Presentations to study Unit 4

These are the presentations we are going to use to study the different economic sectors. Have a look on them to prepare your questions:

Presentations used in Unit 3

Here you have the presentations we used to study Unit 3. Sorry, for the delay. I thought I had already embedded them:

 

2016-2017 projects: Political maps electronic quiz board

This was a joint project with the Technology department. It consisted of an electronic matching game to learn the countries of the world and their capital cities. Thanks to theTechnology teachers Theo and Almudena for their contribution to the technical part of the project.

2016-2017 school year projects (Spanish)

These are some of the projects done in my groups in Spanish last year:

- MIDDLE AGES ESTATE-BASED SOCIETY (2nd ESO)

The students worked in groups to learn about the different social groups in the Middle Ages. They studied the monarchs, the nobles, the clergy and the peasants. Later, they had to explain their discoveries to the rest of the classroom and they could dress up to do it. Here are some of the pictures.

MONARCHS

Hugo, Victoria and Salma.

Rocio, Adriana, Álex and José Manuel

NOBLES

Marta, David and Lorena

Diana, Lucía, Arturo and Mohamed

CLERGY

Daniel, Lucía and Anita

PEASANTS

 Laura, Adrián, Arancha and Inés

Beatriz, Choni, Pablo and Juan Miguel

- CITIES (2nd ESO)

The students had to reflect what they had learnt about urban landscapes. They could choose among designing a poster, building a model of one of the different types of city plans or the different parts of a specific type of city. These are some of the projects they did: 

 RADIOCENTRIC LAYOUT

 URBAN FUNCTIONS

POSTERS

GRID LAYOUT

IRREGULAR LAYOUT

- BOARD GAME ABOUT THE IBERIAN PENINSULA IN THE MIDDLE AGES (2nd BACHILLERATO)

Even if 2nd BACHILLERATO is a difficult year for the students, some of them did a voluntary project consisting of a board game about the Iberian Peninsula in the Middle Ages. It was good to see them relaxed while playing, after a whole week of stress. 

Challenge number 11

This week´s challenge will be a "superquestion". The superquestion was the last part of a legendary TV contest, El tiempo es oro (Time is gold). This show was broadcasted between 1987 and 1992 and it was presented by Constantino Romero. In the final part of the show the contestant had to solve three linked questions. The answer to the first question allowed the contestant to go on with the second one and the answer to this one gave the clue to the third and definitive answer. The contestants could use several encyclopedias and dictionaries to solve the questions. You can do the same with your superquestion. As we´re starting a new unit next week, let´s review a little bit!

QUESTION 1

What body of water is this one? Where is it located (continent and country)?

QUESTION 2

One of the countries next to this body of water has five places considered as World Heritage Sites by the UNESCO. Which country is this? What´s its capital city? What of these World Heritage Sites is represented on the following image? Why was this city so important during the Middle Ages?

QUESTION 3

Explain what type of government the country where the body of water and the city of the pictures are located has.

And remember, don´t copy and paste! Write your own answers. You have time until Sunday, 22:00. 

Record prices due to overfishing

Some days ago two Japanese sushi restaurants paid almost 300,000 € for a bluefin tuna (red tuna) of 342 kilos. This was the highest price ever paid for a fish in the world. Overfishing has almost exhausted wild red tuna and there is a real danger of extinction of this species. This is why red tuna is so expensive. Last November, the ICCTA (International Commision for the Conservation of the Atlantic Tuna) decided to reduce fishing catches of red tuna in 4%, so this fish can recover, but this is not enough for the ecologists.

Here you have more information about the record price for a bluefin tuna in Japan: 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12117010

Ecologists´campaign for the reduction of tuna catches: 

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/oceans/tuna/

Geography exam

I´ve corrected all the maps you gave me on Friday and I´ve sent an e-mail to the students who will have to do the exam, because they haven´t passed the maps or brought them late. So, please, check your mailbox. If you don´t have any message, this means you´ve passed. I´ll give you the maps back tomorrow at second period. You will know the final marks of Unit 1 on Wednesday.

The students who will have to do the exam can use this link to prepare it and to review:

http://www.xtec.cat/~ealonso/flash/flashmaps.htm

I hope you study more than you´ve worked on the project and on the maps.

Monsoons

Yesterday, during Asia´s presentations, Alejandro explained the big influence of monsoon winds in the south and East of Asia. Here you have some more information about these periodic winds. Periodic winds blow in different directions depending on the season of the year. The reason for these different directions lies on the Earth´s revolution around the Sun movement. Here you have an animation where you can learn the process of formation of monsoon winds:

http://www.iesalbayzin.org/descargas/AnimacionesBio-Geo/WebCTMA/Monsoons.swf

On the picture below you can observe that monsoons blow from the continent to the ocean in winter and on the other way around in summer. In winter the winds are cold and dry. In summer the winds are hot and wet and they produce abundant precipitation. Floods are frequent in the area affected by the monsoons.

Source: http://staff.harrisonburg.k12.va.us/~cwalton/solpracticegeographytwo.htm

On the second image you can oberve the effects the monsoons have caused in Pakistan this last summer. You can have an idea of the area flooded by observing the normal Indus´ river course and the overflowing produced by the torrential rainfall of the summer monsoon. The flood covered almost one third of the Pakistani territory.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Pakistan_floods



Thematic maps for the projects

Source: CIESIN, Columbia University

Here you have an interesting link to get visual information for your projects. It´s the website of the CIESIN, the Center for International Earth Science Information Network, an institution of the Columbia University, one of the most prestigious universities of the U.S.A and worldwide. The CIESIN website hosts a collection of thematic maps that can be used to show different aspects of the Earth: climates, vegetation (biomes), landforms, population density... You can use these maps to prepare your presentations:

http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/place/mapCollection/All

Watermelon snow

Watermelon snow in Sierra Nevada, central California

Photographer: W.P.Armstrong

Today, when we were reviewing cold climates, Dani Pintado has reminded watermelon snow. This is a curious natural phenomenon that happens in alpine zones: the snow is dyed in pink or reddish colour, it smells to fresh watermelon and it has a sweet taste. This pink snow is caused by a green algae called Chlamidomonas nivalis. This green algae loves cold and it grows in freezing water. During the winter it lives under the snow and remains dormant. With the spring heat and the thawing of the snow, this algae releases lots of red spores, dying the snow in pink. This phenomenon is common during the summer in coastal and alpine regions all over the world. It is commonly observed in Sierra Nevada, California. Watermelon snow has a sweet taste, but if you eat too much, you may have diarrhea.

You can find more information and pictures in the following links:

http://waynesword.palomar.edu/plaug98.htm

http://www.summitpost.org/article/640549/exploring-the-mystery-of-watermelon-snow.html

Watermelon snow at Yosemite National Park,

Photographer: Chris Lombardi

More about waterfalls

In our last lesson we talked about waterfalls. Here you have two interesting links about this subject: 

- This is a blog of a Geography teacher, Mr. Chambers, where he includes useful resources for his students. In this link you can learn how waterfalls are formed: 

http://geobytesgcse.blogspot.com/2006/11/upper-course-of-river-waterfalls.html

- A curious video of the Devil´s Pool, in Victoria Falls, on the course of Zambezi River. People go there to take a bath on the edge of the waterfalls. This is only possible in the dry season, from September to November, when the river flow is lower. There is a natural wall below the water that protects the bathers and stops them to fall, dragged by the river current.

Some websites to review landforms and bodies of water

Doubtful Sound fjord (New Zealand)

A fjord is an ancient glacial valley that has been flooded by the sea.

Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DoubtfulSound-Fjord.jpg

As we have seen this morning, there are lots of landforms on the Earth´s surface. Here you have some useful links to write your definitions:

- List of landforms on the English Wikipedia. You will find a lot of information and pictures that will help you to find the translation in Spanish:

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

- List of bodies of water on the English Wikipedia:

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

- Landforms of the world: a website to find out characteristics of world landforms. You can learn here the main features of several landforms:

http://worldlandforms.com/

- On Enchanted Learning.com you will find an illustrated dictionary of landforms and bodies of water. It is very useful, because every definition includes a drawing that will help you to understand the meaning:

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/geography/landforms/glossary.shtml

On the same site there is an interesting section about rivers that includes a glossary of terms related with rivers:

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/geography/rivers/

Some resources to study political geography of the continents

Source: http://www.mapsworldwide.com/



Hello everybody!

Here you have some interesting links where you can review the countries of the world and their capital cities:

- Interactive maps: lots of games to learn geography, prepared by Enrique Alonso, a Catalan teacher:

http://www.xtec.cat/~ealonso/flash/flashmaps.htm

- Lizard Point: Test your Geography Knowledge. Lots of map quizzes to test your geographic knowledges:

http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/

- Geography games: a very interesting link. You can learn the pronunciation of the countries and their capital cities and important information about them:

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Geography.htm

- Maps.com: More games to review political geography:

http://www.maps.com/funfacts.aspx

- I like 2 learn: map quizzes to review the capital cities of the continents:

http://www.ilike2learn.com/ilike2learn/

- Conquer the continents: a game to review the location of the countries:

http://www.mrnussbaum.com/concon.htm

I hope you learn a lot by playing all these games! Please, write your comments on the games you´ve played and the results you have obtained (right answers, mistakes, the most difficult things for you...).