Challenge number 17

This week we´ll start with history challenges. Here you have some questions related to the Catholic Monarchs´ background and a final question that explains one of the most crucial decisions they made during their rule: 

QUESTION 1

Both Isabella of Castile and Fernando of Aragon belonged to the Trastámara dynasty. What´s the origin of the word "Trastámara"? When did this house or dynasty appear?

QUESTION 2

Who was Beltrán de la Cueva? What was his role in the succession of Castile?

QUESTION 3

King Enrique IV, Isabella of Castile´s brother, was called "the Impotent". Why? Was this really true?

Enrique IV of Castile

QUESTION 4

What is the relation between the Succession War in Castile (1474-1479) and the exploration of the Atlantic Ocean and the "discovery" of new lands?

A new glog delivery

Here you have two more glogs about our international organizations´project: 

- Ángel Aranda has worked on the Food and Agriculture Organization, a UN specialized agency: 

- Manuel Cruz´s project is about the International Court of Justice, another institution included on the UN system: 

Click on the videos included on the glogs. They are short and interesting. And please, leave your comments. 

WEDNESDAY 27TH OF APRIL

Today in Social Sciences Paqui has said that the glogs are incomplete, except 9 blogs and the others blogs are not corrected. We have started with the new unit and the first unit of the history: "THE 15 TH CENTURY IN THE IBERIAN PENINSULA: THE CATHOLIC MONARCHY"

The first thing that we have done is the introduction of modern history, then we have continued with the index that is composed by 6 parts:

-Introduction

-How did the Catholic Monarchs became king and queen?

-Territories they conquered

-Reforms they made: Authoritarian Monarchy

-Economy and society in the Iberian Peninsula in the 15th

-Foreing policy and succession of the Catholic Monarch

In the introduction we have learnt that in the 15th century in the Iberian Peninsula there was 5 kingdons and were goverment for the catholic monarchy.

And also we learnt new vocabulary, for example:to appease, throne,heir.

Images:

http://anabelvedruna.wordpress.com/category/historia-historia/edad-moderna/reyes-catolicos/

http://conocerlahistoria.blogspot.com/2011/01/la-reconquista-cristiana-en-el-siglo.html

Freshly backed glogs!

Here you have the last finished glogs on the international organizations´ project. As usual, they appear in alphabetical order: 

- Rebeca García´s glog is about the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development: 

- Laura Muñoz has worked on the European Space Agency:

- And here you have Alejandro Torrillas´s project about ASEAN, the Asociation of Southeast Asian Nations: 

We´re waiting for your opinions. 

More finished glogs

Here you have the second group of glog projects about international organizations:

- Diego López Casero has worked on Interpol, the international police organization: 

- Mari Luz Ortiz  has prepared a glog about the Non Aligned Movement: 

- And Yolanda Rubio´s project is about the World Bank: 

Please, leave your comments about your classmates´ works.

The first glogs about international organizations

These are the first results of the project about international organizations:


- Javier Alberca has prepared a glog about the Organization of the Islamic Conference:

- Ana de la Fuente´s project is about the World Health Organization:

Please, leave your comments and opinions about your classmates´ glogs. And remember  that you have time to finish or improve your projects until next Monday. 

A glog example about Spain

Here you have a glog example with some links with additional information. Have a look on it. The link tool gives you the possibility of enlarging the information you want to offer to the readers. Use it to improve your glogs!

Friday 15/4/11

Today in Social Sciences we have been in the althia room, I have arrived the first and Paqui has told me to look for Meco and give her the key of the class.

Later I have come back with other students. Some minutes later, Silvia has entered to the althia shouting because she can´t go to the bandas. Some students have gone and Paqui was very angry with them.

Then I have started making a scheme about the FAO (food and agriculture organization). First I have included a description of the FAO and later I had included the history of the FAO and then some actions it takes part on developing countries. Later Juan Carlos has gone to the teacher computer and has started playing with the “class perfect”: taking the control of the computers. It was very funny because he could move our mouse.

At the end of the class some computers have had an error with the blue screen and some people have loosened what they had done.


