Projects about Spain in the 20th-21th centuries

This post will include your projects. I'll embed them once you upload them on Youtube. The names of the students of every group appear in alphabetical order. Please, leave your comments about the other students' projects here, on the Comments' section. 

ALPHONSE XIII'S REIGN (1902-1931)

Project made by Laura Bustamante and Cristina Rodríguez de la Guía: 

Project made by Andrea Balaban, Juan Iniesta, Roxana D. Marica and Cristina Mínguez

THE 2nd REPUBLIC (1931-1936)

Project made by  Alicia Díaz- Ropero, Marta Gómez and Carmen Lucía Utrilla

Project made by Miguel Bustamante, Enrique Manzanares, Mónica P. Palasanu and Carlos Rivas

THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR (1936-1939)

Project made by Paloma Gómez de la Cueva and Gema Ortiz

Project made by Werselio Escribano, Salva Fuentes, Fernando García (Finally!)

FRANCO'S DICTATORSHIP (1939-1975)

Project made by Fernando Marcos, Gonzalo Martínez and Javier Morales 

Project made by Laura Casero, Raquel Ortiz and Pilar Quirós

DEMOCRACY (1975-2013)

Project made by Elena Escribano, Isabel Pilar Rodríguez and María Torres:

Project made by Ángel Manuel Abad, Jesús Ignacio Morales and Enrique Pérez

Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady

Source: http://www.cagle.com/2013/04/iron-lady/#.UWSBBqIqySo

You probably don't know anything about Margaret Thatcher, former prime minister of the United Kingdom, who passed away yesterday. But the influence of the policies she put into practice on our current lives is so strong that you may be interested in learning a little about her.

Margaret Thatcher was the first (and only for the moment) woman who became prime minister in the UK. She belonged to the Conservative Party and, together with Ronald Reagan in the USA, launched what has been called the "conservative revolution": a series of economic decisions with the purpose of reducing the Welfare State benefits, privatizing public companies, deregulating the financial system and reducing the workers' rights. In fact, these policies meant a regression of the standards of living of  most  of the population, which had constantly increased since the end of WW2, and the increase of the differences of wealth between workers and the richer people. Margaret Thatcher's governments also opposed to a bigger integration in the European Union and followed a die-hard policy against the labour movement and Northern Ireland  independentists. The Falklands (Malvinas) War  against Argentina gave her a lot of popularity and contributed to her re-election in 1983. The economic recovery contributed to increase her popular support in the United Kingdom and she won the elections again in 1987, but in 1990 she was forced to leave the government when she lost the support of her own party. Her strong-willed and stubborn personality contributed to the extension of the nickname "Iron Lady" to refer to Thatcher. She was also called "the milk snatcher", because when she was secretary of Education between 1970 and 1974 she decided to eliminate free milk for children in schools in order to cut expenses. 

It is said that Margaret Thatcher was either loved or hated. In several parts of the UK there have been celebrations for Thatcher's death, especially in the places that suffered the consequences of her policies:  Scotland, Northern Ireland, former industrial cities, such as Liverpool, and some London suburbs, like Brixton: 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-death-party-brixton-glasgow

There are several British films which show the consequences of Thatcher's policies in the UK; such as The Full Monty (industrial reconversion) , Brassed off , Billy Elliott (mines' closures) or  The Navigators (privatization of railway lines). 

If you want to learn more about Margaret Thatcher, here you have the link to the BBC special report about her: 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22067257

And this is a survey about her policies made by The Guardian : 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/09/thatcher-flagship-policies-guardian-icm-poll

Source: http://blogs.post-gazette.com/index.php/opinion/rob-rogers-cartoons



Source: http://thecontributor.com/humor/six-political-cartoons-refuse-sugar-coat-thatchers-legacy

The checks and balances system in the USA Constitution

Source: http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/lesson_13_notes.htm

Here you have some additional information to learn more about the system of checks and balances designed in the USA Constitution to prevent abuse of power. This short video explains how every branch of power controls the other ones and how there is also a balance between the power of the Federal Government and the power of the States: 

And this is a more extended document: 

http://americanhistory.about.com/od/usconstitution/a/checks_balances.htm

Graphic book about Restoration

Here you have the project made by Andrea Balaban and Sara Gil. They recycled an old book and explained the Restoration period in Spain. Thanks again to Mari Carmen Lázaro for the pictures. Please, click on the pictures if you want to enlarge them to read the content and see the details. 

