miércoles, 16 de diciembre de 2009

Stalin webpages



In the second page there is the possibility of listening to a real audio archive of Stalin.



http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/stalin/study.html
http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/

domingo, 13 de diciembre de 2009

Rome a settlement


Using your coursebook and this image:
Create a document to send to your e-mail account or the teacher's
1. Provide reasons for the city of Rome being here.
2. Read the Legend in :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founding_of_Rome
http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/grecoromanmyth1/a/mythslegends_3.htm
3. Comment on the validity of such a legend.
4. You can also investigate about the city of Cádiz in Spain, with another similar Foundation Legend.

martes, 8 de diciembre de 2009

Gotham city?


Is this an image of Gotham city? Look carefully.

Gotham city/ Settlement



On December 1st, as we were having our classes on AIDS' day, a student asked me why we were doing that, he said it had nothing to do with Geography. My final answer was that Geography means asking questions about the world around us
In this new topic we can ask a very basic question Why is this city/village there?
Let's do it with Gotham. Why was Gotham built there? Can you see any similarities to other cities? Why are there skyscrappers in Gotham? And why is crime an issue in Gotham?

jueves, 19 de noviembre de 2009

Exams



You probably know by now that History exams are usually connected to:
a. Causes: Why did that happen?
b. Events: What happened? How did it happen?
c. Consequences. What effect did those events have in history? or in people's lives?

Bilingual exams worry about your ability to express these causes, the events and the consequences, both in written and in oral form. So you are expected to create short texts 25 to 100 words: writing.
You must be able to understand some texts: reading.
And you are also expected to use some especific vocabulary.
In this particular exam I woul like you to comment a photograph or any sort of illustration like a comic strip, similar to the one we saw today.
I hope you like these comments.

German Soldiers


Do you know who the man in the left was. Think about today's lesson.

miércoles, 11 de noviembre de 2009

jueves, 29 de octubre de 2009

Propaganda


http://www.100megspop3.com/bark/Propaganda.html

Some of you may like a more artistic approach to this War, here comes a piece of propaganda, as good as any of the comics we read.

American fighters


New York's famous 369th regiment arrives home from France, 1919.
Nicknamed the Harlem Hellfighters, the 369th Regiment was the first all-black regiment to fight in World War I. They arrived in France in 1918 and fought on the front lines for six months, longer than any other American unit during the war. Source: ca. 1919, Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives Services Division (NWCS-S), National Archives at College Park, MD.

http://www.amistadresource.org/plantation_to_ghetto/archives/image_archive.html

Are you surprised to see black men? Not only did they come from the US there were Black African men from the colonies fighting in the trenches.

jueves, 22 de octubre de 2009

Here is another one, on a German uniform

Are you curious?




Maybe you are curious about this image, find your answers in the web page included here inside there are other photographs and material about the war.

http://zscpen.websitemaker.nl/h4project/960074

domingo, 18 de octubre de 2009

Trench Warfare





Well, the comm-ents for the previous photograph were very enthusiastic, positive and based on the pride of defending one's Motherland/Fatherland. People felt that way but then imagine four years fighting on the trenches.

martes, 13 de octubre de 2009

Terribly Beautiful


Maybe this image can transmit the idea some historians have. The Great War started as something completely different to today's idea of war. Look at the man, I wonder what he thinks, the day is ending and nature does not care if humans are involved in a war; the sun will dissappear in a terribly beautiful sunset. Is the man admiring it? Is he thinking about human brutality? who knows.

martes, 6 de octubre de 2009

The War Broke Out


Look at all these men waiting to be recruited. Look at some of the faces, some people are laughing, most people are calm knowing they are doing what they have to do.

jueves, 1 de octubre de 2009

Almost no comment


Imagine this image appeared on todays' news bulletin.

martes, 22 de septiembre de 2009

History Book


As I promised, this is the image of the History book. And these are the most important data:
•Editorial : Letts Educational Author: Fiona Reynoldson
•ISBN:1-84085-419-7
ISBN: 978-1-84085-419-0

jueves, 3 de septiembre de 2009

2009-2010 is coming


Are you ready to start? Who is? Don't worry, we will see new things in our classes. Some days ago, for example, I visited this exhibition in Gijón (Asturias) and you know how much i like telling people about visits and museums and exhibitions. Did you notice I loved exhibitions?

miércoles, 29 de julio de 2009

2º ESO September Exam



The exam will consist on:

*TEXT: understanding a text about Spanish History.

*VOCABULARY: Translating 20 words into spanish, based on your coursebook
and completing ten definitions with the correct word.

*QUESTIONS: A question based on the Discoveries and three more questions about the activities you did on holiday.

martes, 28 de julio de 2009

3º ESO EXAM



The exam will consist on these questions:
*DEFINITIONS ( 4 definitions)
*CLASSIFY some jobs into their correct sector.
*CHARACTERISTICS: describing the characteristics of an ecosystem.
*CAUSES AND EFFECTS: describing the causes and the consequences of one of the problems studied this year.
*SOLUTIONS: describing some solutions people have given to the problems we studied and to farming and tourism issues.

lunes, 27 de julio de 2009

1º ESO Exam


The exam will consist on:

MAP: 2 geographical questions and 1 historical question

TEXT: 1 General question and 1 True and False question.

