MONDAY 8TH NOVEMBER

Today Kelly has been with us, also Paqui has started with the end of the explanation about the socialist economic system.

First she has explained how centrally planned economies worked and his problems

Some of this problems are:

-Production was focused on some industries.

-The minority who made the decisions.

-The system was very rigid and it was very difficult to adapt.

-The development of black market.

When Paqui has finished the explanation of this we have read a mini-cartoon about economy works in a capatitalist system . This cartoon is a joke that play with different meanings of the word demand:

1) I demand

2) Demand

One more thing: the picture is the Gosplan, the office that plannified all the productions of the U.S.S.R. ( Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). It was located in Moscow and decided on the production of all the country.

When the bell rings we were starting another definition: Caveat Emptor.

This is all today.

Image source: http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospl%C3%A1n

The pyramid of capitalist system

Remember the feudal pyramid we studied last year? In 1911 the Industrial Worker, the newspaper of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), a U.S.A. labour union, released the illustration above. The poster was a critique of capitalism. You can read more information about this image on the following link: 

http://www.laborarts.org/collections/item.cfm?itemid=428

Socialist and centrally planned economies

In our last lesson we learned a very short definition of socialist economic system. In theory, the means of production belong to the people and they organize production through cooperative work. But this system hasn´t really been put into practice. In the so called socialist economies the means of production belonged to the State and economy was planned by a central organization, which decided on every aspect of production. This type of economy is called "centrally planned economy". Here you have a short Powerpoint presentation, prepared by Brian Coil, a Social Studies teacher of Templeton, Pennsylvania. In this presentation you can learn the problems centrally planned economies experienced. 

Difficulties with Centrally Planned Economies

View more presentations from Brian Coil.

In this cartoon you can observe one of the most common problems in the so defined socialist economic systems. Political leaders refused capitalism publicly, but they behaved as capitalists in private. 

Source: http://links.org.au/taxonomy/term/37

After the fall of Berlin Wall in 1989 the socialist economic system almost disappeared in the world. Here you have another cartoon about the countries where this system still "survives". 

Source: http://www.wku.edu/library/onlinexh/sanders/pages/world/communism.html

FRIDAY 5TH OF NOVEMBER

Today, Paqui has given the exams to the people who failed the maps. We have corrected the exercises about the economy. We have learned that market economy doesn´t really work according to the law of supply and demand, because there are a lot of factors that influence the prices. Paqui has explained us with drawings socialist economic system. She hasn´t had time to finish but the next day we will continue.

My opinion is that this class has been interesting.

YESTERDAY I COULDN´T WRITE THE JOURNAL, BUT I´M WRITING NOW AS IF IT WAS YESTERDAY.

Source: https://antenamisionera.wordpress.com/2010/03/25/valores-en-la-economia-pos-crisis/

Don´t forget the deadline for your posts!

Source: http://www.addletters.com/bart-simpson-generator.htm

What´s happening with the students who were supposed to write today? Remember that you have a deadline to write your posts, so the rest of the students can leave their comments and corrections. You have to write the journal before 20:00. 

P.S: If you want to create a personalized chalkboard with the text you want Bart Simpson to write, visit the link below the picture.

Capitalism in the cartoons

Some cartoons about how capitalism works:

Source: http://knol.google.com/k/artur-landerzon-barrera-garcia/democracia-y-capitalismo/ahpk7a5l7a4r/68#

Source: http://bifsniff.com/category/cartoons

Supply and demand

Here you have a very short presentation about the law of supply and demand, an important concept to understand how a free-market economy works. We will study this in depth next Friday:

Wednesday, November 3rd

Today in Social Sciences, the people who didn´t do the maps in the right way or the people who didn´t hand in the maps on time, have done an exam about the relief of the continents. While they were doing the exam, the other part of the class have done some exercises about economy. One has consisted in writing three examples of activities consisting in producing goods and three examples of rendering services. In´´Producing goods`` we have written: Stockbreeding, craftsmanships, agriculture, industry... They form part of the primary sector. In ´´Rendering services`` we have write: security, trade, education, transportation... in this group most of the jobs belong to the tertiary sector. After checked this exercise, Paqui has asked to some of us about the job of our parents, and most of our parents work in the tertiary sector.Then we have done five exercises more of the review and they have been very easy, because this unit is easy to understand. Finally Paqui has drawn on the blackboard some pictures that represented the capialists and the workers´s diferences.

We have to read the comic called ECONOMY ACCORDING TO CALVIN, and write the words related to ecnomy for homework.

This unit is interesting because this topic is very present in our lives.

See you...

Image source: http://planpymes.com/economa-malas-noticias-para-el-pas-los-negocios/

Time banks

Source: Banco de tiempo de Pinoso (Alicante)

Last Friday we talked about a different type of banks: time banks. They don´t work with money, but with the abilities and the will to help of their members. Every member offers an hour of his/her time and their help in the activities they are skilled. In exchange, they receive help in the way they prefer. There are a lot of possibilities: you can offer to clean the house of someone and receive a weaving lesson or you can offer an hour of babysitting and get a guitar lesson in exchange ... It´s similar to barter, but people don´t exchange material things. They exchange their time.

Here you have some links, where you will find more information about time banks:

- The story of time banks:

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

- Time banking in the United Kingdom:

http://timebank.org.uk/

- Time banking in the U.S.A:

http://www.timebanks.org/

- Time banks in Spain. The closest to Campo de Criptana is in Herencia:

http://www.sindinero.org/blog/archives/2229

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.