Sunday, February 14, 2016

Presentation of Unit 4 and new project suggestion

This is the presentation we are going to use for this unit:





My suggestion for a new project is the following: 

Write a small book with the story of a family of workers who live the industrial revolutions, the development of industrial capitalism, the new class-based society and the origins of the labour movement. Here you have some guidelines: 

- The members of the family must be at least three: one who lived at the end of the 18th century, one who lived in the first half of the 19th century and one who lived in the 2nd half of the 19th century: 

  • The first character should live the 1st Industrial Revolution: the demographic and agricultural revolution, migration to cities, the beginning of factory system, the development of the textile and iron and steel industries, the first innovations of transport revolution, the first workers' protests (Luddism, the appearance of class consciousness, mutual benefit societies and the first trade unions).
  • The second character should live the changes which led to the 2nd Industrial Revolution and explain the following content: the development of industrial capitalism, the new industries and new ways of organizing work and the new industrial concentrations and the development of the class-based society. As for the labour movement, this character should read about Utopian socialism or participate in New Lanark, New Harmony or the phalanstères and participate in the Chartist movement.  
  • The third character should tell about the consequences of the industrial revolutions, learn about the Marxist and anarchist ideas, choose one of these alternatives, take active part in the fight of the improvement of workers conditions and explain about International Workingmen's Association and its two stages.  

- The story should start in the countryside in Great Britain. Later your characters can travel or settle down in different places, but you have to be careful and keep historical accuracy. Here you have some timelines to keep historical accuracy in what you write: 

History of the Trade Unions in the United Kingdom: a very complete website. If you click on the different parts of the timeline, you will get a lot of information about strilkes, campaigns, workers' demands...:  

http://www.unionhistory.info/timeline/timeline.php

Timeline on Labour: it includes information of both the United Kingdom and the USA: 

http://timelines.ws/subjects/Labor.HTML

A beginners' guide to the history of the British trade union and working class movements: It includes a summary of the most important keystones of the British labour movement: 

http://www.grahamstevenson.me.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=690&Itemid=52

History of the socialist movement in  the United Kingdom: an article from the British Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_socialist_movement_in_the_United_Kingdom

- As the story has to take place in the United Kingdom, here you have some maps to locate your story: 







Source: http://websupport1.citytech.cuny.edu/faculty/pcatapano/WC2/wc2maps/16e_Map_19.02.jpg

As a suggestion, your first character could emigrate from the countryside to Manchester, to work in a textile factory, or Sheffield, to work in an iron and steel factory. Your third character could work in  a metalworking  factory in Sheffield or emigrate to Liverpool and work in the shipyards. 

- As the story will have to be written on a family book during the 19th century, remember that the sheets of your book should look old. Here you have a video that explains how to age the paper






- And here you have some videos about how to make a book







- The project should include drawings or pictures of what you are explaining. Drawings are more original, but as photography was invented in the 19th century, you can include some pictures in the last part of the story. 

The deadline for this project will be the 7th of March.  Those who fail the project or prefer to take the exam will do it during that week. 

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I think that's a great idea.

Lucía Villafranca said...

I don't know what I want to take!! I think both ideas take a lot of time, but of course, the idea of the book is original and for me that I love writting maybe the book is the best option. What should I do? :'(

Paqui Pérez Fons said...

Choose the option you will enjoy most. If you like writing, you can start right now, with the contents we have already studied. This way you can have one third of the project done by the end of this week. During the weekend you could start preparing the material. If you plan your work with time, you can do it very well. Bye!

Unknown said...

I find this project really good, it would be really creative and we could talk about everything we want. But I think I would spend too much time doing this project, so I'm almost sure I'll take the exam.

Lucía Villafranca said...

Hello Paqui, I have started writing right now, but I've a doubt. In which person does it have to be written? First or third? Thank you!!

Unknown said...

I have this doubt also, I prefer in third person, but... maybe Paqui want characters who explain their own experiences in first person.