 

The Democratic Sexenio in comic strip

Here you have one of the two comic strips the students have prepared to explain the Spanish history during the second half of the 19th century. Alejandro Torrillas prepared a very creative and historically accurate comic strip about the Democratic Sexenio. I would like to thank Mª Carmen Lázaro, the Art teacher, who has had the idea of taking pictures of the comic strips and sending them to me, so that I can upload them here. She´s been so kind!

Please, click on the pictures to enlarge and enjoy the comic!

Presentation about the Restoration period in Spain(1875-1902)

Here you have this presentation about the Restoration of the monarchy in Spain. Please, use it to create your  projects.

Help for your projects

Satirical drawing about the Democratic Sexenio

La Madeja Política. 

Source: https://plus.google.com/photos/116556522236177469248/albums/5608014312214420609/5608014698530431538?banner=pwa

Here you have the basic instructions for the next project:

Deadline: Thursday, 19^th March

Topic: the different periods of the Spanish history during the 2^nd half of the 19^th century: Isabella II´s reign (1843-1868), the Democratic Sexenio (1868-1874) and the Restoration (1875-1902)

The project will consist of preparing either a comic strip of at least two pages or a short video (not more than 5 minutes) and explaining the most important facts of every historical period.

If you choose the video option, you can make your drawings on paper, on a whiteboard or you can make plasticine puppets. Here you have some examples of what you could do:

-        - Paper drawings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2QVs4tGAWU&feature=plcp&context=C3d104beUDOEgsToPDskKQ0o44nt0bFy2zAYyLtUKu  

-         -  Whiteboard drawings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8m8OC9aOGM&feature=plcp&context=C3034a42UDOEgsToPDskLxUDZz_svdP_3OQ0VT1pxI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOP2V_np2c0

-         -  Plasticine puppets:

http://www.wallaceandgromit.com/films/loafanddeath/gallery.html


I´ve created a Youtube special account, so that you can upload the videos there when you finish them. Ask me about the password when you´re ready to upload your work. 

Organization: You can do the project individually or in groups of no more than 3 students. On Monday the 5th March you will have to tell me if you´re preparing the project on your own or the members of your group, if you´re working with other people. We´ll also have a lottery to decide what historical period everybody is going to work on. If you work in groups, you will have to make sure that every member of the group works.

Useful advice:

-       Although design is a decisive part of this project, don´t forget that content is the most important thing. That´s why you should start preparing a good scheme of the period and an outline of the different parts you are going to develop.

-       After this, you should research on the historical period you have to work on: the physical aspect of the most important figures, anecdotes, satirical newspapers and magazines of that time. Here you have a link to a satirical magazine called La Flaca:

http://revistalaflaca.blogspot.com/p/solo-las-caricaturas.html

-       When you have all the information you need, it will be time to write the script of what you´re going to say/write. Finally, you can start preparing the material part of the project.

Assessment: I will take different aspects into account: historical accuracy of the contents, clarity in the development of the ideas and originality. A good project should include all these requirements. In case you work in groups, you will have to fill an assessment sheet, to give a mark to every member of the group.

PowerPoint presentation for Unit 5

Here you have the new PowerPoint presentation to study the new unit. It includes all the information for points 1 and 2: the unifications of Italy and Germany, the Age of Empires and colonialism.