Image: http://edpr1011.wikispaces.com/%C2%BFQu%C3%A9+necesitas+tener%3F

Challenge number 16

This week´s research will refer to two concepts linked to political geography. These are the questions you will have to answer:  

QUESTION 1

What is an enclave? Give an example.

QUESTION 2

What is an exclave? Give an example.

QUESTION 3

What are Spain´s enclaves?

Have a nice holiday time and work on your glogs.

Wednesday 13th of April

Today in Social Sciences at the beginning of the class we have been with the laptops because in the previous class we were finishing the newspaper, but we have put the laptops away. Then Paqui has given us the crossword of this Unit, she has told us to do it in fifteen minutes without looking the book and writting in a different colours the words that we didn't remember. Afterwards, we have checked the crossword and we have passed to a different exercise: a map about the different provinces of every autonomous communities of Spain, but we didn't remember most of them because we haven't talked about them since we were in the school. Paqui has showed us an interactive map on the whiteboard to complete our exercise. At the end of the class Paqui has told us to finish other exercise in which we have to write the capital city of each Autonomous
Community.

Source: Source: http://www.zimbio.com/Tattoos/articles/9jBjIIt2Wwa/european+union+logo+download

.

Source: http://andreasrecipes.com/2008/06/10/vegetable-paella/

Then the class has finished and Paqui has asked to write the journal and Daniel has said "Javi" and Paqui has told me to write the journal.

Some interesting information for us is that the exam of this Unit will have only one part if we pass the project that we have to do about the organizations of the world.

And remember to bring the memory stick and an idea about how are you going to do the work.

Bye!

Javi

Monday 11/04/2011

Today in Social Sciences, we have done the class in the computer room in the new building. When we have arrived, Paqui has given us two sheets with information about how to do a glog.

A glog is a type of poster that can be done with many designs. We will use this to do our projects about the international organizations. Here I put the steps to do a glog:

1. Go to http://edu.glogster.com/

2. Click on log in and write your nickname and your password.

3. Click on create new glog.

4. On the left side of the page you will find a menu with different options to create your glog like: graphics, text, image, video, sound, data, draw and wall.

We have to include in the glog the year of fundation of our international organization, its logo, a short history of the organization, its members, purposes and the problems of the organization. The deadline of the project is on Monday, 25th of April. Paqui has put in the blog a tutorial about who to use a glog.

Here you have some examples of glogs:

Source: http://www.edu.glogster.com

Sorry for the delay, but I can't write it before.

See you tomorrow, Juan Carlos

Glogster tutorial in 90 seconds and some advice

Here you have a very short video where you can learn  how to use Glogster Edu and create your own glogs very quickly. 


As for the project, remember to prepare a good scheme on paper to organize your information and a good summary that includes the compulsory sections. Don´t copy and paste. Use your own words to explain about your international organization. And finally, when you have all this, focus on the design and the create your glog. Remember the deadline and ask questions, if you have any doubts. You can use the Glogster Edu platform or the e-mail. Make your best!

Presentation about the UN and the EU

This is the Powerpoint presentation we have used this week to study the UN and the EU. Please, have a look on the last slides, which refer to the institutions of the European Union. It´s a little bit complicated, because different institutions hold executive power: 

- The Consilium or Council of the European Union: it´s the main decision making body of the Union. It´s formed by the ministers of the member States. Since the signature of the Lisbon Treaty, the Council has a permanent president, the Belgian Herman Van Rompuy, informally known as the President of the EU. At the same time, the presidency is held for six months by each member State on a rotational basis. From January to June 2011 the Presidency corresponds to Hungary. 

- The European Council: it´s the group formed by the heads of State or government of the EU. They are responsible for defining the general political direction and the priorities of the EU. It´s also presided by the President of the Consilium (Van Rompuy). The High Representative of Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (Catherine Ashton, British ) and the president of the Commission (José Manuel Durao Barroso) take part in the meetings as well. 