VOCABULARY: 24 words from your glossary (end of coursebook)

3 QUESTIONS from the Activities.

See you in September. Go and Visit some Museums


Now I'm nearly free. I hope some of you have started studying for your exams. One thing I love doing in the summer time is visiting exhibitions in Madrid. I went to the Reina Sofía Museum and stopped at some of my favourite painter's works. Here is one with an ideal room overlooking the sea. It is a painting by one of our best artists Guillermo Pérez Villalta.

martes, 16 de junio de 2009

EXAM 1º ESO Sorry, it is in Spanish


Geography and History
Esta información está pensada para que los padres puedan saber que actividades deben hacer sus hijos si han suspendido o iban muy justitos este curso. Gracias por vuestra atención.
1º ESO
1/ Vocabulary: Copia todo el vocabulario del libro en un cuaderno para entregar al profesor. En el examen de Septiembre habrá una pregunta de vocabulario.

2/ Maps: Revisa todos los mapas físicos que aparecen en el libro; el mapa de África, el de América, el de Asia, el de Europa, el de Oceanía y el de España. Aprende entre 10 y 20 rasgos físicos de cada mapa. Habrá un mapa para completar en el examen.

3/ Activities: Elige de cada lección un mínimo de 3 actividades. Haz cincuenta actividades de todo el libro. Esas 50 actividades en total te servirán para responder a varias preguntas que el profesor pondrá en el examen. NO te preocupes, el profesor dejará que elijas entre varias preguntas posibles, para que coincidan con las que tú has hecho.

September exam 2008-2009


3rd year students 2008-2009
To prepare for the exam in September you must prepare
all the lessons about ECOSYSTEMS pages 106 to 127
Then the lessons on EMPLOYMENT STRUCTURES pages 188 to 191.
The lessons on FARMING: 192 to 209.

What to do:

Answer a minimum of three activities per lesson and write them in your NOTEBOOK.
When you enter the exam in September, hand the teacher your activities, that will mean 2 points in your favour.

domingo, 14 de junio de 2009

Exchange Rheine Madrid April 09

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHI5iEX-6YQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB6XiOEONLM

miércoles, 10 de junio de 2009

Bolonia/Baelo Claudia



First time I heard the words, DECUMANUS and CARDO, was during one of my visits to Cádiz, when I visited the ruins of Bolonia. Later I knew this city had been famous for the production of a fish-sauce called GARUM; highly appreciated in the Mediterranean world. This is part of the factory, and the beach where the city is.

domingo, 7 de junio de 2009

Tiberius Gracchus


Tribune: Roman official whose task it was to protect the people against oppression.
http://www.livius.org/to-ts/tribune/tribune.html
Tiberius Gracchus was elected tribune in 133 BC. He attempted to enact a law which would have limited the amount of land that any individual could own. The aristocrats, who stood to lose an enormous amount of money, were bitterly opposed to this proposal.
http://www.answers.com/topic/roman-republic#The_Gracchi_tribunates

miércoles, 13 de mayo de 2009

The language of architecture



Look at the orders here. Do you recognize the building? What is its name? What order is the one used here?

martes, 12 de mayo de 2009

A Comic Hero?


Most of us like Greek pottery. We stop to contemplate them at museums because the vases have interesting stories there inside. You know who the hero is? He is fighting a many-headed monster.

jueves, 7 de mayo de 2009

STRIKE


Some of my colleages, students and parents and me went on a demostration to protest against the double standard applied to schools in Madrid. We think the PUBLIC SYSTEM STILL CATERS FOR ALL THE STUDENTS' NEEDS AND SO WE SHOULD NOT BE DENIED OUR BUDGET WHILE PRIVATE EDUCATION IS GETTING THAT PART OF THE TAXES.
IS THIS AN APPROPRIATTE IMAGE OF THE SYSTEM MADRID WOULD LIKE TO HAVE?
Thanks to the artist who created this comic strip. Art and humour all in one.

martes, 5 de mayo de 2009

Tarsilia do Amaral


Two days ago, an interesting exhibition closed in Madrid. It was in Fundación Juan March. As usual I could not see it. Well, at least we have the internet to see as many paintings as we want.
Tarsilia was a Brazilian painter who came to Europe, where she got to know many famous painters and then returned to Brazil. She kept on investigating on different ways to depict her ideas, Producing very fine pieces of art.

Idealistic or realistic ?


Harpist Neferhotpe playing small arched harp.
Tomb of Nebsumenu and Sunebau. XII Dynasty, 1991-1782 BC, Middle Kingdom.
Stela. Necropolis at el-Khokha, Western Thebes.

