Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and exercises for Arts and Humanities for Secondary education

Historical Context

• The failure of the revolution of 1850-1868
• The Elizabethan regime of the Bourbon monarchy, 1868
• Restoration of Alfonso XII, 1875-1886
• The labor movement

Realism in 19th-Century Literature and Art

Realism was a literary and artistic movement that attempted to carefully and objectively represent contemporary reality: the daily life and problems of the bourgeois society of the second half of the 19th century.

Romanticism vs. Realism

Romanticism

• One wing rejected bourgeois society and fled to the past.
• Art was seen as a product of inspiration and subjectivity.
• Themes emerged from delusions of fantasy and feelings.
• Heroic characters and rebels clashed with society and the power of destiny.
• Literary genres: lyric and drama.
• Language included

Indigenous Art and Architecture of Pre-Hispanic Venezuela

Beginnings

Before the arrival of the Spanish, indigenous peoples in Venezuela possessed complex social organizations. Their development spanned from the Neolithic period to the Age of Metals, characterized by distinct property maintenance and traditional customs.

Plastic Expressions

Petroglyphs, cave paintings, and ceramics reveal that pre-Hispanic Venezuelan art was primarily functional, serving religious or funerary purposes rather than purely aesthetic goals.

Ceramics

The ceramics of our ancestors display extraordinary beauty and imagination. Archaeological findings are categorized into series based on stylistic similarities:

Valencoide Series

Found in the Lake Valencia watershed, these figures...

Literary Terms and Definitions

Iridescent: Showing luminous colors that seem to change when seen from different angles.

Infallibility: Knowing truth with certainty. Can refer to a person (or a group of persons), to an act of teaching by these persons, or to the information being taught.

Mar: Impair the appearance of; disfigure.

Condone: Accept and allow (behavior that is considered morally wrong or offensive) to continue.

Disarming: (Of manner or behavior) having the effect of allaying suspicion or hostility, especially through charm.

Uncanny: Strange or mysterious, especially in an unsettling way.

Solicitously: Anxious or concerned.

Scruples: A feeling of doubt or hesitation with regard to the morality or propriety of a course of action.

Zealous: Feeling...

Understanding Narrative Structure

Narrative is the expressive form used to tell real or imagined stories. It communicates through description and dialogue, giving rise to two widespread literary expressions: the story and the novel. A narrative work functions as a communication system that transmits a specific message.

Story and Discourse

A narrative is composed of two primary components:

• The Story: The sequence of developments related through the narrator's words and the actions of the characters.
• The Discourse: The specific procedures and techniques a narrator uses to convey the events of the story.

Key Narrative Elements

Every narrative is composed of five essential areas:

• Reason: The catalyst that drives the action.
• Sequences: The distinct parts

Media: Transmitting Information

The media are systems through which information is transmitted to a wider audience, also called mass media. (Press, radio, and television).

Press: The Oldest Medium

In Spain, the first newspapers date from the eighteenth century.

Language of the Press

• Written word: Texts must be clear and easy to understand.
• Still image: Information complemented with images.
• Design elements: Major elements such as font and color.

Radio: Sound Medium

Verbal language, music, sound effects (recording or effects), silence.

Television: Moving Images

Its beginning dates back to 1929. Social influence. Aspects of the moving image. Uses music and sound effects. Dominates the spoken language.

Internet: Vast Hypertext

Multimedia language is used.

The

Mexico in the 1940s and 50s: A Nation in Transition

Mexico was undergoing significant changes after the revolution. While the country showed signs of development in population and production, the agricultural sector lagged. Land reform was delayed, increasing the marginalization of the dispossessed. The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) held power. Mexican intellectuals held differing views: some believed the revolution had achieved its goals, while others felt it had failed or betrayed its ideals, advocating art as a form of critical expression.

Rulfo's Narrative: Reflecting the Mexican Experience

Juan Rulfo's narrative is characterized by its portrayal of the reality of the Mexican man, his concrete and existential struggles rooted in...

English Vocabulary: Social Action and Community Engagement

Unit 4: Social Action Vocabulary

• Attend a rally: asistir a una manifestación
• Appeal: recurrir
• Campaign
• Campaigner
• Charity
• Donate / Donation
• Fundraising event: evento para recaudar fondos
• Fundraiser: recaudador de fondos
• Go on a march: ir a una marcha
• Raise awareness of: concienciar / sensibilizar
• Raise funds / money: recaudar fondos
• Sign a petition: firmar una petición
• Sit-in: sentada
• Sponsor: patrocinar
• Sponsorship: patrocinio / apadrinamiento
• Take part in a [cause/event]
• Volunteer
• Voluntary work

Unit 4: Key Collocations

• Animal charity
• Beach clean-up
• Cancer research
• Computer game
• Death penalty
• Endangered species
• Free debate
• Homeless person
• Informed decision
• Political engagement: compromiso político
• Legal age:

The Evolution of Fandom and Participatory Culture

The term ‘fan’ is an abbreviation of the word fanatic, which comes from the Latin word ‘fanaticus’. This term originally carried religious connotations, referring to devotees and having secular faith, but it quickly assumed negative connotations in society.

Henry Jenkins, an American media scholar and lecturer of the second half of the 20^th century, addresses different phenomena related to the fan in his book Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture. He rejects common fan stereotypes such as the comic, nerdy, psychotic, and eroticized fan. Moreover, he expresses the fan as a defensible position within mass culture, challenging the view of fans as a scandalous category...

A Story of Contrasts

The film Witness, directed by Peter Weir, effectively portrays several distinct ideas, including the cultural clash between the Amish and modern society, the romance between the two protagonists, and the theme of good versus evil, highlighting corruption within the police force. These central themes, combined with effective cinematic elements, justify the film's status as a memorable cinematic experience.

The Amish and the Modern World

Witness is a thriller centered on the Amish community living in Pennsylvania. A young Amish boy, Samuel, and his widowed mother, Rachel, become caught in a clash between two worlds: the modern American society, marked by greed, violence, and corruption, and the peaceful Amish world, focused...

Understanding Avant-Garde Movements

The term avant-garde refers to a set of innovative artistic and literary movements that developed in Europe and America during the first third of the 20th century. The common denominator of the avant-garde is a break not only with prior art and literature but with the entire Western aesthetic tradition.

The avant-garde emerged in a climate of widespread dissatisfaction with the present, which worsened after the atrocities of the First World War.

Common Characteristics

Avant-garde movements share several characteristics:

• Anti-realism: Stemming from their disagreement with reality, avant-garde authors broke with the idea of art and literature as an imitation of the exterior world.
• Primitivism: Challenging the West'