last slides. We haven´t had time to finish it during the lesson. Enjoy your trip on Wednesday and don´t forget to study (the people who have to make the second term up) and to do the homework!

Types of States

More about participatory democracy

Source: http://www.thepolisblog.org/2010/02/participatory-budgeting.html

Direct democracy is the real basis of democracy, the real rule of people. In participatory democracy citizens meet, discuss, value the different options and finally make decisions based on consensus. Maybe the process is longer, but it´s more satisfactory for the citizens and it contributes to the development of  citizen´s political awareness.

Source: http://home.getinvolvedwa.org/participatory_democracy.html

There have been different experiences of participatory democracy, especially in local governments. The most famous case is the one of the city of Porto Alegre in Brazil. More than 100,000 inhabitants of this city got involved in the decision making and they could decide on where the municipal budget should be invested. On the following link you can read more about Porto Alegre´s achievements:

http://www.participedia.net/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting:_Porto_Alegre

Source: http://www.torontohousing.ca/key_initiatives/community_planning

Source: http://www.progressivestates.org/node/22080

Here you can read a short history of paticipatory budgeting: 

http://www.watsonblogs.org/participatorybudgeting/historypb.html

There have been some experiences about participatory budgeting in Spain, such as in Córdoba, Seville, Barcelona, Albacete or Getafe. On this link you can find more information about this topic: 

http://www.presupuestosparticipativos.com/

And this is the link to Córdoba´s  and Seville´s town halls, where they explain how to take part in the process of decision making: 

http://planparticipativo.cordoba.es/como-participar.html

http://www.sevilla.org/presupuestosparticipativos/init.do

Qwiki: another useful tool

Here you have a new discovery that you can use to improve your pronounciation at the same time you learn new concepts or review the old ones. It´s called Qwiki (a new word formed by "quick" and "wiki") and it provides the users with the basic information about a wide range of topics by using different resources (audio, video, pictures, maps, graphs, animations, text...). These small "bites" of information are around one minute long and allow the users to have a clear and quick idea about a concept or topic. The creators have called it "the information experience". As a Wiki (colaborative website), users can improve it and correct it. It can also be embedded on a blog. Here you have an example of the Qwiki information about the concept "Republic". 

View Republic and over 3,000,000 other topics on Qwiki.

You can test this tool with other concepts we have studied this week, such as "monarchy", "head of State", "Constitution", "parliamentary system", "presidential system","unicameralism", "Parliament"... 

Challenge number 12

As we have been studying this week, some of the features of democracies are the practice of universal suffrage and a supreme law called Constitution, that includes the rights and duties of citizens and the explanation of the organization of the State and its insitutions. This week´s research will be focused on suffrage and Constitutions. 

QUESTION 1
How do we call the limited suffrage, reserved only to the people who have a specific economic status?


QUESTION 2

What was the first Spain´s Constitution to include universal male suffrage?

When was universal male suffrage definitively established in Spain?

QUESTION 3

When were women allowed to vote in Spain? Who was the deputy responsible for defending women right to vote in Spain? 

What happened during  Franco´s dictatorship with the women right to vote?

QUESTION 4

Here you have a scene of Mary Poppins, a film you may have seen many times. Watch it and answer the question below: 

What´s a suffragette?

QUESTION 5

What was the first written Constitution of the world? What type of suffrage did it include?

QUESTION 6

Amendements are corrections or changes made to the Constitution of a country. Here you have a cartoon that reflects the first 10 amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America. 

Source: http://www2.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/tips/bor.html

What have been the most important amendments made in the Constitution of the USA related to voting? Explain them. 

18/ 3 / 2011

Hello everybody!

Today in Social Sciences, Paqui has said us the final marks and she has said that we have to send her the projects about secondary and tertiary sector, so don't forget! Also she has talked about the make up exam, if you study you will able to pass, so luck in the exam!

After that, Yolanda Rubio, Beatriz Yuste and Yolanda Abad have checked the exercises about the democracy, Constitution and universal sulffrage. Paqui has explained us the universal sulffrage. It's all the people who have the legal age can vote, without exception.

Then we have to go on reading the unit and Paqui has explained us with summaries:

· The division of powers: power isn't concentrated, but divided into three parts and held by different institutions:

- Executive power, the Governmen.

- Legislative power, the Parliament

- Judicial power, the Courts of Justice.

· How can be democracy:

- Direct democracy -> the citizens make the decisions directly. Paqui has explained us the example of Albacete Town hall: 1,000,000,000 € are annual budget and 1/3 of the budget is administered by the citizens. The citizens of the different districts of the city meet in assemblies and decide how to invest the money.

- Representative -> the citizens choose their representatives and these representatives make the decisions. Spain is an example of this kind

At the end of the class Paqui has given us some exercises on page 66 (9 to 12) .

So this is all for today, that you'll have a good weekend!

See you soon!

PD: I want to remember that today one year ago we were in London!

Image: http://fondosdibujosanimados.com.es/wallpaper/Votar/

Five more projects

Here you have some more projects about the secondary and the tertiary sectors. These students have researched on different activities: telecommunications and electrical installations, industry, carprentry, transport and retail trade. We hope you like these projects and learn a lot of things about these activities. Please, leave your comments. 

