Ledbury in the Middle Ages

This is the video we've watched in class about the town of Ledbury in the Middle Ages. You have got already the questions related to it.

http://timelines.tv/index.php?t=0&e=3

Analysis of an urban plan and a population pyramid

If your mark in the exam of recuperation is between 4 and 4.9, you can get over the 2nd term by analyzing this pyramid of Buenos Aires and the urban plan of Valencia. You must do in English at least one of the commentaries.
Deathline: May, 4th.

The black death (la peste negra)

After watching the video about the black death, answer these questions:

1: When did the black death take place?
2: Where did it spread through?
3: Where is it expected to have originated?
4: What are the symptoms of this desease?
5: Mention the three kinds of infections caused by the black death.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7OWLohZ_fs

Contents of late Middle Ages exam to focus on

 These are the main contents, so that you prepare next exam well.

1. Vocabulary, to be defined in English and translated into Spanish:
Moulboard plough
Scythe
Iron horse-shoe
Polders
Trade
Bourgeoisie
Surplus
Fuero
Town hall
Guild
Workshop
Flying buttress
Stained glass

2. A text in English to be commented by answering some questions related to farming changes. You must study this topic to respond well to the questions.

3. An exercise about the point 2 (developped by the crossword)

4. Completar un mapa conceptual del tipo del que aparece en la pág. 125 del libro en español.

5. Some questions about the video the Ledbury´s city.

6. Explicar la peste negra. Causas y consecuencias.
.

A comic about medieval entertainment

As I´ve told you in class, you must draw a comic in English about the different ways of entertaining in the late Middle Ages, set in one painting.
You have to chose one of these pictures and convert the picture into a comic. Pay attention to the people who appear, what they are doing, the different objects, the buildings, etc., because you should introduce them into your comic.
Obviously, it´s not necessary that everyone, all the objects, situations appear in the comic.
As minimum you have to do eight vignettes.
Deadline: the day of the exam.
Mark: you can get up to 1,5 point in the exam mark.

If you are going to draw a comic about the entertainment of the popular class, these are the pictures (links) to be converted into a comic.

Pieter Brueghel, juego de niños.

Pieter Brueghel, la boda campesina

If you are going to draw a comic about the aristocratic entertainment, these are the pictures to converted into a comic.

Danzas medievales

banquete medieval

Enter on this website to check how to do a good comic.

Cómo hacer un buen cómic

Assessment criteria to evaluate the project

As I have told you, these are the assessment criteria to score the project, both the oral presentation and the power point.

It is very important to review these criteria so that you get a good mark.

http://es.slideshare.net/cedecite/rbrica-de-una-exposicin-oral-con-apoyo-de-una-presentacin-de-diapositivas

Happiness, a question to be taken into account increasingly in world reports.

Do you agree on taking happiness into account to know how much is a country happy?
What would you include as essencial things to be happy?
These are some theories about the way of getting happiness, both as a society and a person. What do you think? what do you agree most with?
These are the students who should participate on the forum by commenting about the topic of the title and the questions above.
3ºA
Iván Barbero
Javier Blanes
Manel Boukercha
José Miguel de Haro

3ºB
José Juan Ojeda
Jesús Ocejo
Oana Neaga
Adrián Ramos

3ºC
Adelina Ungureanu
Montse Vega
Francisco Vertiz
Ángel Vico

Each student has to post at least one commentary of 7 lines as minimum. The commentaries can be both about the text and a classmate´s answer. 

Deadline: April, 25th.

Theories of Happiness 

There are of course many competing theories of human well-being, both secular and religious. To even describe these theories at any length and soundness would require a volume or volumes, not a brief note. Still, at grave risk of trivialization, I would like to argue that various theories put different relative weights on six dimensions of happiness.

Mindfulness. 
Many theories of happiness, including Buddhism, Aristotelian virtue ethics, Stoicism, traditional Christian theology, and Positive Psychology, emphasize the path to happiness through the cultivation of mindfulness, attitudes, values, habits, dispositions, and virtues. The emphasis is placed on character, mindfulness and mental health rather than the objective circumstances facing the individual, whether economic, social, or political.

Consumerism.
Anglo-American economics has long emphasized the role of personal income and market opportunities in enabling individuals to meet their needs. The emphasis is on the individual as a rational consumer, acting to maximize individual utility (or material preferences) subject to a budget constraint. Easing the consumer budget constraint (that is, raising income) is the key to raising well-being in this view.

Economic freedom. 
For Mill, Nietzsche, Rand, Hayek, and Nozick in their very different and distinctive ways, happiness is achieved through personal freedom of action. In the extreme modern form, Libertarianism places liberty as the Summum Bonum, and as the key to social organization through a minimal state.

The dignity of work. 
Human beings are creators and explorers. They aim to discover, create, build, innovate, and change the world around them. Therefore, the quality of work life, the single biggest part of our waking adult lives, must surely count heavily for the quality of life. Drudgery and unemployment are shunned; stimulating work and decent work conditions are crucial for well-being.

Good Governance. Aristotle declares in The Politics that: “the state is a creation of nature, and that man is by nature a political animal.” The state, emphasizes Aristotle, “comes into existence, originating in the bare needs of life, and continuing in existence for the sake of a good life.” The quality of governance is, therefore, key. The administration of justice, writes Aristotle, is “the principle of order in political society.”

Social trust.
In the same vein, Aristotle declares that, “A social instinct is implanted in all men by nature.” The ability of men to live harmoniously with others in society is a key virtue. He who is sufficient for himself, Aristotle famously declared, is “either beast or god.”

Theories of Happiness put emphasis on one or another of these various dimensions. The economists emphasize the importance of raising wealth and consumption; the libertarians, personal liberty; communitarians, the social capital; Calvinists, respectable work; Buddhists and virtue ethicists, the cultivation of mindfulness and virtue. Partisans of these contrasting approaches have long fought bitterly across ideological lines. Communitarians accuse libertarians of neglecting social capital; libertarians accuse communitarians of undermining personal liberty. Even the levying of taxes to pay for public goods, according to libertarians, is a denial of personal liberty. Libertarians may argue for generosity, including charity, and reciprocity, but only on the basis of explicit individual consent.

Videos: La Alhambra de Granada