This day in history: Martin Luther and the 95 Wittenberg Theses: beggining of Lutheranism and Protestant Reformation

Hi mates! Do you remember two years ago when we studied Lutheranism and the Protestant Reformation?
Well, today, but 498 years ago, Martin Luther pinned the 95 Theses on the doors of the Wittenberg Church as a protest of what the Dominicans were doing.
One of the things which the Dominicans did to collect money to rebuild St. Peter's Basilica, in Rome, was selling indulgences to the sinners in order to eliminate their sins; the unique incentive of Luther to write the '95 Theses' was to observe how the Dominicans abused of the people.

In the '95 Theses' he rejected the intermediaries between people and God, and expressed his opinion about the equality of the people to God, the unique who could saved or absolve our sins. The Clergy and the court tried to avoid the spreading of the '95 Theses' but they were copied and diffused before it..
In 1521 the Protestant Reformation started when Luther rejected to recant 41 of his thesis


This link will redirect you to Martin Luther's page, where you could found the 95 Theses, and I invite you to watch the film about this,'Luther' it's very interesting and entertaining and you will be able to understand better all this information.

See you!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ninety-Five_Theses
A replica of the 95 Theses, in Wittenberg                                                     

http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/l/lutero.htm
Martin Luther's portrait

Thursday, 29th October 2015.

Hi, I’m Benjamín, I’m going to explain what we have done today in Social Sciences class.

At the beginning of the class we have handed in the project “My Travel Journal”. Then Paqui has copied the index of the Unit 2; “The 18^th century and the crysis of the ancient régime.” on the blackboard.

The main contents of the unit are:

1. The Ancient Régime.
2. Enlightenment.
3. Political changes.
4. Spain in the 18^th century.

Then Paqui has started to explain: THE ANCIENT RÉGIME.

Definition: The Ancient Régime (Old Régime) was a term used by the French revolutionaries to define all they wanted to get rid of. It refers to the features of the European societies during the Modern Age (15th-18th centuries): 

  · Demography: low and slow population growth due to high mortality rates, carried by deficient · hygiene, bad harvest, epidemics…
  · Politics: Absolute Monarchy was the predominant political system; the king held all the power.
  · Society: it was based on inequality and divided into estates; there were two groups of people:
                   -Privileged: they were nobles and clergy.
                   -Underprivileged: they were the bourgeoisie, the workers and the peasants.
  · Economy: the main economic activity was subsistence agriculture.

After the Ancien Régime, Paqui has explained a little bit about the power pyramid and the population pyramid, which I have included below:

Source: Population Pyramid

Source: Power Pyramid

After that, Paqui has explained to us The Changes in the 18^th century:

   -it was a period of relative peace in Europe

   -population grew considerably in Europe

   -the population increased led to a bigger demand for all type of products.

Paqui has also explained that in this unit we could choose between taking the exam of this unit or doing a project. If we choose the project, we will have to write a song about the contents of the unit. 

Vocabulary:

-Angry smurf: pitufo gruñón

-Barefoot: descalzo

-Enlightenment: ilustración

-Estate: estamento

-Get rid of: deshacerse

-Inland trade: comercio interior

-Tithe: diezmo

-Trend: tendencia

-Lice: piojos

-Louse: piojo

Homework:

For homework we have to finish the scheme of the Ancien Régime.

Presentations of Unit 2

These are the two presentations we'll use in this unit. You can use them to have an idea of the contents and start looking for inspiration, just in case you want to participate in the songs' project: 

Projects of the Austrias in Spanish

As we don't have a blog in the group of Spanish in 4th ESO, I'm uploading here the board games they made. They were also very interesting and funny projects:

- This game has a very original gameboard with the shape of a shield. The game is similar to parchesi, but you have to come back to the same square you started the game. You have to answer questions and there is also a bad square: the Inquisition Court.  Here you have a picture of the girls who made this project: Lucía Rodríguez, Devisa Pavel, Pilar Moratalla and Lucía Horta. 

- This team used an idea they learned last year in Technology. They made a connect game, with different questions and answers they had to connect with two electric pens. If the answer is correct, the lamp switches on. We had a lot of problems with the design and questions, because the team didn't work coordinately, but finally they corrected all the spelling and grammar mistakes and made me happy. Here you have a picture of the boys with their game "Conecta con los Austrias". They are Rodrigo Orduña, David Ortiz, Soufiane El Karboubi and Manuel Palomino.  

- The last project was made by Marta Pueblas, Patricia Pérez and Eva Mª Pérez. They created a board game using plywood. Their game included two boxes of questions corresponding to Charles I and Philip II reigns, but these boxes also included questions about the other contents (the Indies, and the other monarchs of the House of Austria). This was a little confusing. That's why our suggestion was dividing the squares into the 16th and 17th centuries or into three different types of squares, including another box for the Indies.

And finally, here you have a picture of the whole group. They have insisted to take one: 

Tuesday, 27th October

Hi, I¨m Carlota.
Today in social science Paqui starting talking about the English Revolutions.
There are two English Revolutions:

The first startaed in 1648:

• CHARLES I: he tried to rule as an absolute monarchy without the control of the Parliament. He arrested and executed those who opposite him.

• The consequences of the revolution are because the Parliament rebelled and a civil war started.
• Charles was decapitated and the Republic was proclaimed.
• OLIVER CROMWEL was the strongest man of the English Republic. He acted as a dictator. Was appointed Protector Lord. When he died, monarchy was restablish.

• CHARLES II was Charles I's son. He had to accepted the control of the Parliament and the Habeas Corpus that means: "You are innocent until proven the opposite". At his death the Duke of York (his brother) became king. He reigned as James II.

The second Revolution started in 1668:

• JAMES II: he reigned only for three years. He was a catholic who wanted to restore Catholicims in England. This led him to confrontations with the Parliament. A new revolution against absolutims started.

• WILLIAM OF ORANGE (1168-1702). He dethrone James II and became the king of England with the condition of limiting his power. In 1689 he swore the BILL OF THE RIGHTS (limited the king's power and put some decitions under the control of the Parliament).

• England was the first country to have a limited monarchy and the powers were separated: executive (king) and the legislative ( Parliament)

We have also been talking about the preferences of each one of us on the republics or monarchies.

 Five of my classmates prefer the republic because they say that being in a democratic country, we must choose who we want. 

Paqui has also spoken about CULTURE: THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION.

I

• Science and thinking made big progress with the development of the Espiricism and the Rationalism.
• ESPIRITIMS: It the method of knowledge and research based on experience. Galileo Galilei: he improved the telescope and he defended the heliocentric theory of Nicolas Copernicus ( he explains that the Sun doesn´t turn around the Earth, unlike). He was arrested by the Inquisition an had to lie to save.

HELIOCENTRIC THEORY

• RATIONALISM: René Descartes: who defended the use of doubt as a method to know the world and he propose the mathematic language as a model on which to base knowlaedge. His exposed his ideas on the Discourse on the Method.

• ACADEMIES: some kings were conscious of the importance of scientific knowledge and they founded academies. 

ROYAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCE

ART AND LANGUAGES IN PARIS.

ROYAL SOCIETY IN LONDON.