- The European Commission: it´s the executive branch of the EU. It´s similar to the government of the EU. The "ministers" are called commissioners and its president is the Portuguese José Manuel Durao Barroso. There is one commissioner per member State (27 at present). One of the vice-presidents is the Spanish Joaquín Almunia, who holds the Competition portfolio.

The legislative power is held by the European Parliament, formed by 736 members elected by the EU citizens every 5 years. Spain has 54 representatives in the European Parliament. 


And the judicial power is held by the European Court of Justice. 

8/ April/ 2011

Hello everybody!

Today we have had a very unpleasant lesson. There has been a big problem between Ángel and Paqui. They were discussing because Ángel didn't do his homework. Paqui has told us that we have the duty of doing our homework and we can't give excuses for that. We must do it. She has told us that she is not our friend, she's our teacher and we have to behave just as teacher and student. She has become very very angry, today we have probably seen her in a way that we have never seen her. I think all of us should take part in respecting her and the others, because if we don't respect them, therefore we will never respect ourselves.
Afterwards, we have continued with the lesson. Paqui has checked our schemes about the European Union, and she has done it on the blackboard so that we have seen our mistakes and the things which were missing in our schemes.
We have learnt a lot of things about the European Union. It was created in 1957 and little by little, it became bigger, that is, it started to have more and more members. The European Union has provoked a lot of problems between its members because there were economic differences between them, and the decisions they made, were so far from the interests of the members.
But it has caused positive impacts between the members, as well: it has improved their standards of living, it is a world economic power and they have a free market with a common currency.

We have learnt some new words:
- Bailout: rescate financiero.
- Currency: moneda oficial.
- Bureaucracy: burocracia.
- Noise pollution: contaminación acústica.
- Property speculation: especulación inmobiliaria.

We have also continued watching the PowerPoint, and it was about the things that the European Union shared and we have seen the photos of some of the presidents and the consilors of the European Union. Paqui has told us that Spain is an important power in the European Union and we are between the 5 most important powers in the European Union.
At the end of the class I have told Paqui that I wanted to write the journal and, for this reason I am writing it. You can tell me if I have forgotten things that we have done today, and I'll include them in the post.
I hope we don't have more lessons as this one, because it is very sad to see these situations.

See you!

Source: http://www.zimbio.com/Tattoos/articles/9jBjIIt2Wwa/european+union+logo+download

Challenge number 15

Source: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jeremywarner/100008620/stranger-and-stranger-grows-the-eus-bailout-fund/

This week you will have to research on the European Union currency. These are the questions:

QUESTION 1

What was the name of the previous European Union currency? When was the name "euro" officially adopted as the official currency of the European Union?

QUESTION 2

What´s the eurozone? What EU countries are included in the eurozone?

QUESTION 3

What other countries use the euro as official currency?

QUESTION 4

What are the requirements the EU countries have to meet if they want to adopt the euro as currency?

QUESTION 5

What institution is in charge of the eurozone´s monetary policy? Where is its headquarters located?

QUESTION 6

The Eurogroup (the group formed by the finance ministers of the eurozone) has recently approved bailouts to solve the economic problems of the financial systems of three countries whose currency is the euro. Which are these countries? What is the amount of the bailout they have received (or will receive)?

7 of april 2011

Yesterday i couldn't write the journal because today we have done 2 exams. Yesterday we read the international organizations. After the two world wars, many states of the world created international organizations with dieffernt purposes to act collectively and be more powerful in the defense of their common interests. We have learnt the different international organizations;

- Political organizations: The United Nations (UN), The American States Organization, the African Union Organizations, the European Union (EU).

- Economic organizations: The World Trade Organization (WTO) , the North American Free Trade Agreements (NAFTA) , the International Monetary Fund (IMF) , the World Bank, Mercosur.

-Military organizations: the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

There are two examples or international organizations:

-The Security Council, formed by 5 permanent members (USA, United Kingdom, France, China and Russia. they have the right of vetoing the resolutions of the Assembly they don't agree with) and 10 non permanet members.

-The General Assembly, formed by the representatives of all the members.

The United Nations has differents agencies that work in different fields:

WHO, UNESCO, ACNUR, UNICEF, FAO.

