Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Social sciences

The Spanish Civil War started on the seventeenth of July 1936. It was a civil war which got known as the dress practice for World War Two and influenced the further improvement of contention in Europe in the twentieth century. Over the span of this multi-year war, Spain endured around 500,000 casualties, making it probably the deadliest war in Spanish history. The immediate reasons for the Spanish civil war have been examined and debated for quite a long time, some believing it was inevitable, others contending it could have easily been avoided.

Political Instability and Ideological Differences

Right off the bat, the political instability introduced numerous issues and ideological differences within the country, continued the polarization of... Continue reading "Causes of the Spanish Civil War: Political, Economic, and Social Factors" »

Totalitarianism

The only rights that people had were the ones that interested the state.

Irrationalism

They tried to cultivate violence, war, anti-intellectualism, and strength. They also believed in their own version of Darwin's theory, natural selection.

Radical Nationalism

The nation was considered superior and indivisible.

Racism and Xenophobia

There were superior and inferior races.

Anti-Communism, Anti-Liberalism, and Anti-Feminism

Imperialism and Militarism

If the war was for their own country, it was justified (expansionism), and there was a sense of superiority towards other nations.

Corporate State

They aimed to eliminate social classes, so society was divided into corporations or associations (families, jobs, etc.).

State-Led Capitalist Economy

They... Continue reading "Totalitarianism and Radical Nationalism: Ideologies of the Past" »

List the 6 Areas of Teacher Knowledge (Richards, 1998)

1. Theories of teaching

2. Development of teaching competences and skills

3. Content knowledge of the different subjects

4. Psychopedagogical and didactic knowledge

5. Knowledge of the school context

6. Practical knowledge

Specific Knowledge for English Teachers

Specific knowledge, often gained through experience, is crucial for effective teaching. According to Richards, skilled English teachers should excel in:

1. Selecting learning activities

2. Preparing students for new learning

3. Presenting learning activities

4. Asking questions

5. Checking students’ understanding

6. Providing opportunities for practice of new items

7. Monitoring students’ learning

8. Giving feedback on student learning

Why is Lesson Planning Important?

Lesson planning... Continue reading "Essential Teacher Knowledge and Lesson Planning in English Language Teaching" »

Agenda Setting

Agenda setting describes the news media's ability to influence the salience of topics on the public agenda. *Agenda-setting theory* was formally developed by Max McCombs and Donald Shaw in a study on the 1968 American presidential election. When the media focuses on just a few issues and subjects, the public tends to perceive those issues as more important.

Priming

Priming is the process in which the media attend to some issues and not others, thereby altering the standards by which people evaluate election candidates. A number of studies have demonstrated that there is a dimension of powerful media effects that goes beyond agenda-setting.

Framing

Framing is related to the agenda-setting tradition but expands the research by focusing... Continue reading "Understanding Media Influence and Voter Behavior in Elections" »

Social media: Pros/contra: The technologies which allow us to share information, pictures and ideas among others things are what we call social media. However, one thing is sure that social media has become an integral part of the lives of people of all ages today. Therefore, it is important for all to understand the advantages as well as disadvantages of social media in order to make the right choice for themselves.

:) Social media has made communication a lot more easier than ever before. Now, with a touch of a button people could communicate with anybody any where in the world. Websites such as Facebook makes communication with others an easy task. Social Networking makes it possible to reach many people in a very short time. This has led... Continue reading "The Impact of Social Media on Youth: Pros and Cons" »

Analysis Process Framework

When analyzing a company, we should divide the analysis in two points: External and Internal. The focus of these analyses is to find their main Strengths, Weaknesses (internal analysis), Opportunities, and Threats (external analysis). After research we can finally build our SWOT analysis of the company.

External:

• Trends = PESTLE - allows the company to make specific choices when planning the company's future, from how the brand should be presented, to any changes within the structure of the company's organization, to the development of new products.
• Sector = Porter’s 5 forces - Analytical model used to help identify the structure of an industry, and to help companies determine their competitive strategies.

Internal Analysis:

Multilingualism

Multilingualism is the ability of individuals to use more than two languages in their everyday life. It exists when multiple languages coexist and are necessary for communication. These languages may have different statuses, such as majority or minority languages, both within the community and internationally. Some languages are primarily used in private domains, while others are used in public domains like work or school.

Factors Influencing Third Language Acquisition (TLA)

Four factors can influence TLA:

• Sociolinguistic Context: Opportunities for language exposure, attitudes towards language learning, the status of different languages in society, and time devoted to different languages at school.
• Psycholinguistic Processes: TLA

Possibilities for Integration

Use the Work in the Language Class to Work in Other Subjects

For example, if the children make a survey in the English class to use the expression “by car”, “by bus”, etc., they can use the information in the mathematics class to make diagrams, schemes, etc.

In this way, we are relating language with the content in other subjects, which provides the language with a double value.

Use the Techniques in Other Subjects to Improve the Language Class

For example, the teacher makes questions in English in the mathematics class, questions like “who is wearing jeans?” “who is wearing a T-shirt?” “who is wearing jeans and a T-shirt?” that they will organize in diagrams.

Then, the information will be worked... Continue reading "Integrating Language Learning Across Subjects: Strategies and Benefits" »