Open publication - Free publishing - More services

Open publication - Free publishing - More services

Open publication - Free publishing - More carpentry

Open publication - Free publishing - More transport

Open publication - Free publishing - More industry

16th of March of 2011

Today in Social Science class, Ana Margarita has been with us. Paqui has worn her glasses, because her lenses were broken. Daniel Rodríguez has done the exam, because the other day he was ill and he couldn’t. First we have checked the exercises of homework. They were about what is a State, what is monarchy and what is a republic. Yolanda has checked some of them, because this term she is going to change, so she has done the homework. After that we have copied the meaning of Democracy: “demo” means people, and “cracy” means government.

Here we have a small joke about democracy:

Source: http://firgoa.usc.es/drupal/files/images/Mafalda-Democracia_5.gif

It is the people’s rule. Then we have spoken about the elections, they have to be bi universal suffrage, free, plural and periodic. In Spain there are every four years and the European Elections are every five years. At the end of the class we have copied a small scheme about constitution. It is a supreme law of a State. It includes rights, duties and institutions and organizations of the State. Finally we have to do exercises 6,7 and 8 of page 66 for homework.

Today in the class Paqui has explained us the protestant religion, because I have asked her about if they are protestant because they protest. It was founded by Martin Luther. They have shepherds and they can get married. In USA they have a lot of different churches and religions. In this religion was common the Gospel.

We have started to sing songs in English and in Spanish about mass. After that Paqui has taught us some words in Chinese, because the other day some friends from other groups told us that Paqui speaks in Valencian with them, so she has taught us some words in Chinese: Xie Xie, thanks; Nihao, hello and zaijian, bye.

Physical consequences of Japan earthquake

Source: http://storify.com/ajestream/use-your-time-wisely2?awesm=sfy.co_2Wc&utm_campaign=ajestream&utm_content=storify-share&utm_medium=sfy.co-twitter&utm_source=direct-sfy.co

As last year´s earthquake in Chile, Japan earthquake has moved Japan 4 metres to the East, has shifted the position of the Earth´s rotation axis and it has shortened the lenght of the day. These changes are  impreceptible, but you can imagine the magnitude of the quake. 

Source: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/iotd.html

For further information, you can visit the following links: 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12732335

http://www.universetoday.com/84068/japan-quake-may-have-shortened-earth-days-moved-axis/

More about earthquakes and nuclear hazard

The recent events in Japan have put the nuclear debate in the spotlight. Here you have some maps and additional information about the location of nuclear power plants in the world and the areas of seismic hazard. 

NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS IN THE WORLD

Source: http://nuclearinfo.net/Nuclearpower/CurrentReactors

NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS RELATED TO EARTHQUAKE ZONES

Source: http://maptd.com/worldwide-map-of-nuclear-power-stations-and-earthquake-zones/

USA COMMERCIAL NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS 

Source: http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/energy/blogs/nuclear-power-and-earthquake-zones-overlap-in-the-us

USA SEISMIC HAZARD 

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42103936/ns/world_news-asiapacific/

NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS IN SPAIN

Source: http://www.insc.anl.gov/pwrmaps/map/spain.php

SEISMIC HAZARD IN THE MEDITERRANEAN BASSIN

Source: http://www.seismo2009.ethz.ch/gshap/sesame/sesame99.html

And here you have the list of the largest earthquakes by magnitude and by number of victims: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_earthquakes#Largest_earthquakes_by_magnitude

The Iberian Peninsula suffered a huge earthquake in 1755. This was the Lisbon earthquake and it caused a tsunami that destroyed Portugal´s capital city: Here you have a map of the impact of this tsunami in the Atlantic Ocean: 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1755_Lisbon_earthquake

The first projects

Here you have three examples of the best projects the students have prepared about the secondary and tertiary sectors. The students had to interview someone who works in one of these sectors and prepare a report with the data they collected. The purpose of the project was to apply all the theoretical concepts we studied during the lessons and to get to know the real world where they live in a better and more practical way.

These three girls have worked really hard. We hope you like their projects. Please, leave your comments.

Open publication - Free publishing - More transport

Open publication - Free publishing - More calibration

Open publication - Free publishing

14th of March the 2011

Hello everyone !!

Today in the class , Kelly has been with us. Then, I have given the notebooks with very good marks. Afterwards, Kelly and Paqui have given the exams with very good marks as well. :)

Source: http://conbipastas.blogia.com/2011/030201.php

Then, we have started the new unit about the political organization of societies. Afterwards, we have copied the first scheme about "What is a State?" and then Kelly has read this first part. Then, we have copied the types of States: depending on the head of State and depending on the origin and the way of holding power. We can distingued the two types of republics, for example France and United States are examples of Presidential Republics because the president hold the executive power and while Germany and Italy both have presidents because it is the Parliment that holds the executive power. Afterwards, Paqui has talked about this presidents such as Christian Wulf in Germany and Giorgio Napolitano in Italy. People think that the president of Germany is Angela Merkel because she is the head of the government and holds the executive power. The president of the Republic has very little power, it's a representative figure, similar to the king in Spain. The features of monarchy are if the head of the State is a king. At first, monarchy was elective. At present, monarchy is hereditary and held for life.

Christian Wulf, Germany

Source: http://solpropertygroup.wordpress.com/2011/04/27/germanys-president-to-visit-costa-rica-next-week/

Giorgio Napolitano, Italy

Source: http://www.quirinale.it/qrnw/statico/lingue/es/es-nap-biografia.htm

Then, Kelly has continued reading the page 57. Finally, Paqui has given three exercises for homework. And the next class Paqui will said the marks of the second term.....