The UN has a peace force, the Blue Helmets.

The EU

The European Economic Community (EEC) was created in 1957, with the signature of the Treaty of Rome.Six countries signed and economic agreement that allowed the free movement of goods, services, capitals and people in their countries.

Sorry for the late.

Veto power in the United Nations

To veto means to reject a decision made by someone and to have the right of stopping the application of this decision. There are five countries in the United Nations that have the right of vetoing the decisions made by other countries. These five nations are China, the USA, Russia, the United Kingdom and France, the winners of World War 2. They are permanent members of the Security Council, the executive branch of the UN. Throughout the history of the UN, they have used their veto power to stop resolutions that were non convenient for their interests. This is an important handicap to the effectiveness of the United Nations.

This graph shows the current composition of the Security Council:

Source: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/11/08/103390/obama-takes-indias-side-with-un.html

 This graph shows the use of veto by every permanent member of the Security Council from 1946 to 2005: 

Source: http://mondediplo.com/maps/unveto

On this link you can read more about the use every country has made of the veto power: 

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

And the following cartoons criticize the use of the veto power: 

Source: http://heatherfreitag.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/the-dip-in-diplomacy/

Source: http://www.cartoonmovement.com/cartoon/404

Source: http://es.toonpool.com/cartoons/UN%20security%20council%20-%20Burma_7263#img9

Source: http://uprootedpalestinians.blogspot.com/2010/10/hiding-truth-behind-euphemisms.html

Monday, 4th April

Today in Social sciences Kelly has been with us, we have cheked the exercises about  political organization in Spain. Paqui has written a scheme about Spanish Constitution I'm going to explain it:
CHAPTERS
-RIGTHS AND DUTIES                      -LEGISLATIVE                                
-ORGANIZATION OF THE STATE   -JUDICIAL
-MONARCHY                                     -CONSTITUTIONAL TRIBUNAL
-EXECUTIVE                                       - AUTONOMOUS COMMUNITIES
-ADDITIONAL ARTICLES ABOUT THE PROCESS OF PERFORM
 

Source: http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/averroes/sanwalabonso/wqyct/ct_constitucion/index.htm

 Then we have read about Spanish electoral system, while Paqui was doing us a scheme about it and such as, we did'nt understand it, Paqui has explained it in Spanish.
SPANISH ELECTORAL SYSTEM
-CLOSED LISTS: Citizens vote for lit prevously decided by the political parties
-PROVINCES: ELECTORAL DISTRICTIS
-SEATS: -ASSIENEIS IN RELATION TO POPULATION
               -DISTRIBUTION ACCCORDING TO THE D'HONT LAW

-REFORM PETITIONS: Open lists and a national district

Source: http://villalbamagenta.wordpress.com/2010/03/01/

BY: Yolanda Abad Iniesta

More about the reform of the Spanish electoral system

Source: http://cowell.ucsc.edu/votes/home/

There have been different attempts of reforming the LOREG (Ley Orgánica del Régimen Electoral General). The last one was based on a report the State Council prepared for the Government. The State Council concluded that the electoral system is disproportioned and benefits the biggest parties and the least populated provinces, because it assures every province a minimum of two deputies in the Congress. The State Council proposed to enlarge the number of deputies from the present 350 to 400 and to assign only one deputy per province. 

Source: http://www.publico.es/detalle-imagen/214149/?c=http://www.publico.es/espana/214149/la-ley-electoral-que-propone-el-consejo-de-estado-prima-al-pp

Here you have a more detailed explanation of this proposition: 

http://www.publico.es/espana/214149/la-ley-electoral-que-propone-el-consejo-de-estado-prima-al-pp

This proposition was debated in the Congress last year and it was refused. The biggest parties and the nationalist and autonomous parties voted against this reform: 

http://www.publico.es/espana/302023/el-congreso-cierra-el-debate-de-la-reforma-electoral

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/PSOE/PP/bloquean/reforma/sistema/electoral/elpepuesp/20100317elpepunac_26/Tes

And this is complete text of the LOREG:

http://noticias.juridicas.com/base_datos/Admin/lo5-1985.html

Corrections to the charts of the Spanish electoral system

I´ve revised the charts included on the book and there were some mistakes. Here you have the corrections: 

On the first chart I coloured 8 boxes in yellow, instead of 7 and one of them was wrong. The most voted party gets 3 seats, the second party gets 3 seats and the third one gets only 1 seat. If there were 8 seats to be assigned, party number 1 would get the eighth seat with 85,000 votes. This is the right chart:

	PARTY 1	PARTY 2	PARTY 3	PARTY 4	PARTY 5
SEAT 1	340,000  (1st seat)	280,000  (2nd seat)	160,000  (4th seat)	60,000	15,000
SEAT 2	170,000  (3rd seat )	140,000  (5th seat)	80,000	30,000	7,500
SEAT 3	113,333  (6th seat)	93,333  (7th seat)	53,333	20,000	5,000
SEAT 4	85,000	70,000	40,000	15,000	3,750
SEAT 5	68,000	56,000	32,000	12,000	3,000
SEAT 6	56,667	46,667	26,667	10,000	2,500
SEAT 7	48,571	40,000	22,857	8,571	2,143

And here you have the corrections to the second chart, about the percentage of votes and the percentage of seats obtained. When I wrote this, I rounded the numbers up. This is why it didn´t make 100.

	PARTY 1	PARTY 2	PARTY 3	PARTY 4	PARTY 5
PERCENTAGE OF VOTES RECEIVED	39.76%	32.74%	18.71%	7.01%	1.75%
PERCENTAGE OF SEATS WON	43%	43%	14%	0%	0%

Source: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistema_D'Hondt

And finally, here you have three flash animations of past elections that will help you to understand better the assignment of seats: 

http://www.elecciones.mir.es/generales2008/i_visita8.html

http://www.elmundo.es/elecciones2000/cifras/graficodhont.html

http://terranoticias.terra.es/elecciones-2004/ley-dhont/

How much do public servants earn in Spain?

Here you have some data about the salaries the people who hold the most important posts in Spain receive for their services: 

- The Royal family receives 8.43 million € in 2011. According to the Constitution, they don´t have to explain their expenses. 

http://www.casareal.es/laCasa/laCasa-ides-idweb.html

- The President of the Government earns 6,515.42 € per month (78,185 € per year). The Vicepresidents earn 6,123.86 € per month and the Ministers 5,748.49 € (68,981 € annually).


http://www.cincodias.com/articulo/economia/Zapatero-mantendra-2011-sueldo-mensual-651542-euros/20100930cdscdseco_17/

- The President of the Congress earns 11,934.9 € monhtly and a normal deputy, without any specific responsibility, earns 2,813.87 € per month. But they also receive subsistence and travelling allowances if they are representatives of provinces outside Madrid and they receive complements if they belong to panels as well.


http://www.congreso.es/portal/page/portal/Congreso/Congreso/Diputados/RegEcoyProtSoc/regimen_economico_diputados.pdf


 - As for the President of the Senate, his salary is 10,352.12 € per month. Senators receive a basic salary of 2,813.91 €, but they also get similar subsistence and travelling allowances as the deputies and they receive different complements, depending on the panels they belong to. 


http://www.senado.es/legis9/senadores/regimen_economico.pdf


- The Spanish deputies in the European Parliament earn 6,200.72 monthly and they receive travelling and subsistence allowances in addition.


http://www.zfinanzas.es/cuanto-cobran-eurodiputados/

- Here you have the salaries of the Presidents of the Autonomous Communities and the mayors of the largest cities: 

http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/859123/0/sueldo/politicos/espanoles/

- And the last links refer to the salaries the judges receive in Spain: 

http://www.diba.cat/cemical/es/actualidad/ficheros/salario_altos_magistrados5D01_12_10.pdf

http://www.publico.es/espana/316976/los-jueces-se-rebelan-contra-su-recorte-por-desproporcionado

http://www.larazon.es/noticia/5715-los-jueces-del-constitucional-se-bajan-el-sueldo-un-15