Joseph I´s satirical drawings

Joseph I was the centre of many jokes during his rule in Spain. Here you have a selection of caricatures against him: 

 All the images above have been uploaded from the following site: http://bib.cervantesvirtual.com/portal/reyes_y_reinas/pcuartonivel.jsp?conten=imagenes&pagina=imagenes3.jsp

Source: http://numismatico.wordpress.com/2010/06/23/las-piezas-grandes-de-jose-i/

If you want to learn something more about Joseph I as king of Spain, here you have some links in Spanish: 

http://www.elmundo.es/suplementos/magazine/2008/437/1202649365.html

http://www.publico.es/culturas/75557/jose-i-el-rey-de-las-buenas-intenciones

Presentation about the French Revolution

Here you have the PowerPoint presentation we are using to study this unit. Use it if you need to complete some exercises and take advantage of it to review the pictures. See you on Monday.

Presentation about Spain during the 18th century

At Mari Luz´s request, here you have the PowerPoint presentation about Spain during the 18th century. It includes the War of Spanish Succession and Philip V, Ferdinand VI and Charles III´s reigns. 

The Twelve Interesting Amendments

Here you have a funny video I always remember when we study the Constitution of the USA and its amendments. It´s a piece of a film called Born yesterday. It tells the story of a businessman (John Goodman) who wants to make business in Washington and has an ex-showgirl girlfriend (Melanie Griffith). As he needs to make contacts with very rich and polite people, he hires a journalist (Don Johnson) to teach his girlfriend general culture  and how to behave in social gatherings and business dinners. The scene of the video shows Billie, the girl, during a business dinner teaching all these important people some of the amendments to the USA Constitution. She has memorized them changing the lyrics to the song On the first day of Christmas. As you know from your recent experience, this is a very useful and funny way of learning something. The video is subtitled in English, so you can sing, if you want ;)

Presentation about the 18th century

Here you have the PowerPoint presentation we are using in this unit. It includes the following contents:

- The Ancien Régime

- Enlightenment

- The independence of the 13 British colonies of North America and the foundation of the USA.

Review it if you need to complete some exercise or scheme you didn´t copy during the lessons.

2011-2012 Challenges. Number 5

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Diderot_-_Encyclopedie_1ere_edition_tome_4.djvu

Let´s learn a little more about the Encyclopedia, one of the most important Enlightenment legacies. Two French philosophers, Denis Diderot and Jean Rond D´Alembert had the idea of compiling all world´s knowledge in one book. This was the origin of the Encyclopedia as we knew it, before Wikipedia appeared. 

QUESTION 1

What does the word "Encyclopedia" mean?

QUESTION 2

Prior to the French Encyclopedia, there were some other projects of compiling knowledge in the past. What was the first of these projects, during the Roman Empire?

QUESTION 3

In the 7th century a Visigothic bishop wrote a 20 volume work that included all the knowledge of that period. Who was this wise man? What was the title of his work?

QUESTION 4

The Chinese also wrote their own encyclopedic book in the 15th century. How many volumes did this reference book have? How many copies of this book were made? What happened to this work?

QUESTION 5

What was the origin of the project of the French Encyclopedia?


QUESTION 6
Why was the publication of the Encycopledia so controversial?


QUESTION 7
Why was the Encyclopedia included in the Index of Forbidden Books in 1759?


QUESTION 8
Diderot and D´Alembert got the support of some important figures in the French court. One of them was the king´s mistress. She promoted culture and art and there is a legend that tells that she loved taking a specific drink and she was involved in the design of a piece of crockery. Who was this woman? What piece of crockery was inspired on her?

Bring your 4th year book next Monday

Next week we are going to start studying Contemporary History. In my opinion, this is one of the most interesting historical periods, because we can find many keys there to understand present world. We´ll study the fights for many of the rights we enjoy in the Western world now and we´ll also study the reasons for present inequality in other parts of the world. I hope you all enjoy learning as much as I will do teaching these contents. Don´t forget bringing your new books. Have a nice weekend.