Remember the characteristics of Egyptian painting we studied in class. Is there any sense of perspective? (look at the table and the food on top) Are the eyes frontal or in profile, and the chests? Are the figures idealistic?(look at the harpist)!!!
Well as you can see there are always exceptions to what the teacher tells.

viernes, 1 de mayo de 2009

Apis


Apis was the god of the deceased, of pharaohs and of fertility, the fertility of the fields and of herds. It was represented by a bull.

domingo, 26 de abril de 2009

Women artists



Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun (16 April 1755 - 30 March 1842)With these two examples you can imagine she was a succesful painter, but she wasn't accepted at the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture with the excuse that her husband was an Art-Dealer. Well, there are always excuses. King Louis XVI ordered the Académie to accept her. And so she was. the first is a portrait of the Queen of France Marie-Antoinette and her three children, all of them died some years later. The second is a self-portrait of Élisabeth. It seems that she produced a total of nearly 860 paintings that you can see in some important Museums in France, Russia, etc.

sábado, 25 de abril de 2009

Santiago del Arrabal


Next Monday our Exchange Programme will take us to Toledo. While reading about the different places we will enjoy I found this image of Santiago del Arrabal. The basic idea I would like to last in our minds is that this 13th century church built over a previous mosque combines Arabian and Romanesque elements; it is a mixture of two cultures. Both Romanesque and Arabian elements live together like in the Toledo of those days. This Spanish medieval style has a name, Mudejar. Mudejar comes from the word muddajjan, permitted to stay, Muslims were allowed to stay in Spain, creating a unique style. This style survived in Spain for several centuries.

martes, 21 de abril de 2009


LOOK WHAT I FOUND IN FLICKR. THIS IS SOMETHING I WAS LOOKING FOR,AGES AGO; A NOT VERY WELL KNOWN EGYPTIAN QUEEN. AND THERE IS ALSO A REAL TEXT ABOUT HER. Ahhotep I ("Peace of the Moon"), lived circa 1590-1530 BCE (Second Intermediate and New Kingdom), was an important historical figure a member of the Seventeenth Dynasty, and is often regarded as the matrilineal founder of the Eighteenth Dynasty. She was a Queen of Egypt, a successful military commander (especially against the invading Hyksos), and ruled a re-united Egypt as regent for at least one of her sons. The grave goods found buried with her at Thebes included three "golden flies of valour" medals (yes, they're insect-fly shaped: image. No, I don't know why unless there was a visiting time traveller planting the inspirations for 20th century European aesthetic movements...), which were only awarded for outstanding military service to Egypt, and ceremonial daggers, and axes. Her son, Ahmose I, erected a stela in her honour in a temple of Amun-Re which says (partial quote):

"She [Ahhotep] is the one who has accomplished the rites and taken care of Egypt... She [Ahhotep] has looked after her [Egypt's] soldiers, she [Ahhotep] has guarded her [Egypt], she [Ahhotep] has brought back her [Egypt's] fugitives and collected together her [Egypt's] deserters, she [Ahhotep] has pacified Upper Egypt and expelled her [Egypt's] rebels."
All of which strongly implies Ahhotep personally led her troops into battle.

Egyptians



These are shabtis or ushebtis. They are beautiful, they are in all history books.
Do you know what they are? Write a definition and show it to the teacher. That will give you a positive. (If you are a 1st year student)

sábado, 18 de abril de 2009

Colours of the Avant-garde Art in Romania 1910-1950

What you see here is a painting by a Romanian artist, this work of art can be seen in Lisbon Portugal now. It is in the Chiado Museum. http://www.museudochiado-ipmuseus.pt/en/node/495
This is the web page where you can visit/see this exhibition.

Victor Brauner, Portrait of the poet Ilarie Voronca, Galati Museum of Art

viernes, 17 de abril de 2009

An Egyptian Queen

Queen Nefertiti was the wife of Akhnaten. This pharaoh was a revolutionary one, he tried to change egyptian religion forever. He wanted his people to adore one god, the Sun. Of course he was really hated by priests and religious people. And his revolution ended the day he died.
Nefertiti (c. 1370 a. C. - c. 1330 a. C.) She wasn't only the wife of the pharaoh, Akhnaten made her a queen with the same powers of the pharaoh, something very unusual in Egypt. That is why we see the royal couple together in political and religious representations.

jueves, 16 de abril de 2009

Romanesque Art



When I teach art I usually have the feeling that I cannot express what I really feel about the periods I refer to. I love art and I would like to make students like it at least a little bit, so let's try again. Here you have my favourite group of Romanesque paintings in Spain, When I visited them come years ago I had a wonderful time seeing such besutiful and yet naive figures. Maybe you'll love the gore part on one of them. This is The Crypt in the Colegiata of Saint Isidore, in Leon (Spain)

domingo, 12 de abril de 2009

Four Periods in Art





Compare the four ideas you find in these paintings. What is the most important idea in them? Note down differences and similarities and comment your notes